Need a check and advice on a recipe

[G Str]

So Christmas is coming and it's about time to craft a batch and set it to cure. And since its Christmas, I decided to gift more of a luxury, conditioning soap, than practical, cleansing one.
Now I've been somewhat obsessed with making "tropical" themed soap for Christmas gifts so I figured I'd go for coconut, apricot kernel oil and mango butter. Throw in olive oil to even out the %.

So in the end I'm sitting here with notes along the lines of this:
coconut oil 25%;
mango butter 15%;
apricot kernal oil 20%;
olive oil 40%;
superfatting 7%.

Seems quite risky as the soap might turn out too "pudgy", but then again might turn out just fine. I've never worked with mango and apricot, so I don't know what to expect.
I ran it trough SoapCalc,
it show's:
hardness 35
cleansing 17
conditioning 61
bubbly 17
creamy 18
iodine 63
ins 147
Seems about OK except for the bad lather, but what caught my eye is the rather extreme saturated/unsaturated fat ratio of 36:64.
Now I'm going pretty technical here, I could just easily try this out and see for myself, but then again I'll see the results only just about @ Christmas, so I'd rather ask here for advice.

Am I totally falling in a spiked pit and no gifts for friends with this recipe and should I readjust/rethink or is it safe enough to be worth a go? Hopefully someone here has experience with apricot kernel oil and mango butter.

Thanks in advance!

Edit:
And excuse me for not posting in Recipe Feedback section, first day on this forum, didn't notice there's a more proper subforum so I slapped the thread here, sorry. moved

 

[Hazel]

It's hard to make a recommendation about how a recipe will turn out. Sometimes what doesn't look good on paper will actually be a lovely soap but in my opinion I think your recipe looks nice for a luxury soap. Now, after saying this, I have used apricot kernel oil in soap and it is lovely but it needed a longer than normal curing period. I've only used mango butter in lotions and creams but I think it will be fine in soap. I personally wouldn't use it at 15% but that's because I prefer butters for leave-on products. This is only my opinion and I know other people use butters at much higher percentages than I do.

Don't be concerned about the sat/unsat ratio. You should see some of mine. It just means your soap will be more soluble in water. That's just the trade off you have when your soap is more conditioning. Just tell your friends not to leave the soap in the shower and let it dry out between uses. Also, don't worry about the low values on bubbly and creamy. You'll still have lather and it won't be bad. You can also find castor oil in the pharmacy section of some stores and you could add a little of it to help stabilize the lather, increase bubbles and make the lather a little creamier. Between the olive and the AKO, this will initially be a softer soap. You can add some sodium lactate to make it easier to unmold. I use between 2%-3% ppo. You can also use salt to help with initial hardness. I used 1 teaspoon ppo and did find it helped to make the soap easier to get out of the mold.

Again, this is only my opinion but you could alter the percentages and add castor. This will increase the bubbly and creamy values a little bit.

40% olive oil
27% coconut oil
15% mango butter
12% apricot kernel oil
6% castor oil

I would use 8% superfat, a water discount and cure this as long as possible before Christmas.

Hopefully, someone may be able to give you better advice.

 

[Macv3]

I love apricot kernel oil and use it my soaps. Your recipe looks good to me (but I have only been soaping for around a year). I would also do as the PP recommends and add the castor oil for lather And possibly swap out 5% of the mango butter for cocoa butter just to make it a bit harder initially but it's not necessary if you are giving it a long cure.

 

[judymoody]

I also recommend subbing 5% of your mango butter for castor oil.

Castor plants grow in the tropics too!

 

[grayceworks]

I made one recently that lathers wonderfully and doesn't dry the skin out, and it has both mango and apricot kernel in it -- I HP it, because otherwise it takes a LONG time to harden up because of the olive oil, but it is WONDERFUL and everyone who's tried it has said it's my best recipe so far. Keep in mind I'm new at this, but I really really like it...

Olive Oil 33%
Mango Butter 26%
Cocoa Butter 9.4%
Apricot Kernel Oil 9.4%
Avocado Oil 9.4%
Coconut Oil 9.4%
Jojoba Oil 3%

I add 1Tbsp ppo of sugar in the water before adding lye also, but even without that, it lathers nicely. I SF at 7%, and use a 33% concentration of water/lye.

Jojoba can be pricey, but for a 2lb batch, there's only 1oz of it, and it really makes it nice!

 

[pamielynn]

I agree with Judymoody - go down to 10% on the mango. I use it all the time and you can get that "draggy" feel with too much mango. And the 5% castor will add some bubbles for you.

 

[G Str]

Made the batch. All went well. Had to do a small improvisation on spot, but I think it'll cure alright.

 

[Hazel]

Those look lovely and I'm glad it turned out well.