Never Making Christmas Soaps Again

[TheGecko]

For the first time I made “Christmas” Soaps and I used FOs from different, reputable soap suppliers. Every single “Christmas” scent accelerated on me…EVERY ONE.

At first I thought it was just me, that I had done something wrong. It started with my first soap…I tried to lighten my brown mica with TD and it turned a sickly grey and accelerated. Made a second Christmas scent, it accelerated. And a third accelerated. Then I made a batch of my Chocolate Espresso…it was perfect.

Today I made another five batches of soap…three Christmas scents and two of my standard scents. More Christmas “pudding”, but the Lemon Verbena and Cantaloupe were fine.

ALL made with the same MB’d Oils, the same MB’d Lye Solution, soaped at the same temperature, used the same colorants Ive used before. Oh…and the Gingerbread went ‘grey’, but I was able to bring it back with Hershey’s Cocoa and Brown Oxide.

I still have two Christmas scents…afraid to try them.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Possibly high in clove/cinnamon type scents which accelerate?

 

[Vicki C]

For the first time I made “Christmas” Soaps and I used FOs from different, reputable soap suppliers. Every single “Christmas” scent accelerated on me…EVERY ONE.

At first I thought it was just me, that I had done something wrong. It started with my first soap…I tried to lighten my brown mica with TD and it turned a sickly grey and accelerated. Made a second Christmas scent, it accelerated. And a third accelerated. Then I made a batch of my Chocolate Espresso…it was perfect.

Today I made another five batches of soap…three Christmas scents and two of my standard scents. More Christmas “pudding”, but the Lemon Verbena and Cantaloupe were fine.

ALL made with the same MB’d Oils, the same MB’d Lye Solution, soaped at the same temperature, used the same colorants Ive used before. Oh…and the Gingerbread went ‘grey’, but I was able to bring it back with Hershey’s Cocoa and Brown Oxide.

I still have two Christmas scents…afraid to try them.

How frustrating. I had trouble with Winter Wonderland from Nurture, but I just made soap last night with Frosted Birch and Juniper from WSP and it actually decelerated. Balsam pine from WSP also decelerated for me. I wonder if the spicy Christmas scents are more likely to accelerate, and the piney ones more likely to decelerate?
ETA @KiwiMoose i was writing my post while you posted, wondering same.

 

[AliOop]

I would echo the previous two posts. Any spicy scents, Christmas or not, tend to accelerate my batter. The more “foresty” smells don’t do that, as long as they don’t contain the spice notes.

 

[Misschief]

I decided a couple of years ago not to do "Christmas" soaps, or seasonal soaps for that matter. I find that they just don't sell at my market and I really don't like selling left over Christmas or Valentine soaps in the middle of summer.

 

[TheGecko]

Possibly high in clove/cinnamon type scents which accelerate?

Winter Wonderland and Three Wise Men from Nurture. From BambleBerry: Sugar Plum Fairy, Christmas Spice, Frankincense & Myrrh, Gingerbread Cookies, Santa's Spruce, Sleigh Ride, Christmas Forest and Candy Cane.

I'm afraid to cut in Sugar Plum Fairy as the Pink and Lavender Micas morphed. The Pink went real dark, the Lavender turned a bit grey. I added some TD and more Lavender which helped a little and then I did a Mica drizzle on top with both and dusted with Snowflake Sparkle.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I decided a couple of years ago not to do "Christmas" soaps, or seasonal soaps for that matter. I find that they just don't sell at my market and I really don't like selling left over Christmas or Valentine soaps in the middle of summer.

Right there with ya girlfriend!

 

[MelissaG]

Been debating that myself. The bath bombs sell but the soaps, not so much. We will see this year.

 

[Obsidian]

I had a FO thay wasn't supposed to accelerate, almost seize yesterday. My pretty brown and white swirl tuned into a plop and glop that I was able to stir a little once it gelled in the mold.
At least its usable and it almost looks like somekind of weird ugly fudge now.

 

[TheGecko]

I'll try and remember to take pictures. On the plus side...I mostly only bought 4oz bottles because I didn't want to get to invested if they didn't go over well.

ETA - I just umolded the soaps and man am I good. Honestly...I got lucky. Despite how thick the soap got I didn't panic...just kept moving forward. I figure my "oh well it can't hurt" massive chopstick swirling must have filled in all the holes because outside of a spot here and there on the edges, I didn't cut into any. The Lavender turned back to Lavender and there are definite pink and purple swirls in my Sugar Plum Fairy. And I have beautiful white swirls in the blue of Three Wise Men and I love the speckles since I didn't have time to disperse my Ultramarine. And Gingerbread Cookie...I do wish I had added more brown to get a richer look. Had a touch of soda ash on the Gingerbread and a little more on Lemon Verbena and the later had a couple of small cracks at one end. I haven't had a soap do that since my first GMS disaster. Cantaloupe was fine.

I still have five more soaps to make...Lavender and Sage, Eucalyptus & Mint, Rose, Cranberry Pomegranate and Candy Cane. I was going to do thin Red & White layers for the Candy Cane, but I think I will stick to my Drop/Chopstick Swirl.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I was prepared to make some Christmas soaps this year, but didn’t get around to it. I prefer to use holiday packaging instead of making specific holiday scents. I do love looking at others creations though!

 

[CLMP]

For the first time I made “Christmas” Soaps and I used FOs from different, reputable soap suppliers. Every single “Christmas” scent accelerated on me…EVERY ONE.

At first I thought it was just me, that I had done something wrong. It started with my first soap…I tried to lighten my brown mica with TD and it turned a sickly grey and accelerated. Made a second Christmas scent, it accelerated. And a third accelerated. Then I made a batch of my Chocolate Espresso…it was perfect.

Today I made another five batches of soap…three Christmas scents and two of my standard scents. More Christmas “pudding”, but the Lemon Verbena and Cantaloupe were fine.

ALL made with the same MB’d Oils, the same MB’d Lye Solution, soaped at the same temperature, used the same colorants Ive used before. Oh…and the Gingerbread went ‘grey’, but I was able to bring it back with Hershey’s Cocoa and Brown Oxide.

I still have two Christmas scents…afraid to try them.

I'm about to try gingerbread too on Sunday! I have 3 Christmas sents hopefully mine will be ok. I will let you know if any of them are nice to work with.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Sorry to hear about your issues but happy to have the heads up on BB’s Frankincense & Myrrh. The website says it behaves well, but I didn’t see many pics posted of multicolor swirled soaps. I will have a plan B.

 

[TheGecko]

Sorry to hear about your issues but happy to have the heads up on BB’s Frankincense & Myrrh. The website says it behaves well, but I didn’t see many pics posted of multicolor swirled soaps. I will have a plan B.

It's a nice scent. At the craft fair was a Party Light/Lite person and she had some candles and we compared the scent and it was spot on.

 

[AAShillito]

I'll try and remember to take pictures. On the plus side...I mostly only bought 4oz bottles because I didn't want to get to invested if they didn't go over well.

ETA - I just umolded the soaps and man am I good. Honestly...I got lucky. Despite how thick the soap got I didn't panic...just kept moving forward. I figure my "oh well it can't hurt" massive chopstick swirling must have filled in all the holes because outside of a spot here and there on the edges, I didn't cut into any. The Lavender turned back to Lavender and there are definite pink and purple swirls in my Sugar Plum Fairy. And I have beautiful white swirls in the blue of Three Wise Men and I love the speckles since I didn't have time to disperse my Ultramarine. And Gingerbread Cookie...I do wish I had added more brown to get a richer look. Had a touch of soda ash on the Gingerbread and a little more on Lemon Verbena and the later had a couple of small cracks at one end. I haven't had a soap do that since my first GMS disaster. Cantaloupe was fine.

I still have five more soaps to make...Lavender and Sage, Eucalyptus & Mint, Rose, Cranberry Pomegranate and Candy Cane. I was going to do thin Red & White layers for the Candy Cane, but I think I will stick to my Drop/Chopstick Swirl.

@TheGecko, 2 FO from Brambleberry that behave are Woodland Elves( citrus pine) and Lingonberry Spice ( berries and spice). Both are technically holiday-ish and work for Xmas soaps. Lingonberry does go to a light cream/tan but Woodland stays white.

 

[MelissaG]

Curious about those ones now. I currently have a soap with Iced Almond Cookies (MWF) and just finished one with a mix of Leather (MFW), White Tea (MFW), and Roasted Pine Cones (MWF) topped with a fluffy piped unscented white soap and an Iced Almond Cookie Gingerbread soap dough man. I haven't made my bath bombs yet. I also have 7 of my Peppermint Soaps left from last year. Bath bombs, I was thinking one with Iced Almond Cookies maybe topped with Cocoa Butter Cashmere solid bubble bath (I make these cups of bath bombs I sell every year and they are a big hit). And maybe one that smells like Christmas Eve (winter fruits, cinnamon and vanilla). Debating on making a gift box for the Iced Almond and also making it into a sugar scrub and lotion but I'm not sure how well that would sell.

 

[AAShillito]

For the first time I made “Christmas” Soaps and I used FOs from different, reputable soap suppliers. Every single “Christmas” scent accelerated on me…EVERY ONE.

At first I thought it was just me, that I had done something wrong. It started with my first soap…I tried to lighten my brown mica with TD and it turned a sickly grey and accelerated. Made a second Christmas scent, it accelerated. And a third accelerated. Then I made a batch of my Chocolate Espresso…it was perfect.

Today I made another five batches of soap…three Christmas scents and two of my standard scents. More Christmas “pudding”, but the Lemon Verbena and Cantaloupe were fine.

ALL made with the same MB’d Oils, the same MB’d Lye Solution, soaped at the same temperature, used the same colorants Ive used before. Oh…and the Gingerbread went ‘grey’, but I was able to bring it back with Hershey’s Cocoa and Brown Oxide.

I still have two Christmas scents…afraid to try them.

Im glad you mentioned the gingerbread/cocoa connection- I'm adding cocoa to my loaf this afternoon.

 

[CLMP]

I'm about to try gingerbread too on Sunday! I have 3 Christmas sents hopefully mine will be ok. I will let you know if any of them are nice to work with.

I opened a new Christmas scent called Bonbon Chalet to me it smelt awful it had a almost a barfish smell that made me gag I'm not using it but I'm going to try eggnog and ginger bread today if I can manage 2 recipes.

 

[mx5inpenn]

Winter Wonderberry from Aztec and Dr. Peppermint and Alpine Cheer from Micas & More were great. Frosted Peak Tops and Elf Sweat from Nature's Garden also worked well for me. Walk In the Woods from California Candle smells great and probably behaves. I forgot to add my additional liquid, it moves quick at 1:1 but I'd guess most anything would.

 

[Catscankim]

It's a nice scent. At the craft fair was a Party Light/Lite person and she had some candles and we compared the scent and it was spot on.

Oh my gosh I didn't know Party Lite was still around. Watching my budget right now, but maybe I can have a party lite party to get free stuff lol.

Speaking of parties, I might have a online Pampered Chef party soon. I really like my in-house Pampered Chef parties, but they always cost me more with the prep than anything. I think online is the way to go. Off-topic, sorry....

For the past two years I was focused on making Christmas/Holiday soaps...then you sell a few. I still have Christmas soaps from last year. I think I am going to just make one loaf of holiday soap this year, which will probably be this months challenge (will probably end up being 2 or 3 loaves by the time I am done LOL).

Winter Wonderland behaved well for me last year, and I have enough left for a standard 8-bar loaf. Maybe it will be me tree entry.

I bought a lot of cranberry last year, and I really enjoy that scent all year. So I might make soaps with that scent for the holiday, but not decorate them as such. I am running late with new soaps, so we shall see. But that smell always behaves well for me.

Is it just this years FO that is misbehaving for you @TheGecko or do you notice this every year?