Just desserts...

I've fought the confectionary craze from the beginning of my soaping adventures.  I'd think "Who the hell wants to wash themselves with a freakin' cupcake?" but years into this, I've discovered that, indeed, SCORES of soap freaks wanna wash themselves with cupcakes.  And pie....and cake slices....and pointy odd soap...and on and on.  Who knew?!  How dull am I?!  I've also discovered through online reviewers and customers that many people get around the oddness of the shapes by cutting their soaps into chunks, or smaller slices as they go to use them.  Whack a piece off, and you're good to go.  Non-soap embeds are easily removed before showers and let's face it...it's just a lot more fun sometimes.  So what the hell am I waiting for?  Time to start more experimenting!

I've been searching for a coffee blend for a long time.  Most all of them miss the mark for me.  They are often too bitter, too strong, too one-noted, too gross.  A soap trio of tea and coffee soaps would even be nice, (she says, digressing).  The blend I'm working with here is a rich, fresh brewed coffee, with really yummy back notes of chocolate, vanilla, and goosed even futher with some cinnamon stick embeds and coffee beans.  The cinnamon stands out in the unscented top layer, nicely.  My hubby had to break out the mitre saw to cut the sticks for me.  Those suckers are like rocks.

No offering up my soul to the alter of the vanilla stabilizer gods, this time.  I'm going for a dark, coffee-esque base with a frothy pure white piped top.  (Thank you, titanium dioxide.) After figuring out placement, I bedazzled with sparkles, coffee beans and the cinnamon sticks, in what I think turned out to be a cute end result.

It heated up BIG TIME in the mold, and I was sure I was going to have a crack situation on my hands.  The fact that it's hotter than the surface of the sun outside, the last few days, isn't helpful.  I wanted it to gel but this is ridiculous.   Luckily, it saponified without incident.  Whew.

So...this might be a fun range to get into after all.  Of course, like with most new undertakings, I realize that it starts a snowball effect and more changes need to be made.  I currently use soapboxes for packaging and they've always worked well for me.  I don't think these kinds of soaps are going to work with this packaging now, so I'll need to reconsider the options....again.  I need to consult my crafty customer greeniebeanie, maybe.  She could build a wing on my house with some constuction paper and a glue gun.  I SO didn't get that gene.

I guess it's what keeps it interesting, right?

Bye for now...

One for the foodies....

Can you tell I'm trying to diet?

This is one of those times where you pray to the vanilla stabilizer Gods for mercy.  This soap is called "Lemon Buttercream Cannoli"

I know, right?

It smells of freshly baked pie, lemon zest, lemon custard, buttercream, vanilla, and flaky crust. 

It's topped with some sparkles and a little bit of pink and yellow sprinkles, for fun.  Coming in august!

When a swirl becomes a glop....

You'd think after a few years of doing this, I'd learn to resist the urge to do time consuming swirls with a new fragrance oil. 

You'd think.

I'm stubborn that way sometimes. 

Because so many of my customers looooove their LUSH dupes (at double the cost of other fragrance oils, which is fun) I thought I'd do a six color column swirl with a dupe of Creamy Candy.  This sucker moved lightning fast and I had near- soap-on-a-stick status in 3.2 seconds.   Ugh. Hate that.

So, I kindly removed my column and threw it across the room..... and began to chunk my mixture into the mold as little dollar signs, and small cartoon soapers, began to float above my head and giggle at me hysterically.  After dropping the mold on my countertop 700 times and beating it into submission, I got some semblence of a decent "swirl", but fo realz fragrance oil formulators - is this really necessary?  Can't we work this little kink out already?

Father's Day Sale!

In honor of Father's Day, and MY Father who's in heaven, please take 20% off your orders from now until sunday 11pm Eastern time...and kiss your dads for me this year, :) Use coupon code "EHalter" at checkout...

Unmolding (DEmolding?) Carrots & Honey soap...

All I'm missing is the big rubber nose and the clown car...

Go ahead.  Mock the blonde.  I would.  ;o)

I told ya there were new things brewin'...

I have loved bath salts forever.  Just by the very nature of their existence, they force you to relax and take a load off.   Kind of like an illness without the vomit......or something.

I haven't formulated any until now, because I didn't just wanna put out the usual scented sea salt...throw in some sodium bicarb....cornstarch...whatever, and call it good.  I wanted to really amp up the skin benefits. 

Meet my brand new bath salts with genuine, mineral-packed dead sea salts for relaxation, detoxification and aid in the fight against skin conditions.  Additionally, I have also included magnesium sulfate, a naturally occuring mineral compound.  Some of the countless health benefits include relaxing the nervous system, curing skin problems, soothing back pain and aching limbs, easing muscle strain, healing cuts, treating cold and congestion, and drawing toxins from the body.  Ahhhhh...

My secret (only not so secret anymore) ingredient is the addition of kukui nut oil.  Now, if you're alleric to tree nuts, these salts are not for you, as the oil is cold-pressed from the nut of a tree which is found througout polynesia.  What I love about this oil is it's skin-softening and moisturizing qualities, it's packed with vitamins A, E & F, and it never leaves a greasy feeling on your skin.  Great for this application, as well as many others.

 Bathing in these salts, with these specific ingredients leaves my skin feeling so insanely silky, and what a great way to get rid of minor aches and pains, and to heal minor skin troubles.   Kukui nut oil isn't cheap either, so you can be sure you're getting your money's worth.  It's a bit of a luxury oil, but the benefits far exceeded the cost for me.  I really wanted to bring you something extra special, and I think I have.  :)

It's available in every scent known to man (lol) so you can take a look at what I have or make special requests just by dropping me a message.  I'm always happy to accomodate you. 

Keep an eye out for an exclusive aromatherapy line of bath salts, as well.  All natural.  No colorants, rich with botanicals and essential oils.  Can't wait to get to work on those!

Until my next post...