Off on Hols!!!

Today we're off on holidays down to the most wonderful place on the Earth - we're going to West Cork (for those that don't know, it's on the South West coast of Ireland) which is the place we (hubby and I) feel most suits us; have you ever found a place where you feel you totally belong? Where you feel you can breathe properly for the first time in a long time? That's it for us! In fact, we love it so much our long term plans are to move there permanently. In due course though.. well, depends on if we win the Lottery of course!!!

I'll be back online sporadically and posting pictures (if I can - the net isn't so reliable there at times as we've to rely on the local pub's internet connection!).

See you soon!!!

A Simply Stunning Trio of Creams!

Well today was a very very busy day. In between getting ready for holidays, I was making three different creams to take away with me. In the picture below, you can see my Mocha Chocca Maca Butter at the back - this is made from a fantastically scented blend of Coffee Butter, Macadamia Nut Oil and Belgian Chocolate fragrance oil. It has added moisturising factors and, as with all of my creams, contains a small percentage of preservative to ensure it stays fresh and wonderful to use for at least 12 months.

The second one, on the right hand side, is my Vanilla Tahitian Body Butter which has the most wonderful Monoi De Tahiti Oil, Mango and Shea Butter - it is thick and unctious and just smells so wonderful. To enhance the natural scent of the Monoi De Tahiti Oil, I've added some Tonka Bean fragrance oil (which gives a scent like a mix between vanilla and caramel - can you smell it now?!). Again it has an additional moisturising factor added which is an Ecocert registered ‘green’ biolipid derived from 100% natural and renewable materials. Added at 3%, it gives a perceivable difference in skin smoothness and softness.

Finally I made a very simple cream with added ground peach stone kernels - this is called Simple Scrubber and feels wonderful. Made from Olive Squalane, an oil derived from Olive Oil, it prevents moisture loss and restores the skin's suppleness and flexibility and is ideal for anti-aging products. It also includes Orchid Complex which is derived from the orchid flower infused in coconut oil. The Orchid flower has regenerative, protective and moisturising properties, it helps fight free radicals and may help reduce the appearance of fine lines. Ground peach stone kernels are added to provide an exfoliant for the face.

I cannot wait to try all of these - my house smells simply divine at the moment!!!

Earl Grey Tea anyone?

This was the second soap I made today as I received a freebie fragrance oil from the wonderful Sensory Perfection! It was Earl Grey Tea and, as my hubby loves it so much, I decided to make one for him. It's coloured with Emerald mica and Sparkle Gold mica and has added jojoba oil and moisturising agent... it smells wonderful, very much of bergamot and my husband thinks that it looks like metallic stone. This is coming on holidays with us to!

Belgian Chocolate Swirled Soap

Hi all, I'm back and today I was mostly making soap! (I did spend some time in the beauticans though, nice pedicure and manicure later, and I was ready for soapmaking). This is the first one I made and I wanted to practice my swirling technique. This is goatsmilk soap with added jojoba oil and moisturising agent and it's wonderfully, richly scented with Belgian Chocolate fragrance oil. It's smells like a chocolate shop in my house right now! I cannot wait to try this - I deliberately left the bars large as they're coming on hols with me this weekend and I wanted to make sure they lasted for the whole holidays. I cannot wait to try these out! Hubby loved them so much he even licked one!!!

Mini hols for the weekend

No soap making this weekend - we're off to London for the weekend to visit the Mother in Law and see some friends. Up at stupid o'clock this morning (hardly worth going to bed to be honest) to get the earliest flight. I'm hoping all go smoothly and there are no delays - I get a little stressed travelling. However, the good news is that I'm on hols from today for a whole month and so will get back to soaping and cream making next week. Sorry no pics for this weekend, I miss putting my pics up here, I like to see them myself (big headed girl that I am!).

New Logo!

With huge, enormous and very long lasting thanks to my fantastically talented friend, Rebecca, I introduce the new Soaperstar logo!!! I wanted something really colourful that says something about my soaps... which are all about the colour, quality and fragrance. Rebecca, you are an utter Godsend!!!

Ocean Breeze Soap

Happy Sunday everyone! I was awake at 7.30 am and dreaming of soap all night, I had to get up and make some! I wanted to do a sea themed soap and so made Ocean Breeze. I'm afraid the photos don't show the colour up as well as they should - it's a mixture of five different colours, dark blue, mid blue, pastel blue, lime green and turquoise. I also used sprinklings of silver mica to give an idea of the sparkle on water when the sun shines on it. I added golden jojoba oil to enrich the moisturisation and it is beautifully scented with an ocean fragrance oil. All so reminiscent of the sea, the swell of the waves and that heady natural sea spray that casts a fine veil of mist over you.

Tahitian Body Butter & Carrot Chamomile Cream!

I spent the day making more creams! I so enjoy making them, and my skin feels so much better since I started using my own products.

The cream on the left is a facial moisturiser designed for dry and sensitive skin (also suitable for a more mature skin type) and is my Carrot Chamomile Cream. It's made using a Chamomile infusion, Carrot Tissue Oil, Orchid Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil and Avocado Butter - the cream was formulated to suit a more mature skin type (my own in fact!!)

The cream on the right is my Tahitian Body Butter; this is made using Monoi de Tahiti oil, Shea Butter, Orchid Oil and Chamomile infusion and is a thick cream which leaves your skin fantastically scented and so so soft.

New Soap Queen Video Tutorial

Anne-Marie from Bramble Berry has a new tutorial video out and I thought I'd show you here ... interesting stuff! I've searched for soap paper but cannot find it in Europe - if anyone knows where I might be able to get some, please post me details!

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Bittersweet Soapy Saturday

Morning all... sorry I've been quiet lately. My husband works as a movie extra and is currently shooting The Tudors so we're both up at stupid o'clock every morning so I can drive him to the studios - normally he does all the household stuff but I've been up to my eyes in this week as he's working 14 - 16 hour days all week. Today is also a day of rememberance for us so we're trying to keep busy but still spend all day together.

However! Today is Saturday (yay!) and it's a day of rest (after the supermarket shop that is). My soapy plans for today are making soap (how did you guess?!) and a face cream for me... the soap I'm thinking of an Ocean theme today, blues and greens I think and the face cream will have carrot tissue oil in it as it's very good for the more .... mature shall we say?.... skin.

Pics to be posted later! Happy Saturday folks.