pure lemon calendula

here you go my lovlies! my next pure natural soap: pure lemon calendula!

I infused calendual petals (that I grow at my allotment in Bushy Park, right next to Hampton Court Palace) in olive oil for about a month. The petals gave the oil a subtle yellow hue, which you can see in the finished bars. I also blitzed some of the petals into the warm soaping oils to give the soap some nice texture, and happily some lovely yellow speckles. I am very happy with how it looks!

it is scented with may chang essential oil, for a lemon fizz scent, which is just so pretty and fresh, and just makes me smile!

May is citrus bliss month!

May, and it's time for a special offer methinks! I am offering a few deals on all my citrus bliss range throughout the month of May!  Firstly, this week, I am offering a free bar of delicious citrus bliss handmade soap made with white tea infusion and french yellow clay, with each purchase of a citrus bliss creamy sugar scrub and double whipped citrus bliss organic shea btter cream.  to get your free bar of citrus bliss soap, just enter the code MAYCITRUS into the comments box as you checkout with paypal when your purchase a scrub and shea butter together.  This offer will be available until May 21st, and I'll be running a couple of other citrus based offers during the rest of the month.

white spring pure patchouli handmade soap

this is the second of my pure naturals range, after the beer naked ladies soap. This one is very special to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, patchouli has been, and always will be my favourite scent. I have loved it and worn it ever since I discovered it in the late eighties as a teenager. Secondly, the water part of this soap is White Spring water that I collected direct from the spring outlet at the base of Glastonbury Tor. I was there meeting up with some wonderful soap making ladies from a soaping forum, for a birthday weekend.
the white spring well house & entrance:

the white spring outlet:

we walked up to the top of the Tor and sat for a while, soaking up the energy.  Later, once we had returned to the bottom of the Tor, we found the White Spring outlet and drank some of the pure clean water. It was delicious. We vowed to return the next morning to collect some water. (I now wish I had collected more!)

The soap is very indulgent on my part, as I love patchouli so much, and it was clear in my mind that it was the perfect one to use the spring water I had collected. I wanted it to make it pure and simple, and it is just that, pure soap full of Glastonbury energy :)

the soap:

my Li Ban Ireland giveaway haul!

hooray! I received a parcel stuffed full of wonderful treats from the equally wonderful Rose at Li Ban Ireland!

here's my haul: Fantasia soap (so glad i got this one!) peppermint lip balm, Mayan bath milk fizz (over the moon with this as Mayan is my fave scent from Li Ban), a natural scrunchie and wee scoop for the bath fizz.

 

I feel completely spoiled, and I can't wait to soak in the tub after my yoga class tomorrow night with a huge mug of hot chocolate :) Thankyou Rose! :)

beer soap

I make what may be referred to as 'natural' soap. I use only plant, clay or mineral colours, and almost all my soaps are fragranced with essential oils. I would like this to be 100%, but right now, I have a few that I fragrance wih quality UK/EU accredited fragrance oils. I am working on getting to the 100%, but clever blending is required when the scent I am aiming for would normally be from either an endangered species (sandalwood for example) or prohibitively expensive for use in soap making (eg. rose).  My rose garden soap is now in the final blending stage using floral essential oils and rose wax (by product of manufacturing rose absolute) to get the fresh rose bloom scent I am aiming for.

this is my current range l-t-r: coolcumber, barenakedlady, kitchen garden, gingergrass, provence, dreamy, rose garden, lemon soul, herbal fusion, sweet contemplation, citrus bliss.

I have long been thinking of a simple, single note range of soaps to compliment my existing range, kind of plain and rustic, back to basics if you will. There would not be any swirls, textured tops or colour blends. I have no reason other than the desire to do this as my basis for a new range of uber simple soaps.

So begins my foray into beer soaps, herbal infusion soaps and plain, one scent (single note) soaps.  I have come up with so far: unscented beer soap, patchouli soap, sandalwood soap and calendula infused soap (I grow pot marigolds every year at my allotment, so I'll be able to make my own infusion) I will have to resist the urge to colour, to blend and to generally frou frou these soaps. They will be basic and wonderful. they will be super natural!

 calendula (pot marigolds)

first up: beer soap

I wanted to use locally brewed ale, and discovered, to my joy, that there is a small brewery based in Twickenham making delights such as sundancer, gothic dark and the one I picked to use this time, naked ladies. Having left to go flat in the fridge for a few days, then simmered the alcohol off gently, I pressed ahead with an unscented beer soap, made in the slow cooker (hot process) so that it will be ready to use almost right away, but I shall leave it to dry and mellow for a couple of weeks anyway.

the bars are flat and smooth, plain and simple. I love them. they smell faintly of hops, and are a gorgeous caramel colour. The lather (due to the sugars in the ale) is unbelievable, rich and creamy and I think you'll love it!

presenting: 'beer naked ladies handmade soap'

 

I won!

Wow! I actually won a competition!
Remember the Li Ban Ireland competition I posted about a few days ago? Well, I was randomly selected, and I won first prize! Wooo Hooo! I can't wait to see what the goodie bag is, very exciting!

thank you to Rose at Li Ban ireland for running the giveaway! hurrah!