Soap Queen

Essential Oils Enhance Your Life

Anne-Marie Faiola — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 20:01:00 +0000

I pored over our sales reports for the last few months today. I realized that our essential oil line has been sadly underutilized in sales lately. I’m unsure if it’s because we started out as a fragrance oil company ten years ago and are mostly thought of as primarily a fragrance oil company. Or if it’s because our pricing/quality is judged as sub par. If it’s the latter, someone please put me out of my misery and tell me.

I’m half way through my certification for Medical Aromatherapy and loving the course! These are some things I’ve learned lately:

* Removing parts of the essential oil (for example, removing terpenes from essential oils to make them more friendly to perfuming) hurts the overall effect of the essential oil. The whole sum of the parts for essential oil is important to keeping their full therapeutic value.

* Famous researcher Paolo Rovestsi showed that inhaling essential oils of rose and lavender reduced feelings of depression and anxiety. Imagine combining that research with a brisk 30 minute run or walk outside to try and combat depression without prescription drugs!

* Only 1% of flowering plants produce an essential oil in any significant amount.

If you’d like to be introduced to Essential oils, Bramble Berry carries the neatest little starter essential oil starter kit. It has everything you need to start exploring the world of aromatherapy.

We also carry a huge line of essential oils, organic essential oils and synergy blends. I am currently burning the Calming Synergy Blend in my bedroom in the evenings and am loving the scent and effect.

Some ideas for improving your life through essential oils:

* put a 5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil on freshly laundered socks before tossing into the drier. Your entire load will come out smelling of calming lavender.

* fill a bowl with water. Put 15 drops of an uplifting essential oil like Peppermint, Bergamot, or Lemongrass into the water. Inhale deeply to wake yourself up and then soak a washcloth in the aromatic water. Wring the wash cloth out, toss it on the floor of your car and enjoy the fragrance all day as the washcloth dries out.

* Make a nighty-night linen spray by mixing 2 oz distilled water with 20 drops of Calming or Sleepy Time Synergy Blends. Shake well before use each and every time and of course, test on an inconspicuous place on your linens before dousing your entire bed. It’s impossible to predict which fabrics will bleed and fade.

There are many more uses for essential oils in soaps, lotions, face and body preparations and massage (to name a few!). Watch for more posts about using essential oils in your daily life. I am very inspired by my Aromatherapy Certification Course and look forward to sharing more essential oil tidbits over the next few months.

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Palm Oil – A mixed bag

Anne-Marie Faiola — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 04:07:00 +0000

Palm Oil is one of my favorite oils in soapmaking. It contributes to a harder bar and also helps Coconut Oil do its job and lather up big bubbles. Unfortunately, there are some negative repercussions from using Palm Oil to the environment.

How can something natural be harmful to the environment? Demand for palm oil is the leading cause for rainforest deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Friends of the Earth. The land occupied by palm oil plantations has doubled in the last ten years in Indonesia, endangering the habitat of the orangutan, Asian elephant and the Sumatran tiger.These planations pollute the soil and water with use of pesticides.

Things that you can do if you’re a soapmaker using Palm Oil: try to use Olive, Sunflower and Canola in larger porportions in your recipe. Buy sustainably grown Palm Oil that is grown in rehabilitated agricultural areas or from smaller farms that don’t harm animal habitat and migration patterns. You can support companies that are part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Production, cofounded by the World Wildlife Fund.

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Essential Oil Safety Guidelines

Anne-Marie Faiola — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:29:00 +0000

General Guidelines for working with essential oils

– keep away from fire or naked flame
– store in a cool place
– keep out of sunlight
– plastic bottles are a no as they allow the essential oil to evaporate and take on the plastic smell; additionally, plastic bottles generally collapse as they start to absorbe the essential oil
– expensive essential oils should be kept in the fridge
– wash your hands after using essential oils
– if you mix your essential oil with a fixed oil to make it skin safe, keep in mind that your fixed oil has a shorter shelf life than your essential oil and may go rancid. Always mix in small batches.
– essential oils can stain and also remove nail polish and furniture finish
– have an eye rinse station nearby. If you get essential oils in your eyes, use milk or a carrier oil first to help neutralize the oil and then move on to water
– essential oils are generally not soluble in water
– essential oils do not mix well with computers, pets, children, furniture, carpet and even indoor plants
– make sure your bottles are labeled correctly
– use caution when working around essential oils if you have any open cuts or wounds
– essential oils can negate the effect of sensitive homeopathy remedies
– some essential oils are photo sensitizers, like bergamot, orange eo and most citrus essential oils
– only buy your essential oils from a reputable place. If you can find rose essential oil for $5, it’s not real.
– if you are pregnant, be extra careful with essential oils during your first trimester
– when working with undiluted essential oils, keep a good air flow in the room
– always have a fire extinguisher near by. Essential oils are volatile, flammable liquids.

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How to Felt Soap

Anne-Marie Faiola — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:23:00 +0000

Thank you to Two Tadpoles, Teresa, One Bubble, Amber’s Ambry, and Soapaholics Anonymous for the blog shout outs this week.

Heidi, your heat transfer method soap pictured above looks amazing. The texture really adds interest to the bar.

Teresa, the soap (pictured on right) that your boys made is adorable! I love that you are creating positive memories with your boys, utilizing this fun art form.

Thank you to the Soap Queen reader that alerted me to this YouTube video on how to felt soap.

Feedblitz subscribers, you have to go to the blog to see the video. If you make CP soap and every have ugly CP soap that you want to salvage, the video is worth watching.

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Weight Versus Volume

Anne-Marie Faiola — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 19:43:00 +0000

This is a candle I made with 100% Stearic Acid. Why Stearic Acid? Because I saw some candles at a high end gift shop that were made with “Palm Wax.” They were very expensive candles and I thought, “Gosh, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil. I wonder if I could just use Stearic Acid for my candle?” The natural Palm Wax candle at the store had a cool, crystallized look. The candle in the photo, though difficult to see, does have a crystalline, unique look that is high end and sophisticated. Success!

I measured out 16 ounces volume of Stearic Acid for my candle. For this project, I used Stearic Acid, Carrot Cake (discontinued – see all our candle fragrances here), the cotton core WU-250 wick and a Bramble Berry’s Candle Container.

Check out what 16 ounces volume looks like melted down! This illustrates why it’s important to always use weight when making any recipes. It’s a more precise crafting method. Precision and predictability is important for crafters. You can cost better and ensure less batch variation when you weigh out products rather than using volume.

I fragranced the candle with a full .5 ounces of fragrance. I like my candles strong and use a full 1 ounce of fragrance per pound (weight) of wax. Then, I carefully poured the wax, taking care not to spill all over the table. Finally, I positioned the wick in the center, propped up the wick on either side to ensure that the wick would remain straight and waited.

The candle burns well but next time, I’ll either use the WU-150 wick or experiment with a little Soy Wax addition to soften up the wax for an easier burn. The 100% Palm Stearic Acid candle is harder than I expected so the candle isn’t burning fully out to the edges. But, overall, the experiment is a success. The candle looks unique and interesting, burns well and has excellent scent throw.

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Hot Oil Hair Treatment – Recipe & Technique

Anne-Marie Faiola — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 18:19:00 +0000

I have been addicted to hot oil hair treatments since I was about 12 years old. I used to warm the oil up, put it on my hair, and then rinse it out with apple cider vinegar/baking soda. I’m not sure that the last part of my hair treatment was all that healthy but I swore by it.

Well, I’m a bit older now but still addicted to hair oil for a deep conditioning treatment. I normally toss together whatever the new oil de jour is with some jojoba and essential oils (Geranium and Lavender are my standbys).

Last night, I got inspired and made a more serious attempt at a conditioning hair oil.

First, I infused some sesame seed oil/unrefined hemp seed oil with herbs of calendula, and Fenugreek. Fenugreek is traditionally used in India by infusing the seeds into yogurt and using the mixture as a hair conditioner. I did a luke warm infusion and simmered the oil on low for an hour with the herbs. I strained the oil with a makeshift strainer – a coffee filter lining my pasta drainer.
You can see by the oil that it is very dark after the infusion. The unrefined hemp seed oil is a natural dark green brown color to start and the infusion darkened it.

The infusion was the time intensive part. The rest is easy. My recipe looks like this:

2 oz. Hemp and Seseme Infused oil

2 oz. Castor Oil

2 oz. Fractionated Coconut Oil

1 oz. Evening Primrose Oil

1 oz. Avocado Oil

1 oz. Soybean Oil

Essential Oil Blend: .25 oz. Carrot Seed Oil, .10 oz. Frankincense CO2 Extracted, .25 oz. Basil Essential Oil, .15 oz. Cedarwood EO, .15 oz. Rosemary EO

After I had all the oils assembled, it was a quick pour into the bottle and voila! A lovely, stimulating scalp and hair oil.

Directions for use: Massage into scalp and hair. Leave on for a minimum of 20 minutes. Wash and condition your hair like normal to rinse the hair oil out.

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Tips on Soap Photography

Debbie — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 18:16:00 +0000

Since I started making soaps, I always wanted to take pictures of my projects. Even before I sold them online I wanted to keep an album of what I made. When I started to sell them on Etsy I realized that good photography was essential to being successful. Unfortunately I had no experience with product photography, but over the last few years I’ve learned a few things (check out my flickr account to see my online portfolio). Here are some tips for those of you who don’t feel all that comfortable with a digital camera or aren’t totally satisfied with your pictures:

Lighting
Do you marvel at those pictures that have a completely white background with no shadows at all? Me, too. I still don’t know how to do that perfectly, but I find that natural light gives me the most realistic colors possible. I NEVER use my flash!

When I set up to take a picture, I use a little mini-studio that I made. With one 12″ square piece of white foam core (found at art supply stores) as my floor, and one 12″x24″ piece (scored so it folds) as my background, I create a little area that reflects light from my window to minimize shadows. I can use it as is or put sheets of colored paper inside. To take away any distracting corners in the background, I let the paper bend up onto the back wall (as shown). See how pretty the light is?

Color and composition

One concept I learned in elementary school art class that I still use today is “complimentary colors”. Here’s how I remember mine: there are 3 primary colors (blue, yellow, red). Take one (blue for example), then mix the other 2 colors (yellow + red = orange) and you have your complimentary colors. In the picture above I had an orange soap, so I used blue as the background. For whatever reason, our eye loves seeing complimentary colors together. Red and green for example! This always helps me set up my color scheme when color is important. I did that for the Energy Bar, too. The primary color was orange so I chose a blue plate. Have a stack of colored and patterned papers around and play with combinations until you find one you like.

Composition is important to make your photos interesting. Try stacking them, putting one on an angle, or using props. You’re basically making a little “still life” so be creative!

Cropping and touching up
When you’re done, use your photo software (I use a cheesy one from Office Max that was $9), and crop the photo tightly. You want your soap to be the focus, so don’t waste any of your viewer’s energy on empty space. If you’re selling on Etsy, crop it square. Then, if you have shadows or smudges, learn how to touch them up. To get a very bright, crisp picture, use your “brightness” and “contrast” settings to fine tune your lighting. But be careful! You don’t want it to look unrealistic.

As you keep taking pictures, you’ll find your own style. I focus on color and humor, but you may want something earthy and natural. Outdoors on a branch may be your favorite setting when you get comfortable. So have fun and your work will shine!

-Debbie, Soapylove

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Test post

ProFusion Developer — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:55:49 +0000

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Grapefruit Lily Blends

Anne-Marie Faiola — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 13:51:00 +0000

Have you tried Grapefruit Lily before? It’s a lighter, romantic fragrance with a clean finish. Though this fragrance is heavy on the Lily notes, the touch of Grapefruit makes it an intriguing scent. It’s also a fun scent to blend. I’ve included a few blends below that really make this fragrance a great one to keep in some way, shape or form year round. I hope you enjoy them and if you have any to share with your fellow Soap Queen readers, please let comment. I’d love to know what you’re doing with this fragrance.

Blend #1
3 parts Grapefruit Lily
1 part Mango Mango
1 part Ginger Lime

Blend #2
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
1.5 parts Gardenia
1.5 parts Raspberry Violet

Blend#3
2.5 parts Grapefruit Lily
2.5 parts Apricot Freesia

Blend #4
3 parts Grapefruit Lily
1 part Lily of Valley, Cybilla
1 part Romance (Discontinued)

Blend #5
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
2 parts Coconut, Cybilla
1.5 parts Sandalwood Vanilla

Blend #6
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
2 parts Vanilla Select
1 part Spearmint Essential Oil

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Lori Nova’s Top Ten Essential Oils

Anne-Marie — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:15:24 +0000

Big thanks to Lori Nova from The Nova Studio for this Guest Blog. Lori is going to be teaching her amazing swirl technique and colorant class at the Soap Intensive Weekend at Otion this year. Class attendees are in for a huge treat. Lori’s Guest Blog is below:

While preparing for my upcoming 2-Day Soap Making Boot Camp, I began to realize that there are some essential oils that are crucial to me for Cold Process Soap Making. Even though I occasionally use oils that are not on this list, without these oils I would be hard pressed to make amazing soap at an affordable price.

The reasons that I use/choose these oils time and time again is…

1) they smell great in CP soap,
2) they are reasonably priced and I can afford to buy a 16 ounce bottle of them, and
3) many of them blend well with each other, creating dozens or more of possible combinations.

Here’s my Top 10 List:

1: Lavender(use .7 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
2: 5-Fold Sweet Orange (use .5 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
3: Petitgrain (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
4: Lemon (use .9 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
5: Litsea Cubeba (use .5 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
6: Spearmint (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
7: Lime (use .9 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
8: Peppermint (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
9: Rosemary (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
10: Anise (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)

My favorite COMBINATIONS with these ten Essential Oils:

~Lemon & Litsea Cubeba
~Lavender & Litsea Cubeba
~Lavender & Any Citrus (Orange, Lemon, Lime, etc.)
~Lavender & Any Mint
~Lavender & Rosemary
~Rosemary & Lemon
~Rosemary & Spearmint
~Lime & Spearmint (aka Mojito)
~Anise & Lavender
~Anise & Sweet Orange
~Petitgrain & Sweet Orange
~Peppermint & Lemon
~Peppermint & Spearmint (aka Doublemint)

How to figure out how much essential oils to use in Cp soap making:

Refer to “my list” above about for how much is recommended to use per pound of oil/fat.
How many pounds (of oil/fat) does your recipe have?
Let’s say you are making a 4-pound batch of oil/fats (fyi – 4 pounds = 64 ounces)
You multiply 4 x the amount of E.O. recommended.

To demonstrate, I’ll use Anise & Lavender.
Anise is recommended at .5 per pound of oil/fat.
So… 4 (lbs of oil) x .5 = 2.0 ounces of Anise (if you were using only Anise for the entire 4-lb batch).
and 4 (lbs of oil) x .7 = 2.8 ounces of Lavender (if you were using only Lavender)
Since you are using a combination of oils, divide each by 2.
So for Anise, it’s 2 divided by 2 = 1 (ounce of anise for the whole batch, in combo with lavender)
So 2.8 divided by 2 = 1.4 (ounces of lavender for the whole batch, in combo with anise).

So the end result for an Anise & Lavender Soap would be:
1 ounce of Anise AND 1.4 ounces of Lavender

Remember – these are guidelines for Cold Process Soap Making only and this is only a place to start. After making your first batch, if it comes out smelling more like one oil and you want it the other way around, feel free to adjust the amounts until you find exactly the scent you are looking for.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and find it helpful in scenting your Cold Process soap.

Please feel free to post a comment below and share your favorite “can’t live without” essential oils for CP soap making and also the combinations you love the most.

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