Soap Queen

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Getting the Dish on The Daily Scrub

Filed Under: Business Musings

Welcome to Wednesday, everyone! We’re giving you the momentum to finish out the week strong with an interview with Rachel of The Daily Scrub. Rachel’s positivity and excitement about soaping (and life in general) is infectious, and her creations match that enthusiasm. Her handcrafted soaps tend to feature her signature colorful soapy curls. Rachel has been a member of our soapy community for sometime, and last May she even won our Facebook Photo of the Week contest. Read on to learn more about this inspirational soaper — and her cute Boston Terrier pup Charlie!

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Show Your Love: Mini Heart Bath Bombs

Filed Under: Bath Fizzies

This Valentine’s Day, skip the chocolates and the roses in favor of some handcrafted goodies. From now until February 5, we’re rolling out several special tutorials and discounts as part of Show Your Love, our special treat for you and your special someone. Keep your eye on the blog and subscribe to our newsletter to be first in the know about special deals, discounts and lovely soapy tutorials!

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Natural vs. Organic

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

With so many buzzwords used in beauty product marketing, sometimes it can be hard to discern what you think you’re buying versus what you’re actually getting. “Natural” and “Organic” are often thrown around to tout the purity of many beauty products — soaps especially — but the two terms mean very different things. One is a legally regulated term, and the other is much more vague. Read on to learn more about the important differences between these two labels.

Bramble Berry carries several certified organic products. From left to right: Organic Rosemary Essential Oil, Organic Melt and Pour Base and Virgin Coconut Oil.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (January 18th ~ January 24th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

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!

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Soap Behaving Badly

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

I started my soaping adventures when I was young (ah, sweet 16), and have learned that not everything turns out perfectly the first time. Sometimes despite your best efforts during a soaping session, you’ll get batches that just don’t quite turn out right. It’s just an inherent (and disappointing!) part of soaping. I’m a firm believer in ‘practice makes perfect,’ and being persistent in mastering your technique will help you achieve what you want in your soap, consistently. While there are hundreds of soaping variables that can cause problems, one huge factor that can determine the success of your soaping session is the fragrance or essential oil you use.

All Bramble Berry Fragrance and Essential oils go through a thorough testing process to ensure they perform well in cold process soap.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (January 11th ~ January 17th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

This week we made two exciting announcements, including the winners of our S.M.A.R.T. Goals Post. Thanks again to everyone who shared their 2014 goals with us — we had such a fun time reading them.

We also announced the beginning of our 2014 Soap Swap! In case you are unfamiliar with our Soap Swap, it’s a fun way to swap your creations with fellow soap makers, learn new techniques and receive 12 bars of unique soap. Hurry and sign up now, spots are filling up quickly.

An Instagram collage of some of the lovely soaps we received during last year’s Spring Swap.

This week we also shared our Honey Kisses Sheer Lipstick Tutorial, which is an inexpensive way to recreate my favorite store bought lipstick. Looking for more lip recipes? First, learn all about the process in our Talk It Out Tuesday: Lip Balm post, then give these tutorials a try! We also have you covered when it comes to cleaning up your lip balm project.

As for the Facebook Photo of the Week, this whimsical swirl caught my eye. Bonus points for their awesome use of natural colorants!


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Cherry Blossom Glitter Cold Process

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This is quick and easy cold process recipe doubles as a way to recycle scrap cold process bars. Simply shred bars with a cheese grater and you’ve got a great way to embellish freshly made cold process soap. This soap was fragranced with Cherry Blossom Fragrance Oil, which moves quickly (totally worth it); it smells fantastic in finished soap. If you finish with a little glitter, you’ve got one beautiful bar of soap!

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Honey Kisses Sheer Lipstick Tutorial

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Lip Products

I have a favorite sheer lip tint from a large department store brand that I’ve loved for years. It routinely makes ‘Best Of’ lists in magazines; it’s a classic, beloved by most. And, every time I fork over $15 for this luxury indulgence, I feel a twinge of guilt. After all, I can (and should!) make the stuff myself (!). I hit the lab and created something that is my go-to staple almost every day now.  Compared to lipsticks from top luxury beauty brand, I think you will find it very difficult to tell the difference. Without equipment costs, this recipe will cost you less than $2.50 per tube, so never pay $15 for lipstick again!

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Facebook Photo of the Week (December 22 ~ December 27)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I hope everyone had a happy holiday filled with plenty of food, family and friends! Although Bramble Berry is still operating with a skeleton staff until January 2 (we took inventory today; fun times!), Bramble Berry will be back in full force in 2014 to get your goodies shipped out and answer all your crafty questions.

There were lots of behind the scenes sneak peeks on the blog this week. We spent Sunday filming three brand new episodes of Soap Queen TV, and on Monday we recapped our annual Salvation Army shopping trip. There was also an adorable last minute gift idea, some festive photos from Christmas and a beautiful Dream Catcher Swirl cold process recipe from our friends at Otion.

The Facebook Photo of this week takes a departure from the holiday theme. This brightly colored soap is too unique to miss.

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Smoky Bay Cold Process Tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

For this sensuous soap, we may or may not have been inspired by a certain best-selling book that references multiple (or 50) shades of grey in its name. This Smoky Bay soap features clean, straight layers colored with four perfect gradients of grey. The orange in the middle provides the perfect burst of color!

This soap is scented with Indian Sandalwood Cybilla Fragrance Oil, which is remarkably strong in cold process soap. It does not discolor or accelerate trace and keeps its scent brilliantly. For a robust scent on the masculine side, this is a go-to stand by.

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Sunday Night Spotlight: EcoSoya Advanced Wax

Filed Under: Home Crafts

Now that it’s winter time, there’s nothing better than cozying up in your favorite chair with a good book, a hot cup of tea and a richly scented candle with a softly flickering flame (and for me, that only happen during the kiddo’s nap time and I love that quiet time!). Bramble Berry offers a number of excellent waxes so you can make your own candles, and lately our favorite has been the EcoSoya Advanced Wax. It’s 100% vegetable based and sourced from soy beans grown exclusively by domestic farmers. Best of all, it has multiple uses: this wax is lip and skin safe, making it an potential replacement for beeswax in lip balm recipes.

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Fall Sherbet Cold Process Soap

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This soap ended up being a happy accident. We were originally going for a marbled scarf look (very similar to this pattern) but ended up with something quite different though equally as beautiful. We combined several dispersed micas to achieve soft pastel colors, and fragranced this soap with a blend featuring our brand new Palmerosa Essential Oil, giving it a gentle floral scent. The pouring pattern leads to an exquisite and interesting inside pattern during the cutting process. Here’s to happy accidents!

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Surprise your Sweetie: Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Even though we’re only halfway through December, it’s never too early to start planning for special handcrafted treats you have in mind for Valentine’s Day. This is especially true when making cold process soap, which takes up to 6 weeks to fully cure. The frigid weather can also delay packages and lengthen transit times. Plan ahead to ensure you receive your items with plenty of time to create your perfect gift. It’s cold outside so there is no better time to cozy up in front of the fireplace and plan how you will share the love for Valentine’s Day than right now!

Pictured above from left to right : Color Blocks for Melt and Pour in Non Bleeding Perfect Red, Shimmer Light Gold, Shimmer Super Pearly White, and Shimmer Merlot Sparkle. Fragrance Oils; English Rose, Hello Sweet Thang, and Vanilla Bean. In jars, Rose Petals and Buds and Rose Hips. In front, Rose Clay and Heart Lip Butter Pot. Molds in the back, Heart with Rose Mold and Simple Heart Mold.

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