What Bath & Body Thing Have You Done Today?

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Today is hubbys birthday, so I’m off of work to spend the day with him. We did some yard work, had breakfast and lunch together and while he goofed around with his banjo (that’s what he wanted for his bday), I made some Bath Salts “tea” with the some of the botanicals I was given for Christmas. 🌸
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Thank you so much, @VikingChick! I’m still surprised that I went from someone who hated to make bath bombs, to enjoying the process and looking for excuses to make them. I rarely take baths myself, but they are so popular with my friends and their kids.

It really helped to watch a bunch of videos and then settle on a recipe that seems to work consistently in my climate. It was even snowing last night when I made them, and there were no recipe-related failures. The one that fell apart was due to not having enough mix left, which I knew as I molded it. And even then, it would have been had I left it to harden longer in the mold before trying to move it. That patience thing, ya know?

The egg cartons work ok for holders, but they often make marks on the side bc the bombs are soft for an hour or so. I’m thinking of getting a larger rimmed baking sheet where they could just sit flat, and which would collect all the dust, too.
Your bombs are gorgeous! Lucky friends! Love the green. Can be that Bombs on a baking sheet roll around if left in lower portion of mold. If placed down on sheet by themselves they always have a flat spot on the bottom. A friend uses paper cupcake holders inside of a cupcake baking sheet.
 
Has anyone tried making a lotion bar without beeswax? I made a small batch earlier tonight using cocoa butter (38 g), liquid oils (SAO, apricot kernel, fractionated coconut, avocado; 1 g each) and 1% EOs in an attempt to mimic the gemstone body stone that @dmcgee5034 linked here. It hasn’t had enough time to set up and the liquid oil percentage may be a tad too high relative to the cocoa butter (or do I need to temper the cocoa butter?), but it feels super nice on my skin.

I’m also curious about the baking soda and citric acid used as exfoliants in the Mcleod body pebble. Why would those ingredients be used as opposed to sugar or salt?

ETA: with about 8 hrs to set up, the cocoa butter lotion bars are a mess. The thin piece I tested last night is already grainy and the second one I tried to pop out of the mold is a strange combination of brittle-ish on top and soft/grainy on the mold side. I guess Mcleod’s chocolate-making skills make all the difference when it comes to turning her ingredients into a lotion bar. I‘m going to need to read up on tempering cocoa butter before I try this approach again.
Could be that the baking soda and citric acid also help harden the bar. Did you remelt yours? I discovered recently that remelting an exfoliating bar (that contained sugar) caused it to become rock like :/. Must have had the sugar at too high of a heat. Always learning. Grated everything down and may use in a small Ciaglia soap batch to see if re-batch is possible. Good luck with your bars!
 
I made these lotions on Monday as part of an order (donation mostly) for a local Soroptimist fundraiser luncheon. The recipe is the DIY B&B homemade Lotion Concentrate base, with added argan oil, silk proteins, and 3% IPM. I’ve never used that much IPM before, and I’m thrilled with how quickly it absorbs and how silky my skin feels. Scented with a blend of lavender EO and an herbal FO mix, they smell great, too!

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I made these lotions on Monday as part of an order (donation mostly) for a local Soroptimist fundraiser luncheon. The recipe is the DIY B&B homemade Lotion Concentrate base, with added argan oil, silk proteins, and 3% IPM. I’ve never used that much IPM before, and I’m thrilled with how quickly it absorbs and how silky my skin feels. Scented with a blend of lavender EO and an herbal FO mix, they smell great, too!

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Sounds like a fantastic combination of additives.
 
I made my first beach soap, a fairly obligatory type of soap around here since we’re close to the coast. The ocean currents didn’t blend together has much as I’d hoped, but I’m mostly happy with it, especially the little sharks. No, they’re not soap dough. I’m not that clever. Fragrance is Candle Science’s “Sal de Mer.”
 

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I made my first beach soap, a fairly obligatory type of soap around here since we’re close to the coast. The ocean currents didn’t blend together has much as I’d hoped, but I’m mostly happy with it, especially the little sharks. No, they’re not soap dough. I’m not that clever. Fragrance is Candle Science’s “Sal de Mer.”
Ok this has to be the happiest soap ever! And it even includes sharks. But these sharks seem happy. This soap is very pretty and it just makes me want to have it for my very own.
 
I made my first beach soap, a fairly obligatory type of soap around here since we’re close to the coast. The ocean currents didn’t blend together has much as I’d hoped, but I’m mostly happy with it, especially the little sharks. No, they’re not soap dough. I’m not that clever. Fragrance is Candle Science’s “Sal de Mer.”
This is one of the best soaps I've seen in weeks! Love it and the sharks just completely take me over the edge. I particularly love your sand layer -- and the ocean colors are awesome. You used just the right amount of white. HOW DID YOU MAKE THE SHARKS??!!
 
This is one of the best soaps I've seen in weeks! Love it and the sharks just completely take me over the edge. I particularly love your sand layer -- and the ocean colors are awesome. You used just the right amount of white. HOW DID YOU MAKE THE SHARKS??!!
You’re too kind. I made everything except the sharks. I bought those at Hobby Lobby and just embedded them on the top. My daughter has been asking me to make soap with a toy in it.
 
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I recently made 30 lip balms. Tonight I labeled them. Sis has been hollerin' for weeks for them and even mailed me sunflower oil because I have not been able to find affordable sunflower oil around here. It's a dupe of the original Burt's Bees and the credit goes to @IrishLass.

I've been pulling 10, 11, 12 hour work days but hit a wall today at 5 p.m. It's nice to finish a project -- like lip balms -- that has a beginning and an end. And it feels healing and it feels good to give away.

I also noticed that I've got zilch lotion bars in inventory so need to get goin' on that.

And people! Have you seen @Kari Howie 's masterpiece??!!
 
I've been reading about a few ingredients that may help with rosacea and, armed with what I found out, I made a small batch of face cream, using the DIY Bath & Body lotion concentrate recipe. It contains Bakuchiol extract and a bit of White Camphor EO (which is, apparently, a cooling oil). Tested the bit that was left on the spatula and it feels nice on my cheeks.

ETA to add photo.

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I made my first beach soap, a fairly obligatory type of soap around here since we’re close to the coast. The ocean currents didn’t blend together has much as I’d hoped, but I’m mostly happy with it, especially the little sharks. No, they’re not soap dough. I’m not that clever. Fragrance is Candle Science’s “Sal de Mer.”
omg these are too cute.
 

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