# Favorite Luxury Soap and why...



## wildflower (Feb 11, 2012)

I am curious what everyone's favorite luxury soap or recipe is.  what makes it luxurious to you?  

As a newbie..well, let's just say pre-newbie (until i actually make some darn soap) lol...i dream about making a shea butter soap, but i read a lot about olive oil soaps being really nice.


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## Genny (Feb 11, 2012)

My favorite soap is pretty simple:
olive oil
shea butter
coconut oil
castor oil

It has a nice lather and it's nice and creamy.  That's why I like it, plus it's a nice and simple recipe, so it's easy to make.


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## HutCar92 (Feb 11, 2012)

I love lard soap, I havent made it in awhile but its one of my favorite. My ususal tho is Avocado, Castor, Coconut, Cocoa Butter, Olive, Palm and Shea...


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## jcandleattic (Feb 11, 2012)

My favorite soaps always have a high concentration of Almond Oil... 
IDK why, but they always feel like pure silk on my skin when I use them.


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## fiddletree (Feb 11, 2012)

Genny said:
			
		

> My favorite soap is pretty simple:
> olive oil
> shea butter
> coconut oil
> ...



Same here!

I love love love love the soap that I make with these ingredients.  Shea butter is fantastic in soap, but it moves fast!


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## judymoody (Feb 11, 2012)

If I didn't care about cost, it would be OO, Avocado, Babassu, Mango, and Kokum.


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## Maythorn (Feb 11, 2012)

I like my latest buttermilk soap and I find it luxurious though it's just a standard lard, olive, coconut, castor recipe.


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## green soap (Feb 11, 2012)

Yes, luxury can have different interpretations.  

I make three soaps with lots of garden ingredients:  triple mint, triple rosemary and triple lemon.  They all involve cooled strong herb teas, oil infusions and essential oils.  They feel luxurious but maybe it is because they have part of my garden.  Actually, triple mint and triple lemon are new additions are not fully cured yet.  They smell luxurious and can't wait to try them! Triple rosemary is a favorite among menfolk, and foodie women.  

The first cold process soap I ever tried was my own, so I have lots of catching up to do.  Recently I tried fresh goat milk soap, and salt soaps, for the first time.  Both felt luxurious in different ways.

Chocolate soap also feels like a luxury soap to me.  I use real dark chocolate.


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## IrishLass (Feb 11, 2012)

The most luxurious, decadent feeling soap to me is actually pretty simple- 100% coconut oil with a 20% superfat. It's just too bad they are not very long lasting. I've taken to fortifying them with cocoa butter or mango butter to increase the longevity, but to be honest, the plain coconut formula still carries a slight edge over the fortfied formula in the decadent/luxurious feeling dept. to me.

100% olive oil Castile's feel quite luxurious to me, too, but only when I lather it with a pouf. When pouf-less..... snot so much (or rather, so much snot).   

And my lard/tallow/veggie blend/formula feels quite luxurious and sumptuous to me as well. 


IrishLass


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## krissy (Feb 11, 2012)

i did a batch for my DH who is allergic to CO (which i always use) that i ended up loving, it is OO/Shea butter @ 75/25%. 
some of the bars have been curing for a good 6+ months and the lather is awesome with a pouf, andit only gets slime if it gets left soaking in water. i only make this soap for my DH though


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## Soapy Gurl (Feb 11, 2012)

Genny and fiddletree - how high a percent of shea butter do you use?  I have a bunch I need to use up.

For me my luxury soap is my high cocoa butter soap.  It smells lovely and is creamy and hard.  Real luxury is when my friend sends a bar to me.  She makes fabulous soaps and it is a special treat to use one of hers.


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## kbuska (Feb 11, 2012)

Are you asking what's in our secret sauce? That's a secret...  A lot of people use olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, and castor oil. Use soap calc to look for the attributes you like and try to avoid oils that spoil quickly. 

Good luck making your secret sauce.


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## wildflower (Feb 11, 2012)

haha..no, I'm not trying to steal anyone's secret sauce.  Really, just a question out of curiosity.  The reason I asked is because I  always wonder why people don't just make 100% shea butter soap, and figured there must be other things out there people consider just as or more luxurious than it.  By 'recipe' i just meant what people have been listing...just examples of different oils or butters they use .

I am so busy, i probably won't get around to even making my first batch of soap until this summer at the earliest.  I still need all the equipment and ingredients...it has just always fascinated me and somethign I've always watned to do 

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I like the post about 'if money weren't an issue'...that's actually just what i was getting at...if money weren't an issue what makes the most luxurious soap.


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## kbuska (Feb 12, 2012)

Different oils bring different fatty acids to the table and therefore give your bar different attributes. Ie hard bar, gentle with a good lather. 

Coconut oil = hard bar
Olive oil = gentle 
Castor oil= lather

My preference would be human fat. J/k. Just needed to through flight club in there. 

-ken


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## Dragonkaz (Feb 12, 2012)

My most favourite soap is CO, OO, ricebran oil, cocoa butter and castor oil.  I super fat at a minimum of 7% ... which helps the lather be even more divine!

I don't use animal fats or palm oil and am thrilled it's not needed for a luxurious and creamy soap!


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## Pepper (Feb 12, 2012)

Avocado & coconut, with a dash of castor, made with coconut milk.  It's SO CREAMY!    Yoghurt also makes a heavenly soap, with olive & coconut oils.


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## jcandleattic (Feb 12, 2012)

kbuska said:
			
		

> My preference would be human fat. J/k. Just needed to through flight club in there.
> 
> -ken



LOL I had never seen (and still haven't but now get the reference) fight club. When I tell people I make soap and the first person asked "ew, like in fight club?" I was sooo confused!! LOL I thought to myself - hand made soap is not "ew!" haha
Then I looked it up and was like "EWWW" my own self...
But it does make me giggle when people first find out and ask about 'fight club soap' LOL


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## Sunny (Feb 12, 2012)

my favorite bars have clay in them and essential oils!
usually with a high olive oil %, and 7-10% superfat.

also an unscented recipe with oatmeal in it.  yaaahhh yummy.


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## skyfarms (Feb 13, 2012)

Avocado oil, shea and cocoa butter, and coconut milk are in the bars that I love best.  Hemp oil is next in line.


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## steve4soap (Feb 16, 2012)

Coconut oil, Palm Oil, Avocado Oil, Almond Butter, Jojoba Oil.

Jojoba really does add wondrous properties to my soaps.


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## Becky29 (Mar 17, 2014)

*Oils*

Do you have to use cosmetic grade oils or will food grade work as well??


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## AnnaMarie (Mar 17, 2014)

I love a lot of soap making oils for different reasons, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be sweet almond because it gives soap such a silky and luxurious lather!
Cheers!
Anna Marie


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## FlybyStardancer (Mar 17, 2014)

Hi Becky! Welcome to SMF!

Food grade oils are perfectly fine to use. Many of us get our oils from the cooking isles. 

And a tip--it's usually best to start a new thread of your own, rather than replying to a years' old thread.  You get more responses to your question that way, rather than people responding to the starting post of the thread.


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## lsg (Mar 18, 2014)

My aloe cream soap is one of my favorites.


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## jules92207 (Mar 18, 2014)

I am still quite a newbie myself but so far my favorite bar has sunflower, castor, cocoa butter, coconut, olive and shea... pretty decadent but feels wonderful.

I also love lard in my soaps but I do find I sometimes break out when using them so the above has yielded better results for me personally.


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## Ellacho (Mar 18, 2014)

I like to use buttermilk instead of water. It's the most luxurious...to me.


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## shunt2011 (Mar 18, 2014)

I love OO, Avocado, CO, Palm, Shea and Castor with Silk and either Cream or Buttermilk.


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## julieanne (Mar 18, 2014)

I think everyone is getting at the lather which is interpreted as luxurious. Most people, and definitely, I agree, equate a luxury soap with a rich, creamy lather. For that- Olive Oil is necessary. Too much OO and you get that "snot" someone else referred to. When snot is formed, the mind thinks, "ew gross!" So no luxury when too much of a good thing is added.

In general and as gathered by comments, as soapmakers and users, a luxury soap has these added characteristics we all try to achieve: hard, long-lasting, easily/quickly makes a rich, creamy lather that sits on the skin, traces slow, and dries quickly. OK- who has such a recipe??!!  I'm still working on it and have had limited success!

Julie


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## jules92207 (Mar 18, 2014)

My "luxury" bar has more to do with how my skin feels after using it. When I use my bar I feel the least desire to have to add anything more to my skin. It just seems like the best balance for my skin so to me that feels the best on my skin.


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## seven (Mar 18, 2014)

jules92207 said:


> My "luxury" bar has more to do with how my skin feels after using it. When I use my bar I feel the least desire to have to add anything more to my skin. It just seems like the best balance for my skin so to me that feels the best on my skin.



^^
that!

seriously, just switching to handmade soap itself has already made lots of great improvements on my skin, i'm not joking. i'm not a lotion person at all, and my skin used to be really dry, up to the point where my legs were sometimes cracking and bleeding. my skin also used to be real cranky and sensitive, and was itchy all the time (the women in my family mostly have cranky skin, eczema, etc). now, i can go w/o a lotion safely and my skin continues to improve. i'm not gonna use a commercial soap ever again in my life 

so yeah, i consider handmade soaps a luxury, coz i can see and feel the benefits on my skin. my fave is milk soaps. avocado is very moisturizing for me, but i don't use it daily as it's too much. i just use it when i need the extra oomph. i also love rice bran, and am considering switching permanently from oo to rbo.


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## jules92207 (Mar 18, 2014)

seven said:


> ^^
> that!
> 
> . i also love rice bran, and am considering switching permanently from oo to rbo.



This intrigues me... I know olive oil is pretty much standard but I am starting to think I don't like it much in my soaps... so rice bran oil can replace that well? I know I'm showing my newbie colors here but I had never thought to eliminate olive oil before. *Mind Blown*


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## seven (Mar 19, 2014)

^^

yes, you can replace olive with rbo. both have similar fatty acids profiles.


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## SoapMakingTommy (Mar 21, 2014)

All my soaps i make are unique, but if i had to pick one out for luxury soap it would be my clear glycerin soap.
It might not look like it at all. It might just looks like a regular bar of soap or something a little cooler, but i guarantee the lather from my clear glycerin soap is amazing. If i were to use my coffee cocoa its also pretty luxurious the smell is inspiring and leaves your skin feeling reenergized.
The clay soap i make is also luxurious since its got such wonderful detoxing characteristics. But to be honest it might just be a choice. I think all my soaps are luxurious, all have a time and place to be used and enjoyed at.


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## Kleine Teufel (Mar 21, 2014)

I've been doing a bastille goat milk for eons, but I'm slowly transitioning over to a recipe with cocoa butter and silk. I love my bastille, but no matter how long it cures, it dissolves VERY quickly in the shower.


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## Seawolfe (Mar 21, 2014)

Im in love with my salt bars. I think next on the list is the ones with clay.


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## fuzz-juzz (Mar 21, 2014)

I love RBO, shea butter, sweet almond and coconut milk. All my soap recipes have these oils. I recently tried avocado oil, it's very expensive but it's lovely in soap.


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## Happysoap (Mar 22, 2014)

I know some people dont approve of animal fats but I looooove tallow in soaps. In combination with castor, sunflower, shea and grapeseed, tallow makes a wonderful sudsy hard bar of soap. And goat milk! Love the stuff!


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