Soap stars
May I present: my latest batch of handmade soaps.
Yin and Yang
Soaps that bring balance to the universe. ;-) Yang is subtly scented with a fresh, citrussy combination of litsea and citronella essential oils. Yin - by contrast - is unscented. It was originally meant to be scented with a sandalwoodsy oriental fragrance oil, but, errr. I forgot to add it.
The dots go all the way through, of course. Interestingly enough, these soaps are the result of me buying tomatoes in a plastic tray that reminded me of yin and yang. I went back and bought all the yin-yang tomatoes left.
Here's a pic of the other side of Yin and Yang.
Purity
Pure and unscented. A seriously high-quality soap made of shea butter, babassu, almond oil and cocoa butter. Nothing else. Unlike most white soaps, it's not dyed - it's pure white simply because all of the oils I used are white.
Sandthorn Sunrise
This soap contains only shea butter, babassu, almond oil, cocoa butter and sandthorn (aka sea buckthorn) oil. Sandthorn is rich in vitamins and nutrients and very good for the skin; it also smells amazing. (Full disclosure: I love sandthorn.) Sandthorn Sunrise's color is entirely down to the vibrantly orange sandthorn oil. I lightened part of the soap in order to marble it, and I love how the very top turned out whiter than the rest, like a delicate layer of foam.
There's still a trace of fruity sandthorn scent to the soap, though it will probably disappear entirely before long.
Another pic of this soap, because I like it so much. ;-)
Briar Rose
This rose-scented soap is meant to emulate the look of roses - green stems, burgundy blossoms. I wanted to try something a little different, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
One more pic!
Lavender Wave
A new look for lavender! Not as dramatic as most of my previous soaps scented with lavender essential oil, but still nice. Fortunately, the soap's color is now nicely purple - in the first weeks, it was exactly the same shade as Briar Rose's burgundy.
Stars of Darkness
These soaps intimidate me a bit, to be honest. They're a new edition of the Gothic Stars, and are gothically scented with Pomegranate Noir, as always. However, this batch turned out looking a bit more… bloody, baleful and ominous than anticipated. So, to go with the flow, I left on the light sprinkling of soda ash, which makes them look slightly dusty. As befits soaps that like to lurk menacingly in dank cellars and dim-lit corners in their spare time.
Neon Stars
Considerably brighter star-shaped soaps, scented with the clean, fresh fragrance oil Fresh Linen and marbled a bright neon yellow-green. These babies are the diametrical opposite of the Stars of Darkness.*
* I kind of ship Neon Star / Star of Darkness now.
Storm in a Coffee Cup
This soap features industrial-strength coffee, coffee grounds, and avocado oil and shea butter. It's unscented, because I love the smell of coffee soap. It's a great kitchen soap because coffee neutralizes odors like onion or garlic, and the grounds in the bottom layer are very helpful when you're scrubbing stuff off your hands.
Storm in a Coffee Cup is really letting its hair down, btw. There are only three layers - the bottom, darkest one contains grounds, the middle one is undyed, and the top one is lightened to emulate cream. Usually, coffee soap starts out fawn-colored and then darkens evenly when cut and exposed to air. But this one is doing crazy stuff, including darkening in complex, pretty swirls and layers. Hey, why not, right?
If you'd like some soap, give me a shout. :-)
Also, I've been clearing out my soap stores and discovered I still have some older soap, if anyone is interested. Namely, I'm still looking for good homes for some pieces of Virgin, White Neptune, Blue Neptune, Milk & Honey, Green Wave, Sandalwood & Vanilla, Chocolate Dream, Angel in the Light, Samurai Love Attack, Gingko Zing and Magi.
Yin and Yang
Soaps that bring balance to the universe. ;-) Yang is subtly scented with a fresh, citrussy combination of litsea and citronella essential oils. Yin - by contrast - is unscented. It was originally meant to be scented with a sandalwoodsy oriental fragrance oil, but, errr. I forgot to add it.
The dots go all the way through, of course. Interestingly enough, these soaps are the result of me buying tomatoes in a plastic tray that reminded me of yin and yang. I went back and bought all the yin-yang tomatoes left.
Here's a pic of the other side of Yin and Yang.
Purity
Pure and unscented. A seriously high-quality soap made of shea butter, babassu, almond oil and cocoa butter. Nothing else. Unlike most white soaps, it's not dyed - it's pure white simply because all of the oils I used are white.
Sandthorn Sunrise
This soap contains only shea butter, babassu, almond oil, cocoa butter and sandthorn (aka sea buckthorn) oil. Sandthorn is rich in vitamins and nutrients and very good for the skin; it also smells amazing. (Full disclosure: I love sandthorn.) Sandthorn Sunrise's color is entirely down to the vibrantly orange sandthorn oil. I lightened part of the soap in order to marble it, and I love how the very top turned out whiter than the rest, like a delicate layer of foam.
There's still a trace of fruity sandthorn scent to the soap, though it will probably disappear entirely before long.
Another pic of this soap, because I like it so much. ;-)
Briar Rose
This rose-scented soap is meant to emulate the look of roses - green stems, burgundy blossoms. I wanted to try something a little different, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
One more pic!
Lavender Wave
A new look for lavender! Not as dramatic as most of my previous soaps scented with lavender essential oil, but still nice. Fortunately, the soap's color is now nicely purple - in the first weeks, it was exactly the same shade as Briar Rose's burgundy.
Stars of Darkness
These soaps intimidate me a bit, to be honest. They're a new edition of the Gothic Stars, and are gothically scented with Pomegranate Noir, as always. However, this batch turned out looking a bit more… bloody, baleful and ominous than anticipated. So, to go with the flow, I left on the light sprinkling of soda ash, which makes them look slightly dusty. As befits soaps that like to lurk menacingly in dank cellars and dim-lit corners in their spare time.
Neon Stars
Considerably brighter star-shaped soaps, scented with the clean, fresh fragrance oil Fresh Linen and marbled a bright neon yellow-green. These babies are the diametrical opposite of the Stars of Darkness.*
* I kind of ship Neon Star / Star of Darkness now.
Storm in a Coffee Cup
This soap features industrial-strength coffee, coffee grounds, and avocado oil and shea butter. It's unscented, because I love the smell of coffee soap. It's a great kitchen soap because coffee neutralizes odors like onion or garlic, and the grounds in the bottom layer are very helpful when you're scrubbing stuff off your hands.
Storm in a Coffee Cup is really letting its hair down, btw. There are only three layers - the bottom, darkest one contains grounds, the middle one is undyed, and the top one is lightened to emulate cream. Usually, coffee soap starts out fawn-colored and then darkens evenly when cut and exposed to air. But this one is doing crazy stuff, including darkening in complex, pretty swirls and layers. Hey, why not, right?
If you'd like some soap, give me a shout. :-)
Also, I've been clearing out my soap stores and discovered I still have some older soap, if anyone is interested. Namely, I'm still looking for good homes for some pieces of Virgin, White Neptune, Blue Neptune, Milk & Honey, Green Wave, Sandalwood & Vanilla, Chocolate Dream, Angel in the Light, Samurai Love Attack, Gingko Zing and Magi.