FALL RELEASE 2013

So, my Fall Release is just one day away and I though it would be fun to share just a few of the soaps that will I've been working on.

 

First up:

 

VENOM

An effervescent blend of juicy cherries and berries highlighted with fresh citrus notes and vanilla

 

This is a fun design that I came up with 2 years ago inspired by an amazing cake that I believe originated from the Cake Alchemy's Lauri Dinutto .   I'm loving it much more this year with my thicker bars of soap.

 

Not only is this soap pretty cool to look at, it's also very good for your skin.  The base is colored with activated charcoal.

 

EVENFALL

Sweet forest berries leading to a heart of soft florals on a base of earthy roots, resinous amber and warm vanilla musk

 

Pumpkin Buttercrunch

1 of 3 soaps in

THE GREAT PUMPKIN Trio

Baked pumpkin puree seasoned with brown sugar, spices and a splash of buttered rum topped with delicious toffee bits

 

PHANTOM

Now this is truly a unique kind of scent.  A wickedly sensual blending of purple plums and sweet citrus leaf on a base of dark woods and vanilla.

 

It may be difficult to see in this picture, but those are purple and gold swirls down in there with gold and purple mica dusted on top.

 

CANDIED FIGS

Moroccan Figs drizzled with caramelized sugar and blackstrap molasses with a warm finish of vanilla and maple syrup

 

I kept the colors pretty simple here.  For the coloring, I used French Pink Clay which mildly detoxifies and is works well for most skin types.

 

Last, but not least

EQUINOX

Every year, I do a version of Blood Orange & Patchouli and this year was no exception.  Every year, I say "this one is my favorite blend to date" and this year is no exception.  I'm one those people who actually loves the scent of patchouli straight up.  However, my goal is to find a blend that can please the patchouli lovers but not scare off everybody else.  To my nose, this scent really fits the bill :0)

 

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Señorita Margarita Handmade Soap

This is the best, most realistic margarita scent ever.  I absolutely love it.  You can smell the Lime, Tequila and even the Salt! Very fresh and perfect for the summer. 

Since purchasing my HDPE mold from Soap Hutch, I've struggled a bit with the unmolding process.  It's nothing that I can't handle and generally, I manage to get my loaves out with little or no damage at all to the loaves themselves.  It just takes patience and sometimes quite a bit of elbow grease. 

Lately, I've been playing around with water discount levels and more recently, Sodium Lactate.

You can use Sodium Lactate at 1oz per lb. of base oils.  But, be careful, because I've read that it can cause crumbling if too much is used.  I've been using it at 1.3% of my overall oils and that combined with the water discounts have really been helping my loaves firm up much more and therefore unmold much easier.

I may one day venture up to 3% but for now, this is working for me just fine.

Making "Monkey Chunk" Cold Process Soap

Monkey Chunk is my twist on the popular Monkey Farts scent.  It brings a few more fruity elements to the blend that covers the bubblegum notes that my nose detects.  My latest batch also includes a  cocoa scented (colored with cocoa powder) swirl that brings a bit of milky chocolate that really makes the fragrance extra special.

 

YUM!

La Cabaña Handmade Soap

This is one of my favorite summer blends.  Take Coconut Lime Verbena, amp it up with some extra citrus juices and you have:

 

La Cabaña

A fresh tropical heart of Coconut Milk and Lime Verbena with a crisp splash of Citrus juice rounded with powdery notes of Vanilla & Musk

 

 

My blue neon pigment seems to be a lot more stable than the purple and yellow.  No color blending was necessary here!  I'm very happy with the result.

 

Purple Rain Handmade Soap

A beautiful blend of Sweet Orange and Lemon with a fresh heart of Lavender on a woodsy base with Orange Blossoms

 

 

Once again I pulled out my neon pigments.  I learned my lesson from the color fail on Misehavin.  Can't remember if I mentioned this on a previous post, but I found the key to getting the color to stick is adding just a bit of Violet Ultramarine to the mix

Same with the yellow.  It's been my experience that yellow mica pigments as well as the neons will fade unless you use a whole lot or fix it with a bit of oxide.

 

Playing around with blending these colors has allowed me to come up with so many bright shades that I've never used before.

 

 

 

 

 

Cedarwood All-Natural Cold Process Soap

I'm a big fan of earthy scents like Sandalwood and Patchouli so naturally, I had to get a Cedarwood batch in my line-up.  It's maybe a bit on the masculine side, but I love the scent all the same.

 

 

Once again this was colored using Oxides, TD, Cocoa Powder and Activated Charcoal.

 

 

Firebied All Natural Cold Process Soap

I've been soaping like crazy over these last few weeks and been so focused on production that I haven't spent enough time on social media.  So, let's play a little catch-up.  Due to request for some all-natural Essential Oil soaps, I decided to add a few.  Of course, just because they're natural doesn't mean they have to be boring, so I had some fun being creative with Oxides, Clays and Botanicals.

 

First up: Firebird - A bright All-Natural essential oil blend of Blood Orange and other Citrus oils grounded with just the perfect amount of Patchouli

 

Enriched with unrefined Shea Butter and Orange Peel Powder & Safflower Petals

 

This batch was colored using Iron Oxides & Activated Charcoal