Tag: Tutorial

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Wild Musk Bath Salts

I’m not sure what the weather is like around the rest of the country, but here in Tauranga it’s horrible! It is definitely the kind of weather that is perfect for soaking in the tub.

I’m usually a bubble bath kinda girl, but lately I’ve been using bath salts instead. The benefits of epsom salts are many. They can help to relieve muscle pain and inflammation, and can improve circulation. Himalayan salts are also excellent for aches and pains so adding both salts to your bath is like having a super charged soak! The addition of baking soda helps to soften and detoxify your skin. The macadamia oil adds a little luxurious moisturisation and the Wild Musk fragrance oil has a lovely “clean and soapy” aroma that I think is perfect for bath products. Feel free to substitute the Wild Musk fragrance for any of our other skin safe fragrance oils.

Bath salts are probably one of the easiest things to make.

Ingredients
(makes 5 stand up silver pouches)

2 cups of Epsom Salts
1 cup of Himalayan salt (finely ground – you can do this by whizzing them up in a food processor)
1/2 cup of Baking Soda
1Tbsp Macadamia Oil
7ml Wild Musk Fragrance Oil

Step One

Combine all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix with your hands to work out any clumps.

dry-ingredients

Step Two

Add the macadamia oil and fragrance. Mix well.

add-fragrance

Step Three

Spoon into our stand up silver pouches, or container of your choice. Add about half a cup to your bath, then relax and enjoy!

silver-pouches
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Swirly Melt & Pour Clamshell Soap

Melt and pour soap is a fun and easy way to make your own soap. You don’t have to worry about wearing safety gear or using caustic soda like you do with cold process soap. It can be a fun project to do with kids or adults alike.

These little soaps are poured straight into our round clamshell moulds, so once they’re set you can just close them up and they’re all ready to sell or give away. There’s also the added bonus of not having to wash a soap mould!

The round clamshells are easy to make guest size soaps. If pink isn’t your thing, try any of our other micas in your favourite shade. You can see the difference in colour between the clear and white soap bases. Even though it’s the same mica, it looks different. So combining both soap bases is a nice effect.

What you’ll need
(makes one clamshell – 2 x 50 gram soaps)

50 grams Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base
50 grams White Melt & Pour Soap Base
3 mini scoops Pink Honeysuckle Mica
5ml Forbidden Fantasy Fragrance Oil
1 x Round Clamshell Mould

2 x Heat safe containers
Isopropyl Alcohol

Step One

Chop and melt the Clear Melt and Pour Base in a small heat safe container. Because you are melting such a small amount of soap, you can microwave for about 20 seconds at first, then stir and use 10 second bursts stirring in between to slowly melt without burning. Make sure you don’t heat above 60 degrees C, anything higher than that can cause the soap to burn. Once the melt and pour is melted, add 1 mini scoop of Pink Honeysuckle mica and stir to combine.

Add 2.5ml of the fragrance oil. If the soap begins to harden, pop it back into the microwave for 10 seconds.

Step1

Step Two

Chop and melt the White Melt and Pour Base in a small heat safe container. Because you are melting such a small amount of soap, you can microwave for about 20 seconds at first, then stir and use 10 second bursts stirring in between to slowly melt without burning. Make sure you don’t heat above 60 degrees C, anything higher than that can cause the soap to burn. Once the melt and pour is melted, add 2 mini scoops of Pink Honeysuckle mica and stir to combine.

Add 2.5ml of the fragrance oil. If the soap begins to harden, pop it back into the microwave for 10 seconds.

Step Three

Once both soap bases reach 50 degrees (approximately, a few degrees out either way won’t matter too much), pour both soaps into the clamshell at the same time, start at opposite ends of the circle and slowly move the jugs around while you’re pouring – kind of like how a barista makes fancy coffee. The trick is to make sure your soap isn’t too hot otherwise the clear and white soaps will just blend together.

Repeat for the second soap in the clamshell. If you’ve found the soap has started to harden just pop back in the microwave for 5 seconds.

Step2

Step3

Step Four

Once your moulds are full, spritz with isopropyl to get rid of any bubbles and leave to harden. This normally takes a few hours. You can speed things up by putting the soap in the fridge. Don’t close the clamshell up yet though as you don’t want to trap any steam as the soap cools.

Once your soap has cooled completely. Close up the clamshell and you’re ready to go! To use simply press down on the back of the clamshell and the soap will pop right out.

Step4

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How to Make Hydrosol

When essential oils are made through steam distillation it involves a process of steaming the plant material, cooling the steam, then eventually extracting the oil from the condensed steam. Hydrosol is the left over steam (distilled water).

Hydrosols are like essential oils but in far less of a concentration. Hydrosols can be used externally in skin care products, taken as a tonic or combined in a drink. They also make lovely additions to food such as Rose water.

What’s the difference between a hydrosol and infused water?

Hydrosol is produced from the steam that forms when distilling plant materials such as flowers and herbs. Hydrosols are not as concentrated as essential oils, so they tend to be more gentle on the skin. Infused water is simply soaking leaves, fruit, or flowers of a plant or herb in water. It becomes more tea-like if you boil the material in water.

How to make Rose Water (Hydrosol)

What you’ll need:
Roses from the yard are preferable, but since it’s winter and I don’t know anyone with winter roses, I bought mine from Flora & Flames
Distilled water
A pot with a lid
A  bowl
Ice

Step One:

Make sure your roses are nice and clean. Add them to the pot and cover with distilled water. I used approximately 100 grams of rose petals (around 30 roses) and 1 litre of water. These measurements don’t have to be exact, just make sure you have enough water to cover the roses.

step-1

Step Two:

Clear a space in the middle of the pot and place your bowl inside, this will catch all the hydrosol as it condenses.

step-2

Step Three:

Place the lid on the pot upside down and turn the heat on medium to low. You don’t want to boil the roses, just get a gentle simmer.

step-3

Step Four:

As the water starts to warm up, you will begin to see steam on the lid. Once you see steam, place a sealed bag about half full of ice onto the lid. This will cool the steam as it hits the pot lid making the hydrosol drip into the bowl below. The ice will begin to melt in the bag, so you will need to replace the ice periodically. A steady production of condensation should be collecting on the lid and dripping into the bowl in the pot. However long you decide to allow it to distill, will determine how much hydrosol you’ll collect. I allowed my batch to cook for  about an hour, draining melted ice and replacing with new, as needed. You’ll know you’re done when the hydrosol no longer smells strongly of roses. If you continue collecting steam after this point you’re just diluting your existing hydrosol with plain water.

step-4

Step Five:

Pour the hydrosol into a bottle and keep in the fridge. It will last up to three months if kept properly in the fridge.

 I used my rose water in a face mist. Just pour it into a bottle with a mister cap and spritz onto your face for a nice refreshing pick me up!

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Foaming Bath Truffles

Well it seems winter has well and truly arrived this week! Luckily here in Tauranga we usually don’t get hit with the worst of the weather, but I really feel for those of you in more southerly areas. My Mum lives in Christchurch and she sent a picture of the first snow fall this morning, brrr!

It’s the perfect time of year for a nice warm relaxing soak in the tub. Crumble one of these foaming bath truffles under the water when running the bath and enjoy a lovely fragrant and moisturising bath. These are different to regular “bath bombs” as they don’t contain any citric acid to give it a fizz, but they will foam and bubble giving you a more luxurious feeling.

Foaming Bath Truffles

(makes 8)

What you’ll need

75 grams Baking Soda
45 grams SLSa
15 grams Cream of Tartar
8 grams Cocoa Butter
5 grams Glycerin
3 grams Cocomidopropyl Betaine
4 mini scoops Roussillion Mica
3ml Ylang & Amber Fragrance

Lotus Wax Tart Mould

Mixing bowls
Scales

Step One:

Add Baking Soda, SLSa, Cream of Tartar and Mica to the mixing bowl. Mix well, making sure to get rid of all the tiny lumps. I like to use my hands to rub the mixture together so it’s a nice fine texture with no lumps.

Step-1

Step Two

Add the Cocoa Butter to a separate mixing bowl and heat in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted. Be careful not to overheat the butter. Once melted add the Glycerin, Cocomidopropyl Betaine and Fragrance. The add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Step-2

Step Three

Mix the ingredients together until completely combined (I use my hands to mix) and the mixture holds together when squeezed. If your mixture seems a little crumbly, spritz with a little witch hazel or add more glycerin until you get the right texture.

Step-3

Step Four

Spoon the mixture into the mould and press firmly so it’s tightly packed. Set aside to harden. I left mine for about four hours, but you may need longer depending on the weather conditions.

Step-4

Step Five

Once the truffles have hardened, gently press the back of each cavity. The truffles should slide right out easily. If they don’t come out easily they may not be hard enough yet.

Step-5

Set aside to continue drying for about 24 hours then package up. I’ve used a cute bail jar to keep mine nice and dry when storing in the bathroom.

Truffles

Remember these aren’t bath fizzies, so you need to crumble them under the running water to ensure they melt completely releasing all the skin softening ingredients.