Two new Soaperstar soaps - introducing Twilight Haze & Good as Gold!!

Yesterday I decided to make two new Soaperstar soaps and here they are!  The one pictured on the left is a modern, understated style soap and is called Twilight Haze.  It is made with a two clear SLS free soaps (which are not crystal clear); one coloured with two different types of dark purple/red mica (a naturally occuring mineral used for cosmetic purposes) which produced the darker purple colour - the other soap was a light purple colour and the final soap in the blend is goatsmilk which adds a high degree of moisturisation for your skin.  It is fragranced with a unisex fragrance blend of pomegranates, raspberries, plums & pink peppercorns on a base of frankincense, patchouli & dark spicy woods - dark, spicy and wonderfully fragrant which was designed as a unisex soap.

The soap pictured on the right is our Good as Gold soap and is a fabulous blend again of two clear soaps - one coloured orange and one coloured yellow but with two different gold micas added giving a fabulous golden hue, the final soap is a goatsmilk base which is so moisturisig to your skin (gentle enough for use on your face).  This is fragranced with a blend of sweet floral nectarines & juicy mandarins complimented by peach & plum on a creamy vanilla base - and I am not kidding you, it is AMAZING! I just love it, so fragrant and, if a smell can be juicy, it's juicyyyyyyy!! 

Both soaps lather fantastically well and, with the added Apricot Kernel Oil and added moisturising factors, they really are a luxury treat for your skin.  So, if you like the modern, understated elegance of our Twilight Haze Soap or the bright, glittering juicyness of our Good as Gold soap, you will not lose out! Both of these soaps will be sold via our new online soap which I hope to open in the next few weeks!

As ever, if you like these soaps, please feel free to leave me a comment - I really hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. 

New Soap Queen Video and it's not about soap!!!

Anne Marie has produced a new Soap Queen video ... which isn't about soap! It's all about lip balms and I'm dying to see it... have your sneak peak look here!


Lip Balm from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

New Soaperstar labels!!

I have been working on designing my labels for my soaps - I wanted something simple but effective, that would carry through a whole range of products where you could recognise the name as it carries through, but allows the differences in the products to stand out and that were an indication of what my products are about (colour, fun, style, quality).  So I'm introducing my latest soap with it's new packaging and label - I'd be very happy to hear what you think of these (as you know, I love feedback!).

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Chocolate!!!!!!!!!

Today I decided to go right to the heart of things.. and by that I mean, something that I love with all my heart which is... chocolate!! I mean, who doesn't love chocolate??!! This is my chocolate soap wonderfully fragranced with a sweet heady chocolate fragrance oil and, keeping with the whole chocolate theme, I've added cocoa powder mixed with cocoa butter! It smells incredible!!! This will definitely be part of our new Soaperstar range! Online shop opening soon!

If you like this, please feel free to leave me a message! Remember you can leave me your email address and I will contact you with updates regarding the opening of our new store.

Customer Waiting List/Contact List

Good evening everyone - hope you're all having a great week so far.

Given I've been teasing you for a few weeks with pictures of some of our new range of soaps, I thought it might be a great idea to set up a list for those people who read here who would be interested in being contacted when the new Soaperstar Store opens for business.  We hope to open in the approximately 6 - 8 weeks and I'd be more than happy to contact you about the store and our products.  So, if you'd like to be added to our customer waiting/contact list, please leave me a comment with your full name and email address and I'll be in touch! Thanks!

European Directory of Soap & Cosmetic Makers

Elizabeth from Gracefruit has launched her newest project, The European Directory of Soap and Cosmetic Makers.  The directory offers an opportunity for makers of soaps and all cosmetic produts to meet with clients and for clients to be able to find artisan producers in their own countries.  It isn't specifically just for soap and cosmetic products but includes candles, home fragrancing, hair care and all bath & body products.  She hopes to make it the premier point for sellers and buyers. 

I have signed up as a member of the directory and you will be able to find my details there.  As soon as our shop is set up, I'll be linking it on the site. 

So, whether you're a seller or a buyer, please check out http://www.soapmakers.eu/ for information!

Cosmetic Labelling

Well, this week I promised myself I'd have all my paperwork finished - however, that was easier said than done! EU legislation is rigorous around the whole area of cosmetic labelling - given soap is considered a cosmetic, everything I produce must meet the regulations.  I totally agree with this of course, I want my customers to be very aware of what they are purchasing (I am planning an ingredients information page on my site, when I get it set up and running) - it's so important that people are aware of what they are putting ON their bodies as much as they are now becoming so aware of what they are putting IN their bodies.  All my soaps will be vegetarian friendly, not tested on animals (unless you consider my husband an animal that is!) and all will have added oils or butters and an extra moisturising factor in order to be as skin friendly (skin loving, skin adoring, all about the skin!) as possible.  You can rest assured that if I don't use it, you won't be - you won't be able to even buy it because I certainly wouldn't be selling anything to anyone that I wouldn't use myself on a daily basis.  So correct (and legal) labelling is really vital to us and to our customers. 

However, saying all that, in order to label fully, there is a huge amount of work to do in order to make sure you're doing it the right way.  Firstly you have to carefully list your formula, including all additions.  Each ingredient has an special INCI name - INCI means International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients - which lists all products with either it's Latin or scientific name.  For instance, instead of thinking manufacturers are really snobs because they write Water as Aqua, they are, in fact, legally obligied to do so. 

So, once you've written up your formula, then you must work out the percentages of each ingredient, then list the INCI name for each one.  Once you've done all that, then you know what is in your product, at what percentages and their correct legal name.  Only then can you list your ingredients, highest percentage ingredient on down (just like for food labelling). 

For every ingredient, you must also keep on file a Material Safety Data Sheet and show your calculations for any allergens that may be present in your product.  When I say allergens, I mean some substances in some fragrances (including both fragrance and essential oils) that occur within those fragrances - you may have seen something like Linalool or Limonene listed, these are the potential allergens.  Now, the reality is that they are in such a tiny, infintesimal amounts that few people would ever have a reaction (for instance, I have very sensitive skin and have never had a problem with them). However, again, where people want to know this information, it is vital for us to be able to provide it to them. 

So you can see just how much work goes into preparing all the legal information required to protect our customers - all hugely important to us but it all takes time. 

The great thing is that, once I have a final listing of ingredients, I get to design my labels which is really great fun! And today I have managed to finalise my design and I'm really happy with it - it's the right size and shape and colour(s) and I really really love them.  So, even if the paperwork is a big workload, though utterly necessary, I do get to make lovely things from them so I'm happy!!!

Keep watching this space as I hope to post pics of a new soap tomorrow.  Oh, and remember, it's Friday night!!! Yay!!!!

Another Soaperstar Soap!

Today I made another soap - which will form part of the new Soaperstar range - and I thought I'd give you a sneak preview.

The unique blend of our luxury, handcrafted glycerine soap, skin softening Golden Jojoba Oil, special moisturising factors & our special fragrance oil, a fresh, floral bouquet with fruity accents reminiscent of red raspberries based on a warm wood-musk foundation, will leave your skin feeling refreshed, revitalised & luxuriantly soft. 

I really love the soft colour with this soap and the fragrance is sweet and lovely - a must have soap for sure!!!

A Trio of New Body Butters/Creams!

Today is my birthday and I celebrated by having a half day from work, and then spending the afternoon (after a nice lunch courtesy of my lovely hubby!), making new body butters/creams.  The cream on the top is made with Coconut Oil, Mango Butter and Walnut Oil (an oil particularly good for dry and sensitive skin) and is scented with Pomegranite Noir - a sexy blend of pomegranates, raspberries, plums and pink peppercorns, with frankincense, patchouli and spicy dark woods.  The cream on the left looks rather a murky brown but is, in fact, a lovely pale green (not sure what happened to the colour in the picture!) - this is because it's made from Unrefined Avocado Oil (the darkest green oil you'll ever see), Avocado Butter and Shea Butter and is fragranced with Patchouli, Sandalwood and Jasmine fragrance oil (reminiscent of hippy days!) and, finally, the cream on the left is made from Shea Butter, Coconut Oil and Babassu Oil (particularly excellent for dry and sensitive skin) and is scented with Amber Lavendar fragrance oil - really beautiful. 

Each of the creams has an added moisturising factor called Lamesoft which is an Ecocert registered ‘green’ biolipid derived from 100% natural and renewable materials.  It is a mild and gentle additive that is designed to increase skin moisturisation; of course, they all contain the recommended level of preservative to ensure that the creams are fully beneficial to the skin and no baddies survive to do anything horrid!!

My house smells so good right now and my skin is going to lap all these wonderful ingredients!!! A very nice birthday present to myself!

If you'd like to comment on this item, please feel free.