Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
I am back from a couple back to back business trips - with a trip to Saudi for my husband sandwiched in between that. Add a birthday party for our five year old and I'm looking forward to some downtime at some point this weekend! If you've been following me on snapchat (user name: bramble-berry), … Continue Reading
This week the blog featured several Mother's Day gift ideas, including the Heavenly Lilac Bath Truffles. They come with a free printable gift label. The truffles are colored with Party Pink Mica and Lavender Mica. The Lilac Fragrance Oil and rose petals complement the soft pink hue. The recipe also … Continue Reading
Last year, I tried making an impression patterned soap for the first time. You can find that tutorial here. I was inspired by Auntie Clara's gorgeous lace patterned soap. To achieve the pattern, first you need to create a silicone texture mat. Auntie Clara has a wonderful tutorial and plenty of tips … Continue Reading
The ability to manipulate the texture of cold process soap allows for a wide variety of techniques. For example, thick textured soap mimics the look of cupcake frosting in the Sparkling Champagne Soap Cupcakes. On the flip side, fluid soap batter is used to create complex swirls in the Clover & … Continue Reading
Bath truffles are essentially bath bombs with extra skin-loving oils and butters. They add more hydrating properties to the tub than typical bath bombs while still producing fizz. These Heavenly Lilac Bath Truffles are made with cocoa butter and shea butter to moisturize skin. Lilacs are currently … Continue Reading
Emily of Shieh Design Studio and Soap and Restless is well known in the soaping community for her gorgeous creations. Emily is a masterful soaper and has a keen eye for design. In fact, Emily is a designer at an architecture firm, and her skills show in every bar of soap. Emily's product photography … Continue Reading
Glycerin is a thick, clear fluid that is used in a wide variety of bath and beauty products. It is a humectant, which means it has the ability to attract moisture in the air to the skin. This ability makes it great for lotions, soaps and other products. In addition to the bath and beauty industry, … Continue Reading
Happy weekend! Today the family and I are spending as much time outside as possible before it starts to rain tomorrow. This should be easy because Jamisen is five this weekend which means, birthday party and so much fun (!). A few weeks ago the family and I walked into town and then took the bus … Continue Reading
Happy Earth Day! To celebrate, the blog featured several ideas on how to reuse items around the house. If you have almost empty fragrance or essential oil bottles around your house, you can use them to create bath salts, scrubs or bath bombs. To do so, pour salt directly into the bottle. The salt … Continue Reading
I'm fascinated by how diet and exercise affects our lives, sleep patterns, energy levels and basically, everything. Because of this, I'm always game to try the newest health food craze. Choffy? Sign me up. Bulletproof coffee? Yep. Probiotics? On it. Recently, I have been on a fermented food kick. … Continue Reading
Do you have bottles of fragrance oil that are nearly empty, but you just can't bring yourself to throw them away? Maybe the bottle contains just a few milliliters, or even just a few drops of oil. Even an "empty" bottle still has a little bit of fragrance oil on the inside. To use up every last bit … Continue Reading
Lard and tallow are popular soapmaking ingredients. Tallow is the rendered fat of animals, and usually refers to fat from cows and sheep. Lard refers to pig fat. Lard and tallow give soap firmness and contribute to a stable lather. Because of these properties, both tallow and lard are common … Continue Reading
Hypothetically, you can make cold process soap with just about any oil or fat. This includes animal fats. The most common animal fats are lard and tallow. Lard is rendered pig fat, while tallow is rendered fat from meat other than pork such as cow, lamb or goat. Tallow and lard are excellent for … Continue Reading
A few of the amazing Creative Live team members, the live studio audience and Courtney of Handmade Beauty Box. Such an amazing group! On Thursday, I taught a class on Creative Live. It was such an amazing experience; I'm still on cloud nine! If you’re unfamiliar with Creative Live, it’s a website … Continue Reading