Scrub-A-Dub!

 I am in lust with my emulsified scrubs. They are a labor of love, and I have all 5 varieties in heavy rotation in my shower. The main ingredient is unrefined shea butter. I am incorporating shea butter into all my offerings when possible. It's the wonder butter, but I gotta tell ya: the smell is a little off-putting to me. However, I deal because I loves the shea....

Meet my two newest additions to the family: Eucalyptus Spearmint and Lemon Sugar. With my scrubs, I've decided to forgo the cute, kitsch-y names, and just give it to ya straight no chaser. I'm also learning painfully that my artsy-fartsy names are hurting me in Etsy's new relevancy search (don't get me started on that...) so keeping the names simple and straightforward were really a no-brainer.

Eucalyptus Spearmint Salt Scrub

Eucalyptus Spearmint is probably one of the cleanest, most tranquil-smelling scents I've encountered yet. It's truly spa-like, calming, and mood-enhancing. Lemon Sugar has a true lemon/tarty smell once you crack open the jar, but then it mellows out to a sweet, sugary ending. I have turned into a little workoutaholic as of late, so I like to pop these in the freezer while I do my Jillian Michaels. By the time I'm ready to shower, the scrub is all thick and creamy and refreshingly cool.

Lemon Sugar Sugar Scrub

I formulated these scrubs to rinse clean, however, they do leave a slight layer of moisture, and your tub will be a lot less slippery than the common oil and sugar or salt variety. Although I packed the scrubs into these 8 oz jars, the net weight ranges from 11.5-13 oz. Please don't throw these jars at anyone's head. You can be charged with a-salt with a deadly scrub.

I Call It Apple Sauced...

I couldn't decide between Apple Sauced and Apple Saucy, but I wanted the name of the soap to be one that conveyed action more so than description (sauced meaning the act of saucing, and saucy merely describing the apple...yeah, yeah, yeah...) An-t-way, please meet Apple Sauced. This is another fall/limited edition soap that smells of....okay, give up? Well it aint apple sauce if that's what you were thinking! The core of this fragrance of course is apple. I bought Big Red Apple from Southern Soapers in their going out of business sale, but it didn't wow me. Frankly, apples don't wow me much at all unless you shove it on a stick, drench it in caramel or chocolate then roll them around in a bed of chopped peanuts (Mrs. Prindle anyone???) Okay, I digress, but what else is new? I wanted an autumn scent, so I blended it with a few drops of anise essential oil and about an oz of another apple blend that I wasn't crazy about either. But blended altogether, I like it-very mucho. I personally think I could have used more anise because I wanted a spicy kick to it, but I'm relatively pleased with the outcome.

These bars are not symmetrical. I seriously under-calculated my formula which puzzled me. Olive oil-check. Coconut oil-check. Palm (organic)-check. Castor oil-check. Shea butter-check. I ran out of soybean oil which explains why my mold was only about 3/4's full. Oh well. I had to quickly compensate for the shortage, so I stuck these balls on top to give it a lil more sumthin' sumthin'. Do you likey? I also wanted this soap to be as natural as possible, so I used French red clay for colorant. I added a heaping tablespoon directly to my lye mixture. This French clay is more of a brick/orange-ish color than red, so that's why it's not red. Overall, I think it's a winner. Now I need to make more soap balls and a matching limited edition scrub...

Pretty Ugly Things Part I

I love to share my blunders as well as my triumphs. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...ugh...

This was Blackberry Apple

This was Cherry Meringue Bites

This was Blueberry Muffin with blueberry M&P imbeds. Had the soap not turned a murky, Potomac River-polluted brown, it would have been a cute soap

My first and last attempt at felting soap

  

The Original Dirty Soap

This was Cool Citrus Basil. Smelled really good, but turned out really bad...

The Big 4-0!

Me...at various ages...sizes...degrees of happiness...

So, yeah, today is my birthday. It was 40 (I can't believe I'm saying that) years ago today that I made my entrance into this crazy, beautiful world. It's really surreal to be 40. I remember when I was a teenager, and I thought 40 was ridiculously old. But 40 is the new 20. Right? Age is a state of mind. Right? I honestly feel 25. I am the healthiest physically than I've been in 10 years. I've endure so many hardships in my life-growing up with drug-addicted parents; being evicted from home after home; not knowing if there would be dinner on the table...But I've also had some beautiful experiences-going to Africa; falling in love; learning to make soap!

So as I start this new chapter, my heart is filled with such joy! There were times that I never thought I would make it-mentally, spiritually, or emotionally. Now, I am so grateful for every day that I open my eyes that I could just shout it from the rooftops. I am learning the power of forgiveness and living in the present. I am learning to love myself once again! So yes, I am 40 years old today, because my 39 year old self could never write these words and mean them with the strength and conviction that my 40 year old self now possesses!

And now, I shall have some cake....

First Soap For Fall

Yes, the title of this post is lame-o, but I am still pondering the name of this baby. It didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. One of these swirls was supposed to be orange, but I used extra virgin olive oil as opposed to the pomace variety, and I ended up with this. The scent is TO DIE FOR! I went very dark on this one. I am usually the sweet, sometimes musky type of scent lover, but this one is scented with 50% anise essential oil which I am in love with. It reminds me of those black jelly beans. I hated those damned things when I was a kid. I would pick them out of my Easter basket and give them to my uncle or my mother, and they would gobble them up. Puke! Anyway, my tastes have grown much more refined in my old age, and while I still can't stand black jelly beans, I love the smell of anise and black licorice. Oh yeah, the other 50% is a blend of orange, cinnamon, ginger, and clove.

 
I CPOP'd this soap because I personally cannot wait to use it. I'm thinking of making a scrub and a candle out of this blend too. It's that delicious...

The Evolution of Chai!

Like my hand-drawn tea cups? lol...

Chai tea is one of those scents, like coffee, that I absolutely love the smell of, but can't stand to drink the stuff! Chai tea is also one of my all-time favorite soap fragrances. It's spicy and exotic with universal appeal. Women and men dig this scent because it's not floral or girly, and it's not manly either. With that being said, I've already made and sold two successful batches of Chairiffic, and they pretty much look the same. I added some black tea to my lye solution to give it color, but I was stuck with an entirely brown soap.

This time, I wanted a different look. I was inspired by a post Amanda from Lovin Soap did a few months ago where she made chai tea soap in little paper cups and sprinkled cinnamon powder on top. How freaking clever was that?! Well I aint that crafty, but I used her creative genius to give Chariffic a makeover, and Voila!

Chairiffic Numero Uno

Chairiffic The Second

A deliciously-scented mini slab of chai tea soap with foam and cinnamon and a few droplets of Tahitian vanilla. I'm in looooooove!

Is It Autumn Yet?

I love warm weather, but this is ridiculous! I never want to know what Hell feels like, but I feel like I'm living in Hell on Earth. Anyway, I'm actually preparing for my autumn offerings. On the horizon:

Caramel Apple soap and lip balm! I can never get enough of this scent. But being the me that I am, it won't be traditional caramel apple (except the lip balm). It'll be my personal blend....

Orange-y, spicy, something, but with a Halloween-y appeal in both a soap and Gloss Bath and Body Oil. It won't be an obvious "Oh-yeah-this-is-Halloween", but I feel that I have to represent the occasion, ya know?

Firewood Soy Candles will be back. I love this scent. It smells like a smoldering embers with droplets of blackberry. Very nice....

Pumpkin Sugar Scrub is also making an encore appearance. I'll go lighter on the cinnamon because it can be somewhat irritating to the skin (Ask me how I know...) Pumpkin and orange spice smell too much alike to me, so I may actually use something else other than pumpkin. I may do an apple cider-type scrub. Love, love, love that fragrance...

So, that's about it for now. I'll be posting later this week on my revamped Chai-riffic soap. Love, love, love the aroma of chai tea! What are my other soap making sisters working on?