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Ooh, I haven't checked my bath-bombs with vanilla in a while, but they have discolored! Vanilla Oak had a little brown mica to start with, but has definitely evened to a darker brown, which is very fitting. Black Amber and Lavender started purple, but now has dark splotches, which also fits the...

They eat grubs that eat your plant roots. If you're getting a ton of vole-tunnels, you have a grub problem. I can't remember what we used, but I know there's stuff on the market for killing grubs. One year we trapped/killed a lot of voles. And then next, our lawn died because the grubs ate all...

Soap continues to shrink over the course of it's existence, it just does it more slowly after a few weeks. So, once you wrap your soap, no matter how cured, the wrapper will loosen over time as the soap within it shrinks.

They look lovely!

It's relatively cheap in the US. I have a bottle that I mostly use for upping the bergamot in my Earl Grey cupcakes with lavender frosting. I bought it with skincare in mind, then did more research and learned it's better for your insides than your outsides.

Thank you very much! Thank you! I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so my slightly off-centered labels and inconsistent handwriting bother me probably more than they should.

Japanese Cherry Blossom attempt 2 is cut. I'm at least getting the colors right, but I'm not happy with the design, so I'm going to try another design once I've got more FO. Made my best face lotion yet today, so I'm very happy about that. I also packed and labeled some items for my parents to...

Attempt 2 at Japanese Cherry Blossom soap is in the oven. My usual source of Rice Bran oil was out of it, so I checked 3 other stores before giving up on RBO and switching to a largely avocado oil based recipe. The FO yellows, so I added blue to my green, purple to pinks, and black to brown. I'm...

There's a MacIntosh apple fragrance? We had a MacIntosh apple tree on our property where I grew up! Our tree produced a lot of small apples. I didn't like them raw as much since we had other apple varieties that were less tart, but they were my little sister's favorites. They make the best...

Ok, tried a different soap per batch in hard water. The after-feel for all was harsher than with soft water, because hard water generates more soap scum in addition to how much oil these soaps remove. With that in mind, most of the soaps lather-tested nearly the same (bear in mind I use a...

Design fail/learning experience: FO yellowed even with VCS, so my pinks are turning orange, except for where there's just mica in oil. Also, because the batter accelerated, the brown didn't become the upright, arching lines (via hanger swirl) I hoped. I already have a list of changes to make for...

Oh, that's sad. Honestly, having a cart with 50 FOs in it and trying to whittle that down to a significantly less unreasonable number is one of my favorite things about this hobby.

I have successfully NOT purchased additional FOs, despite WSP having a sale. I just feel someone else should know of my restraint. Also, finally got back into making soap. NG's Japanese Cherry Blossom fragrance accelerated a little bit, but then slowed down to medium trace if I worked with it...

8 month update: Pink & Yellow: both have a smooth foamy lather to start, but then get bigger bubbles. Yellow might have had slightly bigger bubbles than pink, but they were pretty close. After-feel was fairly decent. Green: smooth, bubbliest lather. Made a mistake, so this had a lower SF than...

Wait, hang on, is that sale still going? I was considering doing some shopping once it was over and the temptation would be less strong, but my willpower might not last that long.

I've used Lavender Woods and Honey. It has a an extremely strong lemon note that does eventually fade, but know that you'll be smelling lemons for a solid month with that one. Once it fades out and the lavender and wood are the main notes, I like it quite a bit.

Congratulations!

I don't know if this is relevant, but my oatmeal soaps with cooked, blended colloidal oatmeal (granted, I don't filter out the oat material) tend to be wrinkly, especially as they dry, and they stay squishy longer than my other soaps. I'm not sure what your filtering process involved though, so...

Your fats/butters may not be getting warm enough to melt and separate the little groups of stearic/palmitic fatty acids that naturally occur in them. So, once you add lye, those little groups stay together and become soap together, and your colorant doesn't come between them, resulting in...

That's over 5%(5.88%, to be more precise). Not a problem from a "not soap" standpoint, but always check to be sure that your FOs or EOs are safe to use at that concentration, since many have a maximum safety rating of 5% or less.