skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I think the dilemma every conscious soaper faces at least once in his/her soap-making endeavors is whether or not to use a fragrance oil to scent the soaps. The obvious best choice for scenting the soap is through essential oils that are packed with the beneficial properties of a plant or a flower. They not only smell earthy and beautiful (my favorite is the warm scent of lavender … I can be around the scent forever!), they have so many other benefits only natural products can produce. Meanwhile, there are fragrance oils, which are, well, poor man’s essential oils, which don’t have the same benefits as their botanical cousins but can achieve the powerful and playful scents that drive all my senses crazy! Until I make up my mind, I’ve decided to test out as many batches of both all-natural and almost-natural soaps and see how I feel about it at the end. I guess there’s no real harm in keep making both … afterall, it’s not like fragrance oils are the potion of death or anything! Soaps made in the kitchen still have so much more benefits for the body and the environment compared to other mass-produced counterfeits, and the usage of fragrance oils won’t compromise the quality and integrity of handmade soaps! So, here are the two batches of soap I made the other day. The first one is Baby Grand from the book, “The Soapmaker’s Companion,” with avocado, sweet almond, jojoba, coconut, and palm oil, and a little bit of shea butter. This is the first soap I’ve made without olive oil and I’m feeling a little weary about the end result. I used multiple tablespoons of Sugar Plum fragrance oil and my entire apartment is smelling lovely now! 
Here is the all-natural soap I made – another gentle soap with olive, sweet almond, avocado, palm, and coconut oils. I used great quality lavender and bergamot essential oils. I used the wooden box as a mold, and used the cookie cutter for these heart-shaped soaps. 
I took the leftover soaps and made small balls, which I’ll later wrap like candies! 
I made a couple batches of soap during the holiday break. I gave a new recipe from my favorite soap book a try to see if it can rival the foamy and heavenly luscious lather of the Marseilles Soap that I’ve gotten to love so much after making and using several batches.
The new recipe is for a soap that’s gentle enough for babies (called “Hanna’s Birthday Soap” in the book), with generous amount of sweet almond and avocado oils for moisture. I was feeling a bit adventurous and decided to make a dark, rich green marble design using green tea powder, but I guess I didn’t mix well enough because the swirl didn’t even come out on the soap (it only shows on the top)! I was so bummed when I cut the soap and didn’t see a trace of the beautiful intertwine of rich green and pearly white-colored soap I was so hoping for. Bummer! 
I also made a shampoo bar using rosemary water and honey to provide protection and shine for the hair. My favorite shampoo ever is one of those little bars from a store called Basin (very similar to a very popular Lush) and my hope here is to replicate its wonderful Egg Noggin’ shampoo bar. Because of rosemary, the soap came out very rich in color and slightly softer in texture. I am not sure why but the soap didn’t dry quickly enough (even though I left it out for two days before slicing) and made it pretty difficult for me to cut clean slices!
The third batch is Zesty Lemon Soap with olive, avocado, jojoba, palm, coconut, and olive oils, with a touch of shea butter, and a generous amount of lovely Lemon Verbena and Lemon essential and fragrance oils. I am really excited to use this one because it smells incredible!Last but not least, I made my favorite, Signature Marseilles Soap with White Tea and Ginger fragrance oil. All the soaps are drying on the shoe rack in my bedroom (courtesy of mom — thanks, mom for the great idea!) until they’re ready for use in about four weeks. I cannot wait to test them out to see how I like them!My goal is to open my own Esty shop selling these handmade soaps sometime this year so I’m utilizing every opportunity I have to practice, to create the best possible soaps in the marketplace! Stay tuned! I will be giving away free soaps in the near future!
I think the dilemma every conscious soaper faces at least once in his/her soap-making endeavors is whether or not to use a fragrance oil to scent the soaps. The obvious best choice for scenting the soap is through essential oils that are packed with the beneficial properties of a plant or a flower. They not only smell earthy and beautiful (my favorite is the warm scent of lavender … I can be around the scent forever!), they have so many other benefits only natural products can produce. Meanwhile, there are fragrance oils, which are, well, poor man’s essential oils, which don’t have the same benefits as their botanical cousins but can achieve the powerful and playful scents that drive all my senses crazy! 
Here is the all-natural soap I made – another gentle soap with olive, sweet almond, avocado, palm, and coconut oils. I used great quality lavender and bergamot essential oils. I used the wooden box as a mold, and used the cookie cutter for these heart-shaped soaps. 
I took the leftover soaps and made small balls, which I’ll later wrap like candies! 
