S.O.A.P. Panel Update: Mystery Scents Revealed!

Think back. Way back.

Further.

Think aaaaaaaall the way back to February.

That's when I was testing fragrance oils for Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P. Panel, which gave me the opportunity - along with seven other soapers - to preview, test, and help select some new scents for Bramble Berry to carry. None of us knew what the mystery scents were or how they would behave. Our job was to try out each FO and provide feedback.

You may have been curious all of this time to know what fragrances are what, and which fragrance oils Bramble Berry chose to carry based on feedback from the S.O.A.P. panelists. I've been super curious myself!

Well, be curious no more! Here are the mystery scents revealed!

Scent #1
To me, this scent smelled like Balsam & Citrus with notes of orange and fir. It strikes me as a slightly masculine scent with a hint of sweetness. This FO was revealed to be Autumn Fig Harvest, a scent that combines apple, lemon, and ginger with earthy fig, caramel, and cinnamon. I'm happy to see that Bramble Berry is carrying this FO -  it was my third favorite of the eight S.O.A.P. Panel mystery scents.

Scent #2
Out-of-the-bottle, this scent smelled like watermelon with a hint of apple. After soaping it, I thought it smelled more of watermelon exclusively. The FO is actually Pear & Goji Berries.

Scent #3
This scent smelled like straight-up Honeysuckle to me. It sticks well and behaved beautifully for me. Turns out, it is honeysuckle! (Score one for my nose!) Bramble Berry has decided to carry Heavenly Honeysuckle, which I am thrilled about since it was my second favorite S.O.A.P. Panel scent.

The Mystery Scents

Scent #4
I thought of a green apple Jolly Rancher when I sniffed this scent. It smelled to me like sour apple with perhaps a bit of pineapple or pear. Out-of-the-bottle, it was sweet and sugary, but the sugariness seemed to mellow after soaping, allowing the sour apple to come forward. Another score for my nose, because this FO is called Apple Pickin'.


Scent #5
This scent was the only one of the bunch that I didn't care for. I thought that it was supposed to be some kind of garden scent. It had notes of grassiness and fresh dirt (two things I usually like), but it also smelled damp and musty and it kinda reminded me of canned corn. Turns out, this mystery scent is Yerba Mansa. I didn't know what that is, either. After consulting the Googles, I discovered that Yerba Mansa is an herb native to the southwestern U.S. and northwest Mexico. I tried to find out what Yerba Mansa smells like, and I read descriptors such as "musty," "pungent," "warm," "spicy," and "clean." One site said that it smelled like a combination of wild ginger and eucalyptus. I found this particular FO to be more on the musty, pungent earthy side.

Scent #6
Initially, this fragrance made me think of Sweet Tarts. It smelled sugary with clean, sharp notes of grapefruit. After soaping this FO, I thought that it smelled sweeter and more like pomegranate. If I had to name this one, I would have called it Sweet Pomegranate. It is actually Guava Citrus.

Scent #7
I thought that this scent smelled like delicate Baby Roses. The FO is Cherry Blossom, though.

Scent #8
I loooooooved this scent! It was my most favorite of all of the mystery FOs. It is a sporty, masculine scent that smelled to me like an Abercrombie & Fitch cologne. This scent is called Mahogany, and Bramble Berry has decided to carry it. Yay!

In closing, Bramble Berry is adding what happens to be my top three favorite mystery scents to their lineup - Mahogany, Heavenly Honeysuckle, and Autumn Fig Harvest.

You may remember that Bramble Berry decided to do two S.O.A.P. Panels this spring, so another group of soapers got to try more mystery fragrances. Last week, BB sent me some full-sized samples of the three scents mentioned above as well as Mandarin Oasis and Lavender & Cedar from the other S.O.A.P. Panel, which was a very nice surprise!

Once again, a big thank you to Bramble Berry for allowing me to participate on the Panel! It was lots of fun testing the mystery scents and helping BB choose which scents to include among their products. And another thank you to Bramble Berry for the generous fragrance oil samples! (And I must say an additional thank you to Brittany at BB for all of her help and support!) I am looking forward to soaping with three of my new favorite FOs, and I can't wait to try the other two scents!

Testing S.O.A.P. Panel Mystery Scents!

Here it is - the big, big S.O.A.P. Panel fragrance oil testing and results post!

A couple of weeks ago, I shared my first impressions of the mystery scents out of the bottle. Now it's time for Phase 2 where I actually soap with the fragrance oils and see how they behave and how well the scent holds up.

I chose to test each fragrance in cold process soap and melt-and-pour soap.

I kinda geeked out and went all high school science project on this, so I hope you guys won't be too disappointed that I didn't do anything fancy. No swirls or artsy techniques. In fact, I didn't use any colorants at all. Just the soap and the fragrance oil. I decided to keep things simple and pure in order to eliminate as many extraneous variables as possible. (Told you I geeked out.)

I felt that it was also important to keep conditions as similar as possible throughout the process because of those extraneous variable thingies I just mentioned. I really wanted to isolate the effects of each fragrance oil, so I used the same recipe for all eight scents and soaped at approximately the same temperature for each batch. On Day 1, I soaped at a combined temp of 102 degrees F (the oils were 99 degrees and the lye 105); on Day 2, I soaped again at a combined temp of 102-103 degrees F (the oils were at 101 degrees, the lye at 105).

The weather even cooperated and was roughly the same both days. Temperature and humidity can sometimes play a role in soapmaking, and here in the south one day it can be freezing and the next day you're running your air conditioner. The indoor temp was about 71 degrees F both days. On Tuesday, it was cold and cloudy (36 degrees F with 96% humidity). On Friday, it was still cold (36 degrees F with 60% humidity) and we actually got snow flurries, you guys, which was a bit distracting because when it snows in Louisiana you are supposed to lose your mind and go outside to take pictures. I resisted the urge, though, because I had Very Important Work To Do. (We did get a wintry mix of snow and ice the following week, though, and I did run outside to take pictures then.)

Insulating the soap

For my recipe, I used Steve's "Easy Soap Recipe" from the Soap Making Resource. His five-pound recipe calls for:

26.5 ounces Olive Oil (50% of total oils)

16.5 ounces Coconut Oil (about 31% of total oils)

10 ounces Palm Oil (about 19% of total oils) 

I used full water, which is a lye concentration of about 27%, and a 7% superfat. This was actually the recipe that I used for my very first batch of cold process soap three years ago. Since then, I've used it as a base for many other recipes, tweaking it here and there to allow for a small amount of butter or castor oil. It has a nice slow trace and allows for plenty of time to work. And it makes a pretty great bar of soap!

Okay, so here's what I did: I split the testing up into two days. On Day 1 (which was February 4), I tested scents 1-4; on Day 2 (February 7), I tested scents 5-8. Both days, I made a five-pound batch of soap and poured four 16-oz. portions into plastic measuring cups. The remaining soap I reserved as my control batch so I could compare it to the scented soap and see how much discoloration occurred. I then added .70 ounces of fragrance oil to each measuring cup, using one 16-oz. portion of soap for each scent. (So, that works out to .70 ounces of fragrance oil per pound of soap.) After stirring the FO in really well, I poured the soap into a cavity of my four-loaf silicone mold from Nature's Garden. This mold is perfect for testing FOs - each cavity holds one pound of soap.

I did my best to insulate the soap. I set an inverted plastic shoe box on top of the mold and then covered it with towels.

Here's a video of the process I followed to do my testing:


After letting the soaps cure for about two weeks, I took photos of each cut soap side-by-side with the unscented control loaf. As you can see, some of the soaps did discolor from the fragrance oils. None of them went too dark, though.

The fragrances also held up well in the finished soap. Here are my findings, according to my testing procedures. Keep in mind that different soapers may have different results. Different conditions and methods can affect the final outcome. Temperature can play a role - soaping at higher temps can accelerate trace, while soaping cooler can slow it down. The soap recipe itself can be a factor, too. Some recipes trace faster than others.

Cold Process Results (Two Weeks Later)

Scent #1:
This one smelled like Balsam & Citrus to me with notes of fir and orange. It seems less sweet to me in the finished soap. It matures into a lovely, slightly masculine scent. It is still in my top three of favorites. This FO has a light orange tint and it behaved beautifully - it did not accelerate, rice, or seize. Discolored the soap to a medium yellow.

Scent #2:
Out of the bottle, this one smelled like watermelon and maybe a hint of apple. In the finished soap, the scent faded some and it smelled exclusively of watermelon to me. The fragrance didn't completely disappear, but it is very light and I wish that it had stuck a little stronger. The FO is clear and was well-behaved, though. No issues at all. Soap discolored slightly to a creamy off-white.

Scent #3:
Ahh, honeysuckle! This was my second-favorite scent. It stayed strong and true in the final soap, too. I was a little nervous about this one acting up since it is a floral, but it behaved gorgeously for me. No issues at all. The FO has a yellow tint and the soap discolored to a medium yellow.

Scent #4:
This scent made me think of a green apple Jolly Rancher. It smells like sour apple with perhaps a bit of pineapple or pear. It is a fruity candy-like scent out of the bottle, but it seemed less sweet and more subtle in the finished soap. To me, the sour apple scent came forward and the sugariness mellowed. This FO was well-behaved and gave me no problems. It has a yellow tint and it discolored the soap slightly to a creamy off-white.

Scent #5:
You may remember that I did not care for this scent at all out of the bottle. It is supposed to be some kind of garden scent, I believe. I could smell grassiness and fresh dirt - which I usually like - but I thought that this scent also had some musty, damp notes that weren't pleasant. And it also kinda smelled like canned corn to me. I will say that I like this scent a lot better in the finished soap. The mustiness has mellowed, allowing more of the earthiness to come through, although I still think it smells a bit like canned corn. The first few times I sniffed this scent, my reaction was a big Grumpy Cat "No." It may be slowly growing on me, but it is still my least favorite of the mystery scents. The good news is that it is very well-behaved and had a nice, slow trace. This FO is clear and there was no discoloration. I think this soap loaf may not have gelled because it had an ashy layer all around and crumbled a bit at the edges when I cut it.

Scent #6

Scent #6:
This scent initially made me think of Sweet Tarts out of the bottle, but as I kept sniffing it I thought I detected grapefruit and sugar. The soaping process seemed to change this scent a bit. After soaping it, I thought it smelled more like pomegranate with a hint of sweetness. I liked this FO out of the bottle, but I like it even better in the final soap. This fragrance is clear but discolored the soap to a medium yellow. I did experience a bit of acceleration with this FO, as you can see in the photo on the right. It wasn't anything unmanageable, but the soap did thicken to a pudding-like consistency. While this fragrance oil may not be the best choice for delicate swirls or intricate patterns, it would probably be great for layering. I'm wondering now if maybe there are floral notes in this one since it did accelerate some. But this is a really nice scent and it sticks well.

Scent #7:
This one smells like delicate baby roses. It is a good, subtle, true-to-scent rose and isn't powdery or perfume-y at all to me. The scent held up well in cold process soap, staying pretty true to the out-of-the-bottle smell. Again, I was a little worried about acceleration since florals are notorious for speeding up trace, but this FO didn't give me any problems at all. This FO is clear and discoloration was minimal. The finished soap ended up being a slightly off-white.

Scent #8:
This was my favorite scent out-of-the-bottle and it's still my favorite now that I've soaped it. It is a fresh, sporty masculine scent, like cologne or aftershave. It reminded me of something and I finally realized that it makes me think of the scent that wafts out of an Abercrombie & Fitch store. The scent stayed true and stuck well in the final soap. This FO has a slightly yellow tint and discolored the soap to a light beige, and it behaved well and didn't give me any problems.

* * * * *

After testing each FO in cold process soap, I had a little bit left over, enough to test each in two ounces of both clear and white melt-and-pour soap base. Most soapmakers use somewhere between .25 - .50 ounces of FO per pound of M&P base. I usually use about .35 ounces per pound of M&P, which works out to about 1/4 teaspoon for two ounces of soap.

Melt-and-pour soaps

For my M&P testing, I chopped up and melted down two ounces of clear melt-and-pour soap base in the microwave (which took only 30 seconds) and added the FO after it had cooled down to about 135 degrees F. Then I poured the soap into a silicone mold and allowed it to set up overnight. I did the same with the white melt-and-pour soap base, too.

Here's a tip: When melting your M&P base in the microwave, cover your container (I use Pyrex measuring cups) with plastic wrap to keep the moisture from evaporating.

I let the soap hang out for about a week and then took photos of each soap side-by-side with an unscented, uncolored control soap so I could see how the FO affected the final soap.

Because M&P soap doesn't go through the same saponification process as cold process soap - M&P soap is already saponified - the scent did not change much in the finished soap. With M&P, the out-of-the-bottle scent is pretty much WYSIWYG (what you smell is what you get).

But FOs can discolor M&P soap, so that's really what I'm testing for here.

Clear Melt-and-Pour Results (1 Week Later)

Scent #1:
This was the Balsam & Citrus-like scent. It discolored the clear melt-and-pour to a medium orange hue.

Scent #2:
The watermelon scent. The soap took on a slightly yellow tint.

Scent #3:
Honeysuckle. This one also discolored the soap slightly yellow.

Scent #4:
This one smelled like sour apple to me, almost like a green apple Jolly Rancher. No real discoloration, but it does seem that the base became a bit more cloudy and less transparent.

Scent #5:
The garden scent. No discoloration.

Scent #6:
This one smells to me like grapefruit and sugar out of the bottle, and more like sweet pomegranate in cold process soap. The FO gave the soap an orange tint.

Scent #7:
Baby roses. No discoloration.

Scent #8:
Masculine Abercrombie & Fitch-like cologne scent. This FO gave the soap a very slight yellowish tint.

White Melt-and-Pour Results (1 Week Later)

Scent #1:

Discolored to a light creamy orange.

Scent #2: 

Discolored to a light creamy yellow.

Scent #3:

Almost no noticeable discoloration. Took on a very slight yellow. 

Scent #4:

No discoloration.

Scent #5:

No discoloration.

Scent #6:

Almost no noticeable discoloration. Very slight yellowish tint.

Scent #7:

No discoloration.

Scent #8:

Slight discoloration to a light creamy orange/beige.

So, how would I rank the mystery scents? Here are my preferences, from most favorite to least favorite: Scent 8 (A&F cologne), Scent 3 (Honeysuckle), Scent 1 (Balsam & Citrus), Scent 6 (Sweet Pomegranate), Scent 7 (Delicate Baby Rose), Scent 4 (Sour Green Apple), Scent 2 (Watermelon), and Scent 5 (Garden).

* * * * *

Whew, so there you have it! This was a long post, so if you've made it this far, congratulations and thanks for hanging with me!

I want to say a big thank you to Bramble Berry for allowing me to be a participant on the Spring 2014 S.O.A.P. Panel! This was a fun experience and I enjoyed being a part of it. I hope that my nose got at least a few of the mystery scents right!

Which of the mystery scents do you think that you'd most like to see Bramble Berry add to their spring 2014 lineup?

S.O.A.P. Panel Fragrances: First Impressions

Squee!

Last week, my S.O.A.P. Panel fragrances arrived! Underneath the pretty tissue paper and official S.O.A.P. seal were eight one-ounce samples of mystery fragrance oils from Bramble Berry. My job is to test them in at least one bath and beauty product and offer my feedback on each scent. Seven other panelists will do the same and then Bramble Berry will decide, based on our feedback, which scents to offer in their 2014 spring lineup.

Each mystery scent bottle is labeled with a number, and there are no clues as to what the fragrance is supposed to be. This is so that the testers won't be biased and can give honest assessments. And also because it's fun.

Since this is the spring S.O.A.P. panel, the scents are mostly fruity, floral, or outdoorsy. The day I received the FOs, I did an initial sniff test and took some notes. A few days later, I returned to the scents and my notes and sniffed again, hoping to deepen my interpretation of each fragrance.

It can be tough to identify scents when you don't know what you are sniffing. It's kind of like trying to figure out who is doing a voice-over in a commercial. Maybe you think you've heard the voice before, or maybe you think you haven't. But then when someone says, "Hey, that sounds like so-and-so," you're like, "Oh, yeah, that's totally who that is!" Same with mystery scents. You may identify some notes or maybe think, "I've smelled this before, but I can't put my finger on it ..." If someone hands you something that is Brown Sugar and Fig-scented and says, "Here, smell this. It's Brown Sugar and Fig," you'll smell it and be all like, "Hey, this totally smells like brown sugar and figs!" But if someone hands you something that is Brown Sugar and Fig-scented and says, "Here, guess what this is," you might be all, "I have no idea, dude."

So, here are my first takes on the fragrances. And I did purposely avoid reading about the other panelists' impressions until I had organized my own thoughts so that I would not be influenced by their opinions of the scents.

The mystery S.O.A.P. fragrances

Okay, here we go:

Scent #1: This fragrance reminded me of something I had smelled before. I immediately detected citrus, but also something else. After much sniffing and pondering, I realized that the other note was fir-like and that the scent makes me think of a Balsam & Citrus FO that I bought from another supplier a couple of years ago. This scent makes it into my top three of favorites.

Scent #2: This one smells strongly of watermelon with maybe a hint of apple. Very yummy.

Scent #3: Strong floral scent. Again, I thought, "I've smelled this before." Sniff, sniff, sniiiiiiiiiff. Ah, it's honeysuckle! This fragrance is my second favorite of the bunch.

Scent #4: This one is very sweet and candy-like. To me, it smells like sour apple with a touch of pear or maybe pineapple. It reminds me of a green apple Jolly Rancher.

Scent #5: I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, you guys, but I didn't like this fragrance out of the bottle at all. It smells kinda grassy and green, which I usually like, and it also has earthy notes, which I also usually like. But the notes in this scent smell musty and damp, not like the lovely fresh-dirt earthiness of patchouli that I adore. And this may sound weird, but to me it also sorta smells a bit like canned corn. I think it is supposed to be some sort of garden scent. This is my least favorite fragrance. Maybe it will smell better after I've soaped it.

Scent #6: Initially this fragrance made me think of Sweet Tarts, but as I kept sniffing, the scent grew sharper and cleaner. Once again, I found myself thinking, "I've smelled this before, what is this?" And then it hit me - grapefruit! And something else - something sweet, like sugar.

Scent #7: Another floral scent. This one smells like delicate baby roses. It is a good, subtle, true rose scent. Not powdery or perfume-y at all.

Scent #8: This is my favorite fragrance. It is a fresh, clean masculine scent, like cologne or aftershave. Very sporty. I kept thinking that it smells like a men's cologne I've smelled before, but I couldn't remember which one. Then I realized that it reminds me of the scent that wafts out of Abercrombie & Fitch stores.

With the exception of Scent #5, I enjoyed all of the fragrances. Of course, these are out-of-the-bottle impressions. The scents might be somewhat different in the finished product. Sometimes scents can fade, especially in cold process soap. Or the scent may change a bit, with some notes becoming stronger or mellower in the final soap. It will be interesting to see how each scent holds up after it's been soaped.

I have already begun testing each fragrance in cold process soap, and I may also experiment with melt-and-pour soap, too. I am taking lots of notes, photos, and video. Later this month, I'll share the results of my testing!

Woo-hoo! I Can S.O.A.P.!

Hi, everyone! Just a quick update to pass along that I was selected to be a member of Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P. panel!

Last week, I applied for the panel and I found out yesterday morning that I was one of the lucky few chosen to help Bramble Berry test and select some new fragrance oils for spring 2014. Within the next few weeks, I'll receive eight mystery FOs and try them out in a bath and body product. Then I'll give my feedback about each scent and how it performed. Seven other panel members will do the same, and then Bramble Berry will decide which of the mystery FOs to include in their spring lineup.

I definitely plan to test my FOs in cold process soap, and possibly melt-and-pour soap, too.

A big thank you to Bramble Berry for this awesome opportunity, and congratulations to all of the panel members! I'm so excited to be a part of this process, and I can't wait to get started with the mystery scents! I'm also looking forward to following the other panel members and reading about their impressions and experiments.

More on the S.O.A.P. panel in the weeks to come ...

LET'S DO THIS

Can I S.O.A.P.?

I'm real good at sniffing stuff.

It's that time again! Bramble Berry has announced that they are looking for S.O.A.P. panel members to test some of their new spring fragrances.

S.O.A.P. stands for "Soap Opinion Awesome Panel," and here's how it works: The selected panel members receive eight one-ounce bottles containing mystery fragrances. The scents are unlabeled in order to get an honest, uninfluenced review of the fragrance. Panel members must test each fragrance in a bath and body product (e.g., cold process soap, melt-and-pour soap, lotion, etc.) of their choice. Then members share their results and give feedback to Bramble Berry.

In order to be considered for the panel, applicants must blog, Tweet, Facebook, Pin, or Instagram about their favorite BB product and why they should be chosen for the panel (and leave a link to their post in the comments section of the Soap Queen blog post so Bramble Berry sees it). So that's what I'm doing here.

I got to get a taste of what being on the S.O.A.P. panel would be like about a year and a half ago when I met my soaping friend Laura, who had been picked for the fall/winter panel in 2012. (You can check out more of Laura's soaps here.) She brought the mystery fragrances along to our lunch date to get my impressions of them. It was great fun to try to decode the scents, and it was interesting to see how closely our noses agreed ... or disagreed. After that, I started thinking, Hmm, maybe one of these days I'll toss my name into the hat when another S.O.A.P. panel opportunity comes along. I think that it would be fun to be a part of the process!

Picking just one favorite Bramble Berry product is difficult, though. Several products come to mind when I think of my favorites. I love their 7-lb. bag of coconut oil because I can pop the plastic bag into the microwave to soften the coconut oil. (Same with their 7-lb. bag of palm oil since palm oil needs to be completely melted down and mixed before each use so that the stearic acid doesn't settle at the bottom. The microwaveable bag makes that super easy.)

Bramble Berry's vertical mold

And I also love BB's lye flakes. The flakes don't pick up static electricity and jump around or cling like lye pellets can, and they dissolve well in water, milks, beer, etc.

If I had to pick only one favorite item from Bramble Berry, though, I'd have to go with their vertical mold.  It's so easy to create two-toned bars and creative swirls with this mold. The center divider evenly splits the soap into two halves. Lift the divider straight up and out for a half-and-half look, or twist it on the way up to make all sorts of neat effects. And the mold has plastic liners on all sides, eliminating the need to use freezer paper to line it. Unmolding is a breeze, too - one side of the wooden mold can be removed to allow the soap to be released. Once the soap is firm enough, the plastic sides can be gently slid away.

Here are a few soaps that I have made with the vertical mold:

From left to right:

Peppermint Lemongrass Sage Swirl Soap

Black and Tan Beer Soap 

Wasabi Swirl Soap 

I still need to try this look, too. I love the half circles that are made by twisting the divider 180 degrees.

Being a  S.O.A.P. panel member sounds like great fun, and I would love to be considered as a participant! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

And if you would like to apply for the panel, head over to the Soap Queen blog and check out this post. Be quick about it, though - you've got until January 15 to apply!

My Soap Swap Box Has Arrived!

My Wasabi Swirl soaps, ready for the mail!

You may remember my post a few weeks back about getting ready for the Bramble Berry soap swap. How did the swap work? Participants made twelve bars of soap (using Bramble Berry fragrance or essential oils), sent them in to BB HQ, and then BB sent each participant twelve bars back, each made by a different soapmaker. For my contribution, I chose to use BB's Wasabi fragrance oil, one of my faves.

As anyone who personally knows me can imagine, I obsessed about packing my soap bars so that they would successfully withstand cross-country travel. Let's just say that there was a lot of bubble wrap involved. I was reassured and thrilled when I saw my soap included in this photo collage on the Soap Queen blog - they had made the trip okay! (My soap is the second one down on the far right column. I was honored to have my soap featured alongside so many other gorgeous soaps!)

Last week, I received my swap box filled with goodies from twelve soapmakers! I participated in the cold process category, so I got cold process soaps in return. And now I have a bunch of lovely soap to use! Sure, I've got plenty of my own soap to use, but it is fun to try other people's soaps and a swap is a great opportunity to do so.

Here's my haul:
 

Clockwise from left: English Rose by Costa Productions, Lavender by Gingerleaf Creative, and Passionfruit Rose by Pure Alchemy Soaps

The beautiful pink gradient layer soap comes from Costa Productions, and is scented with English Rose fragrance oil. I love the gradient layer technique, and the scent is a soft, true rose. This soap has lots of wonderful butters (shea, cocoa, mango), and it also contains coconut milk and buttermilk. Both coconut milk and buttermilk are on my list of ingredients to try, too, and I imagine that they are wonderful together.

Gingerleaf Creative made a gorgeous soap scented with lavender essential oil. Lavender is one of my favorite essential oils - it's so fresh and soothing. Lavender buds adorn the top, and bits of ground lavender are speckled throughout the rest of this pretty purple bar.

Next is a Passionfruit Rose soap by Pure Alchemy Soaps. What a great scent! It has floral and fruity notes, but it also has a touch of earthiness. The pretty burnt orange color of this soap matches the scent beautifully. And there are many luxurious oils and butters in the soap - macadamia nut, avocado, hempseed, and walnut oils; and cocoa, mango, and shea butters.

Left to right: Lemon Verbena /Energy blend by Hilda B., "Heirloom Melon" by Mary S., and Creamsicle (round) by Sarah B.

Summer always makes me think of citrusy scents, and Hilda's soap is just perfect for summer! Her blend of Lemon Verbena and Energy fragrance oils is refreshing and energizing. I smell lots of bright citrus (lemon, lime, grapefruit), with a touch of fruitiness and a splash of champagne. And the little yellow flowers on top of the soap are so pretty!

Summer also means that watermelons are in season! Mary's "Heirloom Melon" is a mix of Watermelon and Pearberry fragrance oils. The scent is a lovely, soft watermelon with hints of pear, apple, peach, and raspberry. And look how pretty the pink and green swirls are!

Know what else summer makes me think of? Ice cream! Remember Creamsicles? Well, Sarah's soap captures the scent of that favorite summertime treat. The Creamsicle fragrance oil smells like sparkling orange blended with warm vanilla. I like the subtle swirls in this round soap.

Clockwise from left: "Whisper" by Amy B., Wake Up Rosemary by Wyldewood Soap Works, and Almond by Lori S.

As I mentioned, I love citrus scents. Amy's "Whisper" soap is scented with Lime fragrance oil, and it is wonderfully sweet and tart. This soap also contains cream, cane sugar, and kaolin clay. Those ingredients sound very luxurious! And the green swirls are so pretty!

Another soap with gorgeous green swirls is Wake Up Rosemary by Wyldewood Soap Works. It appears that perhaps BB no longer carries Wake Up Rosemary, as I can't find it on their website. But I did find a description - the scent is made up of 30% essential oils (peppermint, cornmint, and rosemary) with hints of lavender, eucalyptus, lily of the valley, and musk. And, boy, does it live up to its name - what an eye-opener! This one will be very refreshing in the shower. And it's made with goat's milk, too, which is one of my favorite ingredients. And look how pretty the packaging is!

Lori's soap is scented with Almond fragrance oil. Man, does it smell delicious! It is a strong almond scent with a touch of vanilla sweetness. And I love the rustic look of this bar. Lori wrapped her soap in the handmade crocheted washcloth in the photo above. What a gorgeous way to package a bar of soap while adding a lovely personal touch!

Clockwise from left: Summer Fling by N4you Soaps, Crisp Apple Rose by Abby's Handmade Soap, and "Sweet Tart" by Abundance Soaps

Nyota from N4you Soaps used some sparkly ribbon and a cute little pouch to package her Summer Fling soap. This scent is fruity and floral with a hint of musk. Peaches and raspberries are front-and-center in this fragrance oil, and the pretty peach and purple swirls are perfect for this scent! Yum!

I adore the delicate swirls in Abby's soap! And the scent is fantastic, like a breeze across an apple orchard. Abby used Crisp Apple Rose fragrance oil, and it is a perfect blend of Granny Smith apples and rose blossoms. Abby's soap contains silk, which is an ingredient that I love but have yet to use in my own soaps. I have experienced silk in bars made by others, though, and it is a wonderful addition!

The final soap is a shampoo and body bar from  Abundance Soaps. It is called "Sweet Tart" and is scented with tea tree, patchouli, and pink grapefruit essential oils. I have not tried to make my own shampoo bars, but I am curious about them. This soap contains Rhassoul clay, which is supposed to absorb oils and impurities from skin and hair. Both my skin and hair are oily, so this should be a wonderful ingredient for me! The bar is a beautiful natural creamy color with brown swirls on top. The label is cute, too!

And those are the soaps I got in the swap! Each bar is beautiful and made with love. I am looking forward to trying them all out. A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated, and a big thank you goes out to our friends at Bramble Berry for hosting the swap!

(Psst ... if you are looking for a swap to participate in, Bramble Berry is sponsoring another one this summer. Soaps are due for this swap in August. Check out the details here if you are interested!)

Did any of you join this past swap? What was your haul like? Anyone planning to participate in the next swap?

Getting Ready For A Soapy Swap!

It's been a while since I've participated in a soap swap. About two and a half years ago, I joined a melt-and-pour soap swap that Bramble Berry was sponsoring. It was a lot of fun - I got to try some new soaps and fragrances, and I met some great soapmakers through their creations.

When Bramble Berry announced recently that they were sponsoring another soap swap, I decided to get in on the action. This time, I'll be making cold process soap.

So, how does the soap swap work? Participants make twelve bars of soap using a Bramble Berry fragrance of their choice (I'm going with Wasabi). Soaps are then sent to Bramble Berry headquarters, and they send each participant back twelve bars made by twelve different soapmakers.

Cool, huh? It's always fun to try other soapmakers' soaps and experience new fragrances. I just hope that everyone who receives my soap enjoys it!

For my contribution, I decided to make a soap with my vertical mold for a couple of reasons. First, it is the only mold I have that will hold a batch large enough to produce twelve bars. I have two 3-pound molds that make about 9-10 bars each, and my column mold probably would come up a little bit short, too. The vertical mold holds approximately four pounds of soap, which works out to about thirteen bars. Second, I wanted to try Anne-Marie's vertical twist technique.

I decided to substitute my own recipe, though, instead of trying the palm-free one. I have no doubt that it is a great recipe, and I do want to try some palm-free recipes. But I wanted to work with something familiar, especially since I had enough Wasabi FO for only one batch.

Here's my recipe:

Olive oil - 40%

Coconut oil - 28%

Palm oil - 26%

Cocoa butter - 6%

(Superfat @ 7%)

I also added sodium lactate (1 Tbsp for 45 oz. of oil) and Wasabi FO (.8 oz. per pound of oils) to the cooled base oils before adding the lye solution. For the colorants, I mixed Gold Sparkle mica and Hydrated Chrome Green pigment with a bit of glycerin to work out the clumps. After splitting the batch in half, I colored one portion gold and the other green. Then I poured the gold soap into one side of the vertical mold and the green into the other. (I find it works best to pour both colors into the mold simultaneously to prevent any soap from creeping over onto the other side.) When I removed the divider, I twisted it round and round as I pulled it up and out, making swirls.

Here is a video of the making of the Wasabi Vertical Twist Soap:

I think this batch turned out pretty cool! Every bar looks different. Some are very swirly, others look kinda like yin-yangs, and one bar even has a zig-zag look. 

Check out all of the different looks from the same batch!

And I love the Wasabi fragrance oil! It behaves well in cold process soap and it smells great! It may sound like an odd scent, but, trust me, it is uhmazing. To me, it smells very green, like fresh-cut grass, with a hint of peppermint and ginger in the background. Definitely very refreshing, invigorating, and unique! It's one of my all-time faves. Hopefully, I'll be able to introduce it to someone who hasn't tried it yet through the swap. I first encountered the Wasabi FO as a free sample in one of my Bramble Berry orders. One sniff and I had to get more. That's the great thing about free samples - you discover new fragrances that you might not have ever bought on your own. Plus, they're FREE!

If you want to participate in the soap swap, there's still time if you step lively. Soaps are due at Bramble Berry HQ by May 6, so they recommend mailing them no later than April 30. The categories are melt-and-pour or cold process soaps. If you want to make cold process soap but worry that it won't cure in time, you can put a note indicating the cure date on your soap if you're cutting it short. Or you could do hot process. And make sure you email Bramble Berry to let them know what you're planning! Get all of the details here.

Are any of you participating in this swap? If so, what are your plans for your soap?

Fresh Snow Gradient Layer Soap

Winter is almost officially here. When I think of winter, I think of clear big-blue-sky days and clean, chilly air. I also think of snow, but mostly in a romanticized kind of way. Having lived my whole life in either Florida or Louisiana (or Hawaii, if my four-month stint there counts), I don't have much experience with snow. Sure, we get flurries from time to time and it's a super-huge deal. I've been in snow before, though. When my husband and I visited New York City in March 2007, we arrived just in time for a freak snowstorm. And we experienced more snow in Boise, ID in December 2010.

Snow can be magnificent when it first falls - powdery flakes floating all around, covering everything with a blanket of shimmering white. Colors pop like never before all around you, and the air feels crisp and clean. Those first few hours of snowfall make you grab your camera and brave the cold. Over the next couple of days, though, the snow turns gray and slushy. Walking becomes difficult as you trudge through dirty snow puddles, and driving becomes dangerous. That's when you start thinking that maybe the snow isn't so great.

Downtown Boise, ID after a snowfall, Dec. 2010

In my imagination, snowfalls are always beautiful, and the sky is always a flawless bright blue. I wanted to create a soap that captures my idea of a perfect snow day. And so I chose to do a blue-to-white gradient layer soap scented with Bramble Berry's Fresh Snow fragrance oil. (This fragrance oil soaps like a dream and behaves absolutely beautifully in cold process soap. It has a nice, slow trace that allows for plenty of time to work, and it doesn't discolor at all. It also smells fantastic, its scent reminiscent of a cold wintery day.)

The gradient layer technique is also known as the gradated, graduated, or Ombre layer technique. The goal is to create layers that become progressively lighter in color as you move from the bottom to the top of the soap. Gradient layers can be made using a single color or several colors.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember my first attempt at creating gradient layers - a green-to-gold Cucumber Melon soap. Overall, I was pleased with the soap, although I wished that my layers were a bit more uniform. I had poured my layers over the back of a spoon to prevent the soap from breaking through the previous layer, but I had some break through anyway. I decided that the next time I did a gradient layer soap, I would spoon the soap batter instead of pouring it.

That's what I did for my Fresh Snow soap, and the layers did turn out much more distinct. For this soap, I used olive oil, coconut oil, sustainable palm oil, castor oil, and shea butter.

Fresh Snow soap, sprinkled with sparkly glitter

My recipe makes about 44 ounces of soap batter, so I decided to have six 6-ounce layers of blue and one 8-ounce layer of white. I added my FO to my cooled oils before adding the lye solution. Once I added the lye and stickblended the batch to a light trace, I portioned off 12 ounces of soap into a plastic measuring cup. To whiten the rest of the batch, I added some titanium dioxide (mixed with liquid glycerin), reserving some for later.

I added some ultramarine blue oxide (again, mixed with a bit of liquid glycerin) to the 12-ounce portion and then poured half of the blue soap into my mold. Then I mixed 6 ounces of the white soap into the remaining blue soap, and spooned half of that portion for my second layer. Because I added some white soap to the blue, the second layer was a shade lighter. I repeated this pattern for the first five layers, making each layer progressively lighter.

For the sixth blue layer, I added a bit of the reserved titanium dioxide to lighten the soap instead of adding more white soap. I spooned the remaining blue soap (which was very light blue by this point) into the mold and then spooned the remaining white soap on top of it. A mini whisk helped me create some texture on top of my loaf, and I finished the soap off with a sprinkling of shredded iridescent glitter to mimic freshly-fallen snow glinting in the sunlight.

Here is a video I made of the process:


When making gradient layers, it is important that the previous layer is set up enough to support the next layer. It helps to bring your soap to a medium trace and to test the previous layer by drizzling a bit of soap on top of it to make sure it doesn't sink.

I am very happy with how this soap turned out, and I like how distinct each layer is. Spooning the soap definitely worked out better than pouring over the back of a spoon this time. I think these will make beautiful Christmas gifts! (Although I may have to keep a bar for myself!)

One more thing - last call for Bramble Berry's "Givember" event, which continues through the end of November! A few weeks ago, the lovely folks at Bramble Berry sent me some supplies to try (you can read more about that here) and offered a very special treat to my blog readers. Here's how it works: Any Bramble Berry order placed during the month of November that includes the code GIVEMBER50 will get you entered into a drawing for a $50 Bramble Berry gift certificate. This code only applies to orders placed during November - don't forget to include the code during checkout! Happy shopping, and best of luck to you all in the drawing!

Sweet Pumpkin Soap (With Pumpkin Puree and Goat's Milk)

Some pumpkins I spotted in Gatlinburg, TN

When autumn arrives, it seems like I've always got pumpkin on the brain. I want to bake pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies. I want pumpkin bisque, pumpkin-scented lotions, pumpkin lip balm.

Pumpkin soap.

With the holidays approaching, I need some soap to gift. Everyone needs soap. Everyone loves soap. Not everyone loves pumpkin, but the good thing about soap is that you don't have to eat it. In fact, you definitely should not eat it. So, even if you don't like to eat pumpkin, you'll probably like pumpkin just fine in soap.

Hopefully, you'll like it better than fine. The natural sugars in pumpkin can help boost the lather, creating a luxurious bar. And if you also add something like goat's milk (which I did in this batch), the luxury factor goes into overdrive.

To make this soap, I used olive oil, coconut oil, sustainable palm oil, shea butter, and castor oil. For my liquid, I used part goat's milk (168g) - which I measured off and froze ahead of time - and part distilled water (121g). The original recipe called for 345g of liquid (for a full water amount), but you'll notice that my liquid adds up to 289g. Because I also added 56g of pumpkin puree, I subtracted that amount from my liquids. (I used the pumpkin puree at a rate of 1 ounce, or 28g, per pound of oils.)

I used canned pumpkin for my puree. (Make sure you read the ingredients label - you want 100% pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which has added spices and sugar.) Because I was using only 2 ounces total, I had some left over. Unless you're making a fifteen-pound batch (or using a lot more pumpkin than I did), you'll probably have some extra, too. You can freeze the leftover pumpkin for later. Or you can make Pumpkin Molasses Cookies, which is what I did.

Goat's milk is a wonderful additive in soap - it feels so creamy and the sugars in it also boost the lather. It's a good idea to freeze the goat's milk ahead of time and to soap cool so that the sugars in the milk don't scorch. I like to stir my lye solution in an ice bath to keep the temps low. The thing about goat's milk is that it can smell a little funky when the lye hits it. I've heard it described as an ammonia-type smell, but I think it sorta smells like goat cheese. Many folks find the smell unpleasant (I didn't mind too much since I absolutely adore goat's cheese), but not to worry - the smell disappears within a few days and shouldn't affect the scent of the final soap.

For the scent, I used a Sweet Pumpkin fragrance oil from Elements Bath and Body. This is my favorite pumpkin scent out of all of the pumpkin FOs I have tried so far. It is more sweet than spicy, which is why I like it so much. See, my nose is weird. I have a difficult time detecting spice notes like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, etc. A lot of times I can't really smell pumpkin-scented candles. I once had a pumpkin and spice FO that I couldn't smell at all. Thinking that maybe the fragrance was defective, I had my friend sniff the bottle and he said, "What?! You can't smell that? It's so strong!" Funny thing is, my dad is kinda the same way. I dragged him into a Yankee Candle once and made him smell everything and he and I had trouble with a lot of the same scents. Genetics, I guess. DNA is weird wacky stuff.

Anyway, I really like this fragrance oil and everyone else seemed to like it, too, when I used it last year. The vanilla in the fragrance oil does discolor the soap, though, so it is necessary to plan accordingly. My soap went from a carrot-orange color to a dark but lovely brown.

Somewhere along the line, I saw this blog post by Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks. She uses a rubber stamp dipped in mica to embellish her soap bars. I loved this idea, and thought it was an easy way to add some pizzazz to my bars. Amy even made a YouTube video showing how she stamps the soap, and I used her method. (A big thank you to Amy for sharing her technique!) I didn't realize until I watched the video again that she and I had made very similar soaps. We both used pumpkin puree and goat's milk in our batches. When I went to make my pumpkin soap, I remembered that I had some goat's milk in the freezer and thought, Wouldn't that make this soap even nicer?

The soap about halfway through gel phase

Whether or not to gel soap is a personal choice. Lots of soapers choose to avoid gel phase so that the color remains lighter and the texture is a bit creamier. To avoid gel phase, pop the soap into the fridge or even the freezer (particularly if you're working with super-heater ingredients like milk, beer, honey, etc.). I decided to gel my soap because I like gelling my soaps. Plus, since the fragrance oil discolors the soap dark brown, I wasn't concerned about trying to keep the colors lighter.

I used my wooden log mold for this soap, and it turns out that I really didn't need to insulate this batch. With the combination of pumpkin puree, goat's milk, and the spice notes in the fragrance oil, the soap went into gel phase almost immediately. Fortunately, I was peeking at my soap and saw it going into gel phase, so I was able to take the top of the mold and the towels off before the soap overheated or cracked. (My textured tops kinda flopped, though.)

When it was time to cut the soap a couple of days later, I dipped my pumpkin stamp into some of Bramble Berry's Gold Sparkle Mica and then pressed it lightly but firmly into my fresh-cut soap. (It's important that the soap has been cut just before you do the stamping so that the mica will stick to it.)

I had some Goldilocks moments: The first try, I didn't use enough mica. The second try, I used too much. But the third try was juuuuuuust right. I discovered that it is best to get a bunch of mica onto the stamp and then tap the stamp against the countertop to get rid of the excess mica. After I cracked that code, stamping was much smoother and more uniform.

Here is a video showing how I made and stamped my Sweet Pumpkin soap:


How to clean the stamp when you're done? Get a toothbrush (new and unused, of course) and scrub the stamp under running water.

I bought a bunch of stamps. There was nothing I could do to stop this.

The stamping looks great, and I'm so glad to have a fun, easy way to adorn my soaps. I was so inspired, I raided the stamps in the dollar bin at my local craft store and bought a bunch. At that price, I couldn't afford not to! My Christmas soaps are made for this year, but next year I will have some cute holiday options!

Oh, and hey, don't forget - it's still November, so that means that it is Givember time at Bramble Berry! A few weeks ago, the lovely folks at Bramble Berry sent me some supplies to try (you can read more about that here) and offered a very special treat to my blog readers. Here's how it works: Any Bramble Berry order placed during the month of November that includes the code GIVEMBER50 will get you entered into a drawing for a $50 Bramble Berry gift certificate. This code only applies to orders placed during November - don't forget to include the code during checkout! Happy shopping, and best of luck to you all in the drawing!

Also, Thanksgiving is next Thursday and I want to wish all of you who are celebrating the holiday a very happy Thanksgiving!

Black and Tan Beer Soap ... and a Surprise from Bramble Berry!

My Black and Tan Beer soap

One of my favorite soapmaking suppliers is Bramble Berry - they have just about everything a soapmaker could ever need, want, or hope to have. Although I do purchase supplies from several sources, I turn to Bramble Berry again and again as my main go-to vendor because I know I can count on great service and convenient one-stop shopping. And Anne-Marie and her team are committed to helping soap and toiletry makers not only through their products, but also through the Soap Queen blog, Soap Queen TV, Teach Soap, and the Teach Soap forum.

A couple of months ago, I got a lovely message from Kristen at Bramble Berry, telling me how much Team Bramble Berry enjoys my blog and YouTube channel. (Little ol' me? Aww, shucks!) Kristen asked me if I would be willing to pick out some Bramble Berry products gratis, give them a try, and then blog about it.

My "Givember" haul from BB

What did I say? Um ... heck yes!

I took a look at BB's Cold Process Kits and carefully considered my options. It was difficult to choose, but I settled on the Black and Tan Beer Soap Kit. It looked like a cool project, and I adore beer soap. (And I had also been coveting BB's vertical mold, which is included in the kit.)

A couple of weeks ago, I received my box of goodies. Opening the package was like opening a present. Pretty pink tissue paper and a note from Team Bramble Berry greeted me when I pulled open the box flaps. (And Bramble Berry has also offered a special treat to you, dear readers! More on that in a moment, so keep reading.)

After inspecting my new toys and sniffing my new fragrance oils, I put them away until the next opportunity to make soap.

On a quiet Sunday afternoon, I got busy on my project. I decided to follow Anne-Marie's Black and Tan Beer Soap tutorial so that my soap would turn out as fabulously as hers did. After all, I want to make Bramble Berry proud!

Black and Tan beer made with Bass and Guinness

The day before making the soap, I boiled two bottles of dark beer to cook off the alcohol (so the soap wouldn't seize), and then chilled the beer overnight in the fridge. (Some of the beer evaporates when it boils, so that is why I used two bottles. Mine were 11.2-oz. bottles.) I was able to replace nearly all of my water with beer, but I did use a little bit of distilled water to make up the difference. Using beer in a soap recipe requires a little bit of preparation in advance, but it is worth it. I love beer in soap - the natural sugars in the beer increase the lather and create a bubbly, luxurious bar.

The idea behind this soap was to create bars that resemble Black and Tan beer. You may be familiar with Black and Tans -  they are traditionally a mix of a pale ale or lager (like Bass or Harp) with a dark porter or stout (often Guinness). The stout is carefully poured over the ale. Because the stout is less dense, it floats on top of the ale. Thus, the drink is called a "Black and Tan" due to the two distinct layers of beer.

For the scent, I used Oatmeal Stout and Almond Biscotti fragrance oils, both provided by Bramble Berry. For my four-pound batch, I mixed three ounces of Oatmeal Stout with one ounce of Almond Biscotti. The scent combo smelled to me like Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. Yum! (Of course, I wanted Oatmeal Creme Pies for the rest of the day, and I still kinda want one now.)

A view inside BB's vertical mold

The vertical mold is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Sturdy plastic lines the inside of the wooden mold (and the plastic sides pull apart easily, as does the side of the wooden mold, for easy unmolding), and a removable plastic divider evenly splits one side from the other. The plan for this project was to pour a lighter colored soap into one side (for the tan), and a darker soap into the other (for the black).

To make my lye-beer solution, I slowly added my lye flakes to my beer, stirring constantly. Then I placed my lye pitcher in an ice bath to keep things from overheating. (The natural sugars in the beer can heat up, causing problems like scorching or lye volcanoes.) When the lye was about 105 degrees Fahrenheit, I added it to my oils, which were approximately the same temperature.

After I stickblended my soap to a light trace, I split the batch into two equal parts. To one portion, I added a heaping Tablespoon of Super Pearly White mica (which Bramble Berry also provided) and only one ounce of my fragrance oil combination to keep the soap a lighter tan color. To the other portion, I added the remaining three ounces of the fragrance combo, which will cause the soap to discolor to a dark brown.

Once I brought my soap to a medium trace, I poured the "tan" soap into one side of the vertical mold, and the "black" soap into the other. (I think next time I will try to pour both sides simultaneously because a little bit of my tan soap crept into the black soap's side near the bottom of the divider.) Once both soaps were poured, I carefully pulled the divider up out of its nook at the bottom of the mold, and then twisted it at a 25-degree angle while pulling it up and out, creating a slant through the middle of the bars.

Check out this video I made of the process:


I left the soap in the mold for about four days before unmolding it. I did use sodium lactate at about 1% (1 teaspoon per pound of oils) in this batch to not only help with unmolding, but also to create a harder and longer-lasting bar. I think the sodium lactate helped because the plastic sides pulled away from the soap very easily. It also looks like Anne-Marie's recipe creates a hard bar, too.

Sodium lactate is not an ingredient in the original recipe in the tutorial, but I like to add it to all of my batches now. The only other thing I did differently from Anne-Marie is that I used the full water amount - it looks like she did a little bit of a water discount.

When I cut the bars, one side was darker than the other. Over the next couple of days, the colors of the soap deepened, and soon one side was a medium tan and the other became a very dark brown. As of this writing, the soap is just over a week old, and I think it might darken even more as it cures.

I think that my soap turned out a lot like Anne-Marie's did, don't you? I love how it looks (and smells), and I can't wait to use a bar!

Okay, so now here's the treat for you that I alluded to earlier: During the month of November, Bramble Berry is doing a little something called "Givember" to thank their customers for their support. Included in my box of goodies was a special offer and coupon code for me to pass on to you, my wonderful blog readers! Any Bramble Berry order placed during the month of November that includes the code GIVEMBER50 will get you entered in a drawing for a $50 Bramble Berry gift certificate. This code only applies to orders placed during November - don't forget to include the code during checkout!

I want to say a big thank you again to Bramble Berry for the free goodies and for sponsoring Givember! I love the vertical mold, and see the two of us having a very happy life together. Have fun shopping, everyone, and best of luck in the drawing!