lavender 40/42 essential oil Archives

Lavender Sleep Time Bath Truffle DIY

May 19, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Bath Fizzies

At the end of a stressful day, a bath is the perfect way to relax, unwind, and prepare for bed. These Lavender Sleep Time Bath Truffles were designed with that purpose in mind. Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil gives these truffles a calming scent – perfect for preparing your mind and body for sleep.

Simple to make, bath truffles are essentially bath bombs with extra skin-loving butters. The large quantities of cocoa butter and coconut oil in this recipe create a texture similar to pie crust or cookie dough. The mixture can easily be rolled into rustic balls of buttery goodness. Polysorbate 80 helps disperse the butters in the bath water. But, because there is so much butter and oil, some will still pool on top, so be careful not to slip when getting out of the tub.

Love the idea of super moisturizing bath bombs, aka bath truffles? Check out the video for How to Make Bath Truffles on Soap Queen TV. It’s an oldie but a goodie! That recipe contains SLS, which produces bubbles when introduced to water. If you want your bath truffle to bubble, check out the Mermaid Bubbling Bath Truffles and the Rainbow Bubbling Bath Truffle recipes as well.

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How to Make Essential Oil Soap Video

March 29, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Essential oil soap is a great way to incorporate natural ingredients into your beauty routine. From energizing orange and zesty lemongrass essential oil, there are plenty of options to choose from. The Natural Soap Kit for Beginners contains the ingredients to make essential oil soap. It comes in three versions depending on what color and essential oil you’d like. The kit ships free to the lower 48 United States. There are also Refill Kits if you’d like to try a different variation or make more of your favorite.

In the Soap Queen TV video above, my friend Courtney and I go step-by step through the kit instructions, including prepping lye and measuring essential oils. If you’d like written instructions for these recipes, click here for the orange soap and here for the lavender soap. There is also a lemongrass version of the Natural Soap Kit for Beginners. Which color and scent combination is your favorite?

Lavender Kombucha Soap Recipe

March 15, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Last year, I experimented with brewing my own kombucha, which is a fermented and sweetened tea. I ended up with so much kombucha that I created kombucha soap with the SCOBY to use it up. This recipe uses kombucha produced by a local company, Kombucha Town. Kombucha Town has become a fixture in our community with their local brewery and products in local grocery stores. Using locally brewed products in your recipe highlights the town you call home.

This soap was made with Kombucha Town’s lavender kombucha, so it only made sense to create lavender soap! It’s scented with Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil for a calming scent. A mixture of titanium dioxide and Lavender Mica create a soft purple swirl. It’s topped with dried lavender for a finishing touch. It’s debatable whether or not any of the beneficial properties of kombucha tea hold up during the saponification process. But, the extra sugar does boost lather and kombucha soap is great from a marketing perspective.

If you’ve never made soap with alternative liquids like kombucha, they do require extra prep. First, the kombucha needs to be boiled to get rid of the carbonation. Then, it’s frozen to help keep temperatures cool when the lye flakes are added. You could add the lye to room temperature or cold kombucha if you prefer. Using room temperature or cold kombucha will result in a darker lye solution, and may require more titanium dioxide. This recipe contains a 3% superfat to compensate for the large amount of dispersed colorant in the recipe. The large amount of titanium dioxide can create glycerin rivers, so this recipe has a 10% water discount to prevent that.

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Aloe Vera + Lavender Skin Soothing Cubes DIY

June 23, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

With temperatures rising, it’s time to get outside and enjoy the sun. To stay safe while enjoying the rays, I always lather on layers and layers of sunscreen. But, even with proper precautions, sun exposure can cause dry and irritated skin. Years ago, I developed a recipe for “skinsicles,” a frozen combination of skin soothing ingredients. Click here to see the recipe and tutorial. Next week is going to be hot and sunny, so I thought it would be the perfect time to revisit and simplify the “skinsicle” recipe.

These Aloe Vera and Lavender Skin Soothing Cubes contain a combination of aloe vera liquid and fresh aloe vera juice from inside the plant. Glycerin is added for its humectant properties, and lavender 40/42 essential oil gives a light scent. Blend the ingredients together, then pour into an ice cube tray. In this case, I used the Medium 9 Ball Silicone Mold.

Once frozen, rub the cube on the skin. The cubes are oh-so-refreshing, especially when applied on a hot day! I recommend applying the cube outside to avoid a mess. =) You can allow the liquid to stay on the skin or wash it off if you prefer. I recommend allowing the liquid to stay on the skin for at least 10-15 minutes before washing off. The glycerin does cause the mixture to feel slightly sticky on the skin, but I found this stickiness faded with time.

In my tests the cubes did not freeze completely, most likely due the fresh aloe vera matter and essential oil. If you’d like to help the lavender 40/42 blend in better, mix Polysorbate 20 with the essential oil at a 1:1 ratio, then add the mixture at step three. Because this product is frozen and was for personal use only, I did not use a preservative. If you’d like to add a preservative, I would recommend Germaben. In addition, while some research does support that aloe vera reduces skin inflammation, this product does not claim to heal, treat, prevent or cure burned or irritated skin.

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Natural Cleaners for the Kitchen + Free Label Template

January 19, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Home Crafts

The kitchen is sometimes referred to as the “heart of the home.” It’s where families come together to make and cook dinner, and where guests tend to gravitate during gatherings. Because of this, I try to keep my kitchen as clean as possible. If my kitchen is clean, my entire home feels much tidier. =)

Below are several recipes to keep your kitchen looking and smelling clean, including a garbage disposal freshener, a multipurpose cleaning spray and a soothing simmering potpourri. Many of the ingredients in these recipes come from natural sources, and are a great way to cut out harsh chemicals from store bought cleaning products. In addition, you can download and print these free Natural Cleaning Labels to give your products a professional look.

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Soothing Floral Bath Salt Tutorial

August 19, 2015 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Soaks & Scrubs

Whether you’re hiking in the snow-capped Swiss Alps or playing in the sun, physical activity can take a toll on your body. The best way to relax at the end of a busy day is a soothing bath. For an even more relaxing experience, you can sprinkle in these Soothing Floral Bath Salts.

This recipe has three different types of salt – medium and fine grained Dead Sea salt and Epsom salt – for an extra luxurious experience. It is scented with a light and floral combination of Orange Blossom Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil and Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil. As an extra special touch, there are several types of flower petals in the bath salts that will make you feel like you’re bathing in a mountain stream.

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Lavender Goat Milk Melt and Pour Bars

August 18, 2015 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

The Swiss Alps are bustling with wildlife, including marmots, red deer and foxes. Another familiar sight is goats grazing on the hills. Not only are goats adorable, but their milk can be for a variety of projects, including soap. It gives the soap a creamy, silky feeling. The Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base from Bramble Berry is made with 10% goat milk and feels amazing on the skin.

The goat milk base used in this Lavender Goat Milk Melt and Pour Soap adds luxury and a touch of shimmer. The goat milk lettering is a beautiful contrast to the base, which is colored with the Ultramarine Violet Color Block. To go along with the shimmery purple, an earthy blend of Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil and Spring Meadow Fragrance Oil are used. You’ll have a blast making this easy and beautiful soap!
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Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV

April 9, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

In soap making, the term “bastille,” commonly refers to cold process soap made with at least 70% olive oil. Olive oil is extremely gentle, making it the perfect oil for delicate or sensitive skin. This Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar is comprised of olive oil and a small amount of coconut oil for cleansing properties. This recipe also uses luxurious and moisturizing buttermilk. Carrot puree which is known for its antioxidant properties, is added at trace to give the soap a soft natural color. All these skin-loving and gentle ingredients make this bar great for babies and young children.

This skin-loving soap recipe was generously shared by Amanda from Lovin Soap (check out the original blog post here). Making soap with milk is an advanced soap technique. The key to milk soap is keeping the temperatures low by freezing the milk beforehand. Watch the video below to learn how, and check out the How to Add Lye to Milk for Cold Process Soap post. If you have never made cold process soap before, check out the Basics of Cold Process Soapmaking video series on Soap Queen TV; in particular, be sure to watch the video on lye safety.

What You’ll Need:
10″ Silicone Loaf Mold
27 oz. Olive Oil- Pomace
5 oz. Coconut Oil
8 oz. Buttermilk
2.5 oz. Carrot Puree
4.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
1.5 oz. Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

What are your favorite skin-loving additives for cold process soap?

Fresh Face Lavender & Aloe Lotion

August 20, 2014 Filed Under: Lotion

Light-weight and moisturizing, this Lavender and Aloe Lotion is great for dry facial skin. Made with skin loving ingredients such as DL-Panthenol and Sweet Almond Oil, this lotion helps skin feel soft and hydrated. It can also be used on the rest of the body to give additional moisture and smooth rough skin. If your skin is more on the oily side, you may prefer the Oil-Free Lavender Lotion Tutorial.

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