Recent experiments

Mineral soap bar with Sea Salt and Fuller's Earth

Recently I have been really busy, making 6 batches of soap nearly every day after work and on weekends. So I didn't have much time to research and experiment with new soaps for next year. I have in mind 4 new soaps I want to bring out for next February, and I've already started working on them,  researching new ingredients and playing with soap calculator every spear min, but I still  not very happy with the end result, though I'm very pleased with their look.

Facial Soap Bar with Pink Clay

But new soaps are not the only new product I'm working on. I wasn't always happy with bought moisturizers and skin care products so I finally got my hands on some lovely skin care oils with intention to create a serum. I've spent a fair amount of time researching their properties and finally 2 weeks ago I've started testing them on my skin. It's a long process, I'm testing them one by one, each for a week, before I can start mixing them together. I already have my favourite, in 5 days this amazing oil made my skin looking better, so looking forward to creating something that will suit my skin and will have such amazing ingredients.

Christmas rush has started

With Xmas fast approaching (yes, only 93 days left) we've been very busy keeping up with increasing demand. New soap moulds and rack are made and the new Christmas range is almost ready. This year I've come up with 3 new soaps for festive season: Pine & Juniper - fresh and crisp like a gulp of frosty winter air; Frankincense & Myrrh - warm and smoky and Nutmeg & Tangerine - spicy and tangy, smells like Xmas bakery. They are curing now and will be available in mid October. This is a little preview.

Autumn Fair

Had a wonderful trade show in Birmingham NEC. Met so many lovely people, had a fantastic feedback. Can't wait to stock our soaps in so many new lovely shops. No time for a break though need to get on making more soap.

New favourite

I am in love with my Sea Salt Bar. It's just amazing!!! It lathers up really nice and its lather is so wonderful, gentle, lotion like. It leaves my skin so soft, smooth and toned, like after a swim in the sea. Scent (a combination of eucalyptus and cedarwood essential oils) really suits this bar,  it smells like the sea, so fresh, salty and warm. The time I spend in the shower has increased significantly, I just cannot get enough of it :).

Busy busy busy

We have been very busy recently making soap ready for peak season. Our spare bedroom is slowly turning into soap warehouse

Cook's Coffee Soap

I'm so pleased with my new creation so I think this bar will make it to my range. It's very hard bar with fair amount of coconut oil in it to help to wash off grease from the hands and ground coffee for scrubbing effect. It's scented with coffee and clove which will help to get rid off nasty smells of garlic and onions. It has lovely fluffy lather and gentle to hands.

Shampoo - 2 weeks

So I've been using my shampoo bar for 14 days now. And I'm starting to like it. At first my hair felt sticky and didn't look very fresh and shiny. But with every wash it was getting better and better. It's definitely more manageable and looks healthier now. But  I think this particular recipe needed some tweaking so I've already have my new improved shampoo bar ready to try next week.

Shampoo Bar

About 3 months ago one of our customers suggested we come up with a Shampoo bar. Since then I've been reading a lot about soap shampoo bars and finally 2 weeks ago I formulated and made a tester batch of my first shampoo. But because I'm so inpatient the very next day I've made the same batch using Hot Process method. I'm not a big fan if HP and very rarely use it so I didn't really knew what to expect, the soap came up all right but on a soft side. I let it sit and cure for 2 weeks and finally tried it yesterday. I was very pleased with lather - it's enormous, fluffy at first but then turns into dense, creamy, mousse like lather. As I expected (from reading a lot about switching to handmade shampoo bars) my hair feels a bit different, it doesn't have volume I get from commercial shampoos. But as I know you need to give your hair 14 days to adjust. I will keep updating you.

My First Shampoo Bar (with nettle infusion and a blend of
rosemary and lavender essential oils)

Perfect Saturday morning

I enjoy my Saturdays a lot. It's the only day I can dedicate to my soaping experiments, formulating and researching. And quiet sunny Mornings are the best. I can get my thoughts together and plan my day while sipping coffee and eating bagel

New creation

Have been experimenting with shampoo bars recently. Two new creations are on the curing rack - CP with essential oils of Lavender, Rose Geranium and Ylang-Ylang and HP with nettle infusion, Rosemary, Lavender and Tea Tree. Can't wait to try them. (And will definitely post pictures later). Also I've decided to try out clays in soap (never used any colours) but this pink clay looks amazing, will see how this soap will turn out in 4 weeks time. French Pink Clay has a softening and toning effect on the skin making it ideal all skin types and particularly for mature skins. I've tried new blend of essential oils which will compliment these properties - Ho Wood, Palmarosa and Cedarwood. This should be a very nice facial soap.

Olive Oil, Almond Oil, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter,
Castor Oil, Pink Clay, Ho Wood,  Palmarosa, Cedarwood

UPD: Thought I will post a picture after each week of curing to compare a colour

Sea Salt Bar

I have been  busy this weekend, attempting liquid soap, but unfortunately no luck so far :(. But I've also made my first sea salt bar. Read so many nice things about salt soap (especially here www.thesoapbar.blogspot.co.uk) so wanted to try it myself. It looks as really hard bar, like a smooth stone. I've also experimented with scent,it is a combination of Cedarwood and Eucalyptus essential oils. So far I like it. Will see how it will be after 4 weeks of curing.

Nice pics

Thought I would share some pictures of our soap samples.

Kitchen Coffee Soap

As I promised I've been busy researching and thinking about new additions to Zesty Soap range. So this is my first attempt of Kitchen Coffee Soap. I've made it using freshly brewed coffee, oils of coconut, olive and palm. I've scented it with combination of Tangerine and Clove essential oils and added ground coffee for scrubbing effect. It smells amazing. You can definitely smell coffee and spicy clove with tangerine adding sweetness and freshness to the blend.  It's been curing for only a week so it's still 3 weeks to go till I can try it.

Kitchen Coffee Soap

English Lavender

I love lavender, its fresh crisp scent. Lavender essential oil is beautiful, I add it in nearly all products I make for myself. So when my parents visited us couple of weeks ago, we took them to Norfolk Lavender Farm. It's a beautiful place with fields of lavender and the air full of relaxing herbal scent. They make their own essential oil, sell different varieties of lavender plants and dried flowers. I really enjoyed it and that place inspired me to create new English Lavender soap. Some pictures to follow...

Trade show

Our stand at PULSE

So we had our first trade show in June. It was difficult, took a whole 2 months of preparation - making soap, designing our stand, building furniture (yes, everything you see on the picture is handmade by my lovely husband). To be honest we expected more from the show, and even though we took only a few orders on the day we met lots of interesting people, gain so much experience which will definitely help us in the future. The main thing I took from there is that I need to expand my range. So very soon I will be busy creating new soaps.

First post

I've decided to start this blog to share my passion for handmade soap with you. This blog will be mostly about handmade soap and maybe a little bit about me.