Crazy Love

Just a quick post today:  My Obsessed Soap has taken a slight turn. It's now called Crazy Love. I really love this powder blue or baby blue. I wanted it to pop, so I brushed the tops with shimmery powder blue mica. That's my newest obsession by the way-brushing the tops of my soaps with shimmery mica.

A Nameless, Green Soap

Green is the color of life! The color of success! The color of most of my soaps, lol! If you haven't figured it out by now, green is my favorite color-jade, emerald, peridot, lime, pistachio, mint, booger...

BEHOLD:  My latest green clean: ummm, I have no witty name yet:(

It's scented in lemongrass and sage, and I sprinkled the top with cut lemongrass. I'm so ig'nant: I thought lemongrass was yellow and smelled like lemons-DUH! It's grass, HELLO!! It's very sweet and fresh-smelling. I loves it! Okay, I know I'm not the only one with a DUH moment. I'm not ashamed to admit that the light bulb flickers sometimes...

UPDATE: I've decided to name this delight Splendor In The Grass...

Staples For My Soap Arsenal

So I've been thinking: What are the scents that I want to carry all year round, all the time, winter, spring, summer, and fall..you get it! I have a terrible habit of just buying fragrances because I want to try them or because it's the hottest new trend or whatever. I make a batch of soap with it. I sell it. Then I move on to the next thing. There's no consistency or familiarity with my product line. THAT HAS TO STOP NOW!!! How can I brand myself if I'm constantly changing stuff?

Blah, blah, blah, and a million thoughts later, I decided on a few scents that I really like that I want to carry all the time, and here are a few:

Black Raspberry Vanilla

Blackberry Sage

Oatmeal, Milk & Honey

Chai Tea

Cucumber Mint (Ok, anything with cucumber..)

So, what are your "go to" or must-have scents, be it because you love them and/or because they're best-sellers for you?Handmade soap lovers: What are your go-to scents?

Deep-Seeded

We’re finally getting blue skies and sunshine highs, and I am so ready for warm weather! I found these soaps on my curing rack, and they’ve probably been there for about a month now. I thought this would be a watermelon-y type of soap, hence the appearance, but now it smells more like cucumber water-very spa and zen-like. Speaking of spas, I’m going to Atlantic City this summer to celebrate the last year of my 30’s (Where has the time gone? It seems like I just celebrated my 30^th!). I’ll be drinkin’, gamblin’, and detoxifyin’ at one of the hotel spas. I can’t wait! This soap will carry me through til then. I couldn’t wait to try it, and this little thing really explodes with scent. With all this talk of cucumbers, I’m off to make some cucumber slices marinated in Italian dressing now…

Neapolitan Delights

I've talked about Neapolitan soap so many times, and I probably will keep on talking about it. It's one of my all-time favorite ice creams, and I just love how all the talented soap makers out there have interpreted this Italian import. Here are a few of my faves.

Serah's

Naiad

The Clack House

(Okay, this one isn't soap, but it looks too good not to feature!)

Get The Bomb Lips!

I am fiendish when it comes to lip balm, lip gloss, lipstick… My lips are perpetually dry while the rest of my face is perpetually oily. Go figure! Anyway, I love lip balm. I probably own a dozen different brands from Avon to the various handmade Etsy delights. The one that I avoid like the plague is Chapstick. That stuff is awful. It has camphor in it which dries out my lips making me apply and re-apply and re-apply. I offered lip balms before and called them Lip Lushes. They were a little too glossy for my personal taste when the goal was to create a “balm” that moisturized without sliding off when you so much as opened your mouth.

  Lip Lushes-Peace......

Finally, I’ve discovered a lip balm formula that’s not too grainy or too greasy. The key (duh) is not to overheat your ingredients. Anne-Marie over at Brambleberry has a great video tutorial on making your own lip balms. So, I went back to the lab and decided to go with a tube as opposed to the slide tin. The weather is getting warmer, and there’s nothing worse than a pocket or purse oozing with scented lip goo. I also decided to go with the oval-shaped tube instead of the standard tube. If it tips over, it won’t roll away! I really love my labels-a big shout out to my graphic designer (like she works exclusively for me lol) Jen at Studio 71 Designs. 

With the launch of a new product comes a new name: Lip Bomb. I don’t really pronounce balm as “ball-m” but “bomb” so why not name it such? Besides, it explodes with scent and flavor. These balms are unsweetened, but the flavors are so intense that your mind thinks they’re sweet. I’ve got the old standbys: peach mango, cherry, cherry cola…but there are also some new additions: chocolate, pear, and almond biscotti. Of course the names are cheeky.I haven't listed them yet because I'm still playing with the finish of the labels: I'm torn between solid white (which I did not photograph)  and this "sheer" finish. I'm loving my new lippies!

Black Tie Affair

I love the color combo black and white-especially in soap. It's such a striking contrast, and I actually got the inspiration for these soaps from a request from a bride-to-be. She wanted some "manly" looking soaps for the men's room at her reception, and I just made these up off the cuff.

I really love the piano-looking soap. It's very "formal" and perfect for that special occasion. I haven't actually listed this one yet because I'm trying to find the right scent to match the look. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Melony Gardenia

You ever played the "What's your stripper name?" game? Well, if you haven't, you take the name of your first pet and pair it with the name of the street you grew up on (or some similar version of this....). My stripper name is Lacy Hobart. That just screams stripper to me, lol! That's the inspiration behind the name of this soap. I took the two scents-cucumber melon and gardenia-and BLAMMO: Melony Gardenia.

This soap smells so freakin good. It's unlike any combination of scents I've ever smelled. It's fresh. It's floral. It's feminine. It's seductive. It's very springtime and inviting. I love the swirls I made. They almost look like I funneled them, but nope, I just poured the soap all willy-nilly, and this is what I came up with. Dig her golden locks, aka, calendula petals. This will make a very nice Easter or Passover gift. Okay, enough about soap, what's your stripper name? LOL.....

Edward Cullen

Ok, let me just put it out there: Yes, I am a Twilight fan-of the books, but not the movies (That's a whole 'nother post in itself, but I digress-as usual)! When I read the first book, Twilight, I was hooked. It was well-written (for a non-reader of books like myself. I'm more of the glossy magazine type) and a true page-turner, and that sucker is over 500 pages. Now, with that being said, I love Edward Cullen! If I met a vampire as charming and loving as he, I’d be like bite me baby! Now, there’s Twilight stuff all over the net-most of it reproductions made into anything from t-shirts, to drinking glasses, to scrabble tile pendants. We’ve seen it all, but I wanted my homage, if you will, to be a little more original and genuine. I decided to create a soap that bears no resemblance to the movies, but to the essence of the character. While the Cullen vampires can withstand sunlight, their skins sparkle like faceted diamonds-giving away the fact that they’re different from the humans. 

The body of this soap is yellow, representing the sun or daylight. The reddish/orange hue is for blood of course, and the top is embellished with gold soap glitter for the Cullen complexion. And of course, this soap is vegan-no animal fats used to make this soap. Corny and/or hokey? Yeah, probably, but who cares? It’s soap with a storyline, and it’s scented in bergamot, mandarin, and blood orange essential oil. So, whatcha think?