Scented or unScented soap?

I think we have to agree that God was very generous when shared with us the gift of creativity.
As I go creating some of our products I'm inspired by his own art work and get so passionate by them. Take as an example the dried flowers, nuts, spices and other incredible ingredients we are adding to the soaps that not only give the natural, rustic and beautiful look to the soap and cosmetics but also pour goodness to the skin ...just overwhelming!

I have to confess that every time I add a new raw material to the soaps a new world open just in front of me: smells, colors and touch...so beautiful.
I made a little cupcake using some glycerin left over and added a little bit of Chamomile flowers on top of it...my goodness...the dried flowers changed completely the scent of the soap...that little experience encouraged me to make some scent and color FREE soaps which will be indicated to people with very sensitive skin and can't tolerate fragrance or coloring in a product.
My first one was an Exfoliating mini loaf bar made with finally grated star anise and the end result was a gorgeous liquorice smell in a soap that people can slice at their heart content or share with guests and friends. I also added in this soap some Vitamin E Oil to help with skin healing.

Then I made a very moisturising and healing soap (which I'm using now!) with Powdered Vanilla pod and Shea butter. I mixed it all into a base with Goat's milk powder...owwwww... That's a very creamy and delightful soap.

The Vanilla make it looks so beautiful and if your sense of smell is very sharp you will be able to get some faint scent of vanilla. The Shea butter moisturise, protects and heals the skin and Goat's milk has acids which acts as a natural AHA, exfoliating dead skin cells and balancing the pH of the new, healthy skin underneath.
These little loaves are great to share with friend, slice and give as gifts or keep all for your self...they are that good!
Visit our Webpage to see the other unscented and scented versions:
www.scentcosmetics.com

Permission to create!

I gained permission to enter the lab!!!

I am permitted into the lab but noramlly it is to make items in which the recipe is either straightforward or scripted so there is no margin for error.

This time - was different.  I went over to make some more "Strangford Stones" but came out with my first three bars of soap totally unauthorised by Carla.

My first was a relatively simple soap - gorgeous but not very challenging.  Perfect to wet my thirst for more.  It was a bath toy in a little blue pond of soap.  I was so enchanted by my innate soap-making ability that I decided to make 6!


Second soap actually came out of soap that Carla didn't feel she could use.  Tempted to throw it out (an absolute sin in our house as we can use anything) Carla said I had permission to use it.  This soap was initially made out of some Calla Lilly Soaps, some soap base and a strawberry paper soap that she had yet decided what to do with.  The result was this.  I impressed myself.  I should add it wasn't quite what I had in mind.  It was supposed to look like a pink ribbon running through the soap which I had planned to sell in aid of a cancer charity we were supporting.  First attempt didn't go so well but I think this is a mighty fine rescue!

Third soap to make it to the finishing line came from a desire to use some new molds I had ordered from Canada.  As Carla is an artist at heart I think these molds may limit her creativity.  Interestingly they provide me with a creative pallet from which to work.  Looking at the molds we had in offer I decided to try making a Tulip.  It involves making the core tulip and stem first followed by pouring in the base soap and the top layer.  Temperatures, timing as well as the usual issue with air bubbles, fragrances and colours do make it a difficult bar to master.  After an initial disaster at step one of the tulip I surprised myself in making a bar we could be proud to sell.  Actually, all three soaps all worthy of retail.



It is decided then.  I am a creative genius!  (in the making) NOT!

The day things got soapy!

Painting peach soap

The final touch

Peaches ripe and ready to pick!

Some people might wonder how in earth we started this little soap adventure of ours... so here's how we started getting all soapy. We were on holiday in Brasil (yes, Brasil is written with a "S"!) and came across a great project called JEAME which works with young people who live in Sao Paulo's streets and are addicted to heroin.  Verna, the worker, met us with a project idea. The project was to move our little "fostering family" to live in a small farm and help re-abilitate "foster" young people while they were attempting get off drugs.

We would offer a "family life" and teach them as much things as we could (home schooling, a trade etc. We thought that teaching them to make they own candles or soaps would help when they were in need of money once when leaving the farm.  Understanding how to sell bread, soap, candles etc is an easy way to make an income on the streets so a person won't be tempted to prostitute themselves.

Garreth also noticed that people over there had such low income and could still end up making everything for themselves in order to save money (they make cleaning products, bread, soaps, candles etc), the entrepreneurs even sell from the home to try and generate an income. He couldn't believe that such skills were forgotten at home and he resented paying a fortune for things he should be able to make.

...so we decided that soap making could be one trade we could teach. My sister found the classes with an incredible soap artist called Peter Paiva and within days the adventure begin with soap parties, stalls, creativity, fragrances and so on. Unfortunately the project in Brasil didn't work for us but we brought the idea home aiming to grow as a business to be self sustainable and in time towards a social enterprise which will engage and help our community localy (working with young people, elderly, ex convicts, etc) and abroad (We try to use as much fairly traded and organic materials we can so the world is also blessed by what we do...that also means that some of our stuff is a bit more pricy so be aware that our pricy means most of time FAIR and JUST!).

We are starting as we are able: slowly, dedicated and hopeful. You all are more than welcome to go through this with us. I'm sure we are going to create and have great fun! Right now we are working in some "gift soap range" with hand painted fruits and other nice stuff.

We just opened our ETSY shop and you can go and have a look if you wish.


www.etsy.com/shop/scentcosmetics

Before you go have a look at these websites:

 Jeame - Work with street kids in Sao Paulo - Brasil: The site can be read in English.

www.jeame.org


Peter Paiva soap website: He is just an amazing artist and business man. A very passionate young man who was my teacher in Brasil. The site is written in Portuguese, but you can see the photos.

www.peterpaiva.com.br

Post soon,
Tchal