what happened to my soap?

[DucknBear Gracie]

I’ve made this soap once before with no issues (other than it setting quite quickly, which I expected again for this time) and this is my second time making it, the only change is I added less may chang EO and also that it’s very warm everywhere (I don’t know how that could’ve effected the colour though) - it’s supposed to look like an egg with a blue background (my mum calls it an egg sunrise) however it’s all gone yellow (not sure if it’s clear in the pic but the blue also has a yellow tone ), I used a yellow mica, blue mica and TD for the white

I didn’t have this issue before and i’m stumped on why it’s happened - I only ordered more oils about a month ago so they’re all pretty new, I don’t know if maybe the heat can mess them up at all, my coconut oil was beginning to melt a bit in its container - could this have caused it?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Can you post a pic of the original? Do you mean it should be yolk, white, and then blue? Soaping in very hot weather can make a huge difference - perhaps your batch overheated? It looks like a colour bleed, but mica doesn't usually bleed.
What else did you use besides oils? Any other additives? Honey or milk could be affected by overheating and thus discolour. Coconut oil will be fine - it always melts in summer time here, and I'm sure with the temperatures you have been experiencing over there it will be good and melted!
Also tell us what your oils were and the percentages - some may cause yellowing.

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

Can you post a pic of the original? Do you mean it should be yolk, white, and then blue? Soaping in very hot weather can make a huge difference - perhaps your batch overheated? It looks like a colour bleed, but mica doesn't usually bleed.
What else did you use besides oils? Any other additives? Honey or milk could be affected by overheating and thus discolour. Coconut oil will be fine - it always melts in summer time here, and I'm sure with the temperatures you have been experiencing over there it will be good and melted!
Also tell us what your oils were and the percentages - some may cause yellowing.

I don't know if I have any of the original batch left - I will check my bathroom cupboard when I'm home and add a pic if I find a bar though! That's the order though - I did wonder if it had overheated, however it hadn't cracked on top at all, which is normally what happens! I've never had bleeding issues with any of my micas,

No additives, all I used was olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter and castor oil (Simple mix, been using it since I first started soaping as I have pretty bad eczema and I know my skin doesn't mind them!) 40%Olive 30%Coconut 20%Shea 10%Castor - never had any issues with them yellowing - I make plain embeds a lot with my recipe, no TD and they have a cream colour to them, but never yellow like that! I wondered if I'd forgotten the TD, however I checked the little pot I use for measuring mica (forgot to wash it!) and I could see it had TD on it so I'm certain I didn't - if I did it still wouldn't have been so yellow! It's very strange, I really can't figure out what would've caused it - the last few batches of soap I made before were just light guest soaps (just TD to whiten) so nothing with any colour that somehow could've left a residue (also all my equipment goes through a dishwasher) the only other thing is that my suppliers changed the may chang EO in some way - I did buy a new bottle to make this batch, however I feel like it would've said somewhere - might email them and ask, I did notice the lemon EO I got from them was a different colour from my previous lot!

I'm glad you've said my coconut will be okay if it melts - Been worrying about it with this heatwave and trying to hide it in cool corners!

 

[Obsidian]

Did you use any scent besides the may chang? I've had some EO turn soap yellow

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

Can you post a pic of the original? Do you mean it should be yolk, white, and then blue? Soaping in very hot weather can make a huge difference - perhaps your batch overheated? It looks like a colour bleed, but mica doesn't usually bleed.
What else did you use besides oils? Any other additives? Honey or milk could be affected by overheating and thus discolour. Coconut oil will be fine - it always melts in summer time here, and I'm sure with the temperatures you have been experiencing over there it will be good and melted!
Also tell us what your oils were and the percentages - some may cause yellowing.

I found a battered bar at the back of the cupboard (I normally keep them in a box, not sure why this one was out ) the designs a bit messy but you can see the colours well!

Did you use any scent besides the may chang? I've had some EO turn soap yellow

Just may chang! From the same suppliers as last time, probably bought the last bottle and made that batch about a year ago - new bottle for this batch, bought a week or 2 ago, didn’t see anything about any changes made to the EO when I ordered it, might contact the supplier and ask

 

[Zing]

For what it's worth, I think you still got good-looking soap!

 

[AliOop]

Did you switch from light OO to extra virgin, by any chance? EVOO has a strong greenish tint that can make soap batter yellow.

Or did you use a different batch of shea butter? Some supplies add yellow colorants to their shea butter to make it brighter.

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

Did you switch from light OO to extra virgin, by any chance? EVOO has a strong greenish tint that can make soap batter yellow.

Or did you use a different batch of shea butter? Some supplies add yellow colorants to their shea butter to make it brighter.

I use olive oil pomace, which I know has a tint to it, however i’ve never had issues with it effecting colours, it’s normally quite mild even in plain soaps - i’ve been using the same olive oil from the same suppliers almost the entire time i’ve been making soap (I get almost all my ingredients from them, apart from some EO as they don’t have a huge selection) The shea butter is from the same place and a reorder as well so I don’t think so, My only guess is the may chang EO has maybe changed somehow and caused the discolouration, I don’t know if they’ve changed something about it in the year since my last bottle!

Here’s another pic of it today, hasn’t changed since being cut and left out - I contacted the suppliers asking if the may chang EO had been changed at all and they said no, i’m even more confused now as that was the only guess I had! I need to make more soap but i’m worried that one of my oils has gone bad (I only got them a month ago, not sure if this heat would cause issues) I know i’d soon find out if I made a batch and it had the same issue, I just don’t want to have another failed batch on my hands!

 

[Becky1024]

I use olive oil pomace, which I know has a tint to it, however i’ve never had issues with it effecting colours, it’s normally quite mild even in plain soaps - i’ve been using the same olive oil from the same suppliers almost the entire time i’ve been making soap (I get almost all my ingredients from them, apart from some EO as they don’t have a huge selection) The shea butter is from the same place and a reorder as well so I don’t think so, My only guess is the may chang EO has maybe changed somehow and caused the discolouration, I don’t know if they’ve changed something about it in the year since my last bottle!

Is your Shea butter creamy white (refined) or yellow (unrefined)? I’ve found that unrefined gives my soap a yellow tint.

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

Is your Shea butter creamy white (refined) or yellow (unrefined)? I’ve found that unrefined gives my soap a yellow tint.

I use refined - I’m going to make a plain, unscented batch and if anything goes yellow i know it’s one of my oils, if not i’ll assume it’s the may chang EO

 

[DucknBear Gracie]

For anyone curious - the culprit was the may chang EO, I had to make some guest soaps and they turned out just fine, so all my oils are fine (phew!) which only leaves may chang (or my micas, however I use them so much and have never had issues so I can rule them out)