Help! My soap turned BLACK!

[SmallThings]

I made a set of small soaps (each about one ounce) with clear M&P base, and I added liquid colorant (red, blue, yellow, pink and green) and fragrance to each one. I sent them to my customer, and about a month later, I got a message from them that the soaps had turned BLACK. They sent along a picture and sure enough, they look like lumps of coal, completely black. Anyone have a similar situation? Any insight as to how this happened? The customer has been incredibly sweet about it, but I'm rather upset, and I would hate to have it happen again.

 

[Genny]

I'm going to assume it was the fo. What fo did you use?

 

[lsg]

What brand of colorant did you use, I am assuming it was not food coloring.

 

[SmallThings]

I used the clear glycerin SFIC base from Elements B&B, liquid colorants from Elements and Buttercream & Snickerdoodle fragrance oil from BrambleBerry

 

[Genny]

That fo contains vanillin. Vanillin can cause soaps to turn different shades of brown. Add that brown to the colorants & you've got black.

 

[SmallThings]

That's what I was thinking, Genny. I tested this fo a while back, and I saw that it turns brown/tan, so I know what that looks like and I expected that. But these were completely black, like nothing I've ever seen before. And they were the same black in multiple different colors, including clear. Which leads me to think this wasn't just run-of-the-mill discoloration.

 

[Genny]

Could part of the discoloration been the lighting when the pics were taken as well?

If you have the same ingredients, I'd experiment and repeat what you did. Keep the soaps and take notes on them every couple days to see what happens. I'm a science geek though, so I love experiments LOL

 

[SmallThings]

haha I love experiements too They were high quality pictures, so I am sure the soaps were black. I ditched the Buttercream & Snickerdoodle fragrance oil (and don't plan to ever use it again) so no experiements with that one. I do experiement with all my fragrances in clear and colored soap, and I let them sit for quite a while, but I'm never seen anything like this happen. I guess, in the future, I should avoid fo with Vanillin.

ps. I wrote to both Bramble Berry and Elements B&B customer service. I haven't heard back from Bramble Berry, but the emails I've received from Elements have been very defensive, and borderline rude