New Post - Hawaiian Ginger

New Post - Hawaiian Ginger!


Check out my new site:
 Pink Sudz Soap

New Blog! new Website

Check out my new home!!!

I have opened up my new Website and Blog Home.  Please stop by and visit.  I will be slowly moving my posts to this new home and hope that you are able to still follow my Soapy Stories!

find me at:

www.pinksudzsoap.com

Call Me Flirty

I usually don't plan ahead with the possibilities of color discoloration on my soaps.  There are soapers that use it to their advantage and usually plan on the fragrance discoloration to work with their design.  I just go with it.  I find it interesting to see how a fragrance can play with your pre-selected colors.  Having said that, I do tend to stay away from most of the sweet and sugary fragrances.  I think I have only soaped with Vanilla Fragrance oil once, and I purposely made my soap bars brown.

I did once have a soap batch that turned out very nice out of the mold and as soon as it started to cure it turn a dirty looking beige.  It was pretty weird and kind of fascinating at the same time.

So I was wondering if I should do any type of planning when I decided to soap with my next fragrance: Dreamcatcher (from Rustic Escentuals).  Its a nice light, feminine fragrance.  The vendor does warn about slight discoloration so I thought to add a little more Titanium Dioxide to see if it will lighten it up, and decided to add some yellow, and red mica.

I was surprised to see that it discolored, but not dark, instead yellow.  At one point my yellow and white were just about the same color but eventually the yellow started to pop a little more.

I like how the swirl turn out.  Nice and flowing, and sort of flirty!  

For this batch I decided to soap with full Goats Milk.  Freezing the milk and slowly adding the lye to the frozen cubes.  What I find surprising is how thin my soap batter was.  It took me a good couple of minutes to reach thin trace.  I did not do anything different with my recipe and I wonder if the real cool lye/milk mixture had a lot to do with it.  It may be hopeful with trying the Peacock Swirl once again! :)

I am still working on finishing up my template for my new blog.  I am stalling a bit since I am really pretty nervous about transferring all my post to the new site.  Just thinking about it makes me all jittery!  

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Happy Soaping!

Roxana

Soap Peeps

I recently came across a very cute post of Melt and Pour Soap Peeps from Soap Deli News Blog.  I thought it was the cutest soaps and I read that she found the mold at a local Target Store.  Well I just could not wait for my lunch hour so that I can escape and go purchase it.   Unfortunately work got  a little crazy and I was not able to go out for lunch.

I was desperate!  so I called in a "life line"...my husband!  I texted him a picture of the mold and sent him off to look for it during his lunch hour.  

Isn't it the cutest mold!  

He bought me two.  One to use for soap and the other one to attempt to bake something in it...yeah right :)

Here are my little peeps!

Once again I got a little carried away with my pink and blue.  They turned out a little darker than I wanted  but my yellow is perfect!!!

I also have some exciting news to share.  I will be moving my blog to a new home very soon.  I decided to obtain my domain name (website name) and I am in the process of building my blog template.

Why did I decided to do this?...well, I guess I just felt that I needed more punishment and a little frustration in my life may not be so bad!  LOL

I tell you,  I am learning so much!!!  I am trying to build it in Wordpress and it's not easy!  I have been pretty consumed and I would think a little bit obsessed in trying to figure out how to set it up.  Cee Gee will confirm that I have gone a little nutty and would send desperate emails in the middle of the night asking over and over again "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!", and like a good friend she has calmed me down and very gently pushed me back to my madness :)

She has encouraged me to write a blog about it, and I am really considering it.  It sure has been interesting for sure!!!

But never fear, I continue to sneak in some soaps here and there and I recently made a new batch that I hope to display before I unveil my new page.  In the mean time...

Thanks for checking out my blog!!!

HAPPY SOAPING!

Roxana

Time for "Fresh"

With our very SHORT Winter exiting and Spring arriving, I am starting to turn to my "green and fresh" fragrances.  Hiding in my closet and waiting to come forward was "Badedas"!  The description of this fragrance is: 

...blend of fresh, invigorating leafy greens & florals, basil, citrus, amber, and musk...

It's a very nice clean and fresh fragrance and I was pretty happy to soap with it.  I thought about the type of swirl to do for this and decided for "In the Pot Swirl".  

My colors: Titanium Dioxide, 24K Gold Mica, Omega Blue Ultramarine, and Hydrated Green Chrome Pigment.  Please applaud me because I finally figured out that "less is best" and ended up not dumping the entire pot of color in the soap mix! :)

As usual I added my favorite Goat Milk and this time decided to add some Colloidal Oatmeal for soothing.  The vendor listed this fragrance as not accelerating, and it actually did a little on me. Even with soaping at a low temperatures.  I was starting to be concerned that I may not  be able to do my swirl since the soap was starting to thicken up on me.  But in the end the results were pretty nice and I was happy with it.

If you look closely the milk really wanted to gel this one.  You can see a little bit of the power circle in the middle.  I even stored it in the fridge overnight.  If I would have left it in the counter it would have definitely gel on me for sure.  Sadly the fragrance is starting to fade.  I did not remember from the comments that it does, so now I will just have to wait and see how long it will hang on for.

I am loving that with the time change I have much more light to enjoy later in the day.  I can take advantage of this when I take pictures of my soaps!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!!!

Roxana

Crackling

Have you heard of "Crackling" in soap?

This is when your soap will overheat and results in uneven cooling, causing the glycerin in your soap to pool around together.  Kenna from "Modern Soapmaking" has a great Blog about this: "Troubleshooting Crackling and Glycering Rivers".  There are soapers that get creative with this look and use it really well in their design...I try to avoid.  Well, I did try to avoid it.

I purchased some Coconut Milk from the store the other day and decided to use it with my next soap.  I was curious to use a new fragrance " Eucalyptus and Thyme".  I have never soaped with Eucalyptus, only because to me the fragrance is so close to mint that I get a little nervous on how my allergies would react.  But I was surprise to find out that I was able to soap with it very well.  But boy is it STRONG!!!  My house smells like a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub :).  Too bad I don't have a cold, because it sure cleared up my sinus!

But I am getting distracted and not telling you about my "Crackled" soap.  I used my Coconut Milk and happily mixed in my fragrance as I cleared my sinus ...I decided to try the "Tiger Stripe Swirl" and was very happy that my soap mix was behaving.  For some reason I decided that I wanted my colors to pop more..I decided I was going to insulate my soap.

HELLO!  

Coconut Milk!!!

 Titanium Dioxide!!!  

What was I thinking?  

Apparently the fragrance cleaned up more than my sinus!  

I woke up in the middle of the night with one single thought.  MY SOAP IS GOING TO OVERHEAT!  I sprang out of bed (nearly scared my hubby to death...but not enough because he went back to sleep) and ran to the kitchen to uncover that soap.  Too late...I knew I was in for it the next day.  So today I present to you...my "Crackled" soap:

Can you see some of the Glycerin Rivers?  

I will say that I was a little disappointed with the crackling.  I was pretty happy with my stripes, but not much with the crackling.  

Well...that will teach me :)

And if that was not enough...have you seen what happened to me the other day when I tried to make Lilac Soap in the column mold?  If you haven't...here you go:

This is what happens when your mold is not tightly secured and you pick up the top without holding the bottom part!!!

Yes...my soaping diaries :)

I also wanted to share a cute little animation that I recently had made.  Kirsty, an independent artist in Fiverr.com, made it for me.  Her site is: http://www.fiverr.com/boslass

I think it's pretty cute!  I can't remember when was the last time I had that much bouncy hair!  I think that's probably why I love it so much!  

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!!!

Roxana

Drop Swirl Technique - Soap Challenge

It has been a while since I have joined one of the Soap Challenges that Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks hosts.  I usually miss the deadline and end up not signing up.  This time as soon as I found out that the Drop Swirl Technique would be the challenge for this month I made sure to make the list! 


I thought about colors to use.  I wanted something bright and high contrasting.  I decided to go with the colors from this palette from Design Seeds "Peony Palette":

I thought about using the light teal as the background..but then decided to go with the pink.  I got a little carried away with the pink as you can see, and my teal was a little too dark!  

I need to remember that sometimes "Less is Best" :)

I also decided to add some Stearic Acid to this batch.  I wanted to have a much harder bar.  I was surprised on how fast my mixture ended up tracing.  I was not soaping with any milks so I went a little higher than my usual temp, high 90 degrees.  The fragrance that I used which is Mango has always been a slow mover for me so I am thinking that the Stearic Acid was the culprit.  I also ended up with tons of air bubbles!  I made a much smaller batch than I am used to and ended up adding a air bubbles when I tried to mix in my colors.

While the colors may have be a tad too bright and dark, I do like how this swirl came out. I am thinking that next time I am not going to gel it and see if the colors play much better.  I love this fragrance so this will be a batch that I keep for my personal use.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!!!

Roxana

Blog Design

I don't know about you, but I have no clue when it comes to Blog design.  I currently use Blogger and when I first started blogging and sadly sat here and choose one of the pre-set designs I was not entirely happy.  Don't get me wrong...they are some very nice design, I just was not sure if it reflected the colors and designs that were "me".  What ever that is :)

Little by little I started to pick up some tricks here and there.  I was able to discover some pretty cool Blogger Backgrounds to use, yet still it felt not entirely me.  I was seeing too much pink everywhere!  I originally choose my logo line when I was living with three guys in the house (my husband and two sons).  I was gravitating to pink since all I was seeing was blue and dark colors...and "Pink Sudz Soap" was born.  Then my daughter was born, and now I see pink everywhere! LOL

Since I am not changing the name I decided to start to do some browsing to see if I can get some pretty cool ideas.  I was gravitating to the clean, blank designs.  I checked out how much it would be to purchase a template and had to pause at how much money I would end up spending!  That would mean no more fragrance oil purchases for some time!!! NO WAY!

My good friend Cee Gee from Oil and Butter  encouraged me to try to do it on my own.  She gave me some wonderful tips and even started to explain a couple of things to me, and I will kid you not - I GOT MORE SCARED.  So like a good friend she pulled me off the ledge (or maybe pushed me!) and encouraged me to try.

So here you see my new Blog design.  Not as much pink...(except for all the letters), but a more cleaner look.  Tell me what you think!  I would love to hear your feedback and any other tips you may have to share.

I also have a brand new signature logo.  I think I like it...I may tweak it a bit by myself , but for now it is good.

I found this awesome blog Her and Nicole , that showed me how to center my logo and tabs!

Well, now that I have bored you with my latest blog chattering I will confess that I have made soap...I just have lost the cable that uploads my pictures from my camera to the computer :(
I am going to need to retake the pictures with my Iphone so that I can somehow transfer them so I can share them with you and do some blogging!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING 

and Blogging!!!

Roxana

My Turn! 40 Things About Me

I have been enjoying the latest blogs where some of our fellow soapers share a little bit about themselves.  Recently I shared a couple of things about me, but I also had a chance to read the "40 Things About Myself" blogs from Silvia from SoapJam and Monica from Bubbles in My Head.  I thought...why not.  It was so much fun to read about and learn more about them.  I will post one too!

Gosh...this was harder than I thought it would be

1. I live in Oakley, California (USA).  About 1 hour away from San Francisco

2. I am allergic to mint...I start getting all shaky and I can feel my blood pressure going a little weird.  I can eat certain mint candies, but cannot do Candy Canes.  I almost had a really bad reaction during a Craft Fair because I had mint soap displayed close by.

3. I was born in El Salvador, Central America and immigrated to the United States when I was 10 years old.   

4. Most people think I was born in Mexico...but I did marry a Mexican.  My kids will have the luxury of saying  that both their parents were born in two different Latin countries, but my kids don't like hispanic food :(

5. I wanted to be an Illustrator and finished one year of Art University.  Unfortunately I was not able to keep up and for financial reasons dropped off.  Now I watch Disney and Pixar movies and wonder of what could have been...yet I struggle with color schemes in my soaps!

6. I have three young children, ranging from 6 years to 2 years.  Two boys: Alex and Nicolas, and One girl: Sofia.  They were all born premature at exactly 33 weeks, all of them.  The number 33 may be my lucky number :)  

7. I LOVE ICE CREAM...and my favorite one is World Class Chocolate from Baskin Robins :)

8. My astrology sign is Cancer… and it suits me exactly.  I can be pretty shy and much the wallflower and can get pretty crabby at times

9. I collect cooking books and like to think that I can make fancy, exotic meals.  The truth is far from it.

10. I would love to make fancy cakes and cookies, but can’t bake for the life of me.  My kids will not touch the cookies I make

11. I had surgery at the age of 10.  I accidentally broke a window while trying to open it and ended up slicing down to the side of my thumb.  Fortunately I had a great surgeon and ended up with no tendon or nerve damage.  I still have the scar and during cold nights my thumb does tingle a bit

12. When I was about 8 years old my dad almost lost me in the bus.  He tried to help me climb down from it at the bus stop and before he could grab me the bus driver started to drive away.  I remember seeing the panicked face of my father as he saw me drive away in the bus.  Luckily I was able to get off the bus at the next stop.  My father does not admit it but I think to this day he feels very guilty …I like to remind him LOL

13. I LOVE CHOCOLATE…like you will not believe

14. I love to listen to Soundtracks.  I can sit for hours and enjoy the Soundtrack for “The Black Stallion Returns” and “Meet Joe Black”

15. I LOVE to read, but I have an obsession with Historical Romance Novels.  My Kindle is full of them.

16. I like to think that one day I can write a romance book as much as I keep reading them…they are all starting to read the same.

17. I have the biggest admiring crushes on Charlie Hunnam from “Sons of Anarchy” TV Show, Henry Cavill – “Super Man”…but I swoon with Taylor Kitsch from “John Carter”…my husband rolls his eyes 

18. My favorite season of the year are when Summer turns to Fall…I love the crisp change in weather

19. BUT my REAL FAVORITE time of the year is when Christmas arrives.  It is a very magical time for us.  My oldest son was born on Christmas Day, after years of trying we were finally given a very special gift

20. My favorite romance movies are Pretty Woman, Titanic, Steel Magnolias and How to Lose a Guy in 10 days

21. My favorite action/adventure movies are all “Lords of the Rings” movies… all three of them

22. I don’t play sport…I can barely watch any long enough to keep any interest

23. I have no clue how to change a tire.  I’ve had three flats and all three times I’ve called my husband to come change it

24. I am forever trying to loose weight, so far not succeeding.  I am currently trying Yoga to see if I can stick to it.  I can barely walk in the morning it hurts so much!!!

25. I have two sisters.  I am the middle child…that may explain a lot of things about me 

26. My oldest sister loves to bake and is pretty good at it…did I mention I am not at all?

27. My youngest sister DOES NOT BAKE.  She will go to the store and buy.  She is smart and does not even try it

28. My oldest sister is a major organizer.  She plans a year ahead.  I plan a week ahead.  My youngest sister is calling me the night before to find out what the plan is.  My mom has learned to adjust to it

29. When my husband went to ask my parents for my hand in marriage my mom did not cry from happiness.  She very seriously looked him in the eye and asked him if he was sure…if he was really ready.  I guess I should be insulted, but to this day I laugh

30. My husband tells me I am high maintenance.  I like to think that I just keep him guessing

31. My father used to take us camping when we were in our teens.  We all packed in the back of our truck and set up tents at campsites all over the West Coast and North of USA.  One of our favorite places is Yellow Stone Park.  Nothing like seeing the Buffalo up close

32.  I love buying shoes…but lately it has been replaced with buying fragrance oils 

33. I wear a lot of black clothes and have only one or two pastel color shirts

34. I turn 40 years old this year and I may be heading to a mid life crisis.  I found myself listening to rock the other day in the car and screaming at the top of my lungs as I tried to sing the song.  The guy driving in the lane next to me thought I was crazy

35. I have many friends, but not many close ones. 

36. I am very happy to have found soaping, and much happier to have discovered the world of Soap Blogging.  I enjoy to read about others adventures and admire their soaps.  I should leave more comments, but half the time I am catching up on reading during my break or lunch hours at work and I read a lot of the blogs via phone

37. Every now and then I like to play with Polymer Clay.  I have learned to make clay beads and I keep telling myself that one year I will make a rosary for both my mom and mother-in-law

38. I tried knitting, but can’t seem to finish the projects.  The only small  blanket I made was for my daughter.  I kept joking that the moment I would finish it I would go into labor.  I finished the blanket on June 17^th and I went into the hospital with pain on June 18^th.  She was born later that day

39. I love dogs, especially little ones.  I have a long hair Chihuahua.  We call her Chi Chi.  Don’t ask!

40. I can’t think of anything else to write :)

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Kimono Flower

I recently received a new order of fragrance oils...I think I am addicted to buying them!  My soaping closet it starting to burst and I don't think I am ever going to run out of fragrances for some time to soap with.  I laugh because I use to sneak in bags from the shoe shop (I am also addicted to buying shoes )  now I sneak in the house with my newly delivered fragrances.  My husband just rolls his eyes :)

One of the new fragrances that I receive is called Kimono Flower.  The vendors description of this fragrance:
"... mandarin and bergamot blended with soft jasmine petals and juicy raspberry; the heart is ylang ylang, sweet gardenia, and pink orchid; the base is rounded out with nuances of white moss, creamy amber, and vetiver"

 I am a little hit or miss with "perfume" kind of fragrance oils.  Some can be pretty strong for me and others are too light.  This one hit the mark, and its one of the first time that I have thought about doing a perfume.  I really like it.

I have also started to browse the internet for color inspiration.  I find myself getting stuck with the same color scheme over and over again...partly I think because I only have a small selection of Micas to work with.  I am dying to buy some more but my budget for soaping is a little tight this month.  

I went online and saw this and fell in love with it...

Kimono Fabric

My reality turned out like this...

Yes...I need a little MORE work with my colors :)

I used powered Buttermilk and as much as I tried to prevent gel it still had some gelling in the middle. The fragrance worked really well...it did start setting on me a little faster than I wanted to and my swirls were not as fluid as I wanted.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!!!

Roxana

The Versatile Blogger Nomination

Recently while I was doing my weekly check of the blogs I follow I was stunned to find out that Cee Gee from Oil and Butter listed me as one of her nominations for the Versatile Blogger Award! 

Cee is an awesome friend and I really enjoy her blog.  She is pretty talented and I look forward to all her new post.  She makes some beautiful soaps and also provides some pretty awesome educational posts!  Thank you Cee for your nomination!!!

Here are the rules for the award: 

VBA RULES: 

(Copied from versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com)

• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.

• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.

• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)

• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.

•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

My 15 Nominees

Oil and Butter

A Soapy Story

SoapSudsations 

Diva Soap

Great Cakes Soapworks

I'd Lather be Soaping

Petals Bath Boutique

Soap and Restless

Soap-Blog

Naturelle

Royalty Soaps

Silk and Clay Soaps

Soap Jam

Sweet Smelling Aroma

Missouri River Soap

7 things about me:

I live in Oakley, California (USA).  About 1 hour away from San Francisco

I LOVE to read, but I have an obsession with Historical Romance Novels.  My Kindle is full of them.

I am allergic to mint...I start getting all shaky and I can feel my blood pressure going a little weird.  I can eat certain mint candies, but cannot do Candy Canes.  I almost had a really bad reaction during a Craft Fair because I had mint soap displayed close by.

I was born in El Salvador, Central America and immigrated to the United States when I was 10 years old.  Most people think I was born in Mexico...but I did marry a Mexican.  My kids will have the luxury of saying  that both their parents were born in two different Latin countries, but my kids don't like hispanic food :(

I wanted to be an Illustrator and finished one year of Art University.  Unfortunately I was not able to keep up and for financial reasons dropped off.  Now I watch Disney and Pixar movies and wonder of what could have been...yet I struggle with color schemes in my soaps!

I have three young children, ranging from 6 years to 2 years.  Two boys: Alex and Nicolas, and One girl: Sofia.  They were all born premature at exactly 33 weeks, all of them.  The number 33 may be my lucky number :)  

I LOVE ICE CREAM...and my favorite one is World Class Chocolate from Baskin Robins :)

Thanks for reading!

Roxana

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentines to all!

Its is Valentine's Day and what else to do but come up with a Rocking, Pink, Romantic Soap.  That is the vision...how it ended up in the end it's another story! :o)

I have been admiring all these soaps with delicate swirls.  The soap base would be a solid white or cream color and there would be a couple of delicate swirls, dancing on the top.  I can't seem to come close to that technique.  I get carried away with my color and before you know it I have all these out of control swirls.  I just need to figure out how to be a little conservative with my color!  Especially with my reds and pinks!

I really like the play of the gold within the pink/red.  I read in a blog that the soaper was really happy with the 14K Gold Mica that she purchased at TKB Trading, and I remembered that I had some in my color box!

Once again I tried to use embeds on the top.  These are suppose to be "Hearts"...but according to my sister-in-law they look more like "Teeth Retainers" :o/...

Maybe next time I will try to position them differently.  

If you are wondering which fragrance I used, I tried a new fragrance from Rustic Escentuals, Mediterranean Garden.  It has a very nice light floral fragrance to it and it performed really well.  I am glad I was able to pick up a good supply since I purchased it on Clearance and it looks like they are now discontinued.

I have a long holiday weekend coming up and I am hoping to do some more soaping!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!

Roxana

The Tale of the Dangerous Berries

I don't work with embeds that much.  It takes a little bit of planning and working a little days ahead. In one of my pasts posts I used different color soap balls and embedded them in the soap.  The results were very cute.
If you are curious here is the link to "Fun Soap"

Since I had good results the last time around I decided to try it again.  This time I used my strawberry silicone mold.  I was envisioning all these strawberries and berries on the top.  Just thinking of how cute they would turn out.  I decided not to use Melt and Pour and make my strawberries out of Cold Press Soap....I was doing so good.  Mix lye with the oils.  Added the fragrance and then the mica.  Pour it in the mold, and tapped the mold GENTLY to settle any bubbles...and then it hit me!

IT REALLY HIT ME!!!  

 The mixture shot up at me and went straight for my face!

Thank goodness I had my goggles on!  I moved so fast towards the sink to wash it off my face.  I ended up with some in my forehead, nose and lips.  Thankfully nothing bad happened to my face but let me tell you, my lip HURT!!!  The small drop of raw soap that splattered on my lip felt like it was burning off a couple of skin layers.

I always read about some soapers that have accidents with raw soap, and you take that lesson and you try to be extra careful.  Did I get lucky!  A reminder to all...wear goggles - ALWAYS!!!  an apron, long sleeves and gloves too.  Because you just never know :(

In the mean time once I felt that I had washed off all the raw soap I finished pouring the soap in the mold, cleaned up my area.  I ended up dumping tons of Vaseline on  lip.  My hubby looked at me and asked me what happened.  After I was done explaining he grins and says to me ..."now you have pouty lips!"...yes, I think I was sporting Angelina Jolie's famous pout :)

But you are probably wondering how this soap turned out...here are the pics

I should confess that in the end I ended up using Melt and Pour soap after all.  I was not happy with how the Cold Press Soap Berries turned out.  With the Melt and Pour the Mica colors are more intense and I love the final result.

Thanks for Checking Out My Blog!  

HAPPY SAFE SOAPING!!!

Roxana

Lavender Bastile Soap

I have wanted to try to make a castile soap batch for the longest.  What is "castile soap"?  Well that is soap that is made with just Olive Oil.  It's a wonderful, gentle soap bar.  But it also takes a long time to cure.  About 6 months, but the results are worth waiting for.  Now some people don't care too much for 100% Olive Oil soap.  It can get a little slimy and sometimes you don't have the wonderful bubbles that you can have with other handmade soaps.  Keeping this in mind I decided to try a "bastile soap".

While not 100% Olive Oil, it still has a high amount of Olive Oil to make it as luxurious.  I decided to add some Coconut Oil and Castor Oil for some bubbles.  I like bubbles in my bars and have even read that if you add sugar to your lye water you can get some wonderful bubbles!  I have yet to try that trick :)

Now in doing my research for my bastile soap, I kept coming across many soapers doing a water discount.  This is when you lower your water content in your recipe so that your soap can trace faster and also cure faster as well.  I have always been a little nervous to try water discounts...too chicken to try since I am afraid I may be faced with a picky fragrance that may act up on me and just set too fast.  But this time around I decided to jump in with both feet and give it a try!I decided to use Bramble Berry's Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil.  I have been saving this fragrance for just the right soap and using it for my first batch of bastile soap would make it even more special :)As always I did add a bit of Goat Milk.  I am happy to report that my batch soaped perfectly.  No problems what so ever, and for the first time I had no problem whatsoever getting it out of the mold!  I was worried about that.  I struggle terribly in taking my soaps out of my silicone molds.  I think because I use full water and since I have stopped using Palm Oil my soap tends to get a little sticky.  I have even tried putting it in the fridge and I just end up with the worst soap ash.  But this batch was my lucky one!

I am wondering now if I should try doing water discounts on my soaps more often.  I always use Sodium Lactate, and with the water discount I think it may be the trick to easily unmold it.I also decided to do a mica swirl on the top and I am really happy with the results!

I was surprise at how smooth my soap is.   I keep picking up my bars and just smiling like a crazy fool :)

I LOVE MY BASTILE SOAP and can't wait until it's fully cured and ready to use.  Just in time for my birthday!

Here are some more pics:

It smells amazing by the way.  I am usually  not so big on lavender scents but ever since I have started soaping I have come to enjoy it.  

Thanks for checking out my blog!

HAPPY SOAPING!!!

Roxana