Basti's Adventures in Soap (2023)

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I really love that middle one. I feel like I’m standing on a cliff looking out on boats in a harbor.

Do the high vanillin FOs not cause discoloration in M&P? WSP’s CC turns my cp soap tan.
 
I really love that middle one. I feel like I’m standing on a cliff looking out on boats in a harbor.
Ooh! I hadn't thought of that. Like a sunset over the sea 😁

Do the high vanillin FOs not cause discoloration in M&P? WSP’s CC turns my cp soap tan.
It's... odd. I've found that MP takes a lot longer to discolor, if it decides to discolor, that is. I've had some soaps stay the original colors forever, I've had some soaps go brown within a week. I've made this soap before and had no discoloration.
 
I can’t see anything else except that scene! It makes me think of Hanuama Bay in Hawaii, or views of the ocean from the hills in Vieques, PR.
Now I think I need to make a soap with the daytime colors of those places. Dark green, white sand, bright aqua sea fading into deep blue~~~ 😍 Don't have to twist my arm to make an ocean soap 🤣
 
MP Time. Had a fun time with colors this month 😁

View attachment 70722
FO: Black Salt & Cypress by WSP

View attachment 70723
FO: Moroccan Mint by WSP
This design didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, so I'll probably rework it next time I make it. But I love these colors.

View attachment 70724
FO: Caribbean Coconut by WSP

I have time for CP soap now so expect to see some of that soon~
Wow, those are beautiful... love your colors!
 
MP Time. Had a fun time with colors this month 😁

View attachment 70722
FO: Black Salt & Cypress by WSP

View attachment 70723
FO: Moroccan Mint by WSP
This design didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, so I'll probably rework it next time I make it. But I love these colors.

View attachment 70724
FO: Caribbean Coconut by WSP

I have time for CP soap now so expect to see some of that soon~
I love these! I have NO IDEA how you are able to make such beautiful soaps with M&P. Mine always look like melted shame when I try to get fancy with it lol
 
I love these! I have NO IDEA how you are able to make such beautiful soaps with M&P. Mine always look like melted shame when I try to get fancy with it lol
A lot of fussing about, that's what. I work in really small amounts at a time o_O

I'm happy to try and explain any specific questions but the broad stuff I'm not great at. You'll get a 12 page essay and be like please, basti, for the love of all that is good and holy man get to the point! 🤣
 
Time for some CP soap!

Two of these I showed a peek of in the January Challenge thread, but I made the ciaglia soap last night ✨

Batch #18 - 6 Oil Blend with Red Stripe Beer
View attachment 70445
The first soap of the new year! I had some leftover beer that was burning a hole in my freezer from my Red Stripe Soap that I decided to use up. Since I was making an embed soap, I figured the acceleration wouldn't hurt.
My lesson from this soap batch was next time I make a terrazzo soap (and I will!) I will use chunks that are a little bit older (aka planning ahead). They got a bit smeary while cutting them and it was a bit of a headache cleaning my knife off that frequently haha. Also to not second guess myself on color! I wanted the base shade to be darker but at the last moment I decided against adding another 1/4 tsp of black mica.
FO is WSP's Lavender Woods & Honey, the only lavender FO I can stand

Skipping Batch #19 for now, since that's my challenge entrant 😌

Batch #20 - ZNSC (w/ 10% CO and 5% CAS) with Local Seawater
View attachment 70446
Another attempt at the January Challenge to see if I liked it better than my previous soap. I opted to finally try ZNSC since I knew it would be a well behaved recipe for a Taiwan swirl. I used a 16 oz recipe in my 10 inch mold to use it a little like a slab mold. I did cut one of the bars in half to see the pattern within, but I find the top of Taiwans so pretty 😍
My lesson from this batch was I need to do another Taiwan swirl! I had such a good time with this recipe.
FO is Nurture Soap's Seven Isles. I don't hate it but I don't particularly like it either. My best descriptor for it is it's 8th & Ocean's grandfather. Well, at least it performed nicely and I got it on sale 🤣

Batch #21 - 6 Oil Blend with Heavy Cream
View attachment 70447
Ciaglia time! This soap was one that had quite a few firsts in it! I used a bit of Grapeseed Oil, as I've never tried that before. I kept it in a small amount since I know it has a lower shelf life. I also used some heavy cream, which I've had in my freezer for months now, as a partial replacement for my water. I added those to my oils. And my last first was I split my oils and lye solution into 6 parts to do layers. I was TERRIFIED to do this and read a zillion threads and watched a zillion videos before I was like Yes. I Can Do This.
FO is WSP's Goji Berry Bliss. Very fun smell. I added it directly to my oils since it was all getting divided up anyway.

Before I made this, I took my baggies of scraps and divided them all by color. Then, I weighed them to see which color I had the least amount of (Yellow! must make more yellow soaps) and then adjusted the other containers to have the same weight (putting the rest of the scraps back in the baggies). So every single layer of my rainbow has (mostly) its own color scraps inside 😁

View attachment 70448

Super time consuming? Yes. Do I love these? Absolutely!
I missed this. Stun. Ning.
 
Time for some Cold Process!

Batch #19 - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
sea beast.png

My entrant for the January Soap Challenge. Just sharing it here for continuity sake.


Batch #22 - 6 Oil Blend with Fermented Rice Water
asougi 1.png

This batch is for a friend! They requested a specific scent and wanted a soap inspired by a fictional character. Said character has a white/black/red color scheme. I decided to try splitting my oils and lye and start with a textured AC layer and then do a OPW on top. I did add in a tiny gold mica line to represent the gold detailing on his clothing, but it wasn't enough to show up except in a few places haha. Now I know I need WAY more mica. My white got glycerin rivers and I DON'T CARE because it adds to the aesthetic. I love these so much. And the black is so luscious. I'm obsessed.
FO is Fastlane by Nature's Garden. Fingers crossing it doesn't fade on me.

Batch #23 - 7 Oil Blend with Apple Cider
cider ciaglia.png

Decided to do a bit of a Zero Waste batch. I had a random assortment of stuff that needed to get used up. I did a full water replacement with some apple cider that I was... not impressed with the flavor of, so I froze it and decided to make soap with it. I also had a few bottles of FO that had very little product left inside of them, so I opted to mix them. Finally, I tossed in some of my scraps to make it ciaglia style. I think I overswirled a little, which is fine. I do like how nice and simple they are.
FOs are White Tea & Pear by NS and Fresh Picked Apple by WSP.

Test Batch - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
test batch 1.png

I'm not counting this in my batch count purely on a technicality 🤣 I decided to do something I probably should've done before... which is do some FO testing. Until now, I've just trusted the soap notes provided by the FO company and used well behaved FOs. But I got three FOs from a company that doesn't have testing notes.
I plan to use them in MP where that stuff doesn't matter, but I still wanted to get a frame of reference for vanillin discoloration. I know I'll use stabilizer for that middle right one now 😅
FOs Used:
Peach Milk Tea by DOOP - Matcha Latte by DOOP
Sweet Vanilla Chai by WSP* - Ube Cake by DOOP
Control - Sunkissed Beach Grass by WSP**
(+A tiny mica drizzle just so I could tell the difference at a quick glance)

* Used as a "vanillin control" as I knew the vanillin percentage and knew that FO discolored the MP soap I used it in.
** Threw this one in as it's described as a moderate accelerator by WSP and I wanted to see that first hand. It's a discontinued FO now...

I really love the 3 FOs I picked up from DOOP.
The Peach Milk Tea smells EXACTLY like the peach iced tea I used to drink when I lived in Korea and it makes me super nostalgic.
Matcha Latte smells like a can of INOTEA Matcha Bubble Tea, which is a rather floral matcha smell with the soft creaminess of a little milk. I will say it didn't smell good in the bottle though LOL
Ube Cake is a nice balance of vanilla and sweet notes as well as the nutty depth of the ube.
Their shop is closed right now... presumably for a restock... but I'll likely pick more from them in the future.
 
Time for some Cold Process!

Batch #19 - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
View attachment 70939
My entrant for the January Soap Challenge. Just sharing it here for continuity sake.


Batch #22 - 6 Oil Blend with Fermented Rice Water
View attachment 70940
This batch is for a friend! They requested a specific scent and wanted a soap inspired by a fictional character. Said character has a white/black/red color scheme. I decided to try splitting my oils and lye and start with a textured AC layer and then do a OPW on top. I did add in a tiny gold mica line to represent the gold detailing on his clothing, but it wasn't enough to show up except in a few places haha. Now I know I need WAY more mica. My white got glycerin rivers and I DON'T CARE because it adds to the aesthetic. I love these so much. And the black is so luscious. I'm obsessed.
FO is Fastlane by Nature's Garden. Fingers crossing it doesn't fade on me.

Batch #23 - 7 Oil Blend with Apple Cider
View attachment 70941
Decided to do a bit of a Zero Waste batch. I had a random assortment of stuff that needed to get used up. I did a full water replacement with some apple cider that I was... not impressed with the flavor of, so I froze it and decided to make soap with it. I also had a few bottles of FO that had very little product left inside of them, so I opted to mix them. Finally, I tossed in some of my scraps to make it ciaglia style. I think I overswirled a little, which is fine. I do like how nice and simple they are.
FOs are White Tea & Pear by NS and Fresh Picked Apple by WSP.

Test Batch - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
View attachment 70942
I'm not counting this in my batch count purely on a technicality 🤣 I decided to do something I probably should've done before... which is do some FO testing. Until now, I've just trusted the soap notes provided by the FO company and used well behaved FOs. But I got three FOs from a company that doesn't have testing notes.
I plan to use them in MP where that stuff doesn't matter, but I still wanted to get a frame of reference for vanillin discoloration. I know I'll use stabilizer for that middle right one now 😅
FOs Used:
Peach Milk Tea by DOOP - Matcha Latte by DOOP
Sweet Vanilla Chai by WSP* - Ube Cake by DOOP
Control - Sunkissed Beach Grass by WSP**
(+A tiny mica drizzle just so I could tell the difference at a quick glance)

* Used as a "vanillin control" as I knew the vanillin percentage and knew that FO discolored the MP soap I used it in.
** Threw this one in as it's described as a moderate accelerator by WSP and I wanted to see that first hand. It's a discontinued FO now...

I really love the 3 FOs I picked up from DOOP.
The Peach Milk Tea smells EXACTLY like the peach iced tea I used to drink when I lived in Korea and it makes me super nostalgic.
Matcha Latte smells like a can of INOTEA Matcha Bubble Tea, which is a rather floral matcha smell with the soft creaminess of a little milk. I will say it didn't smell good in the bottle though LOL
Ube Cake is a nice balance of vanilla and sweet notes as well as the nutty depth of the ube.
Their shop is closed right now... presumably for a restock... but I'll likely pick more from them in the future.
Ok stupid question, but what is OPW? They all look wonderful, but I LOVE that one for your friend.
 
Time for some Cold Process!

Batch #19 - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
View attachment 70939
My entrant for the January Soap Challenge. Just sharing it here for continuity sake.


Batch #22 - 6 Oil Blend with Fermented Rice Water
View attachment 70940
This batch is for a friend! They requested a specific scent and wanted a soap inspired by a fictional character. Said character has a white/black/red color scheme. I decided to try splitting my oils and lye and start with a textured AC layer and then do a OPW on top. I did add in a tiny gold mica line to represent the gold detailing on his clothing, but it wasn't enough to show up except in a few places haha. Now I know I need WAY more mica. My white got glycerin rivers and I DON'T CARE because it adds to the aesthetic. I love these so much. And the black is so luscious. I'm obsessed.
FO is Fastlane by Nature's Garden. Fingers crossing it doesn't fade on me.

Batch #23 - 7 Oil Blend with Apple Cider
View attachment 70941
Decided to do a bit of a Zero Waste batch. I had a random assortment of stuff that needed to get used up. I did a full water replacement with some apple cider that I was... not impressed with the flavor of, so I froze it and decided to make soap with it. I also had a few bottles of FO that had very little product left inside of them, so I opted to mix them. Finally, I tossed in some of my scraps to make it ciaglia style. I think I overswirled a little, which is fine. I do like how nice and simple they are.
FOs are White Tea & Pear by NS and Fresh Picked Apple by WSP.

Test Batch - 5 Oil Blend with Distilled Water
View attachment 70942
I'm not counting this in my batch count purely on a technicality 🤣 I decided to do something I probably should've done before... which is do some FO testing. Until now, I've just trusted the soap notes provided by the FO company and used well behaved FOs. But I got three FOs from a company that doesn't have testing notes.
I plan to use them in MP where that stuff doesn't matter, but I still wanted to get a frame of reference for vanillin discoloration. I know I'll use stabilizer for that middle right one now 😅
FOs Used:
Peach Milk Tea by DOOP - Matcha Latte by DOOP
Sweet Vanilla Chai by WSP* - Ube Cake by DOOP
Control - Sunkissed Beach Grass by WSP**
(+A tiny mica drizzle just so I could tell the difference at a quick glance)

* Used as a "vanillin control" as I knew the vanillin percentage and knew that FO discolored the MP soap I used it in.
** Threw this one in as it's described as a moderate accelerator by WSP and I wanted to see that first hand. It's a discontinued FO now...

I really love the 3 FOs I picked up from DOOP.
The Peach Milk Tea smells EXACTLY like the peach iced tea I used to drink when I lived in Korea and it makes me super nostalgic.
Matcha Latte smells like a can of INOTEA Matcha Bubble Tea, which is a rather floral matcha smell with the soft creaminess of a little milk. I will say it didn't smell good in the bottle though LOL
Ube Cake is a nice balance of vanilla and sweet notes as well as the nutty depth of the ube.
Their shop is closed right now... presumably for a restock... but I'll likely pick more from them in the future.
Wow…soap goals again. Love the hues you used for the Jan soap challenge.
 
I thought it might be, but when I Googled it, DOOP links were mostly Marvel Comics links. I didn't see anything relevant to fragrances. I clicked on your link and it said "We'll be back soon" and wanted a password to get in.....
Yeah, I think they're restocking or something. Other businesses do that all the time, but it's a bit annoying for a fragrance company to do so. It'd be nice to be able to access the IFRA notes and such, y'know? :(

Wow…soap goals again. Love the hues you used for the Jan soap challenge.
Thank you!
 
Part two of my adventures in using the FOs I got from DOOP (their store is open again, finally), this time in MP. This month I decided to do Boba/Bubble Tea inspired soaps.

black sugar1z.png

FO: Brown Sugar by WSP
This was a remake of an old soap and unfortunately I liked the old one better haha. When you want MP to swirl, it doesn't. When you don't want MP to swirl, it does. Such is life 🤣

ubez.png

FO: Ube Cake by DOOP
Used vanilla stabilizer juuuuust in case since my CP soap tester has turned medium brown.

matchaz.png

FO: Matcha Latte by DOOP

peachz.png

FO: Peach Milk Tea by DOOP
 
Part two of my adventures in using the FOs I got from DOOP (their store is open again, finally), this time in MP. This month I decided to do Boba/Bubble Tea inspired soaps.

View attachment 71170
FO: Brown Sugar by WSP
This was a remake of an old soap and unfortunately I liked the old one better haha. When you want MP to swirl, it doesn't. When you don't want MP to swirl, it does. Such is life 🤣

View attachment 71171
FO: Ube Cake by DOOP
Used vanilla stabilizer juuuuust in case since my CP soap tester has turned medium brown.

View attachment 71172
FO: Matcha Latte by DOOP

View attachment 71173
FO: Peach Milk Tea by DOOP
Love, love, LOVE these. I still have no clue whatsoever how you manage to work so well in M&P, but I sure do love seeing your finished products. Gorgeous!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top