What is a first "got to have" color/scent??

[AutumnBreezeSoaps]

I'm putting in an order at Bramble Berry and wondering if anyone can share with me their favorite colors/scents or some of their LEAST favs that I should be aware of? It would be of great help! My favorite scents would be orange, lemon, vanilla, and fruity smells. And also, is there a certain lavender you recommend over others? Don't like strong lavender but a lighter scented...possibly mixed with vanilla.
Thank you guys in advance!!!

 

[jules92207]

I am still pretty new to soaping too but I did just buy some Brambleberry fragrances - love the Oatmeal Milk Honey so far, Kentish Rain gave me almost soap on a stick but I also was using quite a bit of palm so that probably didn't help. Have you checked out the sticky about the scent review site in the fragrances section of the forum - highly recommend going to the scent review forum and signing up. You can find reviews for almost every scent out there. Obviously this forum helps immensly as well but its nice to have resources. Also search BB fragrance oil and you will likely find some previous threads about everyones favorite fragrances.

Also, I prefer essential oil for my lavender. I use just the lavender 40/42 eo and love the natural lavender of it. Not too sweet, just right.

 

[Susie]

I have a lot of allergies, so I only use EO's to try to minimize reactions. Citrus EOs have a problem sticking in soap. But lemongrass smells wonderfully lemony, and is relatively well behaved. I pair this with about 1 oz PPO paprika infused olive oil to get a nice lemony color.

 

[IrishLass]

I have, and love these colorants from Brambleberry:

Fizzy Lemonade
Fired up Fuschia

Depending on how much of them I use, and/or if I use a little titanium dioxide with them, I can end up with anything from a neon bright soap to a light, pastel soap.


As for fragrances, these are my favorites from them:

Soapy Clean (reminds me of Tone soap, which I've always loved)

Cranberry Fig (wonderfully fruity and tart, tart, tart! It'll make you pucker.)

Cedar & Saffron (smells like Christmas to me)

Crisp Apple Rose (the perfect blend of fruit and floral. Smells just like its name)

Kentish Rain (a lovely, fresh, unisex, ozone-y scent)

Orange EO 10X (a good strong orange EO that lasts in my soap)

Passionfruit Rose (another perfect blend of fruit and floral, but with the added bonus of serving a dual purpose- it's both a flavor oil and fragrance oil.

Yuzu (a sweet, lovely citrusy/grapefruit scent that smells so good and yummy that I'm always tempted to drink it! lol)


IrishLass

 

[KristaY]

I agree with Susie, the lemongrass is wonderful. I've also recently fallen in love with litsea cubeba. It has a sublte citrus scent but held up well for me in a salt bar (I added a bit of spearmint and peppermint to it too). You can't go wrong with Lavender 40/42 as it's a bit less camphorous and blends well. If you like FOs as well as EOs, BBs Lavender & Herb has gotten rave reviews from my friends and family. For masculine scents I can't say enough good about Tobacco and Bay Leaves, and Vetyver. They soaped really well and my husband & sons can't wait for the cure so they can jump in the shower with them! :razz:

Edit: I forgot to mention my new favorite - Tart Apples. Smells just like a crisp, tart Granny Smith. I just soaped with it a few days ago and had time to do my first 4 color funnel pour. Hopefully it'll still be strong after cure!

 

[Corinne]

I'm one of those crazy nuts who has to have all natural... so I don't have a huge selection of scents to choose from, but Lemongrass EO has got to be one of THE best scents out there. Anything citrus floats my boat, to be honest, so Blood Orange EO is great too. And Peppermint EO is fantastic in both smell and feel. It's super refreshing.

Aside from that I get fragrance, color, and texture from dried botanicals like calendula flowers, poppy seeds, and beet root powder.

In actuality I started making soap for myself, because I'm allergic to a lot of "fragrance". So I don't put FO's in my soaps because if I can't tell what's in them then I don't know if I'll have a reaction to them, or if anyone else will. But I'm an odd one out, haha. If I could use FO's without worry I definitely would!

 

[eucalypta]

Like you I love fruity scents!
The soap scent review board is a must to visit; so helpful!

There are so many gorgeous fragrance oils to choose from!
Unfortunately they don't all behave nicely in CP soap, so what you are looking for are fragrances that
- behave nicely
- don't morph to an unwanted shade of brown (vanilla content), AND
- that stick and don't fade or morph to a kind of toilet refresher.

So I would suggest that you make a list of those fragrances you think you'll love and check those on the review board.

I have not soaped a lot of BB scents, due to availability (it's better now that we have an official BB distributer since a while).

The FO's I like best are:
- Energy (fresh, sticking, dream to work with, no Aor D)
- cucumber melon (very true scent, sticks like hell)
- black raspberry Vanilla (soaps perfect, no discolouring, not too strong though)
- cranberry fig, on of my favs!
- sweet pea, one of the few flowery scents I like
- OMH , if you like edible scenting soap
- Love spell , most people love this scent, a few hate it
- green tea, very unisex ad fresh (a must have, I think)
- then there is pear !!! Moves a little faster, but still workable.

Coconut - the true scent or the tropical one - is always good for me, but I read that they are faders...
(well fortunately there are other suppliers around.)

When it comes to colouring, you'll want a stable and not bleeding colourant, which means choosing from the pigments they have - and micas, but those are not all stable in CP soap! So be careful and pay attention to the detail page, to avoid major disappointment.
I love the BB's neon colours, because they are multi funbctional: when applied sparingly, they give the most amazing pastel colours and you can mix them to create more beautiful colours.
Titanium Dioxide is a must for white soaps or swirls or making pastel colours.
Activated Charcoal I find the best for a black soap.

BB is quite famous for their lab-colors. The CP suitable ones are dyes, which means the will bleed in soap. No problem when you make an single colored soap, but they may also stain on washing cloths or give coloured lather if you use much.

Just my 2 cts.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Their Wasabi is one of my favourite FOs, fresh, yummy and very well behaved. Lavender & green tea is nice as well. I've tried Energy, but didn't like it all, it smells too artifical. Woodland elves is gorgeous in candles around Christmas time, haven't tried it in CP though. I've got Sensuous sandalwood coming in a few days, hopefully it will be nice as the reviews say.
As the colours are concerned, I love their neons, I've been using yellow and pink a lot, they are stable and bright and there is no need to use a lot. Other cheaper ones I got from ebay morph most of the time. I also have merlot and gold micas and they are stable and lovely in soap, don't morph at all.
We only have one supplier of BB goodies here in Oz, they have some, but not all the stuff that can be bought in US. I hope I helped.
Oh and I also have one of their famous silicone molds in the mail, I got sick of lining my wooden molds.

 

[cmzaha]

B&B came out with a Black Amber Lavender that smells fantastic and is very popular. Only problem being, it turns dark brown but is well worth it. I love their Electric Bubble gum colorant

 

[SoapyQueenBee]

The Hungarian Lavender EO from BB is wonderfully spicy/earthy, not too overpowering or floral. I mix mine with vanilla or tonka bean and lemon, and it's very yummy. I have a customer who requests straight lavender, and she loves this one. She's recently changed her favorite lavender from French to Hungarian, because the Hungarian is so different.

I love their colorants, in general, but I definitely personally prefer powder over liquid. I've had far less trouble with incorporation and truer results with the powder.

 

[Obsidian]

Another vote for lemongrass EO. Its great alone or blended with lavender or vanilla. I'm also fond of BB merlot mica, you can make a nice light pink or a deep burgundy with it.
If you are in the market for a cavity mold, the 12 cavity silicone is really great. Its quite thick though so you have to let your bars get good and hard before unmolding.

 

[HoneyLady]

Well, gee whiz!

If I tell YOU, then you'll start making soap with them too, and then where will I be?

1.) I loathe fruity scents, so I don't use them.

2.) I haven't tried colors yet, so can't help there.

3.) Soapy Clean is my #1 seller.

4.) Bonsai is DH's fave scent. He likes the Tobacco & Bay Leaf OOB, but I haven't made any just yet.

5.) Saffron & Honey does very well for me -- no one can "identify" it, but they all like it.

6.) I prefer my O/M/H with OUT almond notes, (or the odd coconut that sometimes appears, ? for some strange reason.) So that's a bust. Haven't found an O/M/H yet that I like.

7.) Beau Brummel is popular with the gents, along with the Bonsai.

Only EO I've used is from WSP, a blend called Mother Earth that people love or hate.

EVERY thing I have bought from BB has been of excellent quality, and their Customer Service is top notch. Their shipping is high from WA to TX, but then they use FedEx, and since I am very rural, FedEx is ALWAYS 50% higher than UPS or USPS. Meh.

Good Luck!
~HoneyLady~

 

[cmzaha]

Lemongrass at New Directions Aromatics (NDA) is much less expensive than B&B's. I do understand the $100 min can be an issue but it is really not hard to spend $100 on eo. Lemongrass at NDA is almonst half the cost of B&B. I personally get a few fo's at B&B and essentials elsewhere

 

[IrishLass]

I've also recently fallen in love with litsea cubeba.

Oh- I forgot about their Litsea Cubeba! I just recently starting using it and I really love it. So fresh and lemony! I only have used it in sprays so far, but boy is it powerful!

6.) I prefer my O/M/H with OUT almond notes, (or the odd coconut that sometimes appears, ? for some strange reason.) So that's a bust. Haven't found an O/M/H yet that I like.

Please forgive me for hijacking, but I just wanted to interject that I once had the same problem finding a good OMH, too. I now blend my own out of Oregon Trails OMH and Daystar's Milk Sugar Kisses, and I love it. To my nose, it's just what OMH should smell like, without any almondy notes or coconutty notes, and it holds up very nice in my CP without any scent-morphing, too.

Okay, hijack over. :silent:

IrishLass

 

[AutumnBreezeSoaps]

WOW so many GREAT ideas! I love Tone soap so I will indeed get the one that smells close to that..thanks for that info! You guys are a great help and now I have a better idea at what I want to order I have to change a few things up.

Thanks again!

 

[cerelife]

I haven't tried many BB FO's, but I DO love Vanilla Vanilla. Not your typical vanilla scent - very complex and sophisticated.
It discolors to a dark brown, but I think it fits with the scent.