Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
This week was chock full of information, from oils and fragrances to organization tips. The Sunday Night Spotlight: Jojoba Oil explains how this versatile product is somewhere between an oil and a liquid wax, and how it can be used in scrubs, lotions, lip balms and cold process soap. Have you used Jojoba Oil in your products?
In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I get back to the basics of soap making. Melt & pour soap is the perfect place to start if you are just learning to make your own bath and beauty products. It’s safe, easy and very forgiving; if you make a mistake, just melt the soap and try again. Using the Three Gems Mold to create three different soap, this episode covers embedding, layers and swirling in melt and pour. Want to dive even further into melt and pour techniques? The Basics of Melt and Pour Series has you covered!
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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If you’ve been dreaming of an exotic vacation, this is the soap for you. This Coconut Cream Cold Process tutorial is all the fun of a tropical beach getaway without the sand in your shoes!
Made with 100% coconut water instead of distilled water, and featuring our brand new Coconut Cream Fragrance Oil, it’s a unique soap that smells as good as it looks. The top is finished off with melt & pour soap frosting and cold process “coconut flakes” to make this a truly decadent dessert soap.
Speaking of sunshine, this week we’ve been showing you all kinds of tutorials to give your skin that radiant glow perfect for a summer get away. Check out the Beautiful Bronze Lip Tint, Bronze Goddess Nail Polish and Magical Bronze Shimmer Stick. As a bonus, a few of the ingredients in the tutorials are 20% off as part of this month’s web specials!
Temperatures are heating up and the sun is out in full force — even in the notoriously dreary Pacific Northwest (yes, today was a tank top kind of day)! Turn up the heat on your daily beauty routine with this Bronze Lip Tint. It’s perfect for adding a subtle hint of warm color to your lips. Made with the Nourish Lip Balm Base and colored with a gorgeous assortment of micas, it’s a quick and easy lip balm that’s great for daily wear.
Be on the lookout for more projects to give you a summer bronze glow coming later this week! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive an exclusive tutorial straight to your inbox tomorrow, and keep your eyes on the Tumblr and the Soap Queen blog for more projects.
Can you believe the fourth of July is only two weeks away? I definitely can’t! At Bramble Berry we’re all looking forward to summer though, and earlier this week we featured a Fireworks Cold Process tutorial to get you thinking about summer-themed projects. Since the weather has been so nice lately, the kiddos and I have spent plenty of time outside either working in the garden or visiting the farmer’s market for fresh veggies.
Speaking of summer, keep your eyes on the blog, follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter to be in the know about an upcoming promotion. It features lots of fun tutorials to get beautiful, beach-ready hair =) Until then, take a look at my favorite pins, tweets and ‘grams from the week!
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In this Soap Guild 2014 recap post, guest blogger Jodi Chen walks us through the ins and outs of creating your own nail polish. The session was presented by Christina Rose, owner and creative director of KBShimmer Bath and Body. Read on to learn all about creating an awesome nail polish that will stand the test of time. — A.M.
Walking into the conference room set up for Christina Rose’s presentation on handmade nail polish was a bit like walking into a candy store. An enticing array of glitters, micas, and pigments were laid out on a table, shimmering in the light. Bottles of nail polish base sat in tidy rows, beckoning like tiny blank canvases awaiting a creative touch.
Christina brought so many fun glitters to experiment with.
If your projects need a little spring color, take a look at the new Spring Fever Colorant set from our friend Debbie Chialtas. It’s part of her Soapy Love line, which is known for its sugary sweet fragrances and eye-popping colorants. Read the rest of this guest post about the hot color of the moment (it may surprise you!), and then learn how to use a fun new colorant set in a cute bicycle melt and pour project — A.M.
This week, three guest bloggers shared their experiences at the 2014 Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild conference. Gates from Burly Stone Soap Co. shared his overall impression of the guild as a first time attendee. Dawn from Horsing Around Soap shared tips she learned regarding how to price your products. Next, Jean from SoapArt shared what she learned about testing natural colorants in cold process. If you are looking for more business tips, check out the Business Musings category.
A look at a 2014 Soap Guild session. The conference rooms were packed for the 3 day conference, which was held May 20 – 22 in Tucson, Arizona.
We also shared a tutorial featuring a sweet mold. Featuring the new Doughnut Half Mold, these adorable Strawberry and Vanilla Melt and Pour Doughnuts are a great project for those who love treats. Scented with Vanilla Select and Strawberry Fragrance Oil, these doughnuts look and smell realistic.
If you love the look of these doughnut soaps, you have the opportunity to win the new Doughnut Half Mold, along with four new fragrance oils and the 13# Stainless Steel Scale. To enter, leave a comment on the Resolution Check In post by Tuesday, June 10, 2014, and let us know about your New Year’s resolution progress.
Many of your New Year’s resolutions involved exercising more, and eating more fruits and vegetables. Our Facebook Photo of the Week from Hilary of Slice of Delight was clearly inspired by summery fruits. Made with poppy seeds and scented with a fresh strawberry scent, Hilary’s melt & pour Strawberry Kiwi Poppyseed Soap is full of color and texture.
Making soap is the fun part, but developing a pricing strategy to sell your soap is often the not-so-fun-part. Our guest blogger Dawn Cabral-Quimby came back from Soap Guild 2014 with an excellent run down on Lela Barker’s strategy on product pricing, and it’s a must-read for any soapy business owner. — A.M.
Do you have accurate product pricing? Are you accounting for your labor? Overhead? Factoring in your paper towels used? What!?
Ten years ago, Lela Barker was a broke single mother living in her parents’ spare bedroom. Today, she is the creator and CEO of Bella Lucce (an award-winning, international beauty company), the executive director of a Moroccan-based nonprofit and president of Lucky Break, a small business consulting firm serving the creative community.
Looking for more help starting a soap business? Check out the posts represented above!
This week we looked to nature for soapy inspiration. If you are a candle maker, the Garden Candle Tutorial is a great project to expand your skills. If you prefer a simple, more natural candle, the Eco Chic Candle Tutorial is a fast and functional way to recycle jars.
We also shared the beautiful Juicy Orange and Sweet Rose Cold Process Tutorial. Made with 10x Orange Essential Oil and colored with Paprika, this cold process tutorial looks as fresh and juicy as it smells! Paprika is a fantastic way to naturally color your soap, as seen in the Indigo Spoon Plop Cold Process Tutorial. If you’d like to learn more about natural colorants, the Sunday Night Spotlight: Natural Colorants is full of info.
Speaking of natural color and additives, our Facebook Photo of the Week from Katie of Thumbprint Handcrafted Soap utilizes products from nature to give her soap lots of personality. Made with walnut shells, honey and cocoa powder, this Honey Walnut Hand and Foot Scrub Soap gently exfoliates the skin, leaving it silky smooth.
I’m a huge fan of fancy swirled tops, but for this recipe I decided to switch things up. This orange-scented soap is piled high with orange peels and rose petals, and the rich orange color comes from paprika — yes, the same paprika that’s probably in your kitchen!
Herbs, botanicals and spices as colorants are some of the best kept secrets in soapmaking, and you can learn more about using them in cold process soaping here. Finally, be aware that although the orange and rose topping is beautiful, they are natural items that will wilt or even mold if left in the shower and in wet conditions long enough.
Getting your products in the hands of customers — no less celebrities — is no easy feat. Carleigh Pearce of Ellison’s Organics did both. She started her soap and cosmetic business in 2012, and by April 2014 she had her handmade nail polishes in gift bags at GBK’s Luxury Gift Lounge in honor of the 2014 MTV Movie Awards Nominees & Presenters.
Carleigh mixes each unique polish color by hand using Bramble Berry’s micas and pigments. She also specializes in organic-oils melt and pour soap, and her Lego building blocks and figurines are a hit with kids. Read on to learn more about how Carleigh built her ever-growing nail polish & soap business from scratch!
A quick note: ‘Organic’ is a heavily regulated term by the USDA, while ‘natural’ is not. Do your homework before purchasing products that are labeled as ‘organic,’ and keep in mind that ‘natural’ could mean a range of things. Check out this blog post for more information. Bramble Berry carries a certified-oils Organic Melt & Pour Base as well as Organic Lavender and Rosemary Essential Oils.
Welcome to the (almost) end of May, everyone! It never ceases to amaze me how fast time flies. Within the last two weeks we finished up a rather rosey promotion, experimented with an adorably sweet new mold and perfected a sassy summer nail polish color. To keep up with all our latest news — including word of upcoming sales and promotions — subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
How is your Memorial Day Weekend so far? I’ve been laying low and catching up on yard work around the house, taking the kids on more playdates, and trying to work in a few trips to Bellingham’s beautiful beaches whenever the time and weather allows. Keep in mind that because there is a holiday on Monday, the warehouse will be operating with a skeleton crew and there won’t be anyone in customer service to answer the phones. We’ll be back in full force on Tuesday, though!
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I was doing a little experimenting with mica-covered embeds in cold process soap. This is a super fun technique that I’m excited to try again this upcoming week.
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Have a great holiday weekend! To keep up with the latest soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube.