Caffeinated Cocoa Butter Soap

Way back in July I shared a set of Princess Baby Shower Favors, and one of the favors was some homemade Caffeinated Cocoa Butter Soap.  I figured it was about time that I shared the recipe. 

I created this recipe, because I wanted a soap with a high concentration of cocoa butter in it, and I couldn't find a recipe like that out there. I also decided that coffee as my liquid would would really compliment the lovely natural scent of the cocoa butter. As with all of my soaps, this soap is palm oil free.

The coffee grounds (which are optional), added at trace, make this an exfoliating bar as well. The coffee gives the bar a lovely light brown color. This soap does take a bit to come to trace, so just keep mixing! If you're new to soap making, this is an easy recipe, but make sure you read up on the steps of safe soap making first as I'm only supplying the recipe here, not the details.

Caffeinated Cocoa Butter Soap Recipe
10 oz cocoa butter
8 oz coconut oil
8 oz olive oil
6 oz soybean oil
3 oz castor oil
4.8 oz lye
12 oz brewed double strength coffee (chilled) - reserve some of the used grounds to add at trace

Optional Added at Trace:
 1- 2 Tbs coffee grounds (I used 2 Tbs, and it's a little scratchy for me, but I have very sensitive skin)
.5 oz essential oil (vanilla or almond would be nice with this recipe)

This recipe is 6% superfatted

This soap is great for men or women.
Please don't hesitate to leave me a message if you have questions about this recipe or if you try it.

If you'd like to see how I packaged this soap up for a gift, check out my Princess Party Favor Post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Mango Butter Soap

I have another soap recipe to share with you today.  It's a Summer Mango Butter Soap made with goat's milk.  I wanted a soap that was a bit heavier on mango butter than any recipe I could find on the internet, so I came up with my own.  Mango butter is richly moisturizing, is great for treating cuts and skin rashes, and isn't as greasy feeling as shea butter. Oh, and it smells amazing! I used in in a lotion bar as well (I'll have to share that recipe another time!), and it's just as good a soap as it is in a lotion bar.

I've been using this soap for a few weeks now, and it is luxurious, moisturizing, and silky smooth.  The color in the photo is natural and comes from the mango and the goats milk.  I call this soap summer soap for a few reasons.  There's just something about mango butter that feels like it should be in a summer soap.  This soap is also made from my friend's goat's milk (thanks Julie!), and using milk instead of water adds extra moisture (by way of fat) to the lotion.  Finally, I added some castor oil to make it lather nicely. Please note, I do not use palm oil in any of my soap making. I've found that soybean oil and olive oil make very nice alternatives. Now on to the recipe (as with all my soap recipes, I'm just sharing the recipe.  There are lots of great tutorials out there on making cold process soap, so it's just the recipe here).

Summer Mango Butter Soap

8 oz Mango Butter 

16 oz Olive Oil

10 oz Coconut Oil

8 oz Soybean Oil

2 oz Castor Oil

6 oz Lye

14 oz Goat Milk

Optional 2 oz essential oils at trace (lavender and orange go very nicely with this soap)

Because of some of the oils used in this soap, I do like to let it cure for closer to 6 - 8 weeks. However, using it after 4 weeks won't hurt anything, it just won't be as hard a bar of soap as if you allow it longer curing time.  If you make it now, it will be ready just in time for the summer!

Thanks for stopping by!

Beer Shaving Soap

My latest obsession is making soap.  My first soap was Coconut Shea Butter Soap, and after trying it, I was hooked.  Not only do I love figuring out what the different oils will be like when combined, I enjoy the process of making a 100% natural soap (I just don't love the waiting time while it cures!).  I ran across a few recipes for using beer instead of water in soap making.  I thought it sounded like fun, so I came up with my own recipe for beer using some of my favorite ingredients.

I've been using this soap for about a 2 weeks now, and it's fast become my favorite.  The beer gives it a really rich, creamy lather.  I call this shaving soap because I added a bit of castor oil to make the foam nice and stable, which makes it especially good for shaving.  I also added a bit of eucalyptus essential oil, because I thought it complimented the earthy smell that the beer gives the soap.  As an added bonus, since it's made with beer, my husband is willing to use homemade soap now.  Here's the recipe:

Beer Shaving Soap

8 oz Coconut Oil
8 oz Olive Oil
12 oz Soybean oil
3 oz Castor oil
4.3 oz Lye
11 oz Beer

.5 oz Eucalyptus oil (optional)

Have you made soap with beer? I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Homemade Soap and Handmade Valentines

My kids like to give store bought candy valentines to their friends, so we buy those. But sometimes it's fun to make a little something special for the teachers and aides.  My very first batch of homemade soap happened to be ready just in time for Valentine's Day. Today I'm going to share my recipe for homemade soap, and share some pictures of how I packaged it up for some handmade valentines. 

 Inside each one of the bags is a bar of soap.

These were really easy to package up.  I made a paper wrap from a single strip of patterned paper and a printable label.  Then I slipped them in these pretty little treat bags.  While the perfect color for Valentine's Day, these pretty printed bags are from Pebbles Inc's  Special Delivery baby girl collection (coming to stores very soon!). 

I sealed the bags shut with a piece of washi tape (that stuff is just so darn useful!).  I punched 2 little holes through the top of the bag.  I then wrote a quick note ("You're a soaper teacher!") on a Pebbles Yours Truly tag and threaded it through the holes in the bag. I finished it off with a little sticker matching sticker in the corner of the bag. 

For those of you who like making soap. I thought I'd share my recipe.  If you haven't made cold process soap before there are a lot of really good step by step tutorials if you search on-line.  I'm not going to re-invent that wheel.  However, I did come up with this recipe on my own. I wanted something that used shea butter, and I built from there.  If you're just getting into making soap, I'd really encourage you to find out about different oil and butters and how they effect your soap.  It's really interesting to find which ones clean well, which ones lather up well, which ones are super moisturizing...etc. Anyways, here's the recipe I came up with.  After 4 weeks the pH is testing at about a 9, so it's in just about the perfect range.

Coconut Shea Butter Soap 

(5% superfatted)

 10 oz olive oil
10 oz coconut oil
5 oz shea butter
6 oz soybean oil

 4.3 oz lye
5 oz water

5.25 oz coconut milk

Thanks for stopping by!