Test Bars Cut

Soon after I woke this morning I went downstairs to see if my test batch was ready for cutting and it was ^_^ Here they are, can't wait to try them.

Gifts

Last night before I went to bed I was requested to make up a gift box of my products for my mum's boyfriend and today an identical one for her friend. That's the picture above, inside it has the love spell cupcakes, pumice spa soap, tangerine poppy soap, some bath melts and sugar scrubs. I also gave away one of my lavender lotions to him. To my mum's friend I gave one of the english rose lotions I made today. I've really gotten into this lotion making, I prefer the lavender to the rose, but they're both nice. I had much less trouble with decanting today hehe. I'm hoping this is going to be a good way to get feedback I'm excited to hear what they think and maybe some customers for the future if i decide to sell^_^

I also wanted to do some experimenting with my base recipe, so today I made a 1lb test batch of unscented soap. I added some gold mica and some gold glitter because I couldn't bare to leave him without any additions hehe. Took a picture of it, I think it looks pretty ^_^ so I put it here to share. This should be much bubblier than my normal recipe. I'll keep you updated, maybe take a picture of the lather. :)

First Lotion!

Have just finished making my first lotion. It's a basic lavender and I am so pleased with it. I am very surprised at how well it went and how much fun I had doing it.

The different stages are very interesting. Starting with your oil and water separately, then seeing them swirl together in a bright white cloud. Then seeing a frothy milk like mixture in my pot. Leading to the panic when I thought it was curdling! Stick blending like crazy as it cooled and my tension dissipated leaving a smooth creamy lotion :D The lavender fragrance oil filled the room reflecting my contented pride in my first lotion.

I used shea butter and peach kernel oil for this. Shea because I love how soft it is on my skin and the peach kernel because I've read how nourishing it is, also I love peaches ^_^ I followed the lotion tutorial on swiftcraftymonkey's blog. I've found reading her posts so informative and helpful. Her lotion tutorial explains everything you could want to know as a beginner. I used Germall Plus Liquid as my preservative. I didn't play around with any humectants or additives because I wanted to see what it was like making a very basic lotion first. Next time maybe tweaking and adding things to meet my preferences.

I had a lot of fun trying to decant it into my bottles hehe. Very messy job, I tried to pipe it in using those 'sandwich bags'. I managed to get quite a bit of it on my gloves and the table but in the end I got the hang of it and filled the bottles :) If you're making lotion for the first time I'd say have a piping bag to hand, even the disposable ones would have made it easier for me, because of the point.

I used some purple mica to add some colour, wish I had got a slightly deeper shade on hindsight. It's a very pale lilac but I'm pleased with it. It really didn't matter about the shade when I used it. I was so surprised at how great it felt on my skin. Very soft and smells gorgeous. I called my mum and said to her I can't believe I've been buying those mass produced creams and lotions all this time hehe.

In a way this was much more fun than when I made CP soap for the first time because there were no dangerous chemicals to worry about. It really was just all about fun. So I would say if you're at all interested in making your own bath and body products but worried about starting this is a very easy inexpensive way to dip your toe in and see if it's a hobby you'd enjoy.

I still love making CP soap but this is very enjoyable too and I think I will continue to make lotions. When I make my next supply order I'll be including jars so I can try a body butter ^_^

Tomorrow I'm going to be making more lotion can't wait! :D

Waiting on Supplies

This must be the hardest part of making soap and bath/body products. From the moment you press the confirm order button to the moment you hear the knock on the door. The excitement that builds up and then the 'miniplosion' of glee when you open up your parcels. Waiting for materials to arrive sometimes feels like the longest wait, especially when you've been working on and dreaming about new recipes for a while.

I've just ordered lots of materials, for the first time some lotion ingredients. I've never tried to make lotion but have been thinking about it for a while. I'm looking at making a lavender lotion first for bedtimes. I suffer from anxiety disorder and panic attacks making it hard to sleep sometimes, so I'm hoping this helps. I also ordered some jasmine FO. We used to have huge jasmine vines climbing all over our garden wall. When summer hit they burst into bloom, filling the hot night air with such a pretty, delightful scent. We don't have them anymore and I miss the fragrance that used to drift on the breeze into our house.

All these items won't be arriving until at least Wednesday though, I will update as soon as I've made my first lotions (hopefully same day). See you soon!

Tangerine Poppy Kitchen Soap

A few days ago I wanted to make a fresh smelling scrubby soap for the kitchen and I also wanted to try in the pot swirling. I'm very pleased with it, I didn't expect such a unique swirl, it reminds me of a catherine wheel firework. I used Tangerine FO and poppy seeds to exfoliate. I want to wait until this one has completely cured before I try it and I'm so excited. I added the poppy seeds a bit too early but it didn't seem to matter, they were meant to be added at trace. In case you want to try the same I used 8tsp of blue poppy seeds in a 2lb batch.

Whipped Soap

So today I made my first attempt at whipped soap to frost my Love Spell Cupcakes. I haven't decided on a piping set yet, so it's a little more messy than I would have liked but the experience was still fun with lots of giggles. I used the method found at . I used 50/50 Palm and Coconut Oil and no fragrance or colour. The bases are scented with Love Spell FO and coloured pink. I used poppy seeds as sprinkles. Overall I'm very pleased with the results, I thought it was going to go a lot worse. Can't wait for them to set ^_^

About Me :)

Hello I'm Araseth and I love to make soap and bath/body products. I'm still very new to this and wanted to share my progress with anyone that might be interested. I started making soap in January this year and was immediately hooked. There's nothing better than working on a recipe and seeing it come out great. I'm hoping that I'll be sharing recipes in the future.



It's not just soap I love and you might hear about my other hobbies; gaming, reading, cooking and creative writing. I hope you enjoy reading my blog :)