Saturday, February 23, 2013

Cameo Love


Throughout history, persons of royalty have set the tone for jewelry fashion. It is said that Queen Elizabeth loved to wear cameos and it is noted that Catherine the Great had a very impressive collection of them. The cameo survived the whims of changing fashion during the Nineteenth Century in England.  Since Queen Victoria favored cameos, the cameo was quite popular during and since her reign. They were popular as pins and pendants usually worn on a black velvet ribbon.

Originally, cameos were carved from bone, shell or glass.  I am not nearly that talented, so my exhibit of cameo love comes in the form of a beautiful silicone mold and a few excellent soap recipes.  I have three varieties, one made from shea butter, another made from a milk base - half & half, and the last made from the very luxurious cocoa butter.  All are extremely high quality, hand-made soaps befitting a queen.  

Due to the high milk fat content in my milk soaps, they are much softer than those made from cocoa or shea butter.  If you intend to use this soap strictly for your face, I'd recommend the milk soap.  For the rest of you, the cocoa and shea butters are longer lasting, but equally as excellent.  All three should be guarded from husbands and kids...   (My neighbor's husband unceremoniously completed his hand washing by laying my fair lady face-down in a puddle of water and left her there to drown).  Shame on him....

Available on my website for $5.50/each and come wrapped in a lovely floral fabric.  Also available is a cameo sampler, (get all 3), available for $18 in a lovely wrapped gift tray.  Check my website for details ----->

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Happy Chaps

Happy Chaps now available in my store.  They are the cutest little guest soaps made with raw cocoa butter, coconut oil and olive oil.  (Definitely a superior quality soap).  They are lightly scented with oatmeal, milk and honey fragrance, making them universally appealing.  Three for $6.00 - comes wrapped in darling fabric and tied off with jute. 

Monday, February 18, 2013

No Dragons Were Injured In The Making Of This Soap

Several soaps I posted about earlier are now ready to go.  One of these is my new favorite, Dragon's Blood.

Created with a shea butter base, it has warming notes of amber, incense, Madagascar vanilla and patchouli, the Dragon's Blood Fragrance is lightened up with layers of romantic notes such as rose, jasmine and lilac. Top notes are the colorful, light touches of blood orange and grapefruit. If ever a fragrance made you want to go out and get a tattoo, this one is it.

The curing process has rendered it dark and earthy, just like you would expect.  Here it is in all its glory, available on both my website or on Etsy for $5.50.    

On a geeky side note, I investigated the actual Dragon Tree.  My travels brought me to the South Coast Botanic Gardens, located in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.  An African native, the injured tree runs red with sap, (resin), from its wound.  The red resin was used in ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye.  So there you have it...  more than you ever wanted to know.

~Sandy

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Rustic Almond Soap Sticks

Now for sale in my shop are these very cute and rustic Almond Soap Sticks.  Each is approx. 3 oz.

Lightly scented with almond, it is a combination of two soaps, (chunks added for fanciness), it's made with distilled water, olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil, and palm kernel oil.  It's a hard soap and will last you a lifetime...  well, a good long while, anyway.

Click the link over on the right to head to my website for ordering.  It's on special through the weekend. --->

Friday, February 15, 2013

DIY - Goat's Milk Facial Scrub Recipe

I am a Do It Yourself kind of person.  Coupled with that, I like a good deal.  In my travels around the web, I have come across a stellar recipe to gently exfoliate your face, (arms, back etc.), with some lovely, earthy ingredients readily available at the supermarket.  Best of all, it's inexpensive and works great... even for the most sensitive skin.

DIY Goat's Milk Facial Scrub Recipe

Ingredients: 

2.5 oz. powdered goats milk
2.5 oz. colloidal oatmeal (or oat flour)
2.5 oz. baking soda

1 oz. salt (optional - but you know how much I love it)
1 small jam jar or similar



Directions:

Weigh out all of your ingredients using a scale, (or simply ratio it out into larger or smaller quantities), and combine in a  bowl. Mix well. Then spoon into air tight containers for storage.  That's it!

To use, simply remove a small amount of this all natural facial scrub from the container and mix with just enough water or honey (up to one Tablespoon) to form a paste. (For extra dry or mature skin, try mixing this scrub with rice bran oil or olive oil.) Then apply to facial skin in a circular motion for up to one minute. Alternately, you can use this scrub as a mask by applying and letting set for 5-10 minutes. Rinse with water to remove and pat dry. Store your scrub in a cool dry location.

What Conditions Are Helped By Colloidal Oatmeal?

Colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve dry, skin patches (Eczema), psoriasis, acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes. Since colloidal oatmeal has an anti-itch property that helps reduce the “need to itch,” soaking in the bath brings soothing comfort to those infected. When your skin is itchy and irritated, its pH level may be higher. Colloidal Oatmeal helps bring the pH back to normal levels, taming "the need to itch."

And What About Goat's Milk?

Goat's milk is a natural emollient that helps soothe and moisturize the skin. It contains vitamins A, B6, B12 and E. Goat's milk has 3 times more beta-casein than cow's milk. Caseins are easily absorbed into the skin and allow for quick hydration of dry skin. The content of triglycerides, capric, caprylic and caproic acid helps balance the skin's natural pH and promotes natural exfoliation of dry skin. Goat's Milk Powder is an excellent ingredient to include in bath, soap, cream and lotion formulations.

Baking Soda?

This stuff is awesome at not just scrubbing away dead skin cells, leaving your skin soft and smooth; it’s also an excellent contender against those nasty, pesky blackheads. And because baking soda helps neutralize your skin’s pH, your skin will start to produce less oil, and eventually, with regular treatment, your blackheads will take a hike!


~Sandy

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A Day In The Life Of Me


Using all those fancy and super smelling soaps is so luxurious, but what is it like to make?    

On a normal day, UPS will arrive with a bunch of supplies.  Received today:  35lbs of unrefined coconut oil, 10lbs raw cocoa butter, a myriad of beautiful new molds and other peripherals necessary to do business as a soaper. 


Once the unpacking is done, it's time to get down to business.  As I have been waiting forever for my cocoa butter to arrive, that's what I'll be using in my two recipes today:  "Cocoa Butter/Hazelnut Soap", and my new most favorite soap, "Brownie Bars," which is cocoa butter and cocoa powder mixed up and wrapped like a brownie.  Looks like a brownie, smells like a brownie... must be a brownie.  Be careful not to eat it! 

Next step is to clean up the lab, I mean kitchen, so that I have some working space.  I prepare the mold, measure out the ingredients and make sure I have all the other junk I need.  

Getting all the ingredients just right is key.  Liquid oils cold, solid oils hot and melted.  Mix them together and make sure they're stable at 110 degrees.
Soap-making attire - Holding liquid Cocoa Butter

Next I mix the lye solution. Modeling a highly fashionable respirator, I tie a long sleeved t-shirt around my head to spare myself from the fumes I'm about to create. (Amazing that I was so color-coordinated... I really didn't plan this).  

Lye solution
The action of mixing lye with a liquid creates extreme heat.  It is dangerous and can severely burn you.  (This lye is about 180 degrees F and must be reduced to 110 degrees F before it can be added to the oils).  The vapors created aren't visible, (but the steam is), and can really irritate your lungs and cause headaches if you're not careful.  The action, (saponification), that takes place between the lye, (a base), and the fats in the oils, (acid), creates soap.  Now there's your bit of science for the day.

Left - Oils and lye still separate.  Right - Oils completely mixed
Once you've mixed sufficiently, the soap goo is ready to be poured into a mold.  In this case, I've made a double batch and will use a lined wooden loaf mold.  After about 20 minutes, the soap has solidified sufficiently to go back with a knife and decorate the top by swirling it.



Now I wait impatiently for 24 hours before I remove the soap from the mold and slice it into bars.  Once it has been sliced, I wait again, (sigh), for at least two more weeks.  During that time, the soap cures, becoming milder and harder.  

Imagining this process over and over will explain the current state of my house.  It is no longer a house, it is a workshop that is clearly not big enough.  Is that a piano in there?
I do love the process of making soap.  So far I've enjoyed all aspects of starting up this business - (creating logos, websites, blogging, pushing my soap on prospective retailers)... all good stuff!  But I'd have to say that the best thing of all is getting to shower at the end of the day and having so many lovely soaps to choose from! ~ Sandy


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Growing Herbs for Soaping

There's nothing like waking up on a Sunday morning, grabbing a pot of coffee and sitting down to blog about something you really like.  So here goes...


I have this botanist friend, Lori, who lives in Redondo Beach.  She's been tremendous in helping me select herbs for planting this spring, all with the mindset of harvesting and drying them later for the purposes of soap making.  I love the smell of lemon and other fruity things, however, actual citrus oil does not make it through the soap making process well.  In other words, it discolors, smell funky or loses 90% of its scent while swimming in the lye solution.

What to do?  Smart Lori suggested I try using herbs that smell like lemon and other fantastic options that I didn't even know existed in the herb world:



Lavender and lemongrass are other staple items and will be added to the garden once the tulips finish blooming...

The trick here is that herbs don't mind lye... at least that's the theory.  How much actual scent they will carry through is still a mystery.  It will be an interesting experiment.  In the meantime I will enjoy watching my herb garden grow and might even take to drinking tea, as I will have an abundant selection to herbs to choose from.

Sandy

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Gift Baskets Now Available

It has taken me awhile, but I am finally offering gift baskets.  Each will be slightly different, and must be ordered individually.  Please have a look on my website for specific offerings:


 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

DIY Facial Serum - Something To Do During That Football Game



DIY – Facial Serum

Over the past several decades, society’s remedies for everything from toe fungus to wrinkles have been largely serviced by the cosmetics/pharmaceutical industries.  Many of these products do in fact work, however, come with huge financial cost or unwanted side effects.  

It has been my recent epiphany that many such ailments/conditions can be remedied with basic ingredients which most of us may already have.  

Let’s take my $360 set of Obaji skincare which I purchased a year ago from a dermal institute.  Contained within the set of 7 jars and bottles were:

1 – cleanser
2 – toner
3 - “repairing cream” for day use
4 – “repairing cream” for night use
5 – bleaching cream for those miserable dark spots we older folks get
6 – vitamin serum
7 – sunblock

After closer examination and a much lighter wallet, I was surprised to see that the active ingredients contained in #s 3,4, and 6 were all the same.  My math tells me that the average price of each of those items was around $50.  Functionally speaking, it was only necessary for me to purchase one of the three to receive the benefit.  So why do they do it?  Because they know we don’t know any better.

That realization made me mad, and also motivated to figure out some great home remedies that were effective AND reasonably priced.  Here’s what I’ve come up with, and believe me, it’s not rocket science.

ESSENTIAL OILS - Essential oils are highly concentrated, potent oils produced by plants. They provide a concentrated dose of nature’s vast pharmacologically active ingredients in a single drop of oil.  Essential oils are the most concentrated form of any botanical and are the purest form of the plant’s living structure.  

Combining essential oils, (EOs), can be done for two purposes:  1) to create a serum for a particular ailment or remedy, or 2), blended solely for scent – aka perfume.  I will concentrate this discussion on the EOs as it relates to their functionality, (remedy), and specifically I’ll gear toward skincare.

Tea Tree EO is your best friend and one of the cheapest you can get your hands on.  Clearing up everything from toe fungus and cold sores, to absorbing the puss within a pimple, it has a high germicidal value.   I could go on forever about it because there’s not much that it can’t take on.  Yes, it smells medicinal, but remember, we’re concentrating on function.  Tea Tree included within a blended serum for your skin, (especially places prone to break-out), is imperative.  Over the course of a week or two, watch how your pimples break themselves down and becoming virtually nonexistent.  

Next, there’s Lavender EO.  It too is inexpensive and is great to add to your serum, encouraging skin cell growth and promoting healing of sores and wounds.   It has antiseptic properties, along with a host of other non-skin related benefits such as being an anti-depressant and slightly sedating, (relaxing).  

So far, you’ve spent about $12 on EOs.  Now check out the cooking/salad oils section in your fancy supermarket.  What are your choices?  Avocado Oil?  Hazelnut Oil?  Sweet Almond?   I know what you’re thinking… “You are nuts!  I’m not going to put oil on my face!”    

Avocado oil is excellent for dry and wrinkled skin as it moisturizes, nourishes and softens.  It has been found to significantly increase the water-soluble collagen content in the dermis skin layer.  It contains protein, vitamins A, D and E, and some amino acids.  

Hazelnut oil penetrates the skin easily.  It has some vitamin E content.  Cold pressed hazelnut oil is a wonderful, light, penetrating oil that is slightly astringent making it good oil for acne prone skin.  It is high in the essential fatty acids and is soothing and healing to dry irritated skin.  As a bonus, it has been shown to filter sunrays and is therefore commonly used in sun care products.
 
Sweet almond oil is a light, nearly odorless oil.  It is said to have great nutritional value for all skin types.  It has a similar make up to baby sebum, the oil naturally produced by the skin to protect a newborn’s skin, and is easily absorbed.  

Now that I have you convinced, go pick one that best suits your skin type and add it to your EO purchase.  By now I’d guess you’ve spent about $20.  That’s fantastic!

The last thing you’ll need is a small vial or glass container.  I don’t recommend plastic.  The Container store carries small glass vials for $1-$2.

Tea Tree EO should be mixed at about 1% of a solution…. So for every 1 drop of Tea Tree EO, you’ll want to add 99 drops of the carrier oil you’ve chosen.  Lavender is so benign you can almost use it straight up… but you don’t need to, so don’t waste it!  I’ve used up to 5 drops of Lavender EO to 100 drops of carrier oil.  Doing so will slightly improve the overall smell of the concoction, masking the medicinal odor of the tea tree somewhat. 
Now go wash your face with something gentle… like a salty or milk-based soap.  Pat dry, then apply your serum.  You will be glossy for a bit, but don’t fret… it will absorb.  Stay away from your eyes, mouth and nostrils.  Apply your foundation directly afterwards.  It makes application a snap.  Better yet, go to bed without any makeup.  In a few days you’ll see a marked improvement.    

There are many other EOs on the market to choose from.  I’ve chosen the two most economical and readily available.  Rose Absolute and Frankincense are both excellent in facial serums, however, are vastly more expensive.  (And smell better).  Some work really well, but sensitize you to sunburn, so make sure you know an oil's properties before you begin.

For inspiration, you might want to check out http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/  for a wide array of EO choices.  For more choices on carrier oils, you can look at http://www.brambleberry.com/ .   For more information about specific characteristics of EOs, have a look at The Art, Science and Busines of Aromatherapy on Amazon.  One of the best books around on EOs that is no longer in print, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, can be found on Amazon if you’re lucky.


The possibilities are endless!  Now go cure something…


Friday, February 1, 2013

Be Stoked! - Manhattan Beach Soap

I've nearly run out of my popular Manhattan Beach Ocean Water Soap.  Personally I'm not big into entering freezing water at this time of year, so today after school I sent Kiddo into the waves to do the dirty work.  I have about 3 gallons now, which should make another 60 bars or so. 

If you haven't tried using salty soap, you might consider it because:

1.  Salt fights skin infection - As the water evaporates, leaving the salt behind, it attaches to the infectious cells and draws out the moisture inside the cells, effectively dehydrating them until they are dried up and dead.

2.  Salt draws out toxins - Salts help to draw out toxins, microscopic dirt, and pollutants that get into our skin's pores over time. As it cleanses the skin, it also stimulates skin cells in normal metabolic detoxifying and cleansing processes. The salt in salt water exfoliates the outer surface of the skin, removing dead skin cells and revealing the fresh new cells underneath, which leaves the skin glowing. Salt water leaves you with skin that is softer.

3.  Salt reduces skin irritation -Salt is full of minerals that the body needs in all its normal regulatory processes. Magnesium, for example, helps in the metabolism of skin cells and helps the skin to fight allergies. As salts open the pores and draw out toxins, they relieve the irritation and itching caused by skin rashes and insect bites, small cuts and scrapes, and scaly, dry skin. You will probably notice that your skin's outer surface feels dry but clean after a dip in the salt. That is because salt does draw out the moisture, but it also draws out the nasty stuff. It does not disturb the skin's natural barrier, however, and it does help restore overall mineral balance, which helps the skin to maintain proper moisture.

Salty soap coupled with an essential oil  facial regime, (to be discussed next time), yields amazing results.