A New Blend!

[Seifenblasen]

Just did two batches of soap and got done washing up!

The first one is a simple goat milk using the all natural bitter almond FO (thanks Alchemy)! Don't want it to gel; it is now sitting in a Pringles can in the fridge. Went the Pringles' route as wooden molds and PVC pipe may be too insulating. I have not eaten, or want to eat, Pringles for AGES, so I gave all the content to my neighbor and kept the can. Come to think about it, I now tend to think in terms of containers (as potential molds) and couldn't care less about the content!

The second one is the most complex blend to date, for 600g oils:

3g rosemary oleoresin (as antioxidant and a tiny bit of scent)

3g bergamot
3g 5x orange
2g petitgrain
2g lemon
3g coriander
5g vetiver
2g cedar
1g Peru balsam

*Disclaimer: The acceptable maximum usage rate for EO around this forum is 3%. The above formula contains 3.5% EO by weight. Duplicate at your own risk.

Since I have some goat milk left over from the first batch, I used a steep water discount and added the leftover goat milk at trace. Not sure if it is the goat milk or EOs (probably both), it accelerated like crazy. Was trying to do a three-color swirl with "plain" soap (beige), activated charcoal (black), and French green clay and woad (blue-green) but ended up more like a three-color dump! :evil: Oh well, it smells divine!

Will report back in a couple days with photos.


Update: Tried to have a life besides work and making soap. Went to a biathlon clinic over the weekend. Had a lot of fun shooting. :twisted: And my body was happy for some real exercise besides stirring a pot of soap.

Cut the soap today. There are some air pockets because it accelerated quite a lot; and I am not happy with the way it looks. Still very happy with the smell.

[attachment=0:10rurgw7]vetiver.jpg[/attachment:10rurgw7]

 

[green soap]

Thanks for sharing your EO blend and soap. The blend sounds intriguing. Very interesting to me, since I just started to use vetiver. I have a brand new bottle of Peru balsam which I have not used yet.

How would you describe the scent blend you just made? No worries, I can't duplicate it, I have neither coriander nor petitgrain. I am getting inspired to do another blend though....

 

[Genny]

Your swirling is lovely and the soap looks beautiful, even with the air pockets & the blend sounds very interesting. I'm loving that you combined the different citrus eo's with the woodsy type eo's. I'm one that usually thinks spice when thinking of what to blend with citrus and I totally overlook the woodsy/earthy scents.

 

[Seifenblasen]

It is kind of a masculine blend with none of the sweetness and spiciness, more like very, very light smokey (from the vetiver) and woodsy herbal-y once you get over the citrus. I stole the idea from Guerlain's Vetiver and made some modifications. The top notes are similar, citrus and coriander. Middle notes are actually identical. Base notes is a challenge, I don't have either nutmeg or pepper EO on hand, but I know tonka bean has a vanilla like smell so I use just a tiny bit of Peru balsam for similar effects. Another reason I kept the percentage low is because it could irritate the skin.

http://www.basenotes.net/ID26121658.html

Top Notes
Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin, Neroli, Coriander

Middle Notes
Vetiver, Cedar

Base Notes
Tobacco, Nutmeg, Pepper, Tonka bean, Capiscum

The whole idea of posting things on this forum is to share. It is not that I mind people duplicating the blend. Only the percentage of EO used in this batch is higher than what is recommended as safe (which is 3%) on this forum, therefore I put down a warning. If I kill myself with EO overdose, it is my problem, but we don't want other people to follow my stupid example! :twisted:

P.S. Just want to share how I normally blend EOs for soap. Instead of doing the "Q-tip in a ziplock baggie route" (where the EO is wasted), I usually reserve a small amount, say 15 to 30g of the oil (from that particular batch of soap) in a small glass bowl and put the EO I plan to use in that oil and keep sniffing and tweaking until it smells good. (If you ended with too much EO, you don't have to use all of it but save some for later). I also try to keep track of the amount used and write it down on a notebook for future reference.

P.P.S. Another potential blend if you are looking for ideas for vetiver:
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26120926.html

The old perfume houses like Guerlain and Caron have/had some of the greatest noses in the world, and you really can't go too wrong using them for inspiration.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Thank you, Genny! I wish we have a way to post the scent ... It just smells, so "mature".

 

[judymoody]

The blend sounds great and I like the swirls you achieved. Wish I could smell it!