Just A Few Pics

I made 2 batches over the weekend! Major feat...seriously. I'll post the deets when I cut and photograph them:)

Christmas Soap...On Halloween

So I'm reading some of my favorite soap blogs, and everyone is revealing their holiday offerings! I am so late-as usual. I have to start thinking and planning more like a business. Although it's only October (okay, tomorrow's Nov 1), retailers are already unveiling and debuting their Christmas stuff, so why shouldn't I? I am a retailer, after all. Sidebar: I am always hesitant to call a new soap a "holiday" soap because I don't want to be left with a lot of "holiday" stuff after the holidays have passed. That's just me...


Anyway, here is the soap, and I don't have an official name for it yet. It can be called a real "Palmolive" soap because it has just 2 oils: olive and palm. Sidebar #2: It wasn't until last year that I put 2+2 together to realize that Palmolive soap was named so because it was made with palm and olive oils. Duh...The main scent is a blend of balsam and pine-like a newly-chopped Christmas tree. This would make a great candle or tart scent (hint, hint). I was a little hesitant to use it in a soap because who would want to smell like a Christmas tree so I softened it a little with a few droplets of pomegranate for a bit of sweetness. The "Christmas bulbs" on top are scented in a delicate floral to further help balance out the pine-y aroma.

Sadly though the white part of the soap has morphed into a dark tan. I am completely out of titanium dioxide, but I still think it will be a cute soap in the end. Now I think I'll make some tarts in this scent. I really like it when my space smells like Christmas-even in the springtime!

Edit: Since it is Halloween, it's only fair that I share of picture of me looking absolutely ridiculous at the office party. Can you guess who I am?

Bad Santa!!

 
 Thank you everyone for all your well wishes and kind words regarding my website launch! That's just what I need to swell my head (hee hee) and keep me motivated. And so the show goes on...

One of my favorite holiday movies is Bad Santa starring Billy Bob Thornton. To this day, I still cannot believe this is the Sling Blade guy because he just killed that role! Anyway, Bad Santa is not a movie for kids and neither is this soap. It's naughty-looking and naughty-smelling. I used powdered sugar and colored it with black and red oxides to create the sooty layers. The soap itself is scented in a blend of Tahitian vanilla, anise, and simple syrup-very licorice-y. I've also made a limited edition Sugar Bubbles in the same scent. At first, I did not link the scent because I'm a "sweet" gal, but I'm really digging this one mucho!

The Sugar Bubbles are available now. The soap will be ready on Thanksgiving (ha!)

Peppermint Spark

Here is my 3rd, and probably final holiday soap for 2010. It's called Peppermint Spark, inspired by the traditional Christmas candy Peppermint Bark. I cannot tell a lie: I've never had peppermint bark! But it looks so friggin good! It's like a sophisticated York Peppermint Patty to the 25th power. My version was inspired by this photo. It looks so different than traditional peppermint bark, and I'm so non-traditional, so this was perfect.

Source

The bottom layer is colored solely in Hershey's cocoa powder and scented in a heavenly nutty-chocolate fragrance. The middle layer is scented in a cool, tingly peppermint, and the thick, drippy layers are a combo of peppermint and chocolate. This is a very limited edition soap-only 9 bars. If you'd like for me to reserve one for you, drop me a line. Yumlicious!

Naughty or Nice? How About Nicety!

I’m not waiting til the last minute like I always do to start crafting my holiday offerings. I will have 3 official holiday soaps this year. I usually only do one, but these soaps will carry you into the Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa season and beyond! For this one, I deviated from the traditional holiday scents like sugar cookie or frankincense and myrrh, or basically anything with vanilla in it and decided to go darker.

First up is Nicety. It’s part naughty and part nice. There was also a song back in the day called Nicety. Whatever happened to Michel’le? Oh well, I digress (when don’t I digress…) I wanted Nicety to be “sooty” not entirely black, but I had a heavy hand with the black oxide. I should have only used a pinch instead of 3! You can barely see the poppy seeds in the body of the soap, so I compensated by sprinkling little sooty balls on top. The soap is scented in a blend of sweet orange and patchouli (love this combo-the ultimate naughty meets nice) with a little hint of fir needle to give it an unexpected “Hmmmm” factor. No, this soap doesn’t smell like a fir tree. It smells like a nice romp in the woods with someone you don’t mind getting naughty with..

Holiday Soaps

If you haven't already, now is the time to start stocking your shops with your holiday items! I like to make my shopping lists in advance, so when I'm ready to shop, I know what I want and where to find it. I suspect there are many others out there like myself. I'll be adding new things every day all the way up to Friday: BLACK FRIDAY!

I've added a few glycerin goodies to my shops:

Snowflake Soaps

Christmas Tree-O Soaps

Lump O' Coal Soaps

Lotsa New Stuff On The Horizon

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Oh no, don't say it!!! Not....Christmas????? Yeah! Where did the year go? It seems like it was just the 4th of July, and Halloween is tomorrow! Okay, I'm jumping holidays now. The point is, it's almost Christmas, and I'm making soaps out the wazoo! I'm going to fill my Etsy shop and my website with all kinds of soap. Soap for men. Soap for women. Soap for kids. Soap for grandmas. Soap for teachers. Soap for EVERYBODY!!!!

First up is my holiday cold processed soap. I call it Merry Christmas, Baby! It smells of holly and red berries with a dash of cardamom and vanilla. I sprinkled a little gold glitter on it for a sparkly, festive touch. I wasn't crazy about it at first, but it's growing on me by the day. I'll be blogging much often about my latest creations. Stay tuned....