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12 Days of Christmas: Lotion Melt and Pour Cubes

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 1 hour
Yields: Approximately nine 3.5 oz. cubes

Adding oils and butters to melt and pour bases can be tricky. Extra oils can cause the melt and pour to not set up correctly, or may inhibit lather. After a bit of testing, we found a way to add the skin-loving Aloe Lotion Base to the Shea Melt and Pour to create an extra creamy, firm bar. Adding the Aloe Lotion Base gives your soap additional aloe vera juice, rice bran oil and soothing oat extract. The key is to heat the lotion before mixing it into the melt and pour. Without this step, the lotion and melt and pour may separate. 
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These melt and pour cubes are made with the creamy and delicious Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil. Colored with Emerald Green LabColor, these soaps are wonderfully festive and cheery. Don’t forget to add the Vanilla Color Stabilizer, otherwise the Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil will discolor the soap a deep brown.

What You’ll Need:
9 Bar Silicone Cube Mold
32 oz. Shea Melt and Pour
4 oz (by volume) Aloe Lotion Base
1 oz. Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil
1 oz. Vanilla Color Stabilizer
4 mL Emerald Green LabColor

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!
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ONE:  Place all of the Aloe Lotion Base in a small, heat safe container. Place in the microwave using 10 second bursts until the lotion reaches a temperature of about 130 °F. Heating the lotion into a liquid texture allows it to fully mix into the melt and pour without separation.
Note: Once the lotion is heated the preservative in the lotion is no longer effective, and the product should not be used as a lotion. 

StepOne_500px_edited-1TWO: Cut and melt 32 oz. of Shea Melt and Pour in the microwave using 30 second bursts. Once the soap is fully melted and has reached a temperature of about 130 °F, pour the hot liquid lotion into the soap and stir thoroughly until fully combined.

StepTwo_500pxTHREE: Add 1 oz. of the Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil, and 1 oz. of the Vanilla Color Stabilizer. Stir until both are thoroughly combined. 
StepThree3_500pxFOUR: Split the soap into two equal containers, about 2 cups each. Add 4mL of diluted Emerald Green Lab Color to one container and stir to combine. If you’ve never used LabColors before, check out this Diluting Bramble Berry LabColors post.
StepThree2_500pxFIVE: Pour both containers of soap into each cavity at the same time, allowing the colors to swirl and mix while pouring. Fill each cavity about 3/4 of the way.  After each pour, spray with 99% isopropyl or rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles. Continue pouring until all the cavities are filled. Allow to fully cool and harden, and enjoy! 
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Do you have any tips or tricks to adding oils, butter or lotion to melt and pour base?

 

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49 Comments

  1. hi just wondering can I use cucumber & melon FO and the cucumber extract in this recipe? Also I would only be able to get lab colour in mint green as the you wish website do not do emerald green and I live in N Ireland so can’t order from the states as postage and customs are too expensive.

    Thanks so much

  2. I would really like to try this project. It sounds great. If I were to purchase these items for resaling, how would I label my finished product? That is, would I separately list all the ingredients that formulate the M&P and then separately list the lotion ingredients, then my additions, ie fragrance, etc? For example: Ingredients: SFIC Shea Melt and Pour (Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, etc…) then list Aloe Lotion Base (Water, Aloe Vera Juice, etc…)? Or would I need to unite all ingredients in order of percentages combining both the M&P and Lotion base since they have created one unique product? For example: Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Water, Aloe Vera Juice, etc… through to fragrance. I apologize if my question is somewhat confusing, I am new to soaping and still learning the needed details. Thank You

  3. Hi. I’m going to try this project 🙂 I just have one question- Do I have to use non bleeding colourants?
    Thanks, Cadence.

  4. Hello soapqueen! I want to make lotion using the essential oils of limes. Does the ingredient use still the same? And does the essential oils acts as fragrance?

    • Hi Bella!

      We don’t recommend using Lime Distilled Essential Oil in your lotion. It is a photosensitizer and may cause irritation to your skin in direct sunlight. While it is fine for wash off products like soap, we don’t recommend using it in leave-on products like lotion.

      You can use another essential oil in your recipe though! Just make sure to read the description on brambleberry.com to see if it’s safe for leave-on products. 🙂

      Essential oils: https://www.brambleberry.com/Original-C23.aspx

      You can also use our Fragrance Calculator to find out exactly how much to use in your recipe: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

      • Oh i see. Actually im doing a project about lotion. So i thought of using limes essential oil and fragrance and some other ingredients. Plus, i want to make it into an automatic process which i turn the manual way to auto way. Since you said that you do not recommend to use lime because it is photosensitizer so i have to change to other essential oil.

        • Hi Bella!

          That is correct – we don’t recommend using Lime Distilled Essential Oil in leave-on products. It works great in soap though! 🙂

          -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  5. hi soapqueen,

    i just bought a melt and pour soap base. can i mix it with oils like almond oil or olive oil? will it saparate? can i use fresh aloe vera chunks in my soap base? 1 more thing, i dont own a microwave so can i use double boiled technique instead using a microwave?

    • Hi Nina!

      Adding extra fixed oils to your melt and pour can be tricky. Because the bases have already turned into soap, the oils can make your soap crumbly or oily. We recommend adding 1 tsp. of oils per pound of soap. That gives you the benefit of the added oils without affecting the texture too much. 🙂

      Also, you can use a double boiler to melt your soap! Just make sure to stir frequently.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  6. I did not purchase the Optiphen ND or Germaben to add to the Lab color. What can I do. At this time can not order. Can I use a different colorant?

    • Hi Kelly!

      You can definitely use another color! We absolutely love using our color blocks. Simply shave off small pieces into your melted soap and stir well. If the colorant isn’t melting fully, pop that soap back in the microwave on 5-second bursts until it’s fully incorporated.

      Color blocks for melt and pour: https://www.brambleberry.com/Color-Blocks-for-Melt-Pour–C340.aspx

      Our micas also work great in melt and pour. To use those, add the powder to the soap and stir well. You can use 1/2 teaspoon per pound of soap. You can read more about color options in the Talk It Out Tuesday: Colorants post: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/talk-it-out-tuesday-colorants/

      Also, adding the preservative to the LabColors is important because it helps prevent mold and bacteria from forming. I would recommend waiting to mix those colors until you have the preservative on hand. 🙂

      Diluting Bramble Berry LabColors: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/diluting-bramble-berry-labcolors/

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

      • I love the color blocks. These work great in my melt and pour soap even with the white base. I tried them once and love them. I bought the tangerine WOW and the red blue color blocks from BB and they are wonderful.

          • Hi, Happy Valentines Day
            I did use a different color instead of the Lab Color. I tried (tried is the key word) to make View Tutorial 12 Days of Christmas: Lotion Melt and Pour Cubes, well it was a mess. The cubes came out rubbery, and they did not sud when used in the shower. My question is can I remelt then again and try again. I think what I did was I heated the lotion to long and I think that is why it came out rubbery. But then again I am not shur what I did wrong.
            Kelly Tague

          • Hi Kelly!

            Hmm, that’s strange! I’m not sure why the soap had a rubbery texture. What colorant did you use? Let me know and we’ll get this figured out. 🙂

            Also, because of the added moisturizing properties of the lotion, these cubes will not have as much lather as our regular melt and pour bases. They feel great on your skin though!

            -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

          • hello,
            I used the color block shimmering-red blue. it came out to a pink color. it looks really nice but it has a rubbery feel.
            Have a great day.

          • Hi Kelly!

            Thanks for that information! How long did you heat up your melt and pour and lotion? If melt and pour gets too hot, it can form a skin and sometimes get an odd texture. I’m wondering if that’s what happened for this recipe!

            -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

          • I heated the lotion to 130 degrees and the melt and pour soap base to 140 which was too much. then when mixing them together it overheated all together and that is were the rubbery texture comes in. now it has a white texture on the top of my soap and it does not look good.
            Well lesson learned. I need to keep an eye on my temp. and 30 second bursts.
            I am going to melt the soaps down and see what I can do with them. Have any suggestions give me a holler.
            Thanks for the help, have a great day.

          • Hi Kelly!

            That sounds like a great plan. Melt and pour can be a little picky, so lower temperatures are definitely a good thing. 🙂

            Remelting the soap may be tricky, as it’s exposing the soap to heat again. It may help to do very short bursts of heat – as little as 10 seconds. Stirring frequently may help as well. Let me know if remelting that soap helps!

            -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

          • Hello,
            I remelted the soap bars that I have been asking about and they turned out great. I keep my temp. to 130 to 125. I even added another color and changed the pink to grayish purple they look good and they smell like a cake batter. Thank for answering back to me. Have a great day.

          • Hi Kelly!

            That’s awesome, so glad those bars turned out great! Also, you’re welcome. We are happy to help. 🙂

            -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  7. I tried a sugar scrub soap it was supposed to be 1 ounce hearts. And it created beautiful little exfoliating soaps I have been unable to recreate. The last time I tried, I used one of the Brambleberry soaps (I’m not sure what brand the first one was, and I used a 1:2:2 (oil, sugar, soap) ratio and the first time you use it there is a slight exfoliating and slight oil, and slight foam. After that it has almost the texture of rubber. So here is the question: is this the reason you don’t find recipes for melt and pour sugar soaps? or is it that the oil diminishes the lather. I tried using salt and got a bar like a rock that does lather a little. I am fairly new to soapmaking and those first hearts were just lovely… I don’t know if it’s the soap (more or less natural), the ingredient ratio, or if it’s just going to be another lesson in WRITING EVERYTHING DOWN as you do it.

    Thanks for all of the lessons for those of us trying to learn.

    • Hi Patti!

      These cubes are ready to use as soon as they are cooled and hardened. Yay! They typically harden in 3-5 hours, but can take up to 24 hours.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  10. Thank you zo much, Kelsey! I’m gonna try it! They will be nice little presents at the Christmas table for my guests 🙂
    Thanks again!

  12. What a great idea tot add lotion to M&P! Never thought of it. Going to try this for sure. Those soaps look adorable too. Thanks for the recipe!

  13. I made a batch of cream bars with coconut oil, home made clove infused olive oil, bees wax, and home made vanilla extract. When I added the extract to the hot oil ithe oil benga into boil and took a while to cool down. Is there anything I should be worried about? Please let me know. Missy

    • Hi Missy!

      Are your cream bars a nice texture now? If so, I don’t believe there is anything you need to worry about. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  14. Hello everyone! When I measure the lotion base by volume do I use a measuring cup that has 4 oz. on it and just put the lotion base in it to the 4 oz. line? Thank you for your help!!!!

    • Hey Michael!

      You can use any melt and pour base you like for this project! We chose the Shea Melt and Pour because it’s nice and moisturizing. 🙂

      As for the lotion base, we would recommend using the Aloe Lotion Base. Some of our other bases have beeswax in them, and that may be difficult to incorporate into the soap.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

      Melt and pour bases: https://www.brambleberry.com/Bramble-Berry-Bases-C11.aspx

    • Hi Maria!

      We would recommend using the Aloe Lotion Base. Some of our other bases have beeswax in them, and that may be difficult to incorporate into the soap.

      Also, I have a bar of this soap at home and it lathers fairly well! Because it has added skin-loving lotion, the lather is decreased slightly. However, there are still nice medium-size bubbles. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry