Showing posts with label Honey Soap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honey Soap. Show all posts

Friday, 20 August 2010

Honey Colour & Alkanet Follow Up

I post another picture of my experiments in my quest for a great Mediterranean Honey soap.


The three soaps in this picture are similar but different recipes. The new one in the foreground looks like peanut butter colour. It is the same recipe as the one in the middle except I added Lanolin and it has no Essential Oils or Cornstarch.

I must say I am rather in love with the rich golden honey colour of the middle soap so now I just have to wait to try these out! Maybe experiment a little more with the colour. Remove the EO's, the cornstarch and see if I get the same glorious colour.

Another interesting colour anecdote... I am now into the phase of trying out the cured soaps from my Alkanet experiments! Fun fun fun. Alkanet 1 (8% SF) is a super soap, great lather, soft, moisturising but the scent is not strong. Alkanet 2 (15% SF) is an even nicer, softer, more luxurious soap, (scent not strong enough either...) however, with the increased superfat, I have noticed that it is harder to get off my hands. Do you know that feeling, when you just keep washing and washing, like with soft water, and the soap just won't come off? Alkanet 3 (8% SF but reduced water. Scent still not strong enough...) is a lovely soap just like Alkanet 1 and the only difference I can feel with the reduced water is creamier, less bubbly lather.

Now for the photo... remember I was in search of a lovely lavender colour? And I kept getting grays...? Well, in using them, the first 3 soaps have turned a nice lavender purple! Look at the almost used up Alkanet 2 soap. I like the colour.

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