Blue Garden, Lily Cantaloup, and Shaving Soaps

Better late than never! :-D

Last Friday I cut 4 logs of soap. The first, Blue Garden. This is scented with a sweet violet fragrance oil, and swirled with ultramarine blue. When I first poured it, it was a nice eggshell white with a lovely blue swirl.

(click on any image to enlarge)


But surprise! There must be quite a bit of vanilla in the fragrance oil, because it is darkening up quite a bit!



As you can see in the photo below, the inside of the soap was still quite light when I cut it.



But see how dark the top and the sides of the soap are? THATS how dark the inside of the soap is now, after almost a week of curing on the rack. I kinda like it! Maybe I should call it Midnight Garden instead of Blue Garden!



Next up, Asian Lily and Musk Melon. This is a restock, and is pretty popular in the warmer weather. It looks and smells just as it should. I love it when a soap is consistent every time I make it. :) Some soaps, it seems no matter what I do, it looks or smells different every time I make it.



And two shaving soaps! Both the same recipe, just different scents and colors.

The first shaving soap is for the girls, because it's just about time to shave those legs! A really nice blend of essential oils - orange, lemon, clove, patchouli, and ylang ylang. For clay, a nice white Kaolin clay.





And for the guys or girls, Bay Rum, with green French clay.





Now, you might be wondering, what makes a shaving soap a shaving soap? Well to start off with, I use oils that help produce plenty of stable lather. By stable, I mean lather that is going to stick around for a little bit, time enough to complete your shave. And I don't want big bubbly lather, I want a creamy lather. SO, of course I need plenty olive oil to make sure your shaving soap is mild. And coconut oil because we do need SOME bubbly lather. Cocoa butter, yes, definitely. This helps with the stable lather part, along with the sweet almond oil. The castor oil adds a little bit of slide, so your razor doesn't drag. Clay also helps with the slide. And finally, a little bit of sugar .. yes! sugar! .... to help with that lather. OH OH I almost forgot goat milk! Gotta have goat milk for mildness, creaminess, and goodness!

All four soaps are now contently resting on the curing rack in the soap room. :)