Ah, well I'll let KiwiMoose chime in on the recipe, I think she might use soy wax, but I'm not sure.
The tiny holes in your soap could be air bubbles. That's easy enough to fix by modifying your stick blender technique - burp the blender bell (although if burping yourself helps you feel better go for it) before running it, tapping down your mold often when pouring the soap, or extreme may be searching for a new SB. I had one that just did not have a nice bell on it and no matter what I did, I had air bubbles. I also learned that I had to tamp down my mold more often than I was doing. If you use a wire cutter it may be contributing to the bumps/bubbles you see on your soaps. I've found that steaming my soaps will give them a nice smooth (and shiny!) look. Sometimes just wiping the soaps off with a nice microfiber cloth after they've cured will do wonders for their appearance.