Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

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Ombre Rebatch Layers

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’m revisiting rebatch this week with a fun take on the popular look of ombre. A delicious blend of earthy, herby and citrus essential oils come together to complete this warm-hued and fun-textured soap. Plus, read on about a new addition to the Bramble Berry product line and how you can get one of your own!

Ombre Rebatch

Recipe and Tools:

3 pounds Grated Luxury Rebatch

2-4 Tablespoons Distilled Water

Diluted Red LabColor

0.9 oz  Orange Valencia Essential Oil

0.2 oz Star Anise Essential Oil

0.1 oz Patchouli Essential Oil

2 Pound Wood Log Mold

Droppers with Suction Bulb

Plastic Food Wrap

Add to Cart

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! [Read more…]

Cuticle Salve Recipe

Filed Under: Lotion

I’m totally loving the weather right now – windy, rainy, and super cold, perfect weather for an active toddler who would love nothing more than to be outside. Woo hoo! Puddles! Honestly though, I love the fact that the cold weather has created an opportunity for me to develop this all-natural cuticle salve recipe. See what I did there? See how I turned that around? #SilverLining. Ahem. Bring it on winter!

Cuticle Salve [Read more…]

Making Scented Nail Polish

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

One of the things I love about making Nail Polish from scratch is the instant gratification factor. It’s ready as soon as it’s made! If I decide I’d like a quick custom color for date night tonight, boom. Done. And so much fun to experiment with different colors and color blends. The addition of a favorite scent makes for an unexpected twist on a classic cosmetic.

Scented Nail Polish [Read more…]

Coffee Butter Foot Creme

Filed Under: Lotion

Work this creme into tired feet for an indulgent treat. The addition of beeswax makes for a nice, thick consistency and I like that the Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential oil seems to give my feet a subtle pick-me-up. Adding Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil enhances the Coffee Butter’s natural aroma and makes for a delicious and seasonally appropriate scent blend. This creme is great for putting on feet right before bed, and then covering with cotton socks for extra softness in the morning.

Coffee Butter Foot Creme

Recipe:

0.7 oz White Beeswax

3.1 oz Coffee Butter

2.4 oz Sunflower Oil

1.2 oz Stearic Acid

1 oz Emulsifying Wax

15.6 oz Distilled Water

5 mL Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil

5 mL Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil

0.2 oz Optiphen

6-4 oz Jars or other containers

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3D Psychedelic Double Pour Swirl

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I’ve been loving on Bramble Berry’s exclusive line of 3D molds lately. I especially appreciate the versatility of the simple shapes. What a great way to show off your soaping skills! Here’s a technique that I discovered by accident while attempting another project. I had wanted to create a fabulous background to feature some of the adorable Hamster eraser toys (hence the picture below) but as I started creating, another idea developed in my head and I went with it. Ever happen to you? I’m pretty happy with the results!
Note: The 3D Orb Mold and 3D Pear Mold have been discontinued and replaced with our 4 Sphere Silicone Mold and 6 Bar Oval Silicone Mold.

Tie Dye Swirl Soap

Recipe:

6 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap

14 oz. Clear Melt and Pour Soap

Electric Bubblegum Color Block

Ultraviolet Blue Color Block

Tangerine Wow! Color Block

11 mL Red Apple Fragrance Oil

6 Bar Oval Silicone Mold

4 Sphere Silicone Mold

OPTIONAL: 4 Surplus Blue and Grey Soap Ropes (not in Buy It Now button kit)

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Fall Sweater Stripes Soap Tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’ve just added a new board to my Pinterest page: Color Inspiration! How did I go so long without this board? And have you seen the array of color palettes that are out there? Whoa. Inspiration overload. One of my favorite go-to sites for all things color is Design Seeds, and recently there was a color story posted that reminded me of a comfy and cozy fall sweater. Of course, my next train of thought was to turn it into soap, and what better way to use Bramble Berry’s newest fragrance, Cranberry Chutney?

[Read more…]

Jack-O-Lantern Melt and Pour

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I think fall is officially here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest for you out of town readers). It may seem too early for some, but I actually had to wear a jacket this morning (rough life, I know). The chill in the air that can only mean one thing…it’s jack-o-lantern season! So dust off your pumpkin soap molds and grab your pumpkin spice fragrance oil. It’s time to “carve” your soapy pumpkins!

18.2 oz Clear Melt and Pour

Perfect Orange Color Block

Black Oxide Color Block

Halloween Pumpkin Mold

(Note: This mold has been discontinued.

It has been substituted with the 12 Bar Round Silicone Mold.)

0.5 oz Pumpkin Spice Fragrance Oil

Injector Tool (optional)

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A Palm Free In-The-Pot Swirl

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Despite our recent weeks of summer fun, fall is definitely in the air in the Pacific Northwest. I’m ready to leap into fall with this seasonal color palette and in-the-pot swirl soap. Check this out if you’ve been on the hunt for a great palm-free recipe, and check out another palm free recipe here and here. This recipe turns out super hard and the bubbles are medium in size with an easy rinse-off.

Palm Free Mica Swirl

20.0 oz Coconut Oil

40.0 oz Rice Bran Oil

8.3 oz Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)

19.8 oz Distilled Water

3.5 oz Earl Grey Lemon Fragrance Oil

3 teaspoons Merlot Mica

2 teaspoons Super Pearly White

1 teaspoon Cellini Blue Mica

1 teaspoon Cellini Yellow Mica

1 teaspoon Cappuccino Mica

2 tablespoons Sweet Almond Oil

5 Pound Wood Mold with Sliding Bottom

5 Pound Wood Log Mold Liner

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For more tactile learners, this tutorial is available in our Etsy shop! Get your hands on printed instructions and a bar of soap and learn to make this palm-free soap here. [Read more…]

Color Block Rainbow Soap Tutorial

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

This fun and whimsical soap is perfect for anyone a little unsure of working with powder colorants because it uses Color Blocks! Color Blocks are pre-mixed, intensely colored little nuggets of soap. You just shave off a bit to get the color you want and mix it into your melted soap. There’s no pre-mixing with oils or glycerin and the colors work well every time. For this project, we went rainbows mixed with books; the colorful stacked blocks embedded in white soap kind of remind me of a perfectly disheveled book shelf. Stacks of read and well-loved books are one of my favorite sights ever (and you can always see what I’m currently reading here).

Color Block Rainbow Header

Recipe:

72 oz Clear Melt and Pour Base

22 oz White Melt and Pour Base

Electric Bubblegum Color Block

Fizzy Lemonade Color Block

Tangerine Wow! Color Block

Ultraviolet Blue Color Block

Shimmer Amethyst Purple Color Block

Green Oxide Color Block

Citrus Green LabColor

1.8 oz Pikake Flower Fragrance Oil

12 Bar Silicone Mold

5 Pound Slide Bottom Wood Log Mold

5 Pound Wood Log Mold Liner

Get everything you need for this project with the click of a button!

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Rainbow Spheres

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I love love love color. From packaging inspiration to pops of color in the fashion world to wonderful soapy creations, COLOR is all the rage. We spent a super fun but slightly grey week in one of our favorite getaway spots (family pictures to come soon!) and upon my return, these great little soaps were on my brain. Who doesn’t love rainbows? Correction- Who doesn’t love double rainbows?

[Read more…]

Circle Swirled Soap in Column Mold

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Today we’re launching our latest mold (drum roll), the Heavy Duty Column mold! To celebrate it’s debut, I’ve got a fun and fabulous tutorial that is a twist on the Faux Funnel Pour technique. This is a great recipe for an alternative to Olive Oil, for those late night soaping adventures where you realize you’re just short of an ingredient and it’s too late to hit up the store (anyone else been there? anyone?). Using contrasting colors in unexpected hues and a bright and fresh fragrance oil blend, I’m hoping you like this recipe as much as I do.

[Read more…]

Palm Free Vertical Twist Tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Have you ever had one of those moments where you felt like testing your (soaping) boundaries to see how far you could take something but feared you would ruin an entire batch of soap? We’ve done a vertical twist project before, and it turned out awesome. But I wondered, what if we just kept on twisting the divider…? Ahem. It was new levels of soap happiness. If you’re a tactile learner and you’d like to see/hold/touch/smell this soap and experience it in person, we’ve put it in our etsy shop here so you can learn to make this palm-free soap.

[Read more…]

Fourth of July Melt and Pour Soap

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Happy weekend! I was inspired by this awesome 4th of July Fudge (pinned onto my 100 Days of Summer Pinterest page, naturally) to create a tutorial using our brand spankin’ new 4-sphere silicone mold, along with the 9-cube silicone mold that I’m still obsessing over.  I built sand bottle-like layers in the cubes by manipulating the melt and pour as it dried. In the spheres, I used some of the ideas from this Soap Queen TV episode to create marbled swirls. The color scheme is as American as apple pie, so what better to use than Bramble Berry’s Red Apple Fragrance Oil? Either of these intermediate techniques can easily be modified for a beginner by creating basic layers in the cubes and spheres, and can be varied by using different thicknesses in the layers. If you don’t have these molds, it’s okay, this technique works for all kinds of molds (the thicker the mold, the better).

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