my soapsupplies reviews

[reallyrita]

I just got in a small stash of soapsupplies FOs. I am trying to stay disciplined and finish off a few scents on my list before I start soaping these new lovelies but I have slipped up! Yesterday I threw discipline to the winds and decided to soap one of these new ones. I soaped "Kitchen Herb." I got a good whiff of peppermint OOB and I am personally not a big fan of peppermint. It also seemed quite weak. However, I did go ahead and soaped it using my very basic recipe of OO, Castor oil, coconut oil and lard. Due to my recent miseries with coconut milk and then again with aloe vera juice, I kept this recipe very simple....no fancy pants ingredients. The website suggests that this scent is all or mostly eo's and that it traces quickly. I soaped at RT, made one lb only and poured into my little TOG. It did come to full trace fast but nothing dramatic. I put the scent in with the oils before adding the lye water. I thought about coloring this soap a soft green but I would not have had time to incorporate the colorant. Next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I will add the colorant at very light trace. I did SB on and off for a minute or two and I had thick enough trace to sculpt the top with a little wire wisk.

This morning; unmolded perfectly gelled soap..pale cream and smells wonderful. I do not detect the peppermint...only a sweet herbal (Not flowery) clean scent. It is subtle but not faint. I hope that this scent sticks through my curing process. This is my new fav "fo" and I am really glad I did not wait to soap it. I will post more reviews as I get to the others.

 

[gallerygirl]

Thank you for your review...I have been wanting to get some of the "kitchen herb" but was a little afraid of how it might come out. I will definitely order it with my next batch. k

 

[reallyrita]

I soaped another one: Mandarin II. This was a soft citrus OOB. It seemed to be a little more complex than the other citrus scents I have tried. I have a SIL who loves orange or grapefruit scented soap, so I have tried quite a few of them so far. This smells the best to me but maybe not manly enough for him. I soaped at RT using my basic 3 oil (lard) recipe. It took a little bit of time but it came to beautiful trace. No discoloration at all. I did take the precaution of adding the fragrance to the RT oils just before adding the lye water instead of at trace itself. I used my mini TOG mold . I got perfect gel (thank you, Paul) and the new soap is nearly white and smells like a fresh juicy orange....but not sharp..there is a subtle something to this scent. It is not really strong so I hope it lasts in the cure out. Will report back later on that!!!

 

[reallyrita]

Well, I soaped another one. This time it was Peach Gardenia. This smelled really nice OOB but as I was soaping it,the scent turned really lovely. This is a girly scent for sure but not cloying. I only had one ounce but I would love to make more of this. I soaped at RT with a simple 3 oil recipe of OO. Coconut oil and Lard...also a little bit of Castor oil. It tried to rice on me 3 times but I SBed it into submission. Everytime I took the SB out of the pot to let it cool down, ricing threatened as I used my big spoon to stir vigorously. I'll tell you what this looked like...almost as if the emulsion was breaking up every time I turned the SB off. In the end, I got it into the mold smelling wonderful, but only at barely medium trace. More on this when I unmold. I want to soap this again...maybe I will soap it at 90 degrees instead of RT which might have been under 70 degrees today.

 

[reallyrita]

I unmolded the Peach Gardenia yesterday.It was in a milk carton and I normally let the block rest a day on the cure rack before cutting as the soap I make in the cartons is usually a little soft when I first unmold. Also, it was raining all day yesterday so I decided to let it rest until this morning. I cut it with the wavy cutter. It is a lovely off white (I promise to get my act together for pics soon) and smells so nice too. Again, this is not a strong scent at all so I hope it lasts until the end of the cure. I don't smell much gardenia but the peach is subtle and soft. This is going to end up in my shower, for sure!!! The soap looks great...no sign of that dreaded ricing.

 

[dragonfly princess]

OK I am not gonna believe that you are making soap until I can see some pics there toots!!!! :twisted:

 

[reallyrita]

OK, Dragonfly Princess....will try to get a picture up tomorrow of that Peach Gardenia batch! My DH is laughing....I have a room full of curing racks....
Believe me, I am making soap...and some are so ugly!!

 

[reallyrita]

Here are 2 pics of my recently reviewed batches.

This first one is Kitchen Herb. It is whiter in real life than this pic shows:

http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... erbdl9.jpg

The second one is Gardenia Peach...the one that tried to rice on me 3 times.
It too is quite white.

http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... achrv6.jpg

 

[reallyrita]

I did not take a picture of mandarin II because it looks exactly like Kitchen Herb, except it smells different. LOL

 

[Laurie]

Nice pics!!!

 

[fladais]

hmm...not sure why the links didn't work for you, but they are lovely soaps!

 

[reallyrita]

This will be my last review for awhile, although I still have about five more to try. Yesterday I soaped Cucumber and Green Tea. I posted elsewhere here about my disaster with the heating pad. I overheated this batch and i don't know what that has done to the scent. It was fine OOB but in the unmolded (but still supersoft) soap this morning, the scent is very gentle. I am in mind of green tea....not that green tea really smells like this....but i don't get alot of cucumber yet. Again, this is not strong, so I will be anxious to see if the scent sticks through the cure. You know how alot if not most FOs have that playdoh smell? Often that smell will cure out eventually, but they all seem to have it. Well, none of these that i have tried have it at all. Not in the bottle nor in the finished soap. However they are not strong scents. That is fine with me as I prefer subtle, but I do need the soap to still have some scent left after the cure out. So, we shall see.

 

[Guest]

Rita, you've got me interested in your Kitchen Herb and Mandarin II FOs. In retrospective, how are the scents lasting? I could be wrong but I believe sometimes scents dissipate during the cure while at other times they seem to increase, or at least a few of my failures with virtually no scent actually improved to subtle but definitely there after cured.

Based upon your review I've ordered from Soap Supplies today:

Warm Vanilla Sugar
Almond Milk & Honey
Kitchen Herb
Mandarin II

and some oxides (sure thing, good prices compared to WSP).

I'm curious what amounts others are buying to sample FOs. Paige has a very clever pricing strategy. Most FOs are only $2-$3 price difference between 4oz and 8oz, like $8.95 vs $11.95, so why not buy twice as much for only a few bucks more? Also clever her $7.95 flat rate shipping. She knows that any order that goes over weight will earn her more profit on the goods than the additional shipping costs her. Very clever!

Anyway I prefer to have 8 oz of any EO/FO I'm considering using, enough for a few batches if I like it, not so much that the money kills me if the scent is a loser. I must like orange. I got 32oz of that.

I recall my old days of soaping (it's a joke folks!) when I was buying 0.5 and 1.0 oz bottles of EO at Whole Foods Market. I was spending as much on those bitty bottles as 8 oz sizes cost me online.

__________
UPDATE (edit) I posted earlier I was considering ordering, but I've now placed the order, so I should have the stuff in a week and I'll report on how I like the scents, and colorants too.

 

[reallyrita]

I am finally able to update about these FOs. I have been away from my soap pot since mid May. Today I took these soaps off the curing rack to make room for my next batches. The Cucumber Green Tea is lovely. I was afraid that I had ruined that batch by overheating with a heating pad trying to force gel in my silicone mold. The scent is subtle but definitely there! I am ordering more. The Peach Gardenia is a disappointment. The smell was fantastic while I was soaping it but after 2 months on the cure rack,it has faded badly and smells a little odd to my nose. I just used a basic lard, OO and CO recipe. Also, it turned an unpleasant pinky beige color. I did not use colorant. I think this will be just fine in lotion but not in soap. I am tempted to get a little more and play with it in a lotion or shower gel because it was so pretty OOB. The Mandarin II is still strong but has developed some complexity. It is a keeper. My nice white soap did discolor a bit to a yellow-tan color. I think it needs some peachy colorant. The Kitchen Herb is the winner of the bunch. My soap is still really white and creamy. The scent is soft and mellow. I have a few more to try and now that I am finally home, I will get to soaping them in the coming days and let you all know how I do!!

 

[digit]

Mmmmmmm.......they do look creamily wonderful!!!!

Digit

 

[Sudsy Bubbles]

Very nice! The scents sound wonderful.

Sudsy Bubbles