Author: Kirsty

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Fragrance of the Week

Each week we showcase one of our many fragrance oils. Take the opportunity to try something new, or grab an old favourite.

Terms & Conditions

  1. Fragrance of the Week sale entitles the purchaser to 10% off the product price for the duration of the week beginning Monday 12.01am – Sunday 11.59pm
  2. Excludes 5 litre and bulk/wholesale sizes
  3. No further discounts apply. Can not be used in conjunction with other promotions or discounts.
  4. No backorders or holds.
  5. The Fragrance of the Week can not be substituted for a different fragrance.

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Basic Shampoo Bar

Myself and my family have been testing various shampoo bar recipes for literally months. We’ve had more than a few duds (a bar that turned to mushy goop as soon as it gets wet, or the bar with un-melted SCI noodles that look like worms to name a few)

But now we have it. The shampoo bar recipe that has passed the test phase and is ready to go out into the world!

As with all my recipes, I try to make them as accessible to as many people as possible, which means I don’t use lots of fancy ingredients that could be unaffordable to some people. I’m going to be releasing more shampoo bar recipes in the future with some of these fancier ingredients, but rest assured, this basic bar is perfectly fine and if this is the only shampoo bar you ever make, you’re golden!

Ingredients

Phase A
128g SCI – powdered (it’s very important you use the powdered SCI)
88g Cocamidopropyl betaine

Phase B
20g Coconut oil
12g BTMS-50
2g Stearic acid

Phase C
124g SLSa
8g Sodium lactate

Phase D
6g Natural silicone
2g Liquid germal plus
4g Fragrance or essential oil

Tools & Equipment

Hot plate
Double boiler or pot
Heat safe bowl
Scales
Spoon
6 x Handmade Soap Moulds
Dust mask

Instructions

  1. Setup a double boiler to a low heat. You want the water just below boiling, so it’s hot enough to melt what’s in the bowl, but not so hot that the water is boiling away and spitting out of the pot. To do this fill a pot of water about half way up (I start with boiling water so it doesn’t take long to get going), then place a bowl on top of the pot. If you’ve ever melted chocolate before, this is the exact same thing.
  2. Weigh the SCI and Cocamidopropyl betaine (Phase A) and put into the bowl to begin melting. Please be gentle when stirring so you don’t create extra dust, and make sure you wear a dust mask to avoid irritating your airways.

    Because this recipe uses SCI powder, it only takes a few minutes to melt and turn into a thick mashed potato like consistency.
  3. Next add Phase B ingredients. Leave to melt. Stirring as you go. The consistency will get thick and gloopy.
  4. Add the SLSa, and very gently mix into the paste. I like to fold it in as if I were baking. This helps to minimize the dust cloud.
  5. Once you have a really thick mashed potato consistency. Add the sodium lactate and mix well. I use the back of my spoon to really smoosh things down so I get rid of any little clumps of powder and get a nice smooth texture. It should be like really thick, smooth mashed potato
  6. Take off the double boiler and add Phase D. Mix well.
  7. Now scoop out some mixture and plop it into the mould. There isn’t really an elegant way to do this, just glop it and go! Try and smooth down the shampoo with the back of the spoon. I also found using a hot knife worked really well to smooth the bars – just like icing a cake!
  8. Pop the bars into the freezer for an hour or two. Then simply press the shampoo bars out of the moulds and set aside to harden overnight.

Notes

  • You can add colour to these bars using mica, or another cosmetic colourant. Start with 1/4tsp of mica added with Phase B
  • Choose any skin safe fragrance or essential oil blend you like!
  • We recommend using powdered SCI for this recipe. You can use the noodles, but it could take about an hour to melt instead of the few minutes it takes the powder
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Caffeinated Body Cream

REPOSTED 11 July 2019

This recipe was originally posted on our website waaay back in June 2015. Following some recent media coverage on how caffeine powder can be highly toxic and even deadly when ingested in large doses (which it absolutely is!), we thought we’d re-share the recipe and show the reason why WE sell caffeine powder.

Please be aware, that we don’t sell caffeine powder for the purpose of ingesting or making supplements. Our products should be used externally only!

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Following on from my post about why Caffeine is so wonderful I thought I’d share the recipe for my very first attempt at incorporating powdered caffeine into a cream. I have to say it’s turned out A-MA-ZING! I’m not sure if it’s because of the caffeine powder, or because of the oils and butters, but either way it’s my new favourite body cream. It’s left my skin feeling nice and soft and smooth and best of all it’s non greasy! If you’ve never made lotion before I’d recommend you read this post first to get a general idea of lotion making.

Ingredients
(makes 200 grams)

Water Phase
124g Distilled Water
4g Glycerine
8g Caffeine powder

Oil Phase
16g Cocoa Butter 
14g Organic Coconut Oil 
20g Apricot Kernel Oil 
10g Polawax

Cool Down Phase
1g Germaben II 
2g Vanilla Creme & Cocoa Butter Fragrance

Tools & Equipment
Double boiler
Thermometer
Two heat proof mixing jugs
Scales
Stick blender
2 x Cosmetic jars

Instructions

  1. Weigh all your water phase ingredients into a heat proof container and place in the double boiler.
  2. Weigh all your oil phase ingredients into a second heat proof container and place in the double boiler.
  3. Heat the oil and water until they reach a temperature of 70C and hold for 20 minutes. This ensures any bacteria and other badies will be heated out of your mixture. During this time the caffeine powder will dissolve into the water so it becomes clear.
  4. After 20 minutes of “heat and hold” combine the oil and water phases and mix with the stick blender, pulsing gently on low for 2-3 minutes. This is the stage that your lotion is emulsifying. The lotion will be a white watery texture. This is completely normal and it will turn into a creamy lotion consistency as it cools. Once your lotion has emulsified set aside for 10 minutes or so to cool, mix with the stick blender every few minutes.
  5. Once the temperature reaches below 45C add your cool down phase ingredients and mix well.
  6. Once the cream has cooled to room temperature spoon or pipe into jars then enjoy!

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Cocoa Butter Oatmeal Bath Bombs

Cocoa Butter Oatmeal Bath Bomb

Ingredients

Powders
420g (51.5%) baking soda
210g (26%) citric acid
130g (16%) epsom salts
14g (1.7%) white kaolin clay
8g (1%) colloidal oatmeal

Oils
12g (1.5%) cocoa butter
12g (1.5%) polysorbate 80

8g | 1% essential oil blend (3g lavender, 3g ylang ylang, 2g patchouli)

Extras
Dried cornflower petals
Dried rose buds
Witch hazel in a mister, if needed

Tools & Equipment

Bowl
Sieve
Whisk/Spatula/Spoon
Aluminium bath bomb mould

Instructions

  1. Sieve the baking soda and citric acid
  2. Add the rest of the powders and mix well, making sure to get all the clumps out
  3. Melt the cocoa butter and add to the powders along with the other oils
  4. Mix well, getting all the liquids fully incorporated and clump free
  5. Check the consistency of the mixture. It should be like wet sand, so when you squeeze it together it stays in shape. If it’s too dry spritz a little witch hazel and mix.
  6. Add a pinch of dried flowers to one half of the mould and fill until heaped with mixture. Heap the other half of the mould and press the two halves together tightly.
  7. Tap the outside of the mould gently to release the bath bomb and carefully remove from the mould.
  8. Set aside to dry and repeat until you run out of mixture.
  9. Let the bath bombs dry for a few days in a warm, dry place (away from moisture or humidity) Because these bath bombs have a high oil content they can take a little longer to dry compared to basic bath bombs.
  10. This recipe makes about six bath bombs.
  • You can substitute the essential oil blend for any blend or fragrance you like
  • You can add colour if you like – because this recipe has polysorbate 80 you can use any mica colour, or our ZeBomb!
  • You can substitute the cocoa butter for another butter such as shea or mango.
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Almond Milk, Oat & Honey Bastille Soap

I was excited to receive my copy of Milk Soaps by Anne-Marie Faiola. I have all of her books, which I refer back to quite a lot, to come up with inspiration and soap ideas.

I love using milk in soap, but in the past I’ve only tried goat’s milk, and more recently, coconut milk. So I was happy to see a huge variety of milks in this book. It gave me some confidence to expand my milk soaping imagination!

To dip my toes into the book, I decided to try out one of the more simple recipes. It’s a Bastille soap, which means at least 80% olive oil. While this makes for a luxuriously moisturising bar, it has the trade off of being a softer soap that takes quite a bit longer to cure. So patience is key!

If you’ve never made cold process soap before, please stop now and watch these beginner soap making videos by Anne-Marie

Basics of Cold Process Soap Making

If you’re ready to go, here’s the recipe!

Almond Milk, Oat & Honey Soap

Ingredients

Oils
528g Pomace Olive Oil
99g Coconut Oil
33g Castor Oil

Lye Mixture
215g Almond Milk (frozen)
86g Caustic Soda (lye)
1Tbsp Sodium Lactate

Fragrance
33g Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Fragrance Oil

Colourants
2tsp Titanium Dioxide (dispersed in 1Tbsp of water)

Additives
50g Colloidal Oatmeal
1Tbsp Honey

Tools & Equipment

Wooden Loaf Mould
Mixing Jugs x3
Hanger Swirl Tool
Chopstick
Stick Blender
Spatulas

Instructions

  1. Add all the oils to one of the mixing jugs. Heat in the microwave until the coconut oil melts.
  2. In the second jug, weigh out the frozen almond milk.
  3. In the third jug, weigh out the caustic soda.
  4. Slowly add the caustic soda, one spoonful at a time, to the milk, stirring continuously until all the caustic soda has dissolved. This can take some time. Once the caustic soda has fully dissolved. Add the sodium lactate.
  5. When the oils have cooled to around 40C and the lye mixture is around 25C, gently pour the lye into the oils.
  6. Insert the stick blender and alternate pulsing and stirring until you reach emulsification.
  7. Add the colloidal oatmeal and honey and pulse until fully incorporated.
  8. Pour roughly one third of the mixture into a mixing jug and add the titanium dioxide and mix in well with the stick blender.
  9. Add the fragrance oil to the remaining two thirds of the mixture and stir in well.
  10. Pour the fragranced soap into the loaf mould, saving a little bit to add to the top of the soap at the end.
  11. Pour the white soap into the mould in lines up and down the length of the mould, alternating between pouring from higher up and closer to the mould. Save a little soap for the top.
  12. Insert the hanger swirl tool at the side of the mould and push to the bottom. Make three or four circles inside the soap while moving the tool across to the other side of the mould.
  13. Using the remaining soap, pour alternating lines of white and uncoloured soap along the length of the mould.
  14. Insert the chopstick about 1cm into the soap and swirl it from side to side to create a nice pattern on top.

Cutting and Curing

Usually I un-mould and cut my soaps within 48 hours, however because this is a bastille soap it will be very soft. I would recommend waiting at least 5-7 days before un-moulding and cutting.

Once cut, let the bars cure in a well ventilated area for at least 6-8 weeks. Although, I would recommend a minimum of 12 weeks for this bar since it’s going to be quite soft. The longer you leave it to cure, the longer it will last in the shower!

Notes

You can substitute the almond milk for any other milk you have on hand.

I used Manuka Honey, but if you don’t have access to Manuka, then any honey will be fine.

You can substitute the fragrance oil for an essential oil blend of your choice.

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Fragrance Oil Shipment Update

We have just received some really bad news from our shipping agent.

Originally they told us our fragrance shipment was due to arrive at the port of Auckland on the 12th of November. The 12th of November came and went and we were told that there had been a slight delay, but the shipment would definitely arrive on the 20th of November. That has not happened.

I finally got some answers out of the managing director of my shipping agent. It appears the staff member handling my shipment at his company has completely messed up and my shipment is still sitting over in the USA. It was never loaded onto the ship that she kept assuring me was arriving into NZ. She has since lost her job at the shipping agency.

Unfortunately what this means for us is all the out of stock fragrances that you have been waiting so patiently for are not here. The most recent ETA we have been given (complete with ship loading manifests this time for proof!) is arrival into the port of Auckland on the 10th of December. Delivery to us will likely be around the 15th of December.

I have urgently put an emergency order through to our manufacturer to DHL several fragrances over to us, including

  • Black Raspberry Vanilla
  • Christmas Time
  • Christmas Cabin
  • Frosted Pinecones
  • Gingerbread

We were only able to get very limited stock sent over via DHL so this won’t last long, but hopefully it will be enough to get you by until our large shipment finally arrives.

We very sincerely apologise to all those who will be affected by this huge error. We have been extremely let down by our shipping agent (now former shipping agent) which in turn has meant we have let you, our loyal customers down.

 

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Pricing Updates

As some of you may already be aware the fragrance industry has been hit hard by two factory fires which destroyed raw materials used in manufacturing fragrance oils. Added to this we have the ever decreasing USD/NZD exchange rate, and to top it all off, rising fuel prices are now being passed onto us from shipping companies.

We have chosen to stick with our current fragrance manufacturers which ensures you will be getting the same high quality products from us, but keeping the top quality and not reformulating with cheaper ingredients comes at a cost.

We have absorbed as much as we can ourselves, but it has gotten to a point where we now unfortunately have to start passing on some of these increases.

All our current stock that we have on hand will stay the same price, but as our new shipments arrive, the new pricing will come into effect. (We are expecting new fragrance shipments to arrive at the end of October and another mid-November)

As always, we endeavour to provide the highest quality products to our customers. We know you have several options on where you buy products, so we really appreciate our loyal customers who choose to stick with us.

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Spotlight On: Rosehip Oil

Rosehip oil has gotten a lot of hype in recent years, thanks in part to celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Middleton expressing their love for Trilogy Rosehip Oil.  

So, what is so great about Rosehip Oil?

 

It’ super moisturising.

Rosehip oil contains over 80% essential fatty acids. It is especially high in linoleic acid which acts as a barrier for the skin which prevents water loss and the resulting dry skin. It helps to quench dry, dehydrated and scaled skin.

It contains anti-aging antioxidants.

Antioxidants help combat free radicals which can cause damage such as wrinkles, sunspots, sagging skin or even skin cancer. Rosehip is high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C, both of which are full of antioxidants. Rosehip Oil contains loads of beta-carotene which is a key nutrient for maintaining healthy skin and assisting skin cell renewal. Beta-carotene also helps to repair and protect the skin from various forms of sun damage. It also gives the Rosehip oil an amber colour.

It encourages healing and skin cell regeneration.

The vitamins and fatty acids that Rosehip oil contain have been shown to restore original skin colour by reducing hyper pigmentation and redness, avoid formation of keloids scars, fade scars left by chicken pox or acne, and even treat skin burned from radiation therapy. Balms and lotions with rosehip oil have been used to treat skin conditions ranging from eczema to scars and burns.

How can I use Rosehip Oil?

Rosehip is perfect for making light, non greasy facial moisturisers. Use up to 6% in your formulations to get all the skin loving benefits listed above. It’s also great in lip balms and soap. Add some Vitamin E to help extend the shelf life and boost the antioxidants even more!
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Testing Vanilla Stabilizer in CP Soap

We recently received a shipment of a new product which I’ve been very curious to test out to see if it does actually work – Vanilla Stabilizer for cold process soap.

I finally had the chance to make a soap last week so now I can finally share my results with you!

If you’ve been in the soap making world for a little while, you would have come across the term “discolouration” or “browns soap”. This means the fragrance oil you’ve scented your soap with likely contains something called vanillin (this is what gives the vanilla aroma) it is also the thing that discolours soap to various shades of brown. The higher the content of vanillin the darker brown the soap will go. This affects not only soap, but lotions, bath bombs and candles too.

This particular vanilla stabilizer is suitable ONLY for cold/hot process soap though. We do sell other stabilizers for Melt & Pour Soap and another for Lotions and Washes

So. Does it work?

Heck yeah it does!

Check out the results for yourself. This soap was made with our plain Vanilla fragrance oil and was split into three layers.

The bottom layer contains NO stabilizer.

The middle layer contains a ratio of 1 part stabilizer to 2 parts fragrance oil.

The top layer contains a ratio of 1 part stabilizer to 1 part fragrance oil.

As you can see, the stabilizer clearly works. The bottom part which contains none has gone a very dark brown which is typical of fragrances with a high vanillin content. The top two parts are hard to see a big difference. The stabilizer manufacturer recommends using a ratio of 1 part stabilzer to 2 parts fragrance where the fragrance oil contains a lower level of vanillin. Or a 1:1 ratio where the fragrance contains a high level of vanillin.

The very top of my soap is slightly lighter than the middle section, however I don’t think I would bother with using the extra stabilizer if the colour discolouration between them is so minimal. Of course, this is completely up to you. The soap will continue to darken as it cures over the next couple of weeks so the difference between the layers may become more noticeable to make the higher usage rate worthwhile (I’ll post an update if there are noticeable changes).

 

 

 

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Important Holiday Dates

The Christmas season is well and truly upon us!

We’ve been in the throes of our busiest time of year these last few weeks and I’d just like to say a big THANK YOU to all our customers for being patient and sticking with us throughout some of our more challenging times!

I hope you all have a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

– Kirsty, Yasmin and the Zen Designs Team 🙂

IMPORTANT DATES

In order to receive your parcels before Christmas, please order no later than –

South Island – Monday 18th December
North Island – Wednesday 20 December

For locals who would like to PICK UP your order from our shop we will be open until

FRIDAY 22nd December 8.30am – 12pm

Store Holiday Opening Hours

Friday 22nd December – Open 8.30am – 12pm
Saturday 23rd December – Sunday 14th January – CLOSED
Monday 15th January – Open 8.30am – 4pm (resuming normal opening hours Monday – Friday 8.30am – 4pm)

Holiday Deliveries

While our physical store will be closed until the 15th of January, we will be dispatching online orders made during this time, we will be taking some time off though so your orders may not get shipped out as quickly as they usually would during our regular hours.