Sandalwood Rose Rain soap

     Highly aromatic, this one! Lovely rose and sandalwood combination. Rich. Enticing and exotic.

Sandalwood is the rich and aromatic wood from the Santalum tree, highly cultivated. The Indian and the Australian are the two most noted varieties in this genus.

The interesting thing about Sandalwood is that it will keep its fragrance for decades, literally. That is unusual in a fragrant wood. It is a beautifully fine grained, yellow wood. It's East Indian wood source is becoming scarce making it very pricey.

In this recipe I used a fragrance oil blend that was infused with natural essential oils of Cedarwood, Patchoulli and sustainably harvested Sandalwood. Woodsy, musky and softened with the rose fragrance oil made a lovely rich exotic bar.  Very aromatic.

The "pencil line" you see is a dark cocoa. The almost indiscernible white creamy line is finely ground Jasmine rice. Soft and silky, not grainy.   Just a lovely Spa bar made with fresh Arizona rain and enriched with unrefined Shea butter for that additional luxury!

You can find this bar in my etsy shop.

One in a Mel'lion Shout Out !

I have tried One in a Mel'lion's soaps in the past, a gorgeous Sun Dried Tomato kitchen soap, so when Mel did a Fall Soap Give-a-Way for her Pumpkin Oatmeal homemade soap, I entered and crossed my fingers! And was tickled pink, (or pumpkin) that I won!

As a natural soap maker (Soaper) myself, I LOVE to try other Soaper's creations. It's kind of like having someone else make dinner for YOU. Know what I mean?  I so enjoy a good bar of homemade soap, ahhh....

Along with the awesome natural soap, I received two handmade Fall Leaves print washcloths.
Seriously, these washcloths are so soft,.... you know the kind that is SO absorbent and soft and fluffy, these are those!  I'm going to designate one for my facial cloth. Mine, mine, mine.

Her sewing creations are super nice, strong stitching, no skimping on fabric quality here.

   Really nice lather !

 Pumpkin, oat-y          scent.
        Love it.

      Thank you Mel from

   One in a Mel'lion

Pumpkin Puree in Homemade Soap Recipe

      Updated: 9/16/16 - Yes, you can put real pumpkin into your homemade soaps!  It makes a lovely bar of rich, creamy goodness. Make your own puree from fresh pumpkins, or pumpkin from a can.

originally published 8/22/13 updated 9/16/16

 Warm, homey and with a scent reminiscent of crisp fall mornings and toasty evenings at home.

I used canned pumpkin puree, yes, the kind that you make pies from. This was pure pumpkin puree, not the variety with spices added.  I made this hot process method in a crock pot and added the pumpkin at trace with a TBL of  honey. Frozen fresh goats milk and Arizona rain water for my liquid. (You can use all water for this recipe if you choose.)

vintage pumpkin seed package

This makes a hard, bubbly, moisturizing bar of soap.

Rich and creamy.  Absolutely decadent!  The lather is light tan.  I put real spice lines of ginger, and just a touch of cinnamon and cardamon. (optional) Spices alone are not strong enough to give a good scent when the soap is done, so I added some pumpkin fragrance oil. The result is a heavenly smelling, decadent bar that just makes you feel good to use.  You will love it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

2 oz beeswax

2 oz castor oil

12 oz coconut oil

12 oz olive oil
12 oz palm oil

2 oz canned pumpkin

1 TBL warmed honey at trace (optional)  FYI ... honey darkens the color of your soap

1.5 oz  to 2 oz  fragrance oil added after the cook. Strength of scent is your choice. 

5.5 oz lye   (6% superfatted using SoapCalc ) Always use gloves and glasses when working with lye (sodium hydroxide). I recommend long sleeve shirt as well, and an apron.

15.2 oz of liquid  ( I used 5 oz of frozen goats milk and 10.2 oz water)
__________________________________________________________________________________
NOTE:  You do not have to use goats milk if you don't choose too. 
You can use buttermilk or cow milk.     Freeze it first. 

frozen milk cubes

Always freeze your milk in cubes, this keeps temps down so your milk does not scorch. Next add water to milk cubes so that your total amount of milk and water is 15.2 oz
Then slowly pour your lye crystals into frozen milk/water,
stir until dissolved. 
It will turn orange, this is normal when using milks.

Don't want to use milk in your recipe at all? No problem...
Simply use the full liquid amount of 15.2 oz as water. This does not change the rest of the recipe.

I've noticed that using purees in my HP soaps makes the soap take a bit longer to get done,
this is normal. Relax and read a book, but don't walk away from a crock pot of cooking soap!

Always run a soap recipe through a lye calculator before making it yourself.   Be safe.

If you don't want to make this fresh Autumn soap yourself, check out my etsy shop. 

    Enjoy,  Anna

Fruit and Oatmeal Soap

   For a great fall inspired soap, I paired fruit preserves and oatmeal, and came up with a really great bar of soap.  The lather is fab.  And the soap is sooooo mild.  Warm with just a hint of fruit.

You can use your favorite basic soap recipe and add fresh fruit puree in at trace and blend well.

I added 3oz of berries pureed  in 40oz of oils.  And 2 TBL of finely ground oats.

Tip: use fresh or frozen fruit, not jarred preserves or jam..... I tried it CP and the soap stayed soft due to the citric acid in the fruit preserves. I won't make that mistake again.

For my liquid I used some creamy goats milk and a bit of Arizona rain water, my fav.

I added strawberry FO just to give it a bit of a fruity scent, as the fresh fruit scent does not come through the soaping process. You can do this Hot Process or Cold Process. Pictured is my HP batch.