The leaves are turning... and my thoughts are moving to Autumn

I have to say that I love Summer... I love the longer, brighter days, I love the sun, I love that everything feels warmer, happier, shinier even.  But, you know what, I love the change of seasons, feeling the colder mornings nip at your toes even though I'm still wearing my Birkenstocks.  And my thoughts move to Autumn and then on to Christmas.  Yep I said it, Christmas!!!

People have raged at me (tongue in cheek of course) on Facebook when I mentioned it ... but, you know what, soapers have to work a season ahead of where they are.  Like fashion designers or even educationalists, you have to work right now but you have to plan for the next season too.  I cure my soaps for a minimum of 6 weeks at a time which means that I have to work at least that far ahead of myself if I want to reach my targets.  So yes, in August, I began to think of the Autumn/Winter collection for this year.

Whilst on holidays, I had a fabulous jam (I am a big fan of toast and jam, it's an addiction)... this was Apricot & Vanilla and I immediately said that I just had to make a soap in this combination, it just screamed Autumn at me.

Below are videos of my Spiced Apricot Vanilla soap ... I made it using skin loving Sweet Almond & Golden Olive Oils with lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter. To this, I added Yogurt and Goatsmilk as they are natural sources of AHA's, vitamins and minerals and are so good for your skin. Then added White Kaolin clay which is one of the best clays for sensitive skin (but works really well with all skin types) and it helps to gently clarify and cleanse your skin. Finally I added Colloidal Oatmeal & Pure Silk to give that extra luxury touch!

The jam gave me the idea of the fragrance and I blended fresh luscious apricots and sweet juicy orange essential oil, gently spiced with cinnamon & nutmeg and drizzled with pure Tahitian vanilla .. its a warm, spicy, divine fragrance blend!

The colours were chosen to reflect to the fragrance and are also very Autumnal. I hope you like it!

Making Spiced Apricot Vanilla Handmade Pure Silk Soap:

http://youtu.be/LnJKx6nQcsQ

Cutting Spiced Apricot Vanilla Handmade Pure Silk Soap:

http://youtu.be/M6PalVf0Mp4

Here are the final shots of the cut soap courtesy of Titch Holland of http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch

I really hope you enjoy the soapy goodness... Spiced Apricot Vanilla is available now to pre-order on http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2203786-Spiced-Apricot-Vanilla-PreOrder-Cure-Date-1-October.html

Citrine Sun Pure Essential Soap

Citrine Sun was made as an antidote to the lack of sun happening this summer (at least in Ireland anyway!).  I wanted something sunny and bright and what better than the fabulous brightness given by fresh carrots.  Oh yep, I did say fresh carrots .. in soap? For sure, full of vitamins and antioxidants and pure skin goodness, why not? It's a mega skin treat.

Added to this, I also included organic Greek yogurt, goatsmilk, kaolin clay, Sweet Almond & Golden Olive Oils and lashings of creamy Cocoa Butter.  I've fragranced it with my own blend of essential oils which include May Chang, 5 Fold Orange, Bergamot, Lavender & Ylang Ylang and smells divine! And it's all sprinkled with Black Poppy seeds.

Below is a short video on how to make a carrot puree for soap - you replace your water with this when making your lye water:




And here is the Cutting video:




And, finally, the stills photos courtesy of Titch Holland of http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch:

 

Hope you enjoyed the videos and photos ... if you'd like to give a good home to this soap, check out the website at  http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2089431-Citrine-Sun-PreOrder-Cure-Date-23-July.html.

Sale!!

We're having a quick sale! It started on Friday, which was, if you hadn't noticed, Friday 13th ... which is usually supposed to be unlucky but I thought, why not make your own luck and so I thought, let's have a sale!

The sale is via a discount code .. just put the code FRIDAY13 as your voucher code, and you'll get 13% off your whole order (excluding P+P) ... so take advantage NOW cos this will finish on Monday at midnight (GMT). 

Order now, order often, use FRIDAY13 and be lucky!!!