A Few of My Favorite Things 1

The holidays are nearly upon us, and that makes me think of my favorite things.

There’s still time to get your favorite things ordered and delivered before the holidays arrive. I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite things that The Sage offers in hopes that I’ll inspire you.

Equipment

I’ll start my list of favorite things with equipment I especially love.

First, because I use them so much, are 8” Silicone Spatulas. These are the perfect size to scrape the last of the soap or lotion out of your container and into the bottle or mold. They seem to last forever, too!

Our 6100 g Compact Scale is such a blessing in my workroom. It accurately weighs 0.1 gram readability and 6100 gram capacity (that’s just over 215 ounces). This scale is wonderful for small test batches. I frequently make 25-gram test batches, and accuracy at the low end of the weight scale is critical.

8″ Silicone Spatulas

6100 g Compact Scale

One of my favorite containers is our 0.75 ounce Screw Top Tin. It’s just the right size for salves and even lip balms. It’s not too tiny to handle, yet it’s small enough to easily fit in a pocket.

My two favorite soap molds are the Round Ripple Silicone Mold and the Soap Stone Silicone Mold. Both molds hold a one-pound batch of soap, which is my go-to for sample batches. Both molds yield a bar of soap that is a desirable and easy-to-handle size. They also are attractive! We even offer boxes that will hold the Soap Stone bars and the Round Ripple bars. Check them out here and here.

Soap Stone Silicone Mold

Round Ripple Silicone Mold

Additives

Let’s move on to additives. If you’ve read my blog posts at all, you’ll know I enjoy making lotion. One of the most important ingredients in a successful lotion formula is a preservative, and there’s none better than Liquid Germall Plus. It’s a broad spectrum preservative with a really low usage rate so you get lots of bang for your buck. It’s effective, too!

I really love our Milk Protein additive in lotions. It creates the smoothest formulas! Using Milk Protein is the safest way to get all the benefits of milk in a lotion without using an unstable liquid milk product. A little of the Milk Protein goes a long way; its usage rate is just 1-5% in most products. You can use Milk Protein in many formulations: hair conditioner, masks, lotions, soap, shampoo, cleanser, bath gel, and creams.

Liquid Germall Plus Preservative

Milk Protein

Another additive I love to use is Squalane Oil. This simple liquid adds a great skin benefit in that its a cousin of squalene, a naturally-occurring substance in our skin. Because it’s a bio-identical oil, our skin just loves it and soaks it right in. Squalane Oil improves skin’s hydration, which is especially beneficial to aged skin. It can also help chapped and cracked skin; try applying it neat to problem areas. Squalane is also available as a butter!

Squalane Oil

Squalane Butter

This has turned into quite a long list, so I’ll save the rest of my favorite things for tomorrow. Come back and see what fixed oils really float my boat!