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February 21, 2013

Days of Wine and Rosehips







While helping my mother clean out her kitchen cabinets in November, I found a treasure trove of ingredients to go into soap—including a lot of neglected booze in dusty bottles.

This lovely bar contains a bottle of cheap red wine (don't ask me the name—maybe Sutter's Revenge???) that I reduced and used in place of water.

I think the scent of the wine actually made it through the lye process, there's a real intoxicating top note that hits you first followed by my pretty complex blend of lemongrass, orange, may chang, pine, cedarwood, ho wood and black pepper essential oils.

I tried to get clever and add kosher sea salt and some insanely expensive Himalayan pink sea salt as layers and as a sprinkling on the top. My thought was the salt would still do that miraculous creamy thing to the lather, but wouldn't make the bar so crumply. Also thought by doing that, the pinkness of the salt would be more pronounced.

The bars are still a bit messy—most of the salt on the top went all over my kitchen as I was cutting the bars, but I like the effect of the layers.

Ingredients:
olive oil infused with alkanet and rosehips
coconut oil
palm kernel oil
castor oil
cheap red wine
kosher sea salt
Himalayan pink sea salt

Fragrance:
Lemongrass, orange, may chang, pine, cedarwood, ho wood and black pepper essential oils





If you like this blog, check out my new one: The Haley Maxwell Soap Making Mysteries

February 15, 2013

Theme and Variation

One batch of lavender resulting in three different soaps thanks to my mini loaf pan.






Just Lavender



Lavender and Poppyseeds



Lavender Beach Bars

February 10, 2013

Subplot Soap: Spring 2013




As New York digs out of a blizzard and plunges into Fashion Week, Subplot Soap unlocks the doors of its curing facilities to unveil The Spring Collection.





Don't look for garish pastel colors reminiscent of cavity-inducing Easter candy. The hues this season are earthy and sophisticated. Hemlines are crisper—and for the most part, even.  

Look for playful embeds that keep bars from being too straight-laced. Unexpected ingredients like Himalayan pink sea salt, cheap red wine, coffee butter and lime basil will wake up your skin and get it ready to ditch the parkas and itchy wool socks.
Fragrances from Subplot Soap this spring feature bold blends with ginger, black pepper, crisp citruses and notes of the exotic. Think smart, sexy and just a little bit snarky.

The bars, like any haute couture collection will be limited to a select few lather fashionistas.  Wanna be one of them? See what's available.





If you like this blog, check out my new one: The Haley Maxwell Soap Making Mysteries

February 7, 2013

Photos of Soap I Never Blogged About


It's not that I don't love them…just haven't gotten around to writing a post about 'em.











If you like this blog, check out my new one: The Haley Maxwell Soap Making Mysteries