Hoping for the S.O.A.P panel!

     Hey guys! After soaping for around 2 years now (and have been researching even longer) I have finally decided to try to join Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P panel! If you don't know what the S.O.A.P panel is, it is when Bramble Berry chooses a few lucky soapers to send out new mystery fragrances to do a test! I have wanted to do this for years but have never thought I was ready until now!

Favorite Bramble Berry Product

     My favorite Bramble Berry product is probably my wooden molds, with their silicone liners! the silicone liners is what really is amazing, it used to be that my soaps never had nice sharp corners with the freezer paper but now with the liners my bars always turn out perfectly. I also love all their fragrances! I have only ever had one of their FOs seize on me (see here) which was during the winter soap crafting club. After that mess (literally and figuratively) they ended up giving us a gift card to replace the cost of that batch, which reminds me their customer service is AMAZING! To finish my rambling I will say that all of Bramble Berry's products are my favorite it is just so hard to choose, I just wish I could buy every thing! Now that I think about it the soap crafting club has to be one of the best products I have gotten from BB, it has taught me so many new thing and let me try new FOs that I never would of picked but ended up being some of my faves (wasabi anyone?)
just to recap my faves are (in no particular order)-

1. Wooden molds with their silicone liners
2. All their fragrances, such as wasabi
3. soap crafting club
4. and last but not least EVERYTHING THEY HAVE EVER SOLD!!!

Why I Should be Chosen for the S.O.A.P Panel 

        I know there are tons of other very talented soaper trying to get on this panel as well so I won't say I am the most amazing soaper ever 'cause I'm not but, I do have two years of soaping under my belt, and almost all I have learned is from the soap queen herself. I have been a loyal BB customer since I started soaping, I bought all of my supplies to start soaping from them and even to the is day I swear by their products(they are the best quality around). I am also not scared to try new things, including new scents and I would love to test out these scents, and after seeing a lot of people blog about their testing I am fairly confidant on how to test these scents the best possible way. I also think being a younger soaper (15 years old and 13 when I first made CP), makes me a bit different and have  a scent palette (is that how you say that??) then some others. Finally this would just be a fun, great, new experience for me and I would be so so honored if I were picked for the S.O.A.P aka the Soap Opinion Awesome Panel!

Some of my favorite soaps made with BB products (for more post featuring Bramble Berry check here)

scented with dragon's blood cybilla

from this spring's soap crafting club

scented with cranberry fig, a fave of mine

one of my two well used 2 lb loaf molds

scented with honeysuckle surplus (my mothers favorite she may die if it gets discontinued) 

Thanks for stopping by (and thanks for considering me) and happy soaping!

PS and trust me I have a post for you soon just with getting ready to go back to school and I haven't edited my pictures yet, but its coming!

Yuzu Salt Soap

 


     A few weeks back I made my first ever salt bar! Salt bars are soaps that have a large amount of salt in them- any thing from 50 to 100% of the oils. Salt bars also have a high amount of coconut oil, because it is the only oil that will produce a bar that lathers in salt water. This leads into the difference between the bar and your average soap, coconut oil on its own is VERY drying so instead of the usual 5-7% superfat we  superfat at 20%. So not only is this a salt bar it is a break the rules soap.

1) Single oil soaps do not perform as well as a well balanced blend of oils.
 2)Any recipe with over 30-40% coconut oil is to drying for the skin.
 3)If you superfat a soap at 10% or over you will have to many free oils that will lead to DOS (dreaded orange spots).

    My soap fits squarely into this BTR soap as I uses a 100% coconut oil soap, and here is the recipe:

     I used Wholesale Supplies Plus' yuzu fragrance at .5oz per pound of oil, just like as if I made it with out the 2 pounds of salt. I made it in my Bramble Berry 9-bar slab mold since another aspect of 100% coconut soap is it gets rock hard in an hour. If you try to cut it to late it crumbles, and to late comes way to soon, so not needing to cut is a perk. I unmolded it after 2 of three hours and when I went to bevel the edges crumbled, so the bars were to hard even to bevel.

    I just tested these bars out and its bubbles are rich and creamy, the bar is rock hard, like diamond hard, and it is mildly exfoliating but my sister thinks it is a bit rough so depends on what you like. I will make a side note because of the salt this stuff burns fresh shaves legs, I exfoliate after I shave so I rubbed this on my leg and oh my god it burned! I should have known better though because when I was little I cut my self and being the youngest I fell for my sister telling me salt helps stop the pain....

Thanks for stopping by and happy soaping!