Soaping Saturday ... and Monday!

This weekend was a Bank Holiday here and well needed for me as my full time job has been so exhausting lately.  The thing I most wanted to do this weekend was soap! I find it relaxing and therapeutic which is exactly what I needed after my hective last month. 

So, I'm going to treat you with pics of not one but two soaps! Both of these are remakes of other ones I've done but I wanted to design something new for them.  Both fragrances are particular favourites and I knew I wanted to use them both again so the plan was to make a re-do of Cashmere Silk & Lemongrass Verbena. 

Lemongrass Verbena:
The previous soap was pretty but it didn't turn out, design wise, the exact way I wanted.  Here is the original image:

It's a very nice soap and it smells amazing and it was soooo lovely on your skin but, looks wise, I wanted something else for it. 

I've developed a new soap recipe because I wanted to include more Sweet Almond Oil into my recipe because it's such a lovely skin loving oil.  So my new soap includes Sweet Almond Oil, Olive Oil & Avocado Oil with Cocoa Butter & Pure Silk ... an incredible combo for your skin.  I wanted to oooomph the fragrance up too so I included Lemongrass essential oil and May Chang essential oil (which is incredibly citrusy in a fizzy sort of a way) with Lemon Verbena fragrance oil.  It is now a zesty citrusy mega lemony ooooomph of a soap! I used the original colours again (because when you think Lemongrass, you do think yellow/green and white don't you?).  So, this is what I came up with:

Side and Top View

Lots of citrusy swirls

In this shot you can see the lightly swirled tops

Had to have glitter didn't it?!

Lemongrass Verbena, mega zest in a bar

I far prefer this design and I think it matches the zingy fragrance much more!

Cashmere:
The second soap I worked on this weekend was also a re-do of one I'd already made before but the design was definitely not sufficient enough for my tastes.  I also changed the name from Cashmere Silk to Cashmere ... all my soaps have silk added to them so why put it in the name too? Sort of guilding the lily really isn't it?

Here is the soap as was:

It's lovely and it was an incredible soap but, again, the design was a little lacking (plus the size has increased).  I've kept the fragrance the exact same though as it's just so lovely; it's described as having essences of Moroccan jasmine, lily of the valley and bergamot with warm undertones of sandalwood, amber and musk - it smells like a very top end perfume, not too floral with a warm basenote.  I adore it and it's soooo good in a body butter too - a real lingerer (which I love!). 

I wondered what sort of colours to remake this one as so I Googled the word "Cashmere" and found a lovely image of a row of cashmere scarves in the colours I used below.. they just said luxury to me and I knew I had to use them.  I used the same recipe as the Lemongrass Verbena because it works so well and is just so nice on your skin.  So, here is the new, improved Cashmere:

Side & Top View with glitter!

Top view .. I swirled the tops lightly

Yes, glitter ... of course!

Swirly layers of creamy goodness

Top & Side View

Lots of soap - the yellow colour is Gold Mica and you can see

the glisten in the slices when you hold them up close

Cashmere - an incredibly scented soap

So, you can see I had a busy weekend .. but a relaxing one that I just loved so so so much.  I adore designing new looks and thinking of something different - I guess I just love the experimental side too much!!!

If you're interested in any of these soaps (one is on pre-order already, without the buyer even seeing it!) they'll be fully cured by mid July. 

Calling all Soapers... Do you Blog or Facebook?

I love love love love love love and, did I mention that I love, blogs? And most especially soap blogs? And most especially of all, soap blogs with pictures that are updated often? And did I say ones with pictures?

So, if you blog about your soaps and other bath & body products, fancy posting your link here? That way lots of people can enjoy your posts.  And I'm more than happy to add them to my blogroll too. 

Plus, if you Facebook, then I'm really happy to follow you and LIKE your page.. so show me the link and I'll be on it like butter on a hot potato!

Oh and if there are soapy bloggers out there who like to keep a blog roll (and I do it because I can keep all my favourite blogs in one place and see who updates often), then please feel free to add my blog to your list.. pretty please!  Soapies Blogs United!

Do you Comment?

I love to blog - you might have noticed.  My husband asked me one day why I do it, surely people don't all answer, so am I not sort of talking to myself.  I said I didn't mind, sometimes you get the best conversations that way (he rolled his eyes!).  But I do love getting comments, I really do.  It's a nice feeling that someone takes the time to respond to your thoughts and, occasionally, insane mutterings. 

I read a lot of blogs and I try to comment on them when I possibly can.  Sometimes I can't because I have no knowledge of the subject matter or someone else has said the exact thing I was going to say already.  I often feel bad I didn't leave a comment though and I'm going to amend that ... more commenting from me! And I like to comment because someone took the time to post up an interesting thought or article or tutorial or something and I'm very grateful they did.  The things I've learnt from other peoples blog is immense.

However, I have a minor peeve... just a tinchy one but still.  As a blog writer/owner/whatyoumacall it, I try and answer all the comments people leave for me.  Again I'm not 100% in this and again I feel bad about it so I'm going to improve that too.  But, you know, someone again took the time out to comment on a person's blog, it just seems polite to respond.  Sometimes you can just say Thanks, it doesn't take long.  I just feel that, as long as a person has commented on my post, it's nice to comment back!

So, I'm going to comment more to other peoples blog posts and I'm going to make sure I hit 100% in my replies on my own.  And that's my Sunday promise to myself! Happy rest of the weekend to you all!!!

New Cold Process Soap Packaging

I've been working on my packaging and labelling style for my cold process soaps for what seems like forever.  I keep having ideas and trying them out and either not liking them at all or liking them a little bit, but not much.  I seemed to get it almost there but never had a Eureka moment. 

I started off wanting to use something biodegradeable and thought of real cellophane film.  Not the cellophane that is generally sold (the type florists use) which is actually polyproplene but real cellulose which is made from natural products and is fully biodegradable.  However, as much as you can buy this from what feels like every second store in the US, trying to get it this side of the pond seemed next to impossible.

Then I wanted to use handmade paper - a lot of handmade paper is very thick so wouldn't be suitable or is rather expensive.  There are some really beautiful papers out there but I seemed to trawl through the net as much as I could and found the product I wanted but then they were a) too expensive or b) wouldn't send to Ireland.  Friends kindly offered to send to them to the UK and they'd send on to me but that isn't sustainable into the longer term for financial reasons plus I didn't want to drive anyone nuts either. 

I tested some lovely mulberry tissue that I found at a great price on ebay of all places and really liked it.  I finally decided to choose the white paper with silver threads which I thought was classic and beautiful.  It was thick enough to cover the soap well but thin enough to allow the customer to see the colours of the soaps plus be able to smell the fragrances though the paper. 

So once I had the paper, I worked on the labels.  As I was using white paper, I wanted to introduce some colour into the labels but also not overpower them.  I needed to fit in all the regulatory labelling issues plus make that look attractive too (as any soaper will tell you, that can be very tough!).  I wanted to include the I am Handmade brand into the labels too as it so wonderfully reflects exactly how all our products are made. 

Once I had the labels, I put them with the wrapping but there was still something missing .. and, yet again, I found the answer on ebay in the form of lots of satin ribbon! I've ordered about 24 different colours (oh I was in heaven with them, I just so adore colour) and once I'd put everything together, I had my EUREKA moment!

Below are some images of the wrapping... please note that the label for the Fresh Orange soap is slightly incorrect because it says it has a lemon fragrance.. well, of course it doesn't, I just didn't change that bit from the Fresh Lemon labels (how utterly annoying to find that once you've printed them and cut them all out!).  You look at a thing long enough and you can't even see it anymore! Argggghhhh.. oh well, I can re-print and re-do, I prefer to have it right!

A sample of wrapped soaps

You can see the threads in the handmade paper

I love the sheen on the ribbon in this picture 

I choose a golden yellow ribbon for this soap as, even though I have tons of

colours, I didn't have a bright yellow ribbon - might have to remedy that!

Lovely paper, lovely ribbon, clear and simple labels

Arrggghhh at the typo on this label, I'm reprinting as I type!

Soaps laid out in postal box

Soaps in postal box covered with lots of shredded tissue

and added compliment card

I really hope you like my new packaging - as any soaper will tell you, sourcing packaging that exactly matches the image you have in your head, for a good price and as locally as possible is next to impossible.  My advice... check out ebay!!

Black Raspberry Vanilla

I've had this fragrance awaiting a new design for an age - it's just such a lovely blend of blackberries, raspberries and vanilla and smells like the most incredible raspberry & vanilla ice cream.  I just adore raspberries, they are the epitome of summer fruits to me and this fragrance is just so lovely that it just deserved a really beautiful design.

I've been working with the spoon swirl for a while now and the more I do it, the more I love it! I made this soap early on Saturday morning when everyone was still in bed.  By the time I'd reached the top of the mould, hubs made an appearance and together we made the sort of spotty design on top.  Awwhh families that soap together, stay together .. right?!!

Anyway, this soap also features a new formula because I wanted to incorporate Sweet Almond Oil into my recipe more - this has Sweet Almond Oil, Olive Oil, Avocado Oil and Cocoa Butter plus pure silk! What a skin loving combo if I ever saw one! It's coloured with a mix of mica and liquid soap colours as well as some titanium dioxide to whiten the soap more.  It has, as ever, a tiny sprinkling of glitter too (and why not I say!).

I am in love with this soap, cut this evening and photographed freshly cut because it just looked soooo pretty.  I present to you, Black Raspberry Vanilla cold process soap:

Soap on it's side .. I so love the swirls

Swirl close up

See the sort of spotty top with glitter? Courtesy of hubs!

Three beautiful soaps together

Glitter tops

A soap stack

Close up of the stunning swirls

I cannot tell you how much in love I am with this soap - it smells DIVINE and I could stare at it's wonderful colours all days.  Seriously I so want to take a bite, it looks like the most luxurious raspberry ripple ice cream (not a good idea though!). 

If you're interested in possessing one of these (it's the sort of soap you need to possess I think!), they'll be fully cured by 11 July!



Soapers are such Generous People AKA I got my Prize!!!

Ohhh I had a tough day today ... but yay! I got pressies! Well, a prize really .. my lovely prize came all the way from the US from the lovely Dennise Cupp at Briny Bar Soap.  She recently held a competition on her blog and I won! I figured it'd take some time to send the prize but it arrived much faster than I expected but, oh boy, the postage seemed very high (and then I felt guilty!).  Seems the postage costs from the US are far higher than here and I thought it was expensive here. 

Anyways, I was so happy with my prize that I took pics!

The whole kit and kaboodle! Dennise's delicious smelling Chocolate Mint cold process soap, Peppermint fragranced bath bomb which is really clever because it's embedded with soap for your bathtime, and a wonderfully creamy Butter Creme Lip Balm

Close up of her Peppermint Bath Shell - great idea to include a small soap for your bath time - this smells so divine and it rather huge (yay!)

Close up of the wonderful soap curls in the Chocolate Mint soap plus the Butter Cream Lip Balm (which is mega vanilla-y and so creamy, feels great on the lips too)

All my goodies in one go (should have moved the chair before I took the pic of course!)

Chocolate Mint soap plus the Butter Cream Lip Balm ... yummmmm!

The soap has a deep dark chocolately fragrance with a hint of mint - it smells like a really expensive mint choc chip ice cream.  The peppermint bath shell is so lovely .. soft fresh peppermint, such a clean fragrance.  I'm going to have such a relaxing bath with this! And, last but in no way least, the lip balm is creamy and delicious and it stays on the lips whilst softening them slowly but surely.  A definite winner!

Dennise, I just want to say a huge thank you - couldn't believe the price of the postage but I'm so happy with my prizes.  I've decided I'm going to take the Chocolate Mint on holidays with me (in early July) and it's going to go on it's own tour of Ireland .. specifically West Cork (which, in my humble opinion, is the most stunning part of Ireland and we love it so much, it's actually where we want to move to when we can afford to).  Thank you Dennise, you're a total doll!!!

Lavender Lime Vetiver

First I have to say sorry for my silence on here for the last few weeks - my full time job has been utterly hectic lately and I just haven't had the energy in the evenings to get into the soaping mojo space in my head!

However, this Saturday was different - I felt inspired by a new fragrance I ordered recently, Lavender Lime & Vetiver.  It's a really lovely fragrance and the lavender and lime are perfectly balanced against each other.  I don't get a note of vetiver (the one I know from the essential oil which, I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of) but there is a deeper musky type background to this which helps ground the lighter fragrances.  It really is just a wonderful scent. 

This soap has Golden Olive Oil, Cocoa Butter and Silk and is coloured with POP mica and a blend of yellow and green liquid soap colour.  I dusted the top with some new glitter that just adore (the type that changes colour depending on the light - cool!). 

The colour is bright, the fragrance is beautiful and I just love love love this funky soap! I hope you do too!

Side view - I used the same techique as my Adam & Eve soap

Tops of the soap, dusted with glitter (hubs did the swirling on this, he's very proud of himself!)

Soap in light & shadow

Glitter! I just love the lighter tops with the deeper coloured sides

A stack of soap!

More swirls!

Hope you enjoy - if you're interested in buying some, this will be fully cured by 4 July.

Yet more Soapy Giveaways!

The soaping community seems to have gone giveaway crazy lately - maybe it's the first sight of summer or something.  I just saw another wonderful soaper who's announced her own soapy giveaway on her blog.  You might remember Dennise Cupp from her fabulous Briny Bar Soap blog and her trip with my Vanilla Anise soap on her US road trip. 

Check out her blog and enter her competition - you never know, you could get lucky! Plus her blog is a great read, she has a wonderful way of writing that just makes me laugh every time I read.  I always look forward to her new posts. 

Here's a pic of what you can win:

Chocolate Mint Soap, Peppermint Bath Shell, and a Butter Creme Lip Balm

Soapy Competition Giveaway - Winner Announced

Well, I've been keeping a close eye on all the responses for the blog competition and it's just so lovely to see how many entered and how many lovely comments I got - Thank You all SO much!!!

Sadly there can only be one winner (this time round anyway) and that winner is .......

Drum roll..............

Comment No. 1 which was from Shirley Dixon! (Mine was actually comment No. 1 but I'm ignoring that one!). 

I did the draw by Random Number Generator and it came up with No. 1 as you can see

Congratulations Shirley - you are now the proud owner of a Summer Honeysuckle soap, an Aloe & Cucumber Soap and a Pure Peppermint Lip Butter! I'll be in touch to get your contact details and it'll sent off this week to you.

Thanks to every one who participated - this was such fun!!!

Soapy Competition Giveaway!

I've just noticed that this blog has reached 15,000 hits which I'm just so pretty happy about, to say the least.  So I think it's time that I had a blog giveway!!!

I'm going to send two fabulous Summer soaps to the lucky winner along with one of our extraordinary lip butters.

Aloe & Cucumber is made with Sweet Almond Oil, Cocoa Butter, Pure Silk, & Aloe Vera Juice and is fragranced with a green cool fresh fragrance reminiscent of summer cucumber

 

Summer Honeysuckle is made with Golden Olive Oil, & Pure Silk and is fragranced with a gorgeous floral fragrance, which celebrates the sunshine aroma of honeysuckle. Delicate citrus top notes cascade to a fruity floral heart dominated by the sweet aroma of golden honeysuckle entwined with other florals of night scented jasmine, and ylang ylang

Our Pure Peppermint Lip Butter (not pictured) is made with lashings of Cocoa Butter, Kokum Butter, Golden Jojoba Oil & Meadowfoam Oil and contains a fresh and delicious pure Peppermint Essential Oil. 

How do you enter?

Drop over to our Facebook Page and Like it, then come back and leave a comment here, on this blog post - simple!

If you fancy an extra entry or two, tweet, blog or promote the giveway on your own Facebook page (remember to come back here and state how many promotions you've made so that I can include you in the draw - only those comments here will be counted (ohhh and paste the link up so I can say thanks!) so make sure to comment any extras here. 

I'll select the winner on Saturday 7 May (every comment will be given a number and I'll use a random number selector to choose the winner, from the comments below).  This competition is open to everyone, international entrants included.

Best of luck!