My quest for coconut:

[jules92207]

I am so excited for your experiment! My sister in law is always asking me for coconut so I do one from wsp mixed with a little fresh cut grass but its not perfect. Can't wait to hear your results!

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks so much for testing and sharing! You've saved me hours and money. Internet hugs to you!

 

[Confused_Penguin]

Ooh please tell me how the coconut cabana is holding up

 

[nebetmiw]

The only coconut I will buy is Soapalooza coconut carbi. I made a batch had it smell tested and it was true and it lasted 6 months in my soap.

 

[dixiedragon]

I am very much enjoying this! You should submit this as an article to Saponifier or another soap or crafting magazine.

ETA: Maybe another component of the article could be a blind survey! You could mail out small chunks of soap to people and have them review each scent!

Yes, please do. I have one that is to die for but the blasted fo overheats and liquifies before you can get it to the freezer. I soaped it cold and poured it in a chilled mold and severly overheated. Going to give it another go since I have to keep it around for lotion. It is Caribbean Coconut from soapsupplies.net

Maybe this is a dumb idea, but I wonder of chilling the FO would help? I just had that brain storm, has anyone tried this?

This cold weather gave me a thought - what if you soaped it outside in cold weather?

 

[LBussy]

Maybe this is a dumb idea, but I wonder of chilling the FO would help? I just had that brain storm, has anyone tried this?

This cold weather gave me a thought - what if you soaped it outside in cold weather?

I was pondering that as well. The problem with a fridge or freezer is the air surrounding it has a low mass so doesn't transfer heat as fast. I would probably try setting it in a tray of chilled water and then put that in the freezer.

 

[TVivian]

I am very much enjoying this! You should submit this as an article to Saponifier or another soap or crafting magazine.

ETA: Maybe another component of the article could be a blind survey! You could mail out small chunks of soap to people and have them review each scent!

Thank you! Perhaps I will, once I'm done

Sending out chunks is a great idea! I'm going to do it! Thanks for that suggestion! I can probably get 6 or 7 slivers from each tester bar!!

The only coconut I will buy is Soapalooza coconut carbi. I made a batch had it smell tested and it was true and it lasted 6 months in my soap.

I ordered some to try!

 

[IrishLass]

"Coconut" Day star- this one smells like the real deal. Honestly. Out of the bottle it was just ok and smelled like the others, but in the soap it smells like actual coconut flesh. It behaved terribly, overheated, and now it's sitting here all brown and greasy and gross looking, but it smells divine. I'm so torn! Trying to figure out how to make this work.. Maybe used in a lower percentage and then mixed with a better behaved FO? .. I'll keep you posted, but it is the most realistic coconut scent of all.
In lotion- it's nice and definitely a front runner, but it is not as lovely as it is in the soap. Maybe if you overheat it it would smell nicer LOL...

That's very encouraging! I may have to buy a sample and HP it to avoid the 'issues'. I'm normally a CP girl who only does HP on special occasions, but it sounds like this one might be worth HPing for.

Also- sometimes- but not always (it depends on the FO)- I've found with some FOs that if I add the offending FO to my oils and only add in 1/2 of my lye solution at first and then hand-stir the batter thoroughly before hand-stirring in the rest of the solution, it can buy me up to a minute or 2 more of calm before the storm starts raging. It might be worth a try with this one to find out!

Daystar used to sell a FO called Under The Palm Trees that came the closest to a perfect coconut scent to my nose (not 100% perfect, but it was my absolute favorite of all the other ones I've tried). The scent was very light in my soap even as high as 1 oz. ppo, but it soaped great and only discolored to a light beige. I bought a pound of it back when she was clearing it out because even though it's light, I still like to make soap with it for those in my family that like their soap scented on the lighter side of things. It goes really well with chocolate/almond scented soap flakes/chunks tossed into the mix.

IrishLass

 

[TVivian]

Irish Lass, it wasn't so badly behaved that I couldn't deal with it so that's something. It did rice up a bit, but then I beat it smooth and got it in the mold and that's when the real,crazy started.
I just took a sniff of it and the scent is light but still nice. It's very, very dark brown in case you order it and were hoping for something lighter in color. Most of the oil soaked back in, but still greasy. I wouldn't recommend using it at more than 2 or 3 % and finding another scent to make up the difference.

Irish Lass, it wasn't so badly behaved that I couldn't deal with it so that's something. It did rice up a bit, but then I beat it smooth and got it in the mold and that's when the real,crazy started.
I just took a sniff of it and the scent is light but still nice. It's very, very dark brown in case you order it and were hoping for something lighter in color. Most of the oil soaked back in, but still greasy. I wouldn't recommend using it at more than 2 or 3 % (in CP) and finding another scent to make up the difference.

I'll bet it would be great in HP!

 

[LBussy]

I'm watching this with great interest. We are headed down to the beach house soon. Anyone who has/visits one will attest to the wonderful experience of using an outdoor shower. I think a coconut soap would just make it that much better.

 

[kchaystack]

I'm watching this with great interest. We are headed down to the beach house soon. Anyone who has/visits one will attest to the wonderful experience of using an outdoor shower. I think a coconut soap would just make it that much better.

If it does not have hot water I might disagree with you about how wonderful it is.

But, as this addiction begins to consume my life and all my spare change, I love reading about others experiences with scents and additives.

Can not wait for the next batch TVivian!

 

[Malvar62]

Yes I'm a cocnut junkie..would love to know ur results

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Thanks for sharing your efforts!

I am also looking for good coconut but had no luck.

 

[dixiedragon]

Tvivian, update?

 

[TVivian]

Tvivian, update?

Hi! Sorry I have not posted an update. I had the flu which put me away from soaping for the better part of March.. It was terrible!

So it's been 20 days since I made the samples. I have to tell you honestly, I'm completely underwhelmed by all of these. They have all faded to nothing or morphed into something less than coconut. The best of the bunch in my opinion is WSP (crafters choice) Caribbean Coconut because there is a moderate amount of scent left and although it isn't distinctly coconut... It does smell sweet and creamy. The one with the strongest scent is Coconut Craze (NG) it smells good but to me it just does not smell like coconut.

I'm still hoping that some of the scents will come back after a full cure (you know how they sometimes do? Fingers crossed)

Here is a picture of them now:

 

[lionprincess00]

I've never seen such discoloration on soap from a fo! That resembles black! Like pine tar or something lol! Thx for updating!!

 

[TVivian]

Here is the next bunch up for testing. I was waiting for the Coconut Caribe from soapalooza which arrived Saturday and took forever to get here! It smells very promising. I tried to order some of the other scents mentioned, but either shipping was too high or I had to order minimum 16oz which I didn't want to do just for testing (I may just order them later though)

Also, I forgot to say that the two I like best in lotion so far are WSP Caribbean Coconut and NG creamy coconut... And I tried a batch of lotion made with unrefined coconut oil which helped boost the coconut scent immensely. I highly recommend it when making coconut scented lotion.

 

[mx5inpenn]

I've got a sample of NG coconut craze waiting to be made into a batch. I knew it discolored, but not that much. Thanks so much for sharing your results! The notes for it show some acceleration and some of the reviews said it moved very fast. I've just started using scents recently and picked a couple that would move quick to gain some experience with them. Did you note it being a difficult one to work with?

 

[TVivian]

I've got a sample of NG coconut craze waiting to be made into a batch. I knew it discolored, but not that much. Thanks so much for sharing your results! The notes for it show some acceleration and some of the reviews said it moved very fast. I've just started using scents recently and picked a couple that would move quick to gain some experience with them. Did you note it being a difficult one to work with?

It wasn't difficult. It did rice up a little bit, but mixed smooth easily. If you look at my picture of it in the mold, you'll see that it was starting to gel so I would say try to soap cool and try to work quickly if you want a design. It will probably come to a full gel so I would not insulate or use sugar.

 

[denisedh]

more coconut FO

I just got back from Hawaii (Maui) myself a week ago - and ordered some coconut scents to work with soap and lotion from Fragrance Buddy - so glad I found this thread - amazing the results!

I am pretty sure I will make small batches to test these I just received. For the record - the Black Coconut smells really great in the bottle. The others were not all coconut - Blue Hawaiian, Coconut lime Verbena, Butt Naked and Caribbean (something?)