Part of the fun of soap making is choosing from the many fragrance oils and essential oils available. From fruity to floral, masculine to clean, scents add personality and flair to your projects. All Bramble Berry fragrance and essential oils have been thoroughly tested for use in bath and body products, and are skin safe when used correctly.
Ever wonder why Bramble Berry ships fragrance and essential oils in fragile glass rather than plastic containers? See the photo below for the answer!
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Gentle Glide Sport Stick
From extra time in the garden to afternoon runs, summer months are a great time to increase activity. For areas of high friction such as heels, the extra fun in the sun can result in some discomfort. This Gentle Glide Sport Stick is created with additional Arrowroot Powder and Aloe Extract to leave the skin feeling comfortable and soothed.
Easy to apply, this product helps prevent blisters and chafing. This multi-purpose stick can also be used as a deodorant, and is great for sensitive underarm areas. Lightly scented with Baby Powder Fragrance Oil, this sport stick is a great project for beginners.
4 oz. Aluminum Free Deodorant Base
.5 mL Baby Powder Fragrance Oil
1 mL Cyclomethicone
1 mL Aloe Extract
.5 tsp Arrowroot Powder
Push Tubes (Four 1 oz. tubes)
Optional: Droppers
Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!Soapy Session Preparation and Setup Guide
You have done your soapy homework: the recipe is created and prepared, the design is fully thought out, and time has been scheduled in your busy day. Now, it’s time to prep your ingredients and set up the soaping work space.
Having your supplies and space fully prepared before making cold process soap is extremely important. Occasionally you need to think on your feet while soaping, and having all tools on stand-by can make all the difference!
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Sunday Night Spotlight: Jojoba Oil
When you’re formulating for anything skincare, there are a wide variety of oils available. One that is a favorite for skincare is jojoba oil; it acts somewhere between an oil and a liquid wax, jojoba oil is a versatile ingredient that can instantly enhance any bath & beauty product. Pronounced “ho-ho-ba,” this oil joins the ranks of Chia and Argan oils as a fast absorbing, super-skin nourishing oil.
Jojoba oil is extracted from the seed of the Jojoba shrub. The shrub is native to southern Arizona, California and northwestern Mexico. In it’s natural state jojoba oil is a thick, light golden liquid with a slightly nutty odor. It has an extremely long shelf-life because it does not contain triglycerides (basically fats) like other oils do. In fact, according to the Alternative Field Crops Manual, jojoba oil is “relatively pure, non-toxic, biodegradable, and resistant to rancidity.” These qualities make it an excellent, hardy option for massage oils, lotions and cold process soaps. Technically, because jojoba oil is actually a liquid wax, the shelf life is long-lasting (decades even). Even being a liquid wax, the oil has similar properties to skin, making it a light-weight, easily-absorbable skincare option.
Due to its versatility, indefinite shelf life and nourishing properties, jojoba oil has been used in a wide variety of soapy projects on the Soap Queen blog. You can use varying amounts of jojoba oil in scrubs, lotions or lip balms, but it shouldn’t be used more than 10% in cold process soap because it tends to weigh down lather. Below are just a few projects where we’ve used jojoba oil:
Top: Mango Avocado Balmy Salve, Loofah Cold Process
Middle: Radiant Red Lipstick, Mini Heart Bath Bombs
Bottom: Massage Oil, Cuticle Oil
Have you made products using jojoba oil? What did you think? Leave a review on the product’s page to let other crafters know what you thought!
Facebook Photo of the Week (July 19th ~ July 25th)
It was a rainy week here in Washington state, but lucky for us we were still in Rome! Well, in spirit anyway. The Roman Holiday series of tutorials featuring Neroli and Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil wrapped up, with projects ranging from the simple Neroli & Shea Solid Perfume to the intricate Tile Inlay Cold Process Tutorial.
Roman Holiday Series Wrap Up
With rich history, fabulous food and gorgeous architecture, it’s easy to understand why Rome was the source of inspiration for our Roman Holiday series. The past week was full of Mediterranean-themed projects and sales, but all good things must come to an end, the Roman Holiday series included.
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Roman Holiday: Vespa Melt & Pour
Imagine zipping through the beautiful city of Rome on a scooter, as wonderful sounds and smells fill the air. Thanks to Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, Vespas are now an iconic symbol for Rome and Mediterranean transportation. While a moped ride in Rome may not be a possibility, this moped Melt and Pour project scented with Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil brings the sense of Roman adventure into your home.
To create the scooter-shaped mold, we used Flexy Fast Molding Putty. Fast drying and easy to work with, this molding putty is perfect for creating a wide variety of mold shapes. If you’d like to see this molding putty in action, check out this Special Edition “Back to School” Soap Queen TV video! For this project we used two small containers of putty, but the amount may vary slightly depending on the size of your molding object.
Handmade Beauty Box Contest Winner!
Today is a great day to give away a free three month subscription to Handmade Beauty Box. Wouldn’t you agree? Thank you to those who voted, offered project suggestions, and liked/followed/shared/pinned Handmade Beauty Box on social media. We read every single comment and created a master list compiling all of your project ideas. Four pages later, we’re swimming in DIY inspiration. You guys rocked it!
Give it all You’ve Got, and Then Some
I recently had a mentoring session with a smart woman named Kay. She had been out of work for a while but had finally landed a job. It was 50% under what she wanted to be paid, but it was a job. The company itself was in disarray; it was a serious mess. After just the first week, she knew she could help them dramatically, but she was not being paid what she thought her help was worth. She asked for my advice — should she go in, take charge, and make a difference even though she was not being paid for it?
Upon more discussion, she had a fear that she would be taken advantage of and that her efforts would not be recognized financially. She worried that the boss would take her gift and leave her at the same financial status. It’s been a long time since I was an employee and I’ve forgotten many of the games that unscrupulous employers play. But ultimately, this is about Kay, not her boss.
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Roman Holiday: Neroli & Shea Blossom Solid Perfume
Nothing has the ability to bring us back to a time or place quite like a fragrance can. The memory may be tied to the smell of your grandma’s garden, or baked bread from your favorite cafe. Fragrances can trigger a wide variety of vivid memories.
Not only can fragrances bring back memories, they can also take you to new places. This easy solid perfume project uses Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil to transport you to the city of Rome. Part of our Roman Holiday series, this fragrance features notes of bergamot, lime, jasmine and cedar.
Soap Queen Cuisine: Margherita Pizza with Cauliflower Crust
Who doesn’t love pizza? With such a wide variety of topping options, there is a pizza for everybody. Personally, I prefer to keep pizza simple with a margherita style. Not only are they easy to make (you only need three toppings) but I love how the fresh basil, tomatoes and mozzarella really shine. Inspired by our Roman Holiday promotion and series of tutorials, I decided to make this pie with a bit of a twist!
I love to sneak in extra veggies where I can, so for the crust I used cauliflower instead of traditional pizza dough. First the cauliflower is grated, cooked and blended with a little cheese, spices and an egg. This results in a dough like texture, that acts as a great crust! Because cauliflower is moist, you can choose to strain out some of the extra moisture if you prefer a crispier crust. If not, it’s perfect for eating with a fork.
Soapy Social Media Roundup
I hope you all had a wonderful week! Last week, we experienced a bit of a heat wave, with temperatures reaching 85 degrees. I’m sure for many of you that would be refreshing cool down. I have been trying to enjoy it as much as possible (with plenty of SPF of course!). This weekend cooled down a little; there are no complaints here.
To celebrate the sun, the office and warehouse at Bramble Berry took a break from work to enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers, salads and sweet treats. The kiddos have also been enjoying the warmer temperatures with plenty of time outdoors, and of course enjoying the garden’s bounty! Here on the blog, we are continuing with the Roman Holiday series of tutorials, so keep your eyes out for new Mediterranean-inspired projects.
Pins:
Top left, clockwise:
- How cute are these personalized Graphic Lunch Bags? It makes me excited for the day when Lilly and Jamisen will need their lunch packed for school.
- With summer comes berry season, and these Blueberry Power Smoothies look like the perfect way to use all the fresh berries available.
- Being a crafty person, I want my kids to feel confident in exploring their creative side. I would love to start doing more “process art” projects with them; art that focuses on the process, rather than the outcome.
- It’s not very often that we get to wear sandals in the Pacific Northwest, so I don’t buy new pairs every summer. I love this idea of making sandals new again by adding crystal embellishments!
Instagrams:
This week we created a lemon poppy seed soap scented with Lemon Verbena Yankee Type Fragrance Oil, and Champagne Fragrance Oil. It smells good enough to eat! I’m thrilled with how straight the mica line turned out.
Tweets:
- Could the way you speak at work be hindering your job chances? This list of four speech habits includes “Valley girl speech,” and “bad grammar,” as two speech habits to kick immediately.
- While counting calories does not equal a healthy diet, it is important to be aware of what you are eating. The FDA is currently reviewing feedback to make serving sizes more accurate to what Americans eat today.
- So much of our daily communication relies on body language, and these easy body language hacks may drastically improve your likeability!
- Honesty may be the most important rule for building company culture, especially when you are in a leadership role.
To keep up with the latest soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube. Have a great week!
Facebook Photo of the Week (July 12th ~ July 18th)
This week was the beginning of the Roman Holiday series of tutorials inspired by the art, history, and architecture of Rome. First up is the easy to make Olive Oil and Dead Sea Salt Scrub. The combination of Pure Olive Oil and Fine Grained Dead Sea Salt creates a luxurious body scrub that’s great for your legs and body.
Many of the ingredients used, including Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil, are now 25% off until July 25th at noon, PDT. Use the code ROMEDAY25 during checkout. To see the full list of sale items, click here.
Handmade Beauty Box Announcement + Contest!
We have a secret and we can’t keep it in any longer. Fine. We’ll tell you. You practically dragged it out of us. Here it goes. We’re launching a new website this November 2014 called Handmade Beauty Box and we could not be more excited to share the news!
Update: You can now visit HandmadeBeautyBox.com for all the details!
What is Handmade Beauty Box?
Handmade Beauty Box is a subscription box that delivers monthly DIY beauty projects right to your door. Members will receive high quality ingredients to make the most popular DIY projects such as lotions, soaps, mineral makeup, bath fizzies, lipstick, nail polish, foot scrubs, candles, etc. The cost is $29.99 per month for your all-inclusive surprise box (including shipping). You read that correctly. Each month’s box will remain a surprise until you rip it open like a kid on Christmas morning. A crafty girl’s dream come true, right?
Handmade Beauty Box Mailing List
Do you want to be notified when the website launches so you can get in on the fun? Email us at [email protected] and you’ll be the first to know when Handmade Beauty Box goes live.
The Contest
The Handmade Beauty Box website is currently under construction. That’s where you come in. We need your help deciding on a new company logo!
Enter the contest by:
1) Voting on your favorite logo HERE
2) In the comments section of the blog, tell us what project you would like to see in a Handmade Beauty Box. Think beauty, easy and something that anyone just trying the craft could try and make successfully.
The winner will receive a FREE three month subscription to Handmade Beauty Box. Contest ends Tuesday 7/22.
Pssst. Do you want to double your chances of winning? Follow Handmade Beauty Box on social media. Like, follow, and share your little hearts out. In your “Here’s what I’d like to see in your Handmade Beauty Box” just tell us where you followed us and your user name and boom, double entry!
Find Handmade Beauty Box:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Ready to vote, and be entered to win? Ready, set, VOTE!