Soap Challenges

Soap Club Challenges


This is where I plan to document all my entries into to soap challenges and contest. Before I never use to enter these types of competitions however when you soap for fun anything to make a new loaf is going to be awesome!




Second Soap Challenge

Tall Skinny Shimmy

This is my second soap challenge. I am using the technique known as the tall skinny shimmy  created by Jabones de Casa in October 2013.  I am super excited to try this technique.  For this I will be using the silicone tall and skinny mold from Bramble Berry.  I also will be using the quick mix from Bramble Berry. I wanted to keep the batter simple so I chose to use the quick mix.  This challenge was not as easy as one would think. I tried a total of 4 times to get a good batch lol. I am happy to say I gave it a good try and maybe with more practice I can get the look I really want.

 Here is the entry that I chose to go with:
































I also had some close but no cigar batches here:
























































First Soap Challenge

October 2015

The first challenge that I am entering is in the Amy Warden Great Soap Works challenge.  I will link all the information at the end of the post so if you want to participate you can sign up!


The soap that I decided to enter was my Lavender and Patchouli Bliss. This soap is a blend of 2 parts lavender and 1 part patchouli.  I also used lots and lots of great natural ingredients in this soap since the point of this challenge was to use a liquid other than water in your soap.  For my soap I decided to sub out my water for aloe vera gel (added to lye) and an avocado puree made with aloe vera gel and half an avocado (added at trace).  I got the gel from the inside of 2 large leafs. I put it in a blender with out the skin and made a super nice slushie type mix.  My soap base is made up of 90% coconut oil and 10% avocado oil super fatted at 25%!  Yep I said 25% lol but I like to add a little something extra at the end as a little topper! You can do 20% if you want to but I like a bar that cures hard but still feels very good on my skin.

Benefits of this soap

I know that for this challenge we were just supposed to sub out water for 1 other liquid but I just couldn't do that. I love a soap that is very nourishing on the skin. I love using fresh avocados in my soaps as well a milks. Since this wasn't going to be a milk soap I thought why not use Aloe Vera gel. Instead of pureeing the whole leaf I decided to skin it and only use the lovely goodness on the inside. I use my fish fileting knife to carefully remove the skin from the plant.  Why the aloe plant you may ask well its has a load of things listed below.

Aloe Vera Nutrients

  • Important minerals (like zinc) and antioxidants (like Vitamin A, C & E) that help heal your skin and make it strong and beautiful
  • Super Enzymes - The enzymes of the Aloe plant are very "smart", they destroy dead tissue cells, clean the wounds and skin irritations and allow new cells to replace them.
  • Special Hormones - that accelerates the growth of new healthy cells. This speeds up the healing process.
  • Antihistamine which makes aloe fantastic for skin burns, and allergies.
  • Anti-Microbial and Anti-Viral to fight of infections and viruses and supports the immune system of the the skin.
(source http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/aloe-vera-soap-recipe.html)

Some other awesome benefits of this wonderful plant are:
  • It acts as a moisturizer
  • It treats acne
  • It fights aging
  • It lessens the visibility of stretch marks
  • It treats sunburn



(source material http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7654/the-benefits-of-using-aloe-vera-for-skin-care-and-more.html  please read to get a detailed description of above information)

Now for the avocado in my bar! Avocados treats dehydrated skin which is one awesome benefit of this great fruit.Benefits of avocado include anti-aging. Avocado is an amazing treatment that helps reduce wrinkles. Not only you can apply mashed avocado flesh to your skin as a facial mask, but also, when you eat avocado, it will help fight aging process from within. Everyone wants to keep their youthful good looks for as long, as possible and eating avocados can help. The antioxidants in the fruit will help to detoxify your body and help to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, making your skin more supple and plump. (source http://www.beautyandtips.com/natural-skin-care-products-2/25-benefits-and-uses-of-avocado-for-skin-hair-health-and-beauty/)


Recipe

24.3oz coconut oil
2.7oz Avocado oil
5.6oz of Aloe Vera juice
5oz of avocado aloe vera gel puree
2 tsp. purple Brazilian clay
1 tsp. Activated charcoal



I made this soap the way I normally make my cold process soap with the expectation of the aloe vera.  I froze the gel in ice cube trays and once they were ready I put them in my glass bowl and began adding my lye. Oh this was also sitting in an ice bath to make sure it stays very cold. After much stirring I added the lye solution to my room temperature oils and blend. When I have reached light trace I add in my avocado puree.  From there I separate out about 8 oz of batter and add my activated charcoal to it. I then add my purple Brazilian clay to the large bowl and stir both. I then add my EO's and get ready for my pour. I think a hanger swirl will be ok for this. 

Photo Time!!!!!!!


 






10 comments:

  1. This soap sounds amazing!! I love all the goodies you used. I would be afraid that the green of the avocado would turn the purple clay brown, but it turned out really great!

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    1. I added the avocado mix at very thick trace. I then put it in the freezer right away I always have issues with CO soaps getting to hot and pooling

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    2. I think cause I keep the thread going it looks like you cant comment

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  2. Wow, I love the purple color you created! Im going to have to get some to try. This sounds like a really creamy soap with the Aloe and Avocado. Nice!

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    1. thank you so much I can't believe it either I have tried so many times and this one must have been the planets aligning cause it came out nice. I tried again today and it was muddy

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  3. Thesesre fabulous Beatrice. That purple is perfect! Excellent job on this challenge =) amy

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous! I had no idea you could get such a beautiful purple from this clay! Add yet another item to my gotta' get list!

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  6. The colour you got with the brazilian purple clay is amazing! Lovely swirls. Good job!

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