Adventures With The Sage

Notes: I am in love with the finished color of this soap. It is kind of a soft green color. It almost reminds me of french green clay. It is very natural and elegant looking. I think it would make a beautiful salt soap. There was no coloration of the water, suds or a washcloth. No staining to worry about! Yippee!

This bar of soap did have an odor. When I added the Kelp Powder at trace, it smelled potently of fish. When it was first cut, it almost smelled like dirty feet. After curing, the odor smelled more like seaweed and salt. Not strong or overwhelming. However, I would definitely choose strong scents or those that have an ozone note to them.

I am excited to play around more with this botanical. I am thinking of using fragrance oils like The Meadow, Jacob, Ocean Rain and Woodland Ice. What fragrances would you use for this botanical?

Recipe:

Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to form a lye solution. Allow the oils and the lye to cool to a lower temperature. We do not want to have the soap overheat and volcano. Mix the oils and lye solution and blend until trace is achieved. Pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. Enjoy!

This body cream was inspired by childhood visits filled with lilacs, grandparents and a little imagination. I also wanted to formulate a cream that would be perfect for me to use when I give my grandma a hand massage.

I wanted to give this body a light weight feeling after being applied, so I used Macadamia Nut Oil and Colorless Jojoba to achieve this.

I also wanted drag for this cream when it was being applied so it could be used when giving my grandma a hand massage. I didn’t want lots of drag because her skin is so fragile, but a little drag helps me make her hands feel good. To get the right amount of drag for this body cream, I used Castor Oil, Cocoa Butter and Stearic Acid as all of these ingredients help provide drag in creams.

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Recipe: (Makes 3.53 ounces or 100 grams)

I decided to make a body balm that would smell just likes these Tibetan shops so I could enjoy the smell while pampering my skin! Come join me as we have some fun!

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Recipe: (Makes 3.53 ounces or 100 grams)

Weigh all ingredients except Orchid Extract and Myrrh Fragrance into a microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Add the Orchid Extract and Myrrh Fragrance. Stir gently until completely mixed. Pour into containers and allow to cool completely before capping and labeling.

Body Balm Notes: This body balm is slightly pliable in texture, so this means that jars are the best container for this recipe and as little bit goes a long way, I recommend smaller jars like the 20 mL Lip Balm Jar. When I tried this on my hands, I felt the recipe was had a nice drag and long lasting application time. I think this would be best used on elbows, knees, feet or any other rough spots. Another potential use for this body balm would be as a deep tissue massage balm due to the long lasting drag. Doesn’t a massage sound fantastic?

One of my favorite uses for a lotion bar formula is actually to use the formula as a solid perfume or perfume stick. The biggest difference is the amount of fragrance used. When I make a solid perfume, I generally use between 2-15% of fragrance. For example; in Taylor’s Candy Shop Perfume Stick, she used 9% of fragrance. Right in the middle of the recommended amount and it was at what I considered to be a proper usage of fragrance. With this particular formula, I would reduce the Castor Oil by the amount of fragrance I used. This will help the formula feel less sticky.

Let’s go make a lotion bar now that I’ve made you think!

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Recipe: (Makes 3.53 ounces or 100 grams)

Weigh all ingredients except Vanilla Hazelnut Fragrance into a microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Add the Vanilla Hazelnut Fragrance. Stir gently until completely mixed. Pour into containers and allow to cool completely before capping and labeling.

Supplies Needed:

Recipe:

Begin by weighing all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to form a lye solution. Allow the oils and the lye to cool separately until they reach a lower temperature. We do not want to have the soap overheat and volcano. When cooled, mix the oils and lye solution together and blend with immersion blender until trace is achieved. Once your mixture has made it to trace add in your powder approximately 1 teaspoon, mix thoroughly then pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar.

That’s it! Where is the easy button?

I have noticed that when adding the powders that I am getting a deep bold color or tint to the soap. I only used 1 tsp and got this fabulous color.

I have added a few photos to show you the process, I hope you are making some great soaps with me and enjoying the fun. Check out the last photo of all the soap lined up Spirulina Powder is the third from the left, beautiful green color. I will keep watching and see if the color changes while it cures.

First I started with Beeswax. Beeswax makes this formulation hard enough to stay in a lotion bar tube. It also adds some drag to the product which is why it can be used as both a skin care product and a perfume stick.

I also used High Melt Point Shea. I rarely like to miss out on the luxury of Shea Butter but when you have an anhydrous formulation that contains Shea Butter, you always run the risk of fractionation to occur. High Melt Point Shea Butter reduces that risk.

Next, I used Aloe Butter. Why use Aloe Butter? It is dreamy! It melts on the skin and it is somewhat silky in texture. No wonder why it is a favorite in lip balms and body butters.

I used a total of three liquid oils. One of them being Cherry Oil. Cherry Oil is light in color and it weight. It contributes glide and makes the final stick not feel so heavy as it potentially could be.

The other liquid oil I used at a slightly higher percentage was Black Currant Oil. Black Currant Oil is high in gamma-linolenic acid which helps the skin renew itself. This means it helps keep the skin soft, smooth and supple.

Lastly I used my specialty oil and my fragrance oil. However, in this case my specialty oil is used as much for odor as it is for color and texture. I find it amazing that one oil can hold so many roles. Wow!

Recipe:

Weigh all of the ingredients except the Creamy Chai Fragrance Oil into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Stir and allow it to cool slightly. Add the Creamy Chai Fragrance Oil. Stir and transfer to containers of your desired size. I used our Bigger Tubes. Enjoy!

I’ll be using the Lip Gloss for the Lip Brush recipe found in our Recipe Collection. I did make a few changes for the flavor, but I think those changes were for the better!

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Recipe: (Makes 1 ounce or 28 grams. Fills approximately 14 lip brush pens.)

Note: Q.S. means quantity sufficient. You do not need much Silver Mica or Yellow Oil Soluble Lip Balm Color. This recipe needs so little that we can’t measure it! So we use Q.S. to say use as much as you need to achieve the right color, flavor, etc.

Begin by weighing the Carnauba Wax and Castor Oil. After measuring the ingredients, microwave using short time bursts until the wax is melted. Add flavors. Now the color and mica can be added. I used the tip of a clean pipette and pulled it across the top of the color and then used that pipette to stir the mixture until the color was completely mixed in. I then used a new pipette and put the tip into the mica to scoop a small amount into the lip gloss. Using the pipette I used for the color, I stirred the mixture to decide if it needed more mica or not. Once you are satisfied with the color, fill the brushes while the mixture is still warm. Leave them standing upright until they have cooled. If the mixture gets into the small metal tube before it is cooled, the metal can cause the mixture to solidify over the opening and material will be difficult to advance into the brush.

Recipe:

Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to form a lye solution. Allow the oils and the lye to cool separately until they reach a lower temperature. We do not want to have the soap overheat and volcano. When cooled, mix the oils and lye solution together and blend with immersion blender until trace. Once your mixture has made it to trace then add the infusion (approximately 1 teaspoon per lb of fat), mix thoroughly then pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar.

That’s it! Where is the easy button?

I have noticed that when adding the infusions that I am getting a very light color or tint to the soap. Check out the photo of the two 1 lb. clamshell containers, the batch to the right is shown without the infusion and the batch to the left (the pale orange color) is a batch of soap made with the paprika powder infused in apricot kernel oil. I only used 1 tsp and got this fabulous color. I think I’m craving a Creamsicle about now; how about you?

I have added a few photos to show you the process, I hope you are making infusions with me and enjoying the fun.