Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Creamy Mango, Mango Lassi …

July 16, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

What’s in a name? Perhaps everything. Joanna over at The Soap Bar blog and the ultra fab Product Body loves our Limited Edition Mango Lassi so much she’d like to ‘drink it through a straw through her nose‘. While I’d not advise going quite that far, her enthusiasm is not misplaced. It’s a delightful fragrance which didn’t sell terribly well (much to my surprise and chagrin). Joanna believes it was my poor choice of a name. Either way now we only have it via special order (10 pounds) but we recently ordered a drum for a customer and have some left over.

I’ve put it up for sale in 1 pound sizes so you can try this fabulous fragrance and not have to get the full hefty 10 pounds (though, once you smell it, you’ll probably want to bathe in it so you’ll need 10 pounds). And, if you trust Joanna, you too will be looking for stray straws to enhance your Mango Lassi (‘creamy mango’) experience. Get your Mango Sensation/Sweet Mango/Creamy Mango/Mango Milkshake here.

Packaging Your After Sun Care Products

July 16, 2009 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an eas y Spritzer & Skinsicles

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Skin Oil

You can package your products in anything you’d like. For the healing essential oils, a solid bottle that does not let in light is more stable than a clear bottle or jar that is opened and exposed to air. If you missed the basic labeling instructions for what you need on the labels, you can find them at the bottom of the Soothing Skin Oil post.

Soothing After Sun Oil

July 15, 2009 Filed Under: Lotion

Check out my other summer and skin friendly lotions and potions…

Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Making an easy Spritzer

Skin Soothing Oil and Infusing

Soothing After Sun Oil

To make this into a soothing after-sun exposure oil, add 30 drops German Blue Chamomile, 15 drops Lavender EO, and 15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil to 2 ounces of infused oil, shake well and apply to painful skin.

Remember, if you are planning on selling these products, you must follow all applicable laws about labeling your product. Click here for more information.

I’ve copied the most relevant information below. Making a claim that your lotion will soothe skin is different than the claim that this product will heal sunburn. Be sure to read over the ‘Compliance Guide for labeling Drugs’ before you go down that labeling route and here.

What labeling information is required?

The following information must appear on the principal display panel:

• An identity statement, indicating the nature and use of the product, by means of either the common or usual name, a descriptive name, a fanciful name understood by the public, or an illustration [21 CFR 701.11].

• An accurate statement of the net quantity of contents, in terms of weight, measure, numerical count or a combination of numerical count and weight or measure [21 CFR 701.13].
The following information must appear on an information panel:

• Name and place of business. This may be the manufacturer, packer, or distributor. [21 CFR 701.12].

• Distributor statement. If the name and address are not those of the manufacturer, the label must say “Manufactured for…” or “Distributed by…” [21 CFR 701.12].

• Material facts. Failure to reveal material facts is one form of misleading labeling and therefore makes a product misbranded [21 CFR 1.21]. An example is directions for safe use, if a product could be unsafe if used incorrectly.

• Warning and caution statements. These must be prominent and conspicuous. The FD&C Act and related regulations specify warning and caution statements related to specific products [21 CFR part 700]. In addition, cosmetics that may be hazardous to consumers must bear appropriate label warnings [21 CFR 740.1]. An example of such hazardous products is flammable cosmetics.

• Ingredients. If the product is sold on a retail basis to consumers, even it it is labeled “For professional use only” or words to that effect, the ingredients must appear on an information panel, in descending order of predominance. [21 CFR 701.3]. Remember, if the product is also a drug, its labeling must comply with the regulations for both OTC drug and cosmetic ingredient labeling, as stated above.

Making Skin Soothing Oil – Infusion

July 13, 2009 Filed Under: Lotion

Infusing Oil

Infusing oil can be done with a warm method and a cold method. This tutorial will cover the stove top warm method.

Cut the Calendula into small pieces.
Put into a double boiler (double boiler bottom pan is filled with water first)
Cover with oil over the top of the herbs but no more than just covering the petals. I used jojoba for this project but you can use any liquid oil.
Heat gently on low to medium for 4 hours (minimum) up to 2 days (turning stove off when left unattended)
Strain Calendula Oil through a cheesecloth or coffee filter. It will be a little cloudy. It’s practically impossible to strain every teensy little bit of herb out.
Bottle and use within 6 months to 1 year (depending on the shelf life of your oil of choice)

This oil alone is skin soothing, moisturizing, healing and excellent for your skin. It’s a great way to add a healing twist to any oil. Tomorrow, I’ll help you put the finishing touch on your infused oil to make a soothing skin oil.

Tip from reader Sebastien’s Nook: A little note on an easier way to get the oil out of the calendula – go to the store and get one of those french coffee presses. It works wonders for extracting oil, while leaving the herb behind. I can get more oil out of the herb this way then with the hand squeezing method.

After Sun Care Spritzer & Skinsicles

July 12, 2009 Filed Under: Lotion

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an easy Spritzer & Skinsicles

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Massage Oil

Making an Easy Spritzer

There are a variety of ways to make a spritzer to spray on sunburn relief.

1.You can go the all natural, but sometimes separates route

2.You can go the mostly natural and doesn’t separate route

A note about Aloe Vera ‘Gel’ – When you crack open an aloe vera plant, a gel comes out. However, within a few minutes, the enzymes in the gel break down into a watery substance. The product Bramble Berry sells is this final product – a watery aloe vera substance. In order to get an aloe vera gel, thickeners are always added. If you have an aloe vera gel-gel, check the ingredients and see what thickener is in there. Because aloe vera gel is 95-99% water and the ‘gel’ present immediately after cutting is a complex web of polysaccharides that breaks down without a synthetic gelling agent, natural aloe vera ‘gel’ is a liquid as shown above in the photo.

All Natural, sometimes separates:

4 oz. Aloe Vera Water

2 oz. Witch Hazel

1 oz. Distilled Water

30 drops German Blue Chamomile Essential Oil

15 drops Lavender Essential Oil

15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil

Optional: Germaben II preservative .3 oz.

Examples are packaged in Bramble Berry Brushed Aluminum Bottles

Instructions: Add all the ingredients together. Whisk together to emulsify the mixture. Pour into sprayable containers.

You an also add some baking soda to this mixture to make a thin soothing mixture to apply like a cold poultice.

Mostly Natural, won’t separate

4 oz. Aloe Vera Water

2 oz. Witch Hazel

1 oz. Distilled Water

30 drops German Blue Chamomile

15 drops Lavender EO

15 drops Egyptian Geranium Essential Oil

.5 oz. Polysorbate 20

Optional: German II Preservative .35 oz.

Examples are packaged in Bramble Berry brushed aluminum bottles.

Mix the Polysorbate 20 with the essential oils. Add to Aloe Vera and water mix. Stir well. Mixture may get cloudy and tends to stay cloudy.

You can also use Peppermint Essential Oil to make a cooling spray. Some people find this soothing (not so much myself).

See that all natural blue color? It’s the azulene content in the Blue Chamomile (German) Essential Oil. It’s healing goodness to the nth degree.

For extra cooling goodness, pop these recipes into the freezer and making a soothing ice cube with the skin loving ingredients. They both freeze to a mostly-solid. They don’t pop out of ice cube containers well but larger containers, like small flexible tupperware, are great for making Skin Soothing Popsicles.

Check in tomorrow to learn how to infuse oil using calendula petals to create a healing skin oil.

After Sun Care Recipes

July 10, 2009 Filed Under: Lotion

It is summer time. One the best parts about summer is sun and spending time outside. We all know that it’s best to wear sunscreen and a hat when you are outside but sometimes, the best intentions go out the window when the sun appears. If you over indulged a little, I’m going to spend the next 4 days going over practical and effective sunburn aftercare recipes. Please note that these are good for mild sunburns, not the blistering charred kind. If you have that severe of a sunburn, please go see your Doctor to get something stronger.

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an Easy Spritzer

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Skin Oil

Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Ingredients (by weight):

18 oz. Aloe Vera Liquid
1.2 oz. Shea Butter
1.7 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
1 oz. Avocado Oil
1.2 oz. Emulsifying Wax
1 oz. Stearic Acid

.2 oz. Phenonip

.1 oz. German Chamomile

.1 oz. Lavender Essential Oil

Tools:

Digital Scale
Stick Blender
one 16 oz. wide-mouth container
one 32 oz. wide-mouth container
Five 4 ounce bottles

You can also buy the Lotion Kit here and substitute the water portion with Aloe Vera (Gel) Water.

Why German Chamomile? German Chamomile has a high azulene content. Azule ne helps calm skin inflammation and decrease redness. Lavender is useful for helping to reduce the sting in the burn and the aromatherapy properties may help to provide emotional stability during the painful sunburn recovery period. Aloe Vera Gel (water) is a well known healing and soothing plant for all kinds of common skin issues, from cuts to bruises to sunburns.

Step 1: Disinfect all of your tools and containers by dunking them in 5% bleachwater solution and drying them with fresh, off the roll, paper towels.

Step 2: In the large 32 oz. container, add the Sweet Almond oil, Avocado Oil, Stearic Acid and Emulsifying wax. Make sure this is all weighed out using a handy dandy digital scale (no volume measurements). Put in the microwave on 30 second bursts to melt the E-Wax and Stearic Acid. Despite the scary name, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil and isn’t acidic or scary. It actually adds to the fluffiness factor of the lotion.

Step 3: Add the Shea Butter to the hot mixture and stir to melt.

Step 4: Warm up the Aloe Vera Liquid and add it to your oil mixture. Why do you need to warm it? Because if it is too cold, it will harden the waxes directly upon mixing. Vigorously stir with a spoon by hand to start. Then switch to the hand blender.

Step 5: Once the mixture is fully mixed and emulsified (usually about 2 to 3 minutes), take the temperature and add the preservative and fragrance. For Germaben II, Optiphen and Phenonip preservatives, you want the temperature to be below 140 degrees. Usage rates of all three of these preservatives start at .5% by weight. Fragrance and essential oil usage for lotions is very low (remember, you don’t want to inadvertently make a perfume!) so start small. This recipe literally calls for .2 ounces of essential oil and that is more than enough to make a lovely smelling lotion and get the therapeutic benefits of all the oils. Notice the blue color of the azulene in the powerful German Chamomile? That’s some pure healing goodness.

Step 6: Pour into prepared bottles while the mixture is still warm. If the mixture is too thick to pour, heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir. Repeat as needed until it’s thin enough to pour. If the temperature during re-heating goes above 140, you’ll need to add an additional .5% preservative.

Step 7: Allow to cool with the lids off. Then put on lids and label and impress your friends and loved ones with your handmade goodness. Remind them to wear sunscreen next time.

Check back tomorrow for after sun care spritzers.

Making Wedding Favors on Soap Queen TV!

July 9, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

In this episode, I demonstrate a variation on the silhouette soap project taught by Soapylove at last year’s Soap Weekend Intensive. By the way, we just had a cancellation and there are 2 places open for this year’s Soap Weekend Intensive coming up next weekend!

Soap Queen TV Episode 10: Wedding Favors from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Clear melt & pour soap base
Merlot mica
Light Gold mica
Champagne fragrance
4 in 1 Basic Shapes mold

Craft knife (like and exacto)
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Heat safe container
Stir stick or spoon

Realistic Citrus Soaps

July 8, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Click here to be taken to Part A of these instructions.

1. Pull out a piece of saran wrap long enough to hold all of your citrus slices. Carefully position your “rind” soap on the saran wrap. Pull the wrap tight to make sure there are no wrinkles under the “rind”. Do the best you can – the wrap never quite gets straightened or perfect.

2. Spritz the “rind” and inside of the rind (onto the plastic wrap) with rubbing alcohol. Pour a thin layer of clear soap into the rind.

3. Spritz the thin layer of clear soap with rubbing alcohol. Place the “slices” into the clear layer of soap, before it hardens. Wiggle them into the perfect positioning. Have your paring knife handy just in case you need to slice off a too-large slice piece to ensure evenly spaced out soap.

4. Spray the entire set up with alcohol. Alcohol is your friend in this case. It helps with adhesion of the soap pieces.

5. Allow this clear layer to harden up prior to the next step. This usually takes 3 to 5 minutes at the most. If you do not allow your clear layer to harden up, the Lemon Slice below is a good example of what happens – the white soap will leak out the sides of the slice.

6. Melt White melt and pour soap in the microwave, double boiler or whatever method you prefer. Make sure the white soap is not steaming or else it will melt your slices. For the Bramble Berry House Bases , 120 to 130 degrees is the best option for the overpour.

7. Spritz with alcohol. Using either a steady hand, you can pour directly into the middle of the soap slices from your heat safe container. The Melt & Pour Injector Tool is fabulous for this because it allows precision targeting with the white soap base. Using the Injector is my preferred method for this soap. It has less mess and trimming to work with after the soap hardens.

8. Give one final spritz and you’re all done. Allow the soap to harden. Peel the soap off the plastic, cut into slices or wrap whole.

Voila – you’re done! Realistic Citrus Slices that are easy and fun to make.

New & Improved Bramble Berry Website

July 6, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We are so excited about our redesigned website and shopping cart and we hope you will be too.

Upgrades:

Wishlist – We now have a Wishlist so you can save your favorite items
Reorder button – Always order the same thing from us? You can reorder entire orders with just one button
Item Suggestions – We know we have a lot of products so our new cart will suggest things that other customers always have bought when they were buying the same thing you are

And of course, there’s the facelift. We hope you like how we’ve integrated SoapQueen.com, Teachsoap.com and SoapQueen.TV into the Bramble Berry site.

When you come to the site, the first thing you’ll notice are the big buttons at the top. They are a paired down selection of products we carry in each category. They are designed for new crafters who might need some suggestions on how to get started. If you’re an expert soaper or have been to Bramble Berry more than once and know our product line, just head straight down to the left hand side. We’ve kept our categories pretty much the same with just a few tweaks. The biggest change is that we’ve integrated the Cybilla fragrances into our regular line. When you scroll over categories, a pop up comes up to take you even closer to the item that you’re looking for. Or you can just click on the Category to see everyhing it has.

To order something, click either the ‘Add to Cart’ button or the ‘More Details’ button. The ‘More Details’ button often has notes, like how a fragrance acts in cold process soap or how to use a special colorant.

Once you have the ‘Add to Cart’ button clicked, you go to your cart. You can click off of the cart by using the left hand navigation products or by hitting the ‘Continue Shopping’ button.

Once you are ready to check out, you can click on the ‘My Cart’ button on the top left or ‘Basket’ button on the very top right. Type in your address and shipping information. Hit the ‘Continue’ button.

A shopping cart option shows up, giving you the chance to enter a coupon code, use the ‘gift’ option, and choose your shipping. You have three options for shipping: Fed Ex Ground, Priority Mail or Fed Ex 2 Day Air. If you’d like another option, please mention it in the NOTES section on the next screen or call us at 1-87-SOAP-STUFF to place your order with a special shipping method (pallet options, barge or UPS).

Hit the Pay with Credit Card button, or the PayPal button depending on which method you are checking out with. You can also check out with a Money Order option or by calling in your credit card. Use the buttons to choose one of these options. Enter your credit card or PayPal information and hit ‘Pay with XXXXX’ (credit card, PayPal, Money Order or Pay Via Phone).

Your order confirmation screen appears. You can add any notes on this screen for your order. If you’d like to make a change to your order, please call us no later than 4 hours after you’ve placed your order. We will do everything we can to get that change made if your order hasn’t already been packed.

I can hardly wait to get your feedback on our new cart. Please let me knowwhat you think and how you’d like me to improve on it to make your Bramble Berry shopping experience more seamless.

Solid Bath Sugar Cubes Tutorial

July 4, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap, Soaks & Scrubs

4th of July bath sugar cubes – single use body scrubs

By Erin Pikor owner of Naiad Soap Arts

These easy to make, festive scrubs combine cleansing glycerin soap with exfoliating sugar to make perfect single use solid sugar scrubs! Erin was generous enough to share it with SoapQueen.com readers. It can be done in all sorts of colors, not just patriotic seasonal ones.

This recipe makes approximately 24 ounce-ounce single use sugar scrubs.

What you’ll need:

4 oz. by weight clear glycerin soap (for the red and blue scrubs)

2 oz. by weight white glycerin soap (for the white scrubs)

6 oz. by weight grape seed oil (jojoba, sweet almond or olive oil may be substituted)

18 oz. by weight white sugar

Milk Way basic square mold

Pinkberry sherbet lab color

Red Apple Fragrance for your red scrubs

Brilliant blue lab color

Sun-Ripened Raspberry Fragrance for your blue scrubs

White Tea & Ginger Fragrance for your white scrubs

Blunt edge soap cutter or knife

2-cup glass measuring cup or melting soap

Spoons

Cutting surface

Wide mouth jars or plastic food containers for storage

These ingredients will be split into three batches – one each of red, white and blue!

Step one: Melt 2 oz. of clear soap in the microwave using your 2-cup glass measuring cup. This should take about 30 seconds.

Step two: Mix 2 oz. of your oil with the melted soap and stir until blended. The mix should still be liquid at this point. If it starts to thicken pop back in the microwave for a few seconds until your soap/oil mix is liquid.

Step three: Add color, pinkberry sherbet lab color to your liking and mix thoroughly. For this project I diluted the 10ml bottle of lab color in 2 oz. of water and used 4 drops. (skip this step for the white scrubs)

Step four: Add 20 drops of fragrance oil and mix thoroughly.

Step five: Add 6 oz. of the sugar and stir rigorously until completely blended.

Step six: Pour or spoon into you mold cavities. You should have a thick yet pourable mixture at this point. If it is too thick to spoon or pour into your mold you may heat for a few seconds in the microwave, but don’t heat it for too long as the sugar will begin to dissolve.

Each color will make enough to fill 2 of the 4 cavities of the mold. Let harden to room temp and pop out of the mold! Note you may have to pat down the mixture with your fingers as it may thicken quickly.

Repeat steps one through six for your blue and white scrubs, making sure to use the white glycerin soap for the white scrubs.

Step seven: After you have all of the scrubs unmolded, cut them into quarters using a knife or soap cutter.

Store in an airtight container such as a wide mouth jar until you are ready to use them. The glycerin soap in the recipe makes for a creamy emulsified scrub when mixed with water. To use, just take one scrub into the shower, knead with a little water in the palm of your hand and scrub over your skin! These will stay fresh for 3 months and be sure to keep them away from moisture so they don’t melt. Enjoy!

Big thanks to Erin from Naiad Soap Arts You can always buy her pre-made sugar scrubs at her Etsy shop if you don’t have the time or inclination to make them yourself. Happy Fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday celebration with your families.https://www.brambleberry.com/Basic-Square-Mold-P3158.aspx

Funnel Soap

July 3, 2009 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’m excited about what Kat did at Otionthis week – tried making Funnel Soap. I can’t wait to cut it!

Credit Card Processing at Bramble Berry

July 3, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

10:58 AM – Yay! Real time credit card processing is back up at www.brambleberry.com Place orders with credit cards, PayPal & money orders. Thanks for your patience. And, thank you to Authorize.net team for getting everything back on line so quickly.

5:51 AM – Credit card processing is down temporarily due to a fire at the data processing center at Authorize.net As always, you can order via PayPal, money order or call in your credit card to 1-87-SOAP-STUFF

PS – You can always get me @brambleberry on Twitter too.

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper

July 2, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Water Soluble Paper is an incredibly easy way to customize soaps without investing in custom -made molds. In this episode, I share my favorite tips and techniques for using this incredibly versatile product. Enjoy!

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this soap with me:

Soapmaking Video Clip

July 1, 2009 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

It’s always exciting to see a soapmaking business getting good press. Tracey does a good job in this video, talking and making soap at the same time. I recognized some of the goodies she was using to make her soap:

‘Waffle Crinkle Cutter‘ here
Lime Essential Oi l here
Spirulina Coloranthere

Check out Tracey’s site here.

As for me, I’m going to be out of the office for the rest of the day preparing for the Soap Weekend Intensive. Right now, the class is totally full but if you’d like to get on the waiting list, you can call Otion at 360-676-1030. We’re putting the finishing touches on a new SoapQueenTV episode for tomorrow on working with Water Soluble Paper so be sure to check in tomorrow for that new tutorial.