Monday 16 August 2010

Mediterranean Honey...

I continue experimenting with Honey. I love the golden carmamel colour I got the other day with the Coconut Milk Honey Shampoo but not the sudden set...

So now I am tweaking my normal honey soap recipe (not shampoo) to perfect my Mediterranean Honey Soap. And look at the colour difference between two very similar recipes!?


Both of these soaps have an orangy tinge... but I added nothing to colour these deliberately. The colour must simply come from the Essential Oils. I used 5-fold Orange & Bitter Orange in both of these soaps, both have the same quantity of honey & the liquid in both is 100% Goat Milk.

The only differences are 1) The rich golden orangy one in the foreground has 60% Olive Oil (no Almond Oil), the light one in the background 45% Olive Oil and 15% Sweet Almond Oil 2) The foreground soap has 1/2 teaspoon Cornstarch 3) The foreground soap has Cocoa Butter as well and 4) The foreground soap has 2 additional Essential Oils in the blend.

I really like the look and feel of the latest batch, the one in the foreground. The only thing is that strange whitey streak at the top... but I am guessing it is the remains of the soap that gets stuck on the bottom of the pot, and not properly mixed with the honey or Essential Oils, that I scrape out and pour on the top. Also the scent is odd. I thought cornstarch would anchor the scent... but it just smells rather odd... maybe I added too much cornstarch?

My Mediterranean Honey soap will most likely not have any scent. It will be for sensitive skin. Let's see how the next one turns out... very similar to this latest batch except I included Lanolin and excluded Essential Oils. Will unveil tomorrow...

Happy soaping!

xo Jen

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Learn something new every day. I never knew of putting corn starch in the soap. You say it is a fragrance anchor?

Maggie said...

Hi Jen, other than the fact that it smells odd, do you find cornstarch great for anchoring scent? I've tried many ways to keep the lovely scent, and what I find works the best so far is freezing soaps after they're molded. The soaps usually come out softer and take much more time to cut and cure, but the scent stays!

Amy W said...

I thought that was an intentional swirl on top! :)

Atenea said...

Pues te va quedando muy bien el jabón. Besos.

Ambra said...

This is really interesting. Beautiful soaps. I like the colour of the one in front and the unintentional swirl is fun.

Splurge Sisters said...

I love the orangey one in front and the white looks like it's part of the design. I have lanolin and never thought of putting it into my soap.

Soaps and Bubbles said...

Just beautiful Jen. Really...it looks incredible.