Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
The Entrepreneur Magazine application for Entrepreneur of the Year is up. If you grossed over $500,000 last year, you can apply for it here. We’re excited because Bramble Berry was chosen as one of the 15 companies to put in the ad. If you scroll through the entrepreneurs, you’ll see me along with the founder of Zappos.com and Etsy.com
Heady stuff given that Zappos does over $100 million in sales per year and I have a serious crush on the founder of Etsy.
Step Five: Freshly made soap is very moist. It will glue itself to saran wrap and create a self-sealing lock. Before laying your buds down, push out the final cut-out (little flower cuts into the center of big flowers).
I have to go to NYC tomorrow. I’m flying a red eye tonight and flying one back Friday night. Despite not really liking United (I never did get that refund from this debacle), it was the last seat available in the time period I needed so I took it.
When I booked the flight, I made sure it was a non-stop flight (United Flight 315 from La Guardia) so I could take a sleeping pill and zonk out.
I just looked at my flights and saw a strange little notation about stopping in Denver. So, I called United. The conversation, word-for-word, went like this:
A-M: Hi! I’m flying from La Guardia to Seattle tomorrow night on flight 315 and I notice there’s a stop in Denver. Do I have to get off the plane?
United: Yes, you do have to get off the plane, change flights and board another plane.
A-M: Really? Because, um, I bought non-stop.
United: This is a non-stop flight.
A-M: Really? Because I could swear that this is one stop. I mean, landing, getting off the plane, boarding another plane … that all really sounds like a full stop to me.
United: It’s not considered a stop because no passengers are getting on the plane.
A-M: Are you sure? Because stopping, disembarking and boarding another plane sounds an awfully lot like a real stop to me.
United: I’m sorry we were not able to meet your travel needs today. Have a safe flight.
Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base (ditto on the Economy Base)
Spring Scent – pick your own but might I humbly suggest Rosehip Jasmine, Lilac or Lettuce?
Spoons
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Tomorrow, we’ll start the cut-out process for these happy spring soaps.
This is a guest commentary by Johanna, our knitting genius. That’s her, above. Click here to see her etsy shop.
I would like to praise everyone who is involved in the communities of soaping local and abroad. I have been involved in this wonderful craft for 6 months or so now, working for Miss Anne-Marie (who, by the way, is a genius for seizing the opportunity to make such products widely available for us all! thank you!) I am finding that soaping and cosmetic making are such versatile crafts. One more to add to my overflowing life of projects!
I put together another “Portland Soapers Unite” gift bag (with Milky Way molds, fragrances, 3-D mold, a soap rope and jojoba beads) randomly chosen a winner from my hat for this weeks prize! ….drum roll….and the winner is NahiaCreations from Pullman, WA! Congratulations and thank you for being involved in the soaping community.
This is the final installment of our lipstick making tutorial. Post any questions you have and I will answer them in the comments section.
Filling these little tubes requires either a very steady arm or a set of plastic droppers. I personally use droppers but for big single color batches, you can buy a filling tray from MMS.
Check out the color variations I was able to achieve with just the colors in our Lipsafe Color Sampler pack. I added titanium dioxide to some of the colors but other than that, just relied heavily on the lipsafe micas and oxides easily available.
Ingredient Listing for your lipstick is simple – list what the product is, INCI names in descending order of use, net weight of product and who manufactured the product. The FDA has a really comprehensive web site about labeling lipsticks. You can find it here.
Quoting from their official rules (and this part is long – if you’re not interested in labeling information, just skip all the text in italics):
Who: “The name and business address appearing on the label may be those of the manufacturer, packer or distributor.
If the name and address is not that of the manufacturer, the name must be preceded by phrases such as “Manufactured for …”, “Distributed by …”, or other appropriate wording.
The name of the firm must be the corporate name, and the address may be that of the principal place of business. Stating also the name of a corporation’s particular division is optional.
The business address must include the street address, name of the city and state, and the ZIP code. The street address may be omitted if the firm is listed in a current city or telephone directory.”
Ingredient Listing: “Ingredients other than colors present at a concentration exceeding 1% in descending order or predominance, followed by ingredients other than colors present at 1% or less in any order, followed by colors present at any concentration listed in any order.”
A word on the phrase, “The safety of this product has not yet been determined.” The short answer is that all of the ingredients in your lip balm have been tested and generally recognized as safe (GRAS). According to (b) below, your lip balm and lipstick probably does not require the safety warning. To be on the safe side, you’ll want to read and interpret the rules yourself and also check with your insurance company.
Officially, the FDA has this to say about the phrase: “A cosmetic is considered misbranded if its safety has not adequately been substantiated, and it does not bear the following conspicuous statement on the PDP:
Warning – The safety of this product has not been determined.
The safety of a cosmetic may be considered adequately substantiated if experts qualified by scientific training and experience can reasonably conclude from the available toxicological and other test data, chemical composition, and other pertinent information that the product is not injurious to consumers under conditions of customary use and reasonably foreseeable conditions of misuse.
The safety of a cosmetic can adequately be substantiated by:
a. Reliance on available toxicological test data on its ingredients and on similar products, and
b. Performance of additional toxicological and other testing appropriate in the light of the existing data.
Even if the safety of each ingredient has been substantiated, there usually still is at least some toxicological testing needed with the formulated product to assure adequate safety substantiation.“
The FDA’s phone number, should you be curious about interpreting any of their information is: 1-888-463-6332. This is the main FDA Phone Number for general inquiries. They’ll pass you off to another department for specific labeling questions.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have questions, comments or want to share your successes with lipstick making, please post in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer.
I’m speaking for the first panel at 9 a.m., the “Turning your Passion Into Profit” panel with Larisa Goldin from Dreamclinic and Rachel Brandzel from Real Card Company.
You can find more information about Shop/08 here, including registration.
You can make a great lipstick out of your favorite lip balm recipe. If you don’t have a favorite from-scratch recipe, you can use a pre-made base like the one here or I’ve designed a few recipes for making lipstick at home below. Remember, if the recipe calls for a liquid oil that you don’t have, you can substitute any liquid oil.
Sheer Lipstick
2 oz. Beeswax
2 oz. Grapeseed Oil
1 oz. Wheatgerm Oil
optional 1 tsp. Zinc Oxide (by volume – optional – may substitute titanium dioxide)
4 tsp. lip safe mica (by volume – mix and match color to perfection)
The Zinc Oxide will provide a opaque, matte effect to your lipstick. If you use just mica, you will have a more sheer lip balm.
Melt the beeswax in a double boiler. Once fully melted, add the Grapeseed and Wheatgerm oil. Pour your colorant into the double boiler and stir well. Let this mixture sit until it begins to thicken slightly (thus suspending the colorant better) and pour into jars or tubes
Matte Lipstick
Because of the Candelilla wax, this lipstick is a more waxy feeling lipstick than the Sheer Lipstick. The Candelilla wax helps the color adhere to the lips.
Phase 1
4 oz. Castor Oil
4 oz. Jojoba oil
.5 oz. Beeswax
1 oz. Candelilla wax
1/4 oz. wheatgerm oil
Colorant phase
8 full teaspoons of lip safe mica or lip-approved pigment
optional: 1 teaspoon of titanium dioxide
1 oz. Castor, Olive or Wheatgerm oil Hint: Castor provides more shine than Olive or Wheatgerm
Melt the waxes in a double boiler. Once they are fully melted, add the Castor Oil and Jojoba oil. In a separate bowl, add your mica to the liquid oil of your choice. Mix in well and make sure there are no clumps. Add the colorant mixture into your double boiler and mix thoroughly. Remove this mixture from the double boiler and let sit until mixture begins to cool and thicken (thus suspending the colorant through out the lipstick). Once cooled to an appropriate thickness, pour into jars or tubes.
Not sure that you’ve got the best color or the nicest texture? I like to freeze a few butter knives in the freezer for an hour prior to making the lipstick. By dipping the end of a frozen knife into your colored lipstick mixture, you can instantly test the color and texture of your homemade creation.
After a long weekend away to Portland and back, it’s hard to get in the swing of things. Not to worry, the mound of mail and stack of bills is enough to swing me right back into tempo.
Thankfully, I had a little “prize” at the end of my mail pile. Nahia Creations in Pullman, WA sent me a little care package with two beautiful soaps! The photo taken with my phone, on a messy desk, clearly doesn’t do the soap justice.
The custom stamp is an especially elegant touch. Shelley sent me Chocolate Espresso and Chai Tea, both made with Bramble Berry Cybilla Fragrances.
She also made my day by trying a recipe posted on the Soap Queen – “Sugar Scrubs the Bakima Way.” Over on her blog, she says: “I used White Tea & Ginger fragrance and it was *amazing*. (I think this might be my new favorite fragrance.) I also added rice bran and adzuki bean powder as an exfoliant (my favorite exfoliants). This actually turns out to be quite heavenly…”
Have you tried to make the scrub? If you did, we want to hear how it went!
Bramble Berry has new essential oils – Sage (Dalmation), Citronella, and Sweet Southern Birch.
Mosquito season is almost here so the Citronella essential oil is sure to come in handy. Remember, if you are making cold process soaps, now is the time to make your Skeeter Beeter Camping soaps. With cure time, summer will be almost here when your soap is ready to sell.
This week on the Soap Queen, I’ll finish up the lipstick tutorial and start on a fun springtime soap project. Expect a post this evening with more information on making your own lipstick at home.
This weekend in Portland was a delightful whirlwind of sugar and fat. We ate our way through this fantastic city. Given that we live only five hours away from Portland, I’m not sure why we’re not there more often but I plan to remedy that in the upcoming year. The cupcakes in that city are delicious!
To assuage our guilty calorie laden hips, we actually took a morning jog from our hotel (Hotel Monaco in downtown Portland) to Cupcake Jones. It was only about a mile but we still felt virtuous.
The shop was abuzz with activity when we arrived. The owners were both working and gosh, they were sweet. Talk about happy, friendly and joyful … these two seemed to absolutely love what they do.
Check out the video. Could you imagine a more happening place? Copious amounts of sugar plus good music equals one great atmosphere. And, they give back to the community by donating leftovers to a homeless shelter. How sweet is that?
We got a four-pack of mini cupcakes, including their Peanut Butter & Jelly mini (which my Father proclaimed “Delicious!”) and two large, filling-filled cupcakes. Hubby bought The Pearl, a vanilla on vanilla filled with vanilla cupcake and no surprise, I picked the Velvet Painting.
Yes, this was as good as it looked. The Velvet Painting rivals the Cupcake Royale Red Velvet. The cake was moist and the filling added an exotic touch. The frosting was just the right foil to the delightful little morsel. Cupcake Jones makes some good cupcakes.
My Mom didn’t agree. She tasted the Vanilla Pearl and pronounced the cake “dry.” I disagree as does my dear husband but truth in writing demands the good as well as the bad. If Mom had just met the owners, I’m betting she would have a different opinion.
If you’re in Portland, be sure to stop by Cupcake Jones. You won’t be sorry.
There was a wonderful feeling of community and soaping harmony today in the back room of Besaws Restaurant in downtown Portland. Much thanks and praise goes to Kate Dixson of KatyKate products for organizing this fun outing.
The big winners of the day were:
Soapy Elephant for the most beautiful soap – her coffee soap is made with actual coffee, coffee grounds and coffee butter. I’m so lucky; she graciously let me have it to take back to Otion and showcase the soap proudly in one of our displays. She won an 18-bar Sunnybrook mold. Here she is with her winning soap, soap mold and Rebecca Harder from Sunnybrook Soap.
Rebecca and her husband Chris make the Birchwood divider molds. You can check out Michelle’s Soap Store, the Soapy Elephant here. She has some amazing bars of soap on her Etsy site.
Liz from Gassner Custom Soaps won for runner-up in the most beautiful soap. That’s her soap on the left (the moon one). Soapy Elephant’s winning Coffee Soap is up on top in the photo. Liz brought her adorable baby Aria! That’s baby Aria below, in the cutest outfit I’ve seen in a long time. I can feel my ovaries thudding their ticking time bomb beat right now, just looking at the photo.
Jenn from Redmond (PoppiesInJuly on the Soapdish forum) “won” for the Ugliest Soap but it was a tough call. There were some soaps only a mother could love on display.
It was all in good fun though. Don’t we all have soap that turned out dreadfully? Here is a close-up of her “winning” entry.
It was enlightening to listen to everyone’s take on their soap businesses. We had two full time soapers (Robin and Liz W) and many part-time crafters. Here’s a photo of part the group opening their Bramble Berry Schwag Bags with complete with Milky Way Soap Molds, 3-D Soap molds and ropes, Bramble Berry fragrances, Jojoba Beads, the new Bulk melt and pour and a soap rope.
Several soapers brought me gifts. I am thrilled with the hand knitted washcloth & soap combo from Trisha from the TeachSoap Forum, the Body Frosting Dead Sea Salt Scrub from Gassner Custom Soaps and a hand crocheted cupcake just for me! What a joyous surprise to be showered with gifts. Thank you!
This was such a fun, low-key event. Maybe next year we can do something a little more formal with speakers and demonstrations? Thank you everyone that came. It was a thrill to meet you all. I can’t wait for next year!
Thank you to Koinonia Community for this recipe designed just for our slidey tins!
Hey Anne-Marie! I love the chocolate lip gloss.
Here you go…a recipe for a small (test) batch.
2T apricot kernal oil
1T beeswax
1T cocoa butter
6 chocolate chips
Melt together.
Add:5 drops vanilla EO
oil from 3 vitamin E capsules
It makes 4 .25 oz size slider tins. I hope you enjoy. It just has a hint of flavor (not enough to keep you licking it all off) but a great aroma. Glossy too! Natalie
Thanks for sharing! I’ll have photos and a report from the Portland Soaper’s Unite luncheon up tomorrow.
Thank you to everyone that posted such positive, supportive comments yesterday for my Mom and Dad. It’s great to have such an awesome community at the blog.
We had a fabulous tour of the Nike facility (I want to work there when I “grow up”). Much thanks goes to customer Kate Dixon from Portland for arranging it and shepherding us around the sprawling campus. I am inspired after seeing their amenities for staff. Serving lunch and providing a workout facility for our Bramble Berry staff would be a dream!
Here we are on the Nike Campus; check out the beautiful grounds!
Then, we went in search of the best cupcake in Portland. We visited the Alphabet District’s Saint Cupcake. Sadly, they were out of Red Velvet cupcakes when we made it in so we had to make do with three minis and one Vanilla on Vanilla large dose.
Here is an employee making cupcakes for tomorrow’s hoard of rabid cupcake fans. She was using an ice cream scoop (? or something that looked like one) to get the cupcake batter into the wrappers.
After eating all three mini cupcakes tonight (the diet starts Monday), my experienced cupcake-tasting-buds declare that while Saint Cupcake isn’t as good as the Red Velvet cupcake at Cupcake Royale, these are better than the Trophy Cupcake from last week.
Tomorrow is Cupcake Jones. With the filling in every cupcake, it’s going to be an experience not to be missed.
PS – If you’re a soaper in the Portland area Saturday, stop by Besaw’s at noon to hang out, talk soap and have some good eats; more information here.
This is my Mom on her recent birthday, celebrating with the traditional Norwegian Kransakage. She is the sweetest, nicest and most kind-hearted person I know.
Some unscrupulous person just came and ripped out four of her prized dwarf fir trees and stole them right out of her yard! My Mom has babied these trees for two years. Since when has stealing trees been the trend? If you’re in Olympia, WA, guard your shrubbery.
My Dad is disappointed because it’s his clinic that was robbed. He built the clinic, from the ground up, and is the main practitioner. He’s going to have to install security cameras around his office. On a side note, if you’re looking for a great family doctor in Washington state, his web site is here.
These are the before and after pictures. Those little trees made a difference in the overall appearance of the facility.
The trees were ripped out by the roots. The shock of the ripping and transporting them will probably kill them.
And even creepier? Mom just caught a man taking photos of the rest of the trees in the landscape. When she went to talk to him, he ran away.
I’m bummed. My Mom doesn’t feel safe. My Dad is out cash. Crime sucks.