Anise

Anise is one of the essential oils that I like to keep stocked up on. I really enjoy it's spicy licorice scent, and I appreciate it's ability to hold it's scent in a cold process soap.

I use Anise Star essential oil. The Anise Star plant is a small to medium evergreen tree of the magnolia family, growing mostly in China. The seeds are steam distilled for the oil.

Anise Star is not the same as Aniseed Oil. Aniseed is the fruit of the annual anise plant of the parsley family.

Both are used in cooking, both are used in aromatherapy, both are used in soap making. I use Anise Star because my research between the two convinced me that Anise Star is easier on sensitive skin than Aniseed.

My favorite soap scented with Anise is my Anise Supreme. I started with one of my most luxurious recipes ... olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter (yes yes!), sweet almond oil, castor oil, and goat milk !! The essential oil scent blend I used anise, orange, clary sage, clove, and a couple of drops of patchouli and palmarosa.



This is a nice, deep, complex blend, and I find it very satisfying.

But then I wanted to make a less complex blend. I wanted to keep to 2 or 3 essential oils. Anise is a strong smelling oil, and tends to take the lead in a blend. So, I wanted to see want happened when I mixed it with another strong scent. So I did a blend of anise and patchouli. Now there's a battle of the scenses for you! :-D I also added just a touch of lemon. Yeah! I like it! I used the blend in my mild mild mild recipe of olive oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, rice bran oil, and avocado oil. I added some Rhassoul clay for texture. I'm very happy with this soap! Of course, after 6 weeks on the curing rack, the lemon has pretty much faded (as I thought it would). The anise and the patchouli are no longer in a battle and they have blended quite nicely to a deep earthy licorice scent.

Patchouli Anise