It’s February already? Where has the time gone? If you were as busy as I was last month, you might have missed some blog posts. You can check out all of January’s blog posts here, including the announcement of our Bramble Girl and read all about the book I’m writing. This month, I have a brand new contest for you. It’s a little different then the past Make It Mondays because it’s a whole month long. Here’s the challenge: make something with your free fragrance oil sample and share it with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. Are you ready? Let’s go!
Mission (if you choose to accept it)
- Every order you place with Bramble Berry comes with a free fragrance oil sample, and we want you to make something (anything!) with it! It could be a soap, lotion, body butter or any other toiletry product that you could imagine. Orders placed after February 4th will be receiving a sample of Baby Powder Fragrance Oil, so that is this month’s Make it Month theme fragrance oil. Click here for an exclusive project and blending ideas using your Baby Powder Fragrance Oil sample!
- Post the pictures of your Baby Powder scented products (does not have to be soap) to Bramble Berry’s Facebook page during the entry period (until February 28th).
- Your entry must have the hashtag of the month in order to be entered into the contest. This month’s hashtag is “#babypowder“.
- You may submit up to five pictures.
- At the end of the month, Team Bramble Berry will pick our favorite soaps. The winners of the challenge will be featured in their very own Soap Queen Blog post. You have until Thursday, February 28th to post your #babypowder products.
Check below for some inspiration:
Baby Powder Hidden Color Bath Fizzy
Melt and Pour Embedded Onesies
Okay, thank you so much. I just want to make a test batch for the sample size of FO (0.5 oz). I usually figure it out by the amount of base oils. I do 70% olive oil, 30% coconut oil, with a 5% superfat.
Any ideas on amounts?
Also, why does Brambleberry base it on per pound of soap, rather than per pound of oils? It’s a very new concept to me (even though I’ve been soaping for 12 years, I always did EOs before) Thanks for all your help 🙂
Good morning, Harmony!
We base our amounts off the amount of soap because you want to fragrance all the soap, and not just the oil amount! When you add the water and lye, you are adding extra substance to the soap and you will want to be able to fragrance that part of it as well. As with all fragrance and essential oils, we do stay within the safe usage rate and if you have any questions about a more exact amount for our FO’s and EO’s, you can use our handy fragrance calculator. I hope this helps! =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
Hi Harmony!
The amount of fragrance amount will really depend on how much soap you actually plan on making. Once you’ve figured out your final yield, you can then figure out how much you will need to fragrance it. Do you know how much soap you plan on making for this batch of soap? With the 1/2 oz sample, it will fragrance about 16 ounces of soap, although it may be a little light. I hope that this helps! =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
I know the contest is over, but I just received this free sample and I am wondering if it can be used in CP soap. (I don’t make M&P). I’m wondering if it smells good and is stable in CP soap. I’ve never used a fragrance oil before (only EOs and infused oils in the last 12 years of soaping), but I think my step daughter and mother in law would like this scent. Thanks!
It definitely it is! We test ALL of our fragrances in CP soap multiple times before adding them to our line up =) This is how we do our testing:
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/testing-1-2-3/
for the very first test. Then, we do a full 5 pound block. And then, everything goes through a SOAP panel test (example of one: http://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/did-someone-say-s-o-a-p/)
Let me know what you think! The usage rate is .7 oz. per pound of soap so the little sample you have would make about 12-14 oz. of soap. =)
Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I’ll do it within the month and report back!
Okay, so it’s 5 months later, and I’m just now getting ready to make this soap sample. (Oh how life gets in the way of test soaping sometimes!) I just want to be double sure, that you mean .7 oz. per pound of soap, not per pound of total oils. Which means a .5 oz. sample is good for a total of about 8 oz. of total oils (because then you add the weight of the water and lye until it’s about 12-13 oz. Correct? (I’ve always calculated EOs for total oils for some reason and learning something new!) Gosh I hope this question makes sense, It’s past my bedtime 🙂
Hi Harmony!
We are excited for you to try it out, we know your step-daughter and mother-in-law will just love it. When we list the fragrance oil usage rate (.7 oz per pound of soap), we do mean .7 ounces per POUND of soap and not just oils, you will want to fragrance the total weight of your soap which includes the oils + water + lye. A 1/2 oz sample would actually be great for about 16 ounces (1 lb) of soap. How much soap are you trying to make? Hope to hear from you soon!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
am I the only one that has put a photo on your fb site ? 🙂 kv sísí
We were able to get others photos submitted to the contest and you can check all of them out in our Facebook Album here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152590302920504.961160.100412115503&type=3
As well as the winners here:
#Baby Powder Winners: http://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/baby-powder-winners/
Thank you so much for participating and being part of our amazing soapmaking community on our Facebook page! 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Is there anyway of testing is the soap is causric once its set? Im just scared that if I givre it to someone they might have the same experience as me 🙁
Good morning!
As long as you follow the correct usage guidelines for any fragrance or essential oil, your soap isn’t going to be caustic at all. If you use any of Bramble Berry’s FO’s (Fragrance Oil’s), you can use our handy Fragrance Calculator that will give you the safe usage rates to use in any type of bath and body product. This will help to prevent anything like what happened with your other soap from happening. You can also stick to the rule of thumb of fragrances in M&P (Melt & Pour) Soap and add only .25 ounces of FO per pound of base.
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
P.S. Make when you are making your soap to stir the fragrance oil all the way in so there isn’t any pockets of it sitting in your soap. If you are just starting out, here are a few videos that could help you out:
The Basics of Melt & Pour Soapmaking: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL05E2F1EF0838281A
PS: Tray not try
Hi Newbie,
I had the same issue where my soap caused damage to our bathroom. What I do now, is I sell my soap with a cute little try and a little disclaimer that says the soaps are caustic.
Becky is right, with oils, there is not much you can do other than add less.
I have never used cocao so I would be interested in seeing what the experts think as well. Good thinking.
Hi Sally!
That’s always a great disclaimer to have on your soap, but if you add the right amount of fragrance oils, there shouldn’t be any problem with it being caustic!
Typically, we don’t add anything extra (other than fragrance and color) to our M&P soaps because it can change the consistency and lather of the base. But, if you ever have a question on how much fragrance or essential oil to add to a product, you can use Bramble Berry’s Fragrance Calculator.
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
I hope this helps. Happy Soaping! =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
I am really loving the Onesies soap! too cute!
They are so adorable, and so easy to make! 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Baby powder sounds amazing! I would live to try it but Ive only recently started making soaps and had a disaster which has left me terrified to even think of adding a fragrance oil.
I made my first M&Pour soap, and used rose and chocolate fragrance oil (and Australian brand, not any associated with this site). I was so happy weith the results, it looked and smelled amazing and I was already thinking of all the different combos I would makje (I bought about 20 odifferent oils!)
I figured Id give my soap a test run before making them as gifts or maybe selling them one day, so over the next few days me and my hubby washed out hands and loved the delicious sweet smell.
We would leave the soap on the soap holder corner of our acrylic bathtub, as our basin didnt have one and to our horrow when i wnet to clean the tub a few days leyer the soap had eaten through some of the acrylic and left a horrioble pink and brown stain and a weird residue that i habeent been able to wash of.
ive had a look online and found that FOs can eat through plastic!! I was horrified and now have no idea what to do, as without fragrnace my sopas seem kind of boring and lifeless.
I dont know where i went wrong, Im so dissapointed
🙁
You may have used too much fragrance in your soaps. But, it can’t hurt to get a ceramic soap holder either. =)
Good morning!
What happened was actually typical of a fragrance oil that has come in contact with plastic. The same thing would have happened if you used one of our fragrance oils as it is just the nature of the product. Because fragrance oils are so concentrated, they will eat through certain types of plastic.
It sounds as if there was quite a bit of fragrance in your soap. How much did you add in? We like to keep our ratios around .25 ounces of fragrance oil per pound of melt and pour base.
Which bring me to another good point, because of the high concentration, our fragrance oils are always meant to be diluted before coming in contact with your skin. Never put a fragrance oil directly on your skin. I can see how that could definitely scare you, but you don’t need to worry as long as your FO’s are diluted in another carrier oil, lotion or soap before you use them on your skin.
Next time, I’d suggest adding a little less fragrance to you soap and see if that helps! If you are using any of Bramble Berry’s fragrance oils, you can always use our Fragrance Calculator to help you figure it out. =)
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
I hope this helps! And if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
-Becky with Bramble Berry
P.S. Sometimes that can also happen if the fragrance was not all the way mixed in. I’d also contact the manufacturer/supplier of where you got that fragrance to make sure it is 100% safe for M&P soaps. =)
Thanks heaps for the info. Hmm, now im really torn i want to use the fragrances but still a little unsure. Are there any other things i could use to fragrance my soaps? I was thinking of addiing some cocoa butter, as Ive heard is has a chocolatey smell? I dont need anything to overpowering just a little something, cos it seems the first thing eveyone does when they pick up a soap is smell it even if its unscented!! 😀
Good morning!
What happened to your soap seems to be because the fragrance oil wasn’t all the way stirred and mixed in. I’d try it again with a different brand of fragrance oil to see if that help. If you are making M&P soaps, we don’t suggest adding something like Cocoa Butter because anything extra added (other than color and fragrance) can change the consistency and lather of the melt and pour base.
We’ve been using fragrances in our soaps for years and have found that they are definitely safe as long as your properly disperse them in the product. Another question I had (so I could help you troubleshoot) was what brand of base were you using? =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
P.S. If you want a Chocolate/Rose scent, you can try blending our Baby Rose or English Rose with the Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil for a yummy blend.
Baby Rose Fragrance Oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/Baby-Rose-Fragrance-Oil-P3878.aspx
English Rose Fragrance Oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/English-Rose-Fragrance-Oil-P3860.aspx
Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance: https://www.brambleberry.com/Dark-Rich-Chocolate-Fragrance-P3881.aspx
Oh. I was told the fragrance for February would be crisp apple rose again, when I requested a sample of crisp apple rose AND February’s fragrance since I got a second plumeria last month instead of crisp apple rose. Now I can’t participate in this. :\
Hi Molly,
Sorry for the confusion, we were still sending Crisp Apple Rose samples when you placed your order. We try our best to estimate how many samples we will need for the month but sometimes we make a little more and we would never want to waste them by throwing them away. This month we started sending out the new Samples of Baby Powder placed on the 4th, so pretty close to the beginning of the month! That’s also why we specified in the blog post that orders placed from that day on would be receiving the Baby Powder sample.
I’m so glad to hear that you are excited about the contest! We realize that not everyone can place an order and make an entry in the date range of the contest – but that’s why we are planning to do more of these contests in the future. I truly hope that you will be able to submit an entry in a future contest. But also know that we love seeing our customers creations no matter what. I’d like to invite you to post photos of your soaps on our Facebook page. We love seeing everything our customers create – whether it’s in response to a contest or just for the heck of it.
http://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry
Thank you so much for your order and for following the Soap Queen Blog.
-Becky with Bramble Berry