Soaping is a hobby that requires practice and persistence, and when a project turns out beautifully it’s all worth it. But unfortunately mistakes happen, and sometimes soap doesn’t turn out as you’d expect. To help you diagnose any soapy issues, Soap Behaving Badly is a comprehensive overview of a wide variety of soaping mishaps caused by fragrance oils, including ricing, acceleration and seizing. It’s a must read for both beginners and advanced soapers! If you are interested in learning more about preventing soapy blunders, our Explaining and Preventing Soda Ash, Why Did My Soap Turn Brown? and How to Prevent Fading and Browning posts are there to help.
The aftermath of our soapy fragrance testing. Check out Soap Behaving Badly to see what happened to (and how to salvage) these poor bars.
But let’s focus on projects that were successful! This week we shared a super easy and refreshing Infused Aloe and Rose Water Toner recipe. If you’re looking for more of a challenge, we also shared our Striped Berry Champagne Cold Process Tutorial featuring ombre layers separated by thin lines of mica for definition. If you’re a fan of ombre, check out these other DIY projects:
Tired and hungry after all that ombre crafting? This Ombre Layered Cake Recipe is sure to pick you up! Speaking of sugary treats, this week we also shared this Brown Butter and Basil Shortbread Recipe, which is a fun spin on the traditional cookie. As for the the Facebook Photo of the Week, the whipped soapy frosting on top certainly looks good enough to eat!
This week’s Facebook Photo of the Week comes to us from Majéla of Mollerton Soap. She is one of our international soapers, and hails all the way from Sweden! This stunning Rippled Raspberry Sundae soap features striking swirls of pink, black and white and beautifully textured top. With the abundant amount of curved layers, the swirl in this soap is reminiscent of our Mica Topped Cold Process Soap and the 4 Color In-The-Pot Swirl Tutorial. Wondering how she achieved these stunning, vibrant hues? Our guess is that she used ultramarine pigments, which you can find at Bramble Berry. If you’d like to use more about colorants for both cold process and melt and pour, check out this Talk it Out Tuesday: Colorants post.
Pictured above (from top, clockwise) are Majéla’s Black Raspberry Vanilla Soap, Lavender Lime and Vetiver Soap, Polar Breeze Soap, and a Banana Muffin Soap. We are so happy to have Majéla in our soaping community. You truly can find soapy inspiration from all over the world =)
Majéla’s website: Mollerton Soap
Majéla’s Facebook Group: Mollerton Soap
Post pictures of your crafty creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to be featured on the Soap Queen blog and receive a sweet soapy package from Bramble Berry (or, if you’re an international customer, a soapy gift certificate)!
I love seeing your posts. They are inspiring and seeing what talented people are doing is very interesting. Love it all!
Hi Heather!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this post, we are always looking for new ways to inspire out readers 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Wow, just gorgeous!
As far as discoloration, I thought I saw vanilla color stabilizer for cp soap for sale somewhere. Am I remembering correctly? Has anyone tried it and does it work?
Wow, just gorgeous!
As Goethe discoloration, I thought I saw vanilla color stabilizer for cp soap for sale somewhere. Am I remembering correctly? Has anyone tried it and does it work?
Hi Amanda,
We do have Vanilla Stabilizer at Bramble Berry 🙂
Vanilla Stabilizer:
https://www.brambleberry.com/Search.aspx?k=vanilla+stabilizer
Vanilla Stabilizer is a liquid additive that can be added along with a fragrance containing vanilla to keep the soap from discoloring. We recommend Vanilla Stabilizer for melt and pour soap specifically. We have found that while Vanilla Stabilizer does work marginally well in cold process, after about 4 to 9 months the fragrance eventually goes brown and is not intended for use with lotions or other toiletry products.
I hope this helps Amanda 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
These are all beautiful! Great job!
Hi Renee!
So glad you enjoyed this post, I agree, Majéla’s soaps are beautiful!
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
So beautiful! Very inspiring. And I’m Swedish so – Bonus!
Hi Michael!
I’m so glad you love Majéla’s soaps as much as we do! I’m Swedish as well, definitely a cherry on top! 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Love her Rippled Raspberry Sundae! Stunning colours and the topping is fantastic!
Hi Monica!
I agree, the colors are absolutely stunning! I’m so glad we could give you some soapy inspiration! 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Thank you Bramble Berry! I’m so happy to see my soaps on your wonderful blog! My website is in swedish but on my Facebook page/group I share my soapy pictures and write in english so please feel free to join! Hugs to you all!
Hi Majéla!
We are so happy to be able to feature your beautiful soaps, thank you so much for sharing them with us! I can’t wait to see what you make next 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
I love, love love all of them !
Amazing !
Have a good week-end
Hi Canella!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this post, aren’t Majéla’s soaps gorgeous? Really inspiring!
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Looking at those pictures of soap with discoloration, I think the picture in the middle, of the soap with a brown crust and white middle, looks beautiful! Is there a way to achieve this in CP soap at all? I know the discoloration would normally spread to the entire soap, but being able to halt it somehow would be awesome.
Hi Carly!
Doesn’t the discoloration look awesome? I agree! Unfortunately we have not figured out a way to achieve this look permanently. Eventually the discoloration will spread, and the whole bar will be this color.
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
Gorgeous soaps! I looked at her website without translating, and it made me want to learn Swedish…I have a thing for languages 🙂
Hi Ana!
I agree, I would love to learn more languages, especially Swedish because that’s where my family is from! 🙂
-Amanda with Bramble Berry