My Journey Through S.O.A.P. Part 5

I am now in the home stretch testing Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P. fragrances in Cold Process soaps! I unmolded Scent #4 and was very pleased indeed! The yellow was a tad heavy and I was worried about discolored bubbles, but everything turned out fine and it kept the nice pinks and purples. Nice dark fall colors! The scent held up nicely, still smells like a nice floral baby lotion to me, especially now :) I really, really like the scent, and all things baby :)

Part 5: Scent 5

Scent Description: a deep berry scent with a touch of zap that I can't put my finger on. This one reminds me of the County Fair and all the jellies and jams :) REALLY hope that this one holds up well! This is a keeper!

Method Used: I am soaping the same way as the others and using a low temp CP, insulated for a Gel Phase. 1 batch only. I did not particularly like the texture of the no Gel soaps.

Recipe Used: Same again. This recipe has been a tried and true one for me for many years.

Performance: Since I tend to soap at low temps, add color, THEN add the scents, it is behaving fine. I did not notice any acceleration that I might have at higher temps. I pour at a light medium trace and put to bed :) Although I must note: As I am writing this, I have the bottle beside me so that I can sniff it and I got a tiny drop on my finger and didn't notice. It is presently eating away at the "y", "h", "b", "m" and "n" on the laptop. got it wiped off but BEWARE and try not to store in anything but glass bottles :)

Color Notes: For this one, I decided to color only 1.5 cups of the raw soap. I mixed in 1/4 tsp Bramble Berry Brick Red Oxide and added back to the main soap with an In The Pot Swirl. I DID NOT take pictures for this on purpose.... I want it to be a surprise :) I am hoping that the nice, deep reds and the natural color of the soap comes through!

I will be back tomorrow with the reveal! Please take a minute to visit the other soaper's blogs about their experiences as well! I know that we ALL are having a blast!

Blessings,

Amanda

My Journey Through S.O.A.P. Part 2

I promised that I would show the pictures of the unmold of scents 1 and 2 for the Bramble Berry Fall S.O.A.P testing. Here they are. To the left is the Gelled Soaps and the right is the No Gel Phase soaps. You can't really tell by the pictures, but the NO GEL soaps absolutely did not want to release from the mold, even after freezing for a while. They remained soft and squishy but are trying to firm up after cutting. The gelled soaps on Scent 2 did go a tad bit darker than the non gelled, maybe due to the heat.
Notes on Scent: After unmolding, both scents 1 & 2 help up nice in both methods.
Part 2: Scent 3
I decided that tonight I would only soap one scent. 
Scent 3 Description: It has given us fits trying to describe the smell. I have all ages between 14 and 83 helping and we have all cone up with the same thing: Sugared Raspberries (or Berries in general). The 83 year old even said Cotton Candy :) A very nice scent that I think will carry well into a large line of products. (I think that my 83 year old Mother in Law is having as much fun as I am with this!)
Method Used: Cold Process Soap, 26 oz batch, 1/2 batch Gel Phase, 1/2 batch, no Gel Phase
Recipe Used: 10.4 oz Olive Oil, 7.8 oz Coconut Oil, 6.5 oz Palm Oil, 1.3 oz Shea Butter, 3.6 oz Lye, 8 Fl oz Distilled Water and 1/2 oz Scent
All mixed and soaped at room temperature. Molded in 9" Silicone Loaf Pans.
Performance: This scent did not accelerate trace at these temperatures and behaved rather nicely. I had plenty of time to do an in the pot swirl. No ricing or seizing noted.
Color Note: For this scent I used a Purple Mica. I tinted 1.5 cups of the soap and returned it into the pot and did a swirl and poured. Hopefully it will turn out :) For some reason, scents come through as colors to me and this one practically screamed PURPLE!


Here are pics of the soaps in the molds, No Gel in my mini fridge again and the Gelled getting tucked in with the trusty old towels.


Tomorrow I will cut and see how the scent and color holds up! I really like the purple swirls in this one. I hope that you have as much enjoyment reading and following me on this journey as I am having taking it!
Blessings,
Amanda

My Journey Through S.O.A.P. Part 1

The Arrival

Today my Bramble Berry box arrived containing my S.O.A.P. scents. The moment that I opened it, a medley of scents filled the air! It smelled
heavenly and I could not wait to start. In fact, in preparation of the arrival today, I went ahead and measured out my lye water and oils and left them to cool to room temps so I could begin just as soon as the box came in! I just had to smell them all, but for purposes of testing, I am doing this in stages. I will be testing 2 scents at a time with notes and pics in CP soap. After the soaps are all tested, I will be testing other mediums (maybe scrubs and bath fizzies). Let the fun begin!

Part 1 : Scents #1 & #2
Scent 1 Description: Smells like a fruity bubblegum with light cinnamon notes. It is fresh and friendly. Smells like candy and I see kid's soaps with this one :)
Scent 2 Description: WONDERFUL! Smells like a really deep, clean water scent similar to Salty Mariner in a way, but with less of the salty scent, if that makes sense... a really nice men's scent. 
Method Used: Cold Process Soap, 26 oz batch, 1/2 batch Gel Phase, 1/2 batch, no Gel Phase
Recipe Used: 10.4 oz Olive Oil, 7.8 oz Coconut Oil, 6.5 oz Palm Oil, 1.3 oz Shea Butter, 3.6 oz Lye, 8 Fl oz Distilled Water and 1/2 oz Scent
All mixed and soaped at room temperature. Molded in re-usable containers from Mainstays (Wal-Mart).
Performance: I didn't notice any misbehavior in either of these scents. They blended nicely and did not accelerate trace for me. 
Color Notes Scent 1: For this scent, I decided to add Ultramarine Pink to 3/4 of the batch and Brick Red Oxide to the remaining 1/4. The pink turned out very light while the red was dark and beautiful. Scent did not seem to affect the coloring. After pouring the pink, I spooned the red and stirred and swirled with the spoon. 
Color Notes Scent 2: This being the one that reminded me of water, I used Ultramarine Blue on 1/4 batch and left the rest uncolored. The blue was nice and dark and the uncolored part was a nice egg cream color upon pouring. Same technique as above with the spoon.











To the right is  on half of the 26 oz batch of Scent #1 & #2 in my little mini fridge so there is no Gel Phase.
To the left is the other half getting ready to be nestled in to a nice comfy Gel with old towels that I use to insulate. I will unmold and cut tomorrow and post pics and my final notes on each of these two great scents.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Scents #3 & #4! 


Blessings,
Amanda