Kokomo Joe - Pure Essential Soap

Here is another of my Pure Essential Soap collection ... this is called Kokomo Joe and it's made with Coffee infused with Coconut overnight, then liquidised and strained. Then I added in a whole fresh Banana, and Coconut milk and liquidised again.

I added the organic White Chocolate to my oils - Sweet Almond and Olive oils with Cocoa Butter and allowed everything to melt together.  To the lye water, I added my Silk, as always.  I used White Clay & Colloidal Oatmeal also because they are just stunning in soap and to them I added my fragrance of Coffee & Bourbon Vanilla CO2 extracts with a spiced background of warm Nutmeg.

As you'll see from the cut pictures, the soaps are a lovely coffee colour with lots of speckles from the vanilla pod seeds ... plus we sprinkled it with dried Coconut, just cos we could!

The soap is available for pre-order now on http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2032605-Kokomo-Joe-PreOrder-Cure-Date-25-June.html but order quickly cos there are only 7 left!

We made a video for the Making Of... and Cutting Of... this soap so I'm showing you those too!

Making of Kokomo Joe:

 Direct You Tube Link: http://youtu.be/Ies4xMeL404

Cutting of Kokomo Joe:

Direct You Tube Link: http://youtu.be/ZD9WA6LbxeQ

Cut Pictures (courtesy of Titch Holland at http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch)

 

 

 

Auburn Nectar - Irish Beer Handmade Soap

Auburn Nectar - I had a beautiful red tinged beer all ready and waiting to be turned into soap and the word "auburn" ran through my mind.  So she had to be made, my Auburn Nectar.

So what do you fragrance "auburn" with? It was easy, let your mind go free and see what happens... what happened was an infusion of mystical Amber, sensual Sandalwood & deep, dark Vetiver... and, oh my, how good does she smell? Very, very good is the answer.

Along with the sparkling Irish Wheat beer, I've used Kaolin Clay, Colloidal Oatmeal & Pure Silk... this is just one pretty auburn baby!

The soap is available on Pre-Order from http://www.iamhandmade.com/ourshop/prod_2010457-Auburn-Nectar-PreOrder-Cure-Date-4-June.html and will be fully cured by 4 June.

Huge thanks, as ever, to Titch from http://www.facebook.com/takenbytitch for her photos (make sure to like her page!)

 

You Tube Haul Review!

The ever lovely (and, I'm sure, ever fragrant due to his own soap making adventures) Mike from Mikemakessoap on You Tube and My Planet Earth Soap Company did a haul review video of the iamhandmade.com soaps!

It's kind of odd to see something that I made in my home in Ireland, in his home in Canada ... odd but VERY good indeed.  This made me so proud and me, Malky and Titch watched it all together and we were grinning from ear to ear.  Mike is so funny and so lovely and we gave him a big cheer at the end.

My style has changed somewhat since these and the labels have definitely changed since I got my new logo but the soaps are just as good (if not better!).

Oh and you'll see why the Castille soap, Fiore Rustico, is called Rustic ... it's very rustic looking in the video.  And, when you get to it, he means Water Lily... you'll see!

I thought you might like to see his video.





Make sure to check out his Facebook page and his You Tube channel too - he'll be opening his own store very soon and I'm dying to have a look see!!

Thank you so much Mike!! We love ya! xx

Paradise Found - Cutting Video

I thought you'd like to see the cutting video we made this evening for Paradise Found - this is the soap I made on Saturday using the faux funnel technique.

It worked out really well, I LOVE the colours, the glitter, the pattern and, above all, the fragrance is just amazing.

Titch and Malky were involved too... as you'll see.... enjoy!!!!



Here's the link if you can't see the video itself.. just click HERE.
The soap will be fully cured in early March and will be available online from www.iamhandmade.com.

Cutting Asian Pear & Lily

This is a new fragrance I bought just after Christmas, with the Spring/Summer range in mind.  When I opened the bottle, I thought "oh WOW, that's YUMMMM" and, after making it into a soap, I'm still thinking the same thought.  This is just a lovely lovely fragrance, neither too fruity nor too floral but a hugely complimentary blend of both.

The fragrance is described as a fresh, fruity floral fragrance with orange and tangerine enhanced by mouthwatering fruits including apple, pear, pineapple and peach supported by a heart of freesia, rose, jasmine, osmanthus and plum all resting on a sensual base of white musk, precious woods and dry fruits.  It is just delicious.

I worked with the faux funnel swirl again, I think I may be addicted! I wanted to get the colours of Spring/Summer in there but wanted to not use green again as I feel I've used it a lot lately.  So I chose yellow, white and pink.  The pink faded a little and turned into a peachy pink but that's ok, it's still beautiful.. actually maybe more suitable to the fragrance than a too bright pink.

I also changed up my formulation a little to include more cocoa butter (as I love it in everything) and more olive oil and take out the avocado ... I just fancied a change to be honest.  Dying to see how it works out once fully cured but the suds test I do at the end of this video shows there's no problem with the lather, that's for sure.

So here is the cutting video of Asian Pear & Lily - I really hope you enjoy it!



The soap will be fully cured by the end of February 2012 and will be available on www.iamhandmade.com.  Still photographs will be available on Facebook shortly and I'll post some here too.  Enjoy!!!

Cashmere

If you're a regular reader, you might have seen this before but I love this soap so much I'm showing off pictures of it again! 


This is Cashmere, it's one of our best selling fragrances, it is described as a blend of essences of Moroccan jasmine, lily of the valley and bergamot with warm undertones of sandalwood, amber and musk. It is such a beautiful, elegant fragrance that is not too floral with a warm basenote. 


We've used chocolate brown swirled with soft vintage pink and golden soap to recreate the luxurious feel of cashmere silk against your skin. This will be cured in February 2012 and will be available online at http://www.iamhandmade.com.

 

Cherry Blossom

I thought I'd show you my new Cherry Blossom soap ... I made this last week and you might have already seen it on one of my recent videos.  It's made with Sweet Almond, Avocado & Golden Olive oils with tons of Cocoa Butter and, of course, wild silk (can't be without it, as you know!).

Cherry Blossom's have huge significance for me ... they were my Mother's favourite trees and, when she passed, we planted one in the garden in her memory.  We used to have a huge one in the garden of our old house and, when I was a kid, I used to play "wedding" in the shower of petals from it!

Anyway, here are the pictures of Cherry Blossom... I really hope you like it.  The soap will be fully cured and available on www.iamhandmade.com from 13 February.

Cherry Blossom & Kismet

I managed to get into the kitchen for long enough yesterday evening to cut the two loaves of soap you will have seen in the last video ... and then I made a video about them! So here are Cherry Blossom (a floral bouquet of cherry blossom, regal iris, jasmine, rose, lily of the valley & soft freesia on a base of musk & deep amber) coloured with pale pink, pale green and white and Kismet (a blend of patchouli, orange, lemongrass, lavendin, pine, gardenia, sandalwood and musk).

If you watched my other videos, you'll know I was worried that Kismet would be full of mega air holes as the soap set up so quickly on me - this one's a mover (and I didn't use any water discount or anything, full water, cool temperatures etc), but it worked out really well .. a couple of air holes here and there, but hey, don't they help the soap to breathe right?

For the cherry blossom, I wanted to make something that reminded me of my Mother ... not old fashioned or anything but as cherry blossoms were her favourite tree, I just wanted to make something that brought me the feelings I have when I remember her.. hope that doesn't sound to sappy!

Anyway, enough writing... here is the new video.. enjoy!



If you can't view the video directly here, the direct link is http://youtu.be/42Z5psWn2t4. 

Another Video of New Soaps

I've been in a soap making frenzy this last few days and, as I was finishing up my Pink Sugar/Vanilla & The Browning Effect video, I showed a few more soaps I'd made as well.. two lots already cut up and two lots just out of the fridge and waiting a day or two to be cut.  I thought you'd like to see so here you go:



Enjoy! I'm hoping to cut the other two logs this afternoon (once the kitchen is free) and then I might take another video of them too.  Here's the You Tube link if you can't see the video, for any reason http://youtu.be/Z19CDfau7MU.

Incredible Review

Firstly, I, yet again, have to apologise for my absence on the blog.  The Christmas season is so incredibly busy and I'm working very late every night for the last few weeks just making, making, making, labelling, wrapping, boxing, posting, making ... well, you know how it is.  


I'm SO not complaining, I'm really chuffed that people want to purchase my products, it really just makes me so happy.

I received this incredible review on my site and I just wanted to show it to you... I was so chuffed and rather blushing to say the least.


"Celine has totally restored my faith in handmade because she is a total perfectionist...no where else will you get the whole package...I love Celine's Double Whipped Body Butter, have loved Pink Grapefruit and Pomegranate is amazing!! One thing I would like to make clear is I have psoriasis and using Celine's body butter along with her fab soaps really do soothe my skin in a way coal tar and other dangerous lotions and injections I use never did! Her beautiful marbled soaps come in the most beautiful packaging and make affordable luxury gifts. It's a joy to receive an I am Handmade order cos even the packaging is so beautiful you don't want to open it!! No order is too small and Celine is happy to source your fav oils and make bespoke items just for you!!! Thanks Celine xxx"


But I have to say, No, Thank YOU Cathy and thank you to everyone who's bought my soaps, scrubs, body butter and lip butters.  I wouldn't be here without you.