# Earthy, natural and affordable?



## Nikolye (Jun 10, 2016)

What are some good earth blend combos, affordable essential oils preferably.  by this i mean, maybe not Indian Sandalwood until i have the blending down.     Amyris maybe, i've got patchouli and ylang ylang... I love rosemary but how would that blend with Amyris? i was thinking blending May Chang, Rosemary and Amyris or something.    Lemon and orange go well with earthy scents but dissipate and that again ends up costly.  Is there a good site around with blends, base notes how much to add or even better what to add less of and what more.  

lastly im on the same mission with color.  I've played with things like coffee to make it brown, light oils to make it white, chamomile tea made a golden soap, i even had some red clay that made it a mauve color...someone suggested german chamomile oil to make it green, its pretty expensive and you need it be be a chamomile scented soap but its something.. what are some other natural coloring options that wont break the bank?  

If you haven't noticed i'm going for a natural, earthy soap.


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## Susie (Jun 10, 2016)

Paprika infused in oil will give you a range from yellow to brick red, depending on how much you use.  Buy the off brand cheap stuff, not the expensive stuff.  It all gives the same color.

Beta Carotene (available on the vitamin aisle) will give sunshiney yellow to orange.

Cocoa powder will give a nice chocolate brown.


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## dixiedragon (Jun 10, 2016)

For citrusy scents: lemongrass, citronella and litsea cubeba are cheap EOs.

Other inexpensive EOs: peppermint, lavender, cedar, pine.

Natural colorants - you can google for lists and pics. I am very fond of rose clay and Moroccan red clay. I also really like pink Himalayan salt.


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## KristaY (Jun 10, 2016)

I did a google search for "essential oil blending ideas" and got about 3 million results so there's lots of info out there. Is it all accurate and safe? Nope. When reading through a few I realized they're just trying to sell a certain brand, like Young Living or DoTerra. I clicked out of those right away since I'm not looking for a sales pitch. All that to say, just be wary of the info you come across.

When I'm researching the safety and useage rates for specific EO's, or info on using EO's for specific issues, I like AromaWeb. They list each EO with it's description, uses and safety. The site also has a large recipe section so that'll give you ideas on blending. They give the EO amounts in drops but that's easy to change to grams, calculate the % of each used, then get the total volume you want. Here's the link:

http://aromaweb.com/default.asp


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## earlene (Jun 10, 2016)

Soap Queen has an article about blending fragrances here.

The American College of  Healthcare Sciences has one about blending essential oils here.

Growing up Herbal has one about blending essential oils for the beginner here.

Here is one with EO blend recipes for use in beauty products.

And Soap Teacher has this suggested EO blends for soaps.

I think they all bring something useful to fragrance blending.  I am sure others may have more, but my saved links on the subject is currently limited to the above and a few Thieves Oil blend recipes.

I like using the Q-tip method of evaluating potential blends.  I have several little baggies with different EO/FO saturated Q-Tips working on trying to find blends I really want to use together.  Of course the baggies are labeled with what is in them so when I open the baggie if I really like it, recreate it shouldn't be difficult.  I am not a great blender, as yet, but hope to become at least competent.

ETA:  I have now added AromaWeb to my bookmarks.  Thank you, KrystaY!


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## penelopejane (Jun 10, 2016)

Pumpkin and carrot stick. 
Paprika will leave dots unless you strain it through a fine filter like a stocking.
Careful of following random websites that tell you various stuff colours soap and even show pictures. Spirulina will give you a lovely green for about 3 weeks then it fades to fawn. There are lots of people selling it in CP soap and I personally think it is irresponsible to do so.


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## earlene (Jun 10, 2016)

Spinach is another one that fades, pretty quickly too. I tried it 3 different ways; infused in oil, strained & added to the oils; infused in water as a tea and the water used in the lye solution; added the dried spinach to my lye solution & strained it out when pouring the lye solution.  The last one looked the best, but it faded just as much as the rest of them did.  It's kept me from trying to color soaps with vegetation so much since.

Although I do like to infuse oils with herbs anyway, just I have no faith that the colors will carry through so much.

 My carrot puree soaps have all faded eventually, too.  I tried spirulina only once.  It did not give me hardly any color at all and it faded very fast.  Not sure how much they say to use, but I'd rather put it in my a smoothie and drink it anyway.  I have some bottled chlorophyll that I add to drinks sometimes and read it can be used to color soap.  I haven't tried it because it seems wasteful at this point.  I may yet try it just to see what happens.


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## snappyllama (Jun 11, 2016)

You can also get some interesting colors from the recipe itself. I recently used sea buckthorn berry oil at 5% in a facial bar. It makes almost a neon yellow/orange color. Red Palm also make an orangey bar.

Honey makes a umm... honeyish color.


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## artemis (Jun 11, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> Pumpkin and carrot stick.
> Paprika will leave dots unless you strain it through a fine filter like a stocking.
> Careful of following random websites that tell you various stuff colours soap and even show pictures. Spirulina will give you a lovely green for about 3 weeks then it fades to fawn. There are lots of people selling it in CP soap and I personally think it is irresponsible to do so.



I have a few soaps that I made in January with spirulina. They are a medium olive color, which is what they were when I poured them. Why do you think it is irresponsible? Is it harmful?


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## earlene (Jun 11, 2016)

artemis said:


> I have a few soaps that I made in January with spirulina. They are a medium olive color, which is what they were when I poured them. Why do you think it is irresponsible? Is it harmful?



Artemis, how do you use your spirulina?  I would like to try it again if you would share you secret.

Is it the way you prepare the spirulina?  (Oil infusion? Added to lye water? etc.) How much per ppo or do you use a per cup of soap batter kind of measurement?  Did you gel or not gel?   How are you storing the soap?  (In the dark or in the light?)  

What oils are you using in your recipe?  Anything that would boost the green, for example.  Palm or no palm?  (I recently read that one of the colorants that I bought is best used without palm, so that's why I ask.)

Seriously it would be nice to get that color with a natural colorant that I already have in my cupboards.

Oh, and where did you get your spirulina?  Have you gotten the same results with spirulina from another supplier?  If not, which ones may have been a bad choice?


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## artemis (Jun 11, 2016)

earlene said:


> Artemis, how do you use your spirulina?  I would like to try it again if you would share you secret.



I don't mind speckles, so I mixed it with a little oil before adding it at a light-ish trace. I used carrot puree as 20% of my liquid. The soap was just olive, coconut, and  a little shea. I didn't want to buy a huge amount of spirulina for experimentation, so I actually bought mine the bulk health food section of a local grocery store. I've only been soaping for a year, and I am still trying a lot of different things, so I haven't purchased from another supplier yet. But, if it is irresponsible to put it in my soap...?


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## artemis (Jun 11, 2016)

Oh! I forgot amounts! I want to say I did 1 tsp/pound of oil? That sounds right, but it is the one detail I failed to put in my notes.


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## lsg (Jun 11, 2016)

Lavender blends well with patchouli and amyris.


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## penelopejane (Jun 11, 2016)

artemis said:


> I don't mind speckles, so I mixed it with a little oil before adding it at a light-ish trace. I used carrot puree as 20% of my liquid. The soap was just olive, coconut, and  a little shea. I didn't want to buy a huge amount of spirulina for experimentation, so I actually bought mine the bulk health food section of a local grocery store. I've only been soaping for a year, and I am still trying a lot of different things, so I haven't purchased from another supplier yet. But, if it is irresponsible to put it in my soap...?




I only meant it was irresponsible to use it in soap if it fades. I used a higher concentration than you and it faded. I used low heat and slowly infused it into olive oil.


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## artemis (Jun 11, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> I used a higher concentration than you and it faded. I used low heat and slowly infused it into olive oil. I'll check my notes and be more precise later.



Maybe that's the difference?? I never tried infusing it. I am an immediate gratification kind of girl. I have a hard time waiting for the heat infusion and cool-down.


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## galaxyMLP (Jun 11, 2016)

I use parsley powder in one of my soaps and it works best when used in the lye water itself. I actually blend it into the (cooled) lye water with my SB and let it steep for a few hours. I add the whole thing in at that point as very little discernible flecks of parsley are left at that point. I CPOPed this soap as well. 

I have a picture of my display one here which has been exposed to the elements and it's still pretty green. It's 4 months old. After 8 months it will be a very light green and at 1 year it will be very faint. However, I feel this is adequate for a naturally colored soap. The other soap in the picture is a white, uncolored one with the same recipe.

Edit: this soap was not dark green to start. It was only 1-2 shades darker than the current color. I couldn't find the original cut picture.


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## penelopejane (Jun 12, 2016)

artemis said:


> Maybe that's the difference?? I never tried infusing it. I am an immediate gratification kind of girl. I have a hard time waiting for the heat infusion and cool-down.




I don't think so.  There are lots of blogs on the internet and they have tried oil infusions and direct spirulina at trace. I have never read a blog that somewhere in the fine print or comments below didn't say that spirulina didn't fade.  Just make sure you don't sell it until you've tested it for colour after a year.

Here is the thread with the results of my trial and the amounts I used. 
It was a great green to start with. 

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=56821&page=6

Read the whole thread to see the results of a lot of natural colours.   
Carrot puree does stick and it will keep the orange colour.


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## Nikolye (Jun 13, 2016)

https://goo.gl/photos/6r4hLfzhwF83c2cQ6
https://goo.gl/photos/h99fVjdNXeA8WXsn7

I tried paprika and turmeric directly in the soap at trace for the color, just to see how that went. 1 t ppo oils and it was a bit disappointing at how it faded so much in just 24 hours, only because it was neon orange at first.  its now lightly tinted brownish/goldish which is fine, but i think i'll experiment with adding it differently and maybe slightly more. the when and how to add it always gets me! i just chucked it straight in at trace.  I dont think i'd mind if spirulina or any other colors fade after a year, i've never had a soap last that long!  We use it or gift it rather quickly.  (although i'm going through a bit of a "phase" and its starting to back up!  I wondered if beets held up as color, i read it goes yellow/brown... i thought about soaking them in lye water. I use red clay for now, but its not cheap! but nice to have a option for redish.  I'm still trying to find places near me that sell natural botanical powders, id like to try those... but its not been easy.  how about blue... ? yellows to golds and browns are pretty easy i guess,  white, coffee is for dark brown, i thought about carrot to bump up the turmeric for an more orange color, maybe green tea(or would it look brown?)& german chamomile would bump up the green in spirulina soap... but blue..  i guess id have to buy a color for that?  Thanks for the tips and banter, love it.


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## penelopejane (Jun 13, 2016)

Nikolye said:


> https://goo.gl/photos/6r4hLfzhwF83c2cQ6
> https://goo.gl/photos/h99fVjdNXeA8WXsn7
> 
> I tried paprika and turmeric directly in the soap at trace for the color, just to see how that went. * I dont think i'd mind if spirulina or any other colors fade after a year, i've never had a soap last that long!*  We use it or gift it rather quickly.  (although i'm going through a bit of a "phase" and its starting to back up!



My spirulina took two weeks to fade 
Paprika sticks, pumpkin and carrot stick too.
All tea goes brown.


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## mx5inpenn (Jun 14, 2016)

My spirulina faded within a few weeks.  Carrot faded to a pale yellow after a couple months.


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## penelopejane (Jun 14, 2016)

mx6inpenn said:


> My spirulina faded within a few weeks.  Carrot faded to a pale yellow after a couple months.




That is such a pity because I've read on reliable sites that carrot sticks. [emoji33]

Pumpkin is darker if you use fresh pumpkin, roast it, purée it and reduce it until there is no liquid left then weight it and use it as soon as it has cooled. The fresher it is the darker it is. If you leave it in the fridge for a day it loses some of its colour. I wonder if this is the same for carrot? 

I use carrot with pumpkin and it seems to be a little darker. I haven't made pure carrot soap, yet.


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## earlene (Jun 14, 2016)

I have soap made with fresh carrot puree in it that you can barely tell anymore.  It is about 10 months old and the top surface is white.  The problem might be light sensitivity, though, as the bottom of one of them still has a pale orangish-yellow area still visible.  I don't store soap in the dark. I like natural light so all my windows are always openly available to whatever light wants to make its way into my house.  (Except the master bedroom, where Hubby cannot sleep without darkness, and even there the skylights give him trouble during the brighter phases of the moon.)

Indigo gives blue, but I have only just recently purchased and used it in powder form, so cannot attest to its lasting powers.  But it lasts extremely will in my Levi's so I am hopeful.

I also recently used manjistha powder, which I really like the look of right now.  But it's brand new soap and I don't know if it will fade.  The color is a bit on the pinkish side of tan.

I have alkanet root that I have not yet used, but intend to do a test soap with it, as well.


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## Nikolye (Jun 15, 2016)

I've read alot about all the botanical powders, for the most part are these just dried ground herbs?  so i can grind dried parsley from my pantry and I've got "parsley powder?"  Then there's the fancy ones like indigo... i can source some from a henna place, is this the right stuff?   but N.Z. is not a great place for "choice" in any type of shopping and i'm rural so i can't really have 5 places shipping me things, we pay extra for rural shipping!  and these botanical powders, even dried herbs are crazy expensive compaired to my native U.S.A. just not enough demand.  so i've been looking at micas and oxides... which are silly enough, easier to get my hands on.  but doesn't seem to be very natural.  I guess if i want to go natural i need to spend more or be happy with fading soap and basic shades.   I started this journey to have a hobby that would benefit my family and add to my list of natural things i do, however its getting expensive!  I love it, but i'm starting to be addicted to making my soap cooler and fancier which i said i wouldn't do! oops~ :twisted::twisted:


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## penelopejane (Jun 15, 2016)

I use strained paprika in some of my pumpkin/carrot soap. Maybe that's what is holding the colour?  I am sure I have some plain pumpkin soap, I will check. 
To me If a natural colourant doesn't stick for a year or two then it's not a colourant. My soap has a high % of OO and they are better after a year so I still want them looking good then.


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## cmzaha (Jun 15, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> I don't think so.  There are lots of blogs on the internet and they have tried oil infusions and direct spirulina at trace. I have never read a blog that somewhere in the fine print or comments below didn't say that spirulina didn't fade.  Just make sure you don't sell it until you've tested it for colour after a year.
> 
> Here is the thread with the results of my trial and the amounts I used.
> It was a great green to start with.
> ...


Not sure why you think selling a soap that has faded in color is irresponsible. I do outdoor markets and my soaps will fade from the light. Take off the label and you will see the color it started out as. In 6 yrs not one person has complained. If they are purchasing for just color it would matter, but most purchase to use the soap. When I use Spirulina I use a Lot of it so the color will last 6 months or so. No matter how much spirulina you use it will not stain a washcloth or run color. I use it in my earthy soaps so I do not get upset if it turns color


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## penelopejane (Jun 15, 2016)

^^^ I guess because I would be really disappointed. If I bought a green soap and it turned pale brown. It's sort of like false advertising to me but maybe I am alone in this opinion.


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