Zingara - Pure Essential Soap

With our Pure Beer soap collection creating a LOT of interest, and due to the things I learnt from working with beer and other additives, I decided I wanted to work on another collection of soaps.. this one is called the Pure Essential Soap collection.

Pure Essential Soap is going to be a collection (number as yet undetermined) of 100% natural soaps, all with additives that are proven to perform for your skin, with natural colours and all fragranced with pure essential oils.  This was quite a challenge for me as, any regular reader will know that I LOVE my colours and I'm, what's known in the trade, as a complete FOHO (FO is short for fragrance oil and ho is... well, ya know).  To move to work only with natural colours and essential oil (or EO) blends was a bit of a leap for me ... but YAY to that! Again, if you're a regular reader, you'll know I love a good challenge! I need to always push myself to do something different, something new, something a little out of my comfort zone... otherwise things get a little samey, a little too easy.

So how did I go about planning the Pure Essential Soap collection? In the intial stages, I thought "what would I like to see for sale .. if I could make any soap but within the 100% natural boundary, what would I want".  That's always my own personal starting point.  Then, once I had a few thoughts under my belt, the iamhandmade.com team had a meeting ... well, ok.. me and Titch and Malky were driving down to Cork one day and we did some brainstorming in the car but hey, that's a meeting right? We threw around more ideas and names and what might be added and came up with a plan, at least four solid ideas for soaps and ideas for more.  I like that type of planning, it makes my brain go fizzing in all sorts of directions.

So ... the next set of blog posts will be about the Pure Essential Soap collection, the first being Zingara.

Zingara is made with Sweet Almond & Golden Olive Oils along with tons of creamy Cocoa Butter.  We then added Goatsmilk, Pink and White Clays, Colloidal Oatmeal & Pure Silk.

As I'm using only natural colours and fragrances, I decided to try out two colours (yeah, why do one when you can do two?).  The bottom layer of the soap is coloured using Pink Clay which came out a really lovely deep dusky pink and the top layer is coloured pale yellow using Tumeric - this was added to the soap at trace so it's given a lovely light speckle to the finished soap.  The line dividing both layers is my VERY FIRST Cocoa Line which I actually hadn't planned but then, once the pink layer was poured, I decided to just go for it.  I was a little nervous as I know that the soap can split along this line if the cocoa is put on too thickly so I was very careful.  Hubs was fascinated by this and watched over me doing this.  I wanted to shadow the use of this cocoa again in the soap so decided, at the end of making it and making the textured tops, to dust the cocoa, very sparingly, on the top of the soap, once made.

Whilst I use white clay in almost every soap now (great for all skin types, even sensitive and dry, and adds a lovely glide to the soap .. plus its great for use as a shaving soap too), I hadn't ventured very much into coloured clays until I started using them with the Pure Beer Collection.

Pink Clay is excellent for dry, sensitive & mature skin types and is just a lovely colour.  It has a softening affect that refines the skin texture & provides hydration through moisturising properties. This delicate clay has firming and toning elements that improve connective tissue so it is perfect for more sensitive skin types.

I really wanted to use Goatsmilk in the soap as I'm a huge fan of it's skin loving benefits.  It's packed with vitamins A, B6, B12 and E and is a wonderful natural emollient. The high content of capric, caprylic and caproic acids act as a natural AHA, exfoliating deal skin cells and balancing the pH of the new, healthy skin underneath.

When we were discussing colours and fragrances, I'd just taken delivery of stunning 5 Fold Orange and a Pink Grapefruit essential oils.  I just had to use them.  To deepen the fragrance and soften it, I added the Bourbon Geranium (which, any who buys essential oils lately, knows how expensive it's become) and I anchored the whole blend with some Dark Indonesian Patchouli - one of my favourite essential oils, it adds a depth and warmth to a blend.

So, do you want to see some pictures? Oh yeah!!! Here you go....

Zingara is available to pre-order now online, http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2027227-Zingara-PreOrder-Cure-Date-13-June.html, so make sure to order as soon as possible before these are sold out.  

Fiore Rustico Pure Castille Soap

I was totally inspired by the lovely Amanda of Lovin Soap who recently showed pictures of her castille soap - I asked if she would think of doing a tutorial on this and, by the end of the day, there was one and dedicated to me! Speedy Gonzales!

So, what else could I do but go and make one myself.  Castille soap is a soap made from 100% Olive Oil - no other oils are added, it's pure olive all the way.  It's excellent for all skin types but especially good for sensitive and dry skin.  The only drawback to castille is that it can take anywhere up to a full year to cure to an amazingly good bar of soap.  No matter, I thought, I'll work on my patience levels and just find a place to hide it and forget about it for at least 6 months.

The only olive oil I had in the house were my big 3 litre bottles of Olive Pomace - as soapmakers know, pomace can speed trace which isn't always what you'd like so, hence I had some left as I've not used it recently. 

Amanda suggested a steep water discount - she uses equal quantities of lye to water and this is unusual but helps the batter come to trace far sooner than normal (castille is notorious for taken a long time to trace).  The only other additions I made was Silk (as ever, you know what I'm like) and an essential oil blend of Sweet Orange, May Chang, Lavender, Patchouli, Geranium & Ylang Ylang ... it is divine! I added a little titanium dioxide because my pomace olive oil is a rather vile green and I wanted to at least get a creamy pale green.

So I weighed out my lye and water, equal quantities and mixed - this solution is more caustic than when full water is used (due to the lesser amount of water) so I was extremely careful not to splash it when stirring and to wear my safety specs.

I weighed out my oil and mixed my titanium dioxide and blended it into my olive oil.  I then weighed out my essential oil blend and poured that into the oil also. 

I took some time to line the mould and then I was ready to mix.  I poured my lye into my oils and it didn't take too long to reach trace - actually, I erred too much on the side of caution and I stick blended a little too much I think as I have some air bubbles in the final soap.  The pomace certainly speeded up trace as did the water discount and both certainly helped the soap to heat in the mould (the TD will have worked towards this too).  I managed to get it all in the mould and texture the top but I'd rather I had stopped stick blending a little earlier. 

The soap heated HUGELY - I have to say it was the hottest soap I've ever made and I had to put it in my soaping fridge overnight.  I took it out this morning and left it in the curing room for the full day to come back to room temperature til I cut it. 

I cut it this evening - it was hugely solid, almost felt like a very well cured soap in fact.  It took some effort to cut it and the bottoms of it are rather crumbly too.  I probably should have cut this this morning but I couldn't have, no time sadly. 

I can see in some of the pictures that it did gel in part but you'd have to look carefully at it - I HATE the crumbly bum but I do love the smoothness of it and I am rather partial to the creamy look of it.  I ADORE the top though! I washed my hands with an offcut and it bubbles like mad - what was that about slimey castille soap?

So I'm thinking, next time not quite a steep discount, and soap cooler, I'll probably still use pomace but I'll stick blend a tinch less.  Otherwise, I'm really happy with this.

Oh .. the name? Fiore Rustico is Italian (the olive oil connection) for Rustic Flowers ... the rustic for the way it's cut and flowers to try and illustrate the essential oil blend. 

So.. here is Fiore Rustico Pure Castille Soap... enjoy!

Beautifully textured tops

Rustic cut soap!

Ever so smooth soap - you can just vaugely see the gelling in the centre 

Beautiful creamy fragranced rustic soaps for sensitive skin

Huge thanks to Amanda for giving me inspiration - I do wonder if this really needs the 6 month cure time as it feels so hard already ... any thoughts and comments would be welcomed!

Soaperstar Launch our new Sheer Luxury Body Butters!!!

Today we are delighted to announce the launch of our new Sheer Luxury Body Butters!

Our new Body Butters are lightly whipped to create a soft and creamy butter that glides onto your skin, giving you that silky sensual feel whilst gently fragrancing your skin. 

We use a blend of the highest quality Shea Butter, Organic Coconut Oil and a mix of both Cocoa Butters - the creamy white coloured version plus the dark unrefined organic version (a chunk of which smells exactly like pure chocolate!).

We add oils and whip carefully in order to create a light, airy, creamy butter that will hydrate, soften and protect your skin. 

So what is different about Soaperstar Sheer Luxury Body Butters? They contain 100% butters/oils which give you 100% protection, hydration and softness and treat your skin to the total luxury it deserves!

There are several fragrances available including some using natural Essential Oils .. check out the images below for more details:

 Our Belgian Chocolate Sheer Luxury Body Butter blends the best quality Shea Butter and Organic Coconut Oil with a divinely decadent milk chocolate aroma, wonderfully rich and creamy and reminiscent of the deepest, smoothest Belgian Chocolate that money can buy!

The fragrance will softly linger during the day, bringing you all the pleasure of chocolate without all the calories!

 Our Citrus Sunshine Sheer Luxury Body Butter blends the best quality shea butter and organic coconut oil with a sunshine blend of essential oils including Mandarin, Tangerine and Litsea Cubeba (May Chang).

Essential Oil fragrance elements:

Mandarin - Sweet, citrus aroma with slight floral undertones

Tangerine - Citrus fresh, tangy yet sweet aroma

Litsea Cubeba (May Chang) - Fresh, slightly sweet but strong lemon aroma

This is such a warm, sunshiney, happy and uplifting fragrance, perfect to wake your morning up!

Our Rose Geranium & French Lavender Sheer Luxury Body Butter blends the best quality shea butter and organic coconut oil with a wonderfully floral blend of Rose Geranium and French Lavender Essential Oils.

Essential Oil fragrance elements:

Rose Geranium - A green, sweet fragrance that be sometimes rosy and sometimes softly minty

French Lavender - Fresh, clean and floral/herbaceous aroma with woody undertones

Rose Geranium is a particularly good choice for more mature and is soothing to dry and sensitive skin. It is also thought to stimulate sensuality!

French Lavender is a healing oil which can help to prevent scarring and is good for all skin types, in particular dry, sensitive skin. It is particularly good for sunburn.

This is very soft, floral/herbal fragrance - calming and soothing with a wonderful perfume that will softly linger on your skin throughout the day.

 Our Silky Cocoa Butter Sheer Luxury Body Butter blends the best quality shea butter, organic coconut oil and dark unrefined cocoa butter (which smells like a hunk of chocolate!) with a smooth, seductive cocoa butter fragrance, rich but light and delicately chocolate-y.

The fragrance will softly linger on your skin during the day - you'll smell so sweet and sensual!

Our Vanilla Caramel Sheer Luxury Body Butter blends the best quality shea butter, organic coconut oil and dark unrefined cocoa butter (which smells like a hunk of chocolate!) with a fragrance that is reminiscent of vanilla, rich and creamy with tiny hints of cinnamon and deep, rich, luxurious caramel.

The fragrance will softly linger on your skin during the day - you'll smell so sweet and delicious!

If you are interested in trying out our new Sheer Luxury Body Butter, check out our Soaperstar Store.