Sunday, January 31, 2010

Massage Hearts


This was such a fun project for a sunny Sunday afternoon. I couldn't make soap since I'm out of one particular oil, so I decided to make these fun hearts. They melt easily on contact with the skin so they make an excellent oil for massages. I've heard they can be used at the end of your shower too and that they moisturize wonderfully, especially if you give the oil a few moments to soak in. I scented these ones with chocolate. Our house smells great right now. Mmmm...off to get a chocolate...to eat!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Raspberry Vanilla and Chamomile Lavender Buttermilk

Here they are!





This is a lot of soap for me for one day! I need to make bigger batches as long as I'm at it. I just love all the soap sitting around. Now I need to find a place for them to cure...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Today's Batches

This is what I was busy doing this afternoon. I used my new heart molds and the new fish mold that I bought for the kids. I had a little mishap along the way and it sure did take a lot longer than it should have, but I'm quite pleased with the end result.


The pink soap is Raspberry Vanilla scented. I added red jojoba spheres to the soap and dusted with glitter. The heart molds are so cute! I did dust the "bottoms" with glitter so they'd be pretty for the pictures. :)




In the loaf molds, I have a new batch of Chamomile Lavender. I find this scent to be just fantastic and addictive. This time I used buttermilk instead of goats milk. I mixed in green and purple jojoba spheres and sprinkled them on top as well, with a dusting of glitter.




Both batches immediately got thick on me. I was moving along just dandy and they were about to a thin-medium trace and then boom...thick like pudding. Ornery they were today!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

To Brighten Your Day



This picture is not soap or bath and body related, but it does relate to my well-being. This is a planter that we had last year and this picture on my desk top is cheering me up as the clouds continue on. I hope it brightens your day a little too! :)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Boxed Up

Hey look! My first soaps to ever be boxed up and labeled! A small feat but exciting to me! These soapies are going to a couple of friends of our's. We have promised them soap from prior batches but those batches turned out to be duds. Not these ones. These two soaps, are my absolute favorites! I'm so excited to pass them along.

Welcome!

I've decided to move away from my very basic former blog, Holly's Soaps, and begin a new blog! I've added some of my favorite posts from the other blog to this one. It needs a little history to scroll through! I'm going to be working on my blog list and I invite you to follow me again over here. Thank you for coming over!

Small update: Blogger let me input many of those on my blog roll and then it just froze. So for those that aren't listed yet, I haven't left you out, I'm still trying...

Masque Update

It really was quite lovely, as far as facial masques go. I mixed the powder with some plain Greek yogurt since I have oily skin. Now, I can't say that I can really tell a difference, it's more of a time will tell kind of deal, but it did feel nice and smooth and creamy on my skin.

Here it is all mixed up and ready to go...

Strawberries and Coconut Cream Facial Masque

I came across this recipe last week and I knew I had to give it a try. It was so easy to put together. It has strawberry powder, coconut milk powder, pink kaolin clay, and honey powder. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try it later and when I do I'll mix mine with some greek yogurt. I'll let you know what I think!

Shampoo Bar Update

So far so good. The shampoo bars seems to be working nicely for my husband. If a shampoo/shampoo bar doesn't work for him, his head gets itchy after a day or so. He's been using it for three or four days now and all is good! Yippee! As for me, I'm using the bar as a facial soap. I can't say I'm seeing any changes in particular but I'm going to keep using it. The lather is not overly bubbly but more foamy and creamy. I rub it on my hands and at first it isn't much but once I'm rubbing away, then it gets all foamy and lovely. If it weren't so strong on the essential oils, I would be tempted to use it as a regular soap bar.


I'm still hoping to get to the facial masque soon. Busy weekend!

Figgy Milk Soap

This one would have been happy with a little more time to harden up before I cut it but I needed to get things cleaned up this morning. We're relisting our house and the realtor is coming to take pictures this afternoon. We can't have a soapy mess lying around. Depending on how they take the photos, we might generate some curiosity, with soap and cake stands sitting about. :)

This scent is so unique. I don't recall smelling a fig scent before. It's fresh, fruity, and somewhat perfume-y. It is a powerful scent as it seems very strong but I used it very lightly.




I'm still lovin' the jojoba beads throughout the soap. In the future I'd like to be a little more light-handed with the spinkles on top.

Now I need to plan and scheme what I'm going to do with my next batch!

Sprinkles n Twinkles Goats Milk Soap

Here is the unscented goats milk batch. I am in love with the sprinkles throughout the soap. It makes me happy! I was able to unmold the fig goats milk soap but it was still to soft to cut.


Small but Mighty

My pretty soap. :-)

Frosted Strawberry???

It's not exactly what I was going for. It smells great and it's pretty but the colors came out all wrong. If I was going for seafoam and peach I would have been quite happy. I tried to cut it but the soap was so cold in our basement that it was crumbling. I'll have to let it warm up some and then try again.



I'm On A Roll!

My recent batches are turning out so nicely. I've been addicted to soap-making for quite some time but now that I am doing strictly RTCP, I can hardly wait to start on my next batch. I have so many ideas to bring to life.

Rosemary Tea Tree Shampoo Bar - Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, and Coconut Oil, with parsley powder, and Rosemary, Tea Tree, Peppermint, and Lavender Essential Oils. It packs a punch!



Black Raspberry Vanilla - Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, and Avocado Oil, with ground apricot seeds. (Running out of daylight!)



(Unfortunately, out of daylight here.)



The two kinds together...

Chamomile & Lavender Goats Milk Soap





Ok, it's the weirdest thing. The original for this picture is not turned that way but it uploads that way!