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 4

I must say that I am absolutely having a BLAST doing testing for Bramble Berry! I have even managed to get my 14 year old daughter in on the designs and such. She has been a huge help with colors and helping do the funnel pours. In a word, AwEsOmE!

Upon cutting of Scent 7 that I covered yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised! The color rings held nicely and the scent did not diminish at all. The top did go a bit wonky, but my esteemed peers think that would have been caused by the layer of plastic wrap that I covered it with during insulation. I planed off the top and it turned out really nice and held the tiny swirls. Even though I was not a fan straight out of the bottle, I am beginning to rethink that.

Part 4: Scent 4

Scent Description: This one is very hard for me to pin down. It is delicate, yet strong. It has floral notes and something akin to baby lotion.

Method Used: Cold Process, Gel Phase, 1 batch, 3 Color Funnel Pour soaped at room temps

Recipe Used: I used the same recipe for this batch that I have used in the others and have found that it is a good recipe and size for testing. You can view it here.

Performance:  After a very light trace, I divided the batch into 3 parts and added my colors. When the colors were totally mixed I added the scent to the 3 parts. It did accelerate a little, but as I am used to working fast, this was not that big of a deal. I did stir it in by hand. I am sure that if I would have used the stick blender it would have been scoopable and not pourable :)

Color Notes: 1 Part was heavy on Yellow Oxide (I went a little overboard), 1 part Pink Ultramarine and 1 part Lavender Ultramarine. When the scent was added it looked like it would alter the colors a tiny bit, but once thoroughly mixed in it looked fine. I poured into the mold at a medium trace.

I am hoping that when I cut this one that the pinks will come through. Tomorrow I will have the pics of the cuts and maybe my take on another of the amazing scents I am testing!

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