Cupcakes and Cream!

This is what I've been up to for the past few days. Cold Process cupcake soaps and my first cream soap. Both I'm super happy with. My cupcakes are scented with essential oils and I'm going to be calling them 'Resolution'. They'll be going in the Christmas gift baskets along with 'Nippy' :D There are some calendula petals in the base (although in the photographs the soaps are still in their molds) and some petals sprinkled on the top with a dusting of gold glitter.

I designed my own simple recipe for my first cream soap and couldn't wait for the rotting period before trying a scoop to bathe with today. Oh! How lovely cream soap is! And it should get better after the rotting period (don't like that word hehe, seems to be a word similar to curing for the cream soap world). I got a very thick, creamy, foamy lather with it that was so soft on my skin. The whole batch is tinted with a tiny but of purple and scented with waterlily fragrance oil and lavender essential oil. Strange combination I know but I was using up leftovers and the result is quite a pretty fragrance.

Anywho that's all for now, hope you had a good weekend, take care all :) xxx

Busy Bee!

Again I have been uber busy but I finally found time to write a little something here. I mainly wanted to post some pretty pictures but wanted to let people know about me selling my soaps. First off I do intend to sell...eventually. I don't want to sell anything that isn't absolutely fabulous ^_^ Because I do intend to sell in the future I've already begun to put in place the foundations I'm going to need when the time is right, all the paper stuff really. I was very excited yesterday when the letter box clacked with my certificate of incorporation dropping in (halfway through lotion making). Araseth's Apothecary is an incorporated company and ready to trade from now on, yay :D I still have tons to do, insurance, forms, safety assessments. But most of the paperwork can be done while I'm perfecting my products. Will save me a lot of time in the future. So I won't be trading until soonest next year. For now this blog is just about my learning experience and having fun :D

Onto the pictures ^_^ Yesterday I was busying myself with the Honeysuckle lotion and some Lavender massage bars. I am very pleased with them, scent, colour, texture and I've been levelling up my piping skills hehe.



You'll probably be seeing me soon, I'll be soaping Monday as soon as my new fragrances arrive :D

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!