French Lavender

Hi everyone, it's been quite a while since I last posted, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas:)  We had a lovely Christmas spent with family and a brand new puppy addition to our household.

This is French Lavender and it's fragranced with french lavender and rich, sensual patchouli essential oils to help calm and relax.  Made from Olive, Coconut and Rice Bran oils and Shea Butter.
Pure Handmade Soaps

Tribal Dance

Well I promised something a bit more colourful this time, this is it!  I'm reading a series of Australian books by Peter Watt at the moment about outback Australia.   He talks about how badly our native people were treated and how the Mounted Police almost wiped out their entire race, they certainly tried their best to do so; it's just terrible how badly they were treated! 

Anyhow these books and the spirit of our Aboriginal people, gave me the inspiration for this soap.  I wanted the colours of the outback so I've used Australian clays and I've fragranced it with essential oils of Lemon Tea Tree and Lemon Eucalyptus to continue the Australian theme and added a touch of spice, not Australian but just because.  I thought Tribal Dance suited, I hope you like it:)

White Rose

Thought I'd go with something a bit plainer this time because I've got something pretty colourful coming next post..... White Rose is made with lots of Mango and Shea Butters and yes, essential oils of rose geranium.  I've changed the colour on top from pink to this apricot colour, it looks really pretty.

Nature's Garden

 A new batch of Nature's Garden's ready, I've added Mango and Shea Butters to enrich it, coloured it with oxides and micas and fragranced it with essential oils of course:)    Another faux funnel pour, I'm really loving this method, no two soaps look the same, but they all look so pretty. 

Colours, colours, what colours will I use next? so many to choose from and I sometimes get confused as to what colours go with what, but so far I've been happy with how they've turned out and colours in soaps seem to be very forgiving, most blend together nicely.   I seem to get more excited about using colours today than I did back 7 years ago when I first started.  But that's got to be a good thing, right?   well that's what I tell myself anyhow, I'm just not too sure if my hubby agrees with me lol.

Lovin the blue!

I’m calling this one Sea Spray, can you see it?  I wasn't feel too well when I made this and the ocean always makes me feel so much better.  Just about finished curing, another week and you'll find it on the website.

The darker blue is my own mix of different blues and greens mixed together, so I’m feeling pretty happy with how it turned out.  Ahhhh the ocean……..

Some newbies!

Just a couple of pics of some newbies I made for Christmas, I know Christmas is long gone, but I still have some available, so I thought I'd show you. The top one is coloured with Green Oxide and has lots of Shea Butter added. The bottom one is called Choc Orange and I'm really happy with how the swirls turned out. Have a great weekend everyone:)

New look Sunshine

The lure of Micas has been too strong and I’ve finally succumbed into trying some. What do I think about them? I love them! Not only do they look beautiful, I find them so much easier and less disappointing to use than natural colours. With some natural colours you can have a soap that looks gorgeous when first made, but a few weeks down the track, when the natural colour has faded, you’re left with just a plain old ordinary looking soap bar.

No, I’m not giving up natural colours, although it is tempting LOL, I still think they are better health wise, but I can see myself trying a few more of these gorgeous colours. If you like the look of Sunshine, you can find it at Natural Aroma Handmade soaps.

Lavender & Mint

Well it's been a while since I've posted, but with Christmas gaining on us very quickly I thought it was time to show a few soaps I've been busy making for Christmas.

Lavender & Mint is a lovely uplifting bar, made of course with Lavender and Mint Essential oils:) A 100% natural bar, it is coloured from Green Clay and Alkanet Root, I've added both Shea and Cocoa Butters for super pampering and it's available now from our Natural Aroma.

Sushi Anyone?

I was making some little bear soaps to take to the markets, you know the molds you buy from K-mart? cute little things that I thought would be nice for children. How hard could it be, make a batch of soap and just pour into the mold, right? Wrong, the poor little things looked like they'd been attacked with a hammer; their faces were all mangled and just awful. I wouldn't be able to give them away let alone sell them,lol.

What the heck was I going to do with them? I didn't want to waste them and they were just plain too awful to use the way they were. With the old brain working very hard, I decided to turn my poor ugly little bears into Sushi Bars, took them to the markets and not one single one sold, oh dear!!!!

Oh well, at least they look a lot prettier than the ugly little soapy bears. If you'd like some Sushi Bars, you know where to go:)

Spiced Lemon

A new batch of Spiced Lemon is now ready, it's been slowly changing as time goes by, tweeting here and there, adding a bit more this and a bit more that. I'm glad to say that I'm finally happy with it, it smells beautiful! fresh and uplifting with a bit of zing.

This one has Shea, Avocado and Cocoa Butters added, so you just know its got to be good for your skin. Coloured a dark lemon with a reddish swirl using yellow and red clays and a sprinkling of poppy seeds for light exfoliation, it's my new favourite:) you can find it here.

Just an update on my new Logo and Banner, still waiting! it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would, but hopefully in the next week it will be done, can't wait!

Calming Calendula

I've made my Calming Calendula soap with goat's milk and infused the oils with organic calendula. Calendula is a wonderful all-around skin treatment, that soothes, heals and helps maintain skin in perfect health so is a great addition to handmade soaps. Fragranced with essential oils of Rose Geranium, Sweet Orange, Lavender and Patchouli it smells warm and inviting. I've taken this photo outside as you can see:) as it seems to be easier for me to get a decent photo there, just wish I could do the same inside lol.

I've been watching the news showing all the heavy snow some of you are getting over there, I hope you are all safe. Thinking of you....

Soaps for Auction to Help Flood Victims

The tragedy of the Qld. floods continues to unfold and has touched people from all over the world. The Aussie "help your mate" spirit is shining through and the amount of people who have donated and volunteered to help clear up the devastation has amazed me and is truly inspirational.

My family has donated personally, as has many, many, thousands of other families, but more money is still needed to help clean up the mess and to help people get their lives back to some sort of normality.

I’d really like to be able to help some more and would like to donate some of my handmade soaps to auction. I’m offering 6 of my soaps, you can choose whatever ones you’d like, plus I’ll pay for postage to Australian addresses, which brings the total value up to $65.00, depending on the soaps choosen.

So I’m asking everyone to please pass the word around and hopefully we can send some more help to where it is needed. You can bid via our Facebook page.

Raspberry's & Cream

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

We are now open again for business, I'm so sorry the shop was closed longer than I'd mentioned on the website, but we were stuck for a while due to the floods and were unable to get home, but we are now up and running again.

Raspberry's & Cream smells delicious! a pretty pink bar that smells of ripe, juicy berries over yummy vanilla, with a touch of poppy seeds for gentle exfoliation, don't forget Valentine's Day is coming!

Christmas Special

Just a quick post to let my customers know I have a Christmas Special on at the moment. Buy any 7 soap bars and you can pick an extra one for FREE, but be quick, time is running out, we are shutting up shop for Christmas on the 15th December, so you only have 11 days left to order if you'd like your soaps for Chrissy pressies.

Lavender & Mint

A new batch of Lavender and Mint is now ready, coloured with natural alkanet and green clay, and fragranced with the pure essential oils of lavender, peppermint and spearmint, it has a lovely fresh, uplifting aroma, really nice for cooling down on hot, steamy days, sorry to anyone who is now having cool weather, I'd gladly trade you anyday, the humid Mackay weather can be a bit hard to take sometimes:)

Naked Beer Bar

Another soap I’ve been wanting to make for ages is a beer soap, so I decided it was well and truly time that I got around to actually making it.

I can remember when I was quite young, my Mum using Beer as a special rinse after washing her hair to make it “nice and shiny” as she used to say, it didn’t hold much of a appeal for me at the time, but I’ve been reading about how good beer really is, especially for your hair.

Washing your hair in beer has even been claimed to make your hair grow faster (now I really don’t believe that one) but it is known to give body and shine to your hair.

Beer baths are particular popular in Europe where local lager is poured into tubs for guests to enjoy the rich and relaxing suds and people travel from all around the world to relax in their curative beer spas. They also incorporate it into their “Brewski” facials which are said to leave the skin smooth and supple.

Our Naked Beer bar is made with a whole bottle of "Pure Blonde Naked beer", hence its name. I’ve added extra rice bran and hazelnut oils and certified organic cocoa and shea butters to make it a truly special soap bar that has a wonderful bubbly lather and lime, orange and may chang essential oils to make our beer bar a very pleasant bathing experience indeed. Hope you like it:)

Lemon & Lime LOOFAH BAR

Well I'm back from our holiday in New Zealand and had a wonderful time, it is such a beautiful place and I really didn't want to leave. But it's back to the grinestone so to speak and while I was holidaying I had a few new soaps doing their thing and are now cured, ready to use and I'll be adding them over the next few days.

The first one is a Lemon & Lime Loofah bar which I've been wanting to make for ages. It is handcrafted from a fresh slice of nature’s own exfoliator, loofah and is then filled with our finest all natural vegetable soap which contains emollients such as shea and avocado butters to cleanse, enrich, soften and soothe.

Finally, I've added essential oils for their therapeutic value, Lemon, lime, rose geranium and palmarosa and the end result is the BEST Scrub & massage you will find anywhere. I just LOVE my loofah bar! it gently buffs away dry dead skin and leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. Once you have one you will never want to be without one, I know I don't:)

Sandalwood & Vanilla

I don't think I'll bother trying to think up a special name for this one, I think the name says it all, well nearly, it also has a touch of patchouli in it to add the finishing touch.

How to explain the fragrance? warm, inviting, tempting? all of these and more, it smells beautiful.

I've used red clay and cocoa for the colour, hope you like it.

A touch of sunshine

My Sunshine bar has had a face lift, normally it has a orange swirl through it, but I thought it was time for a bit of a change. This bar has finely ground oatmeal, apricot kernel oil and avocado butter added and carrot tissue oil and paprika.

I think it looks like it has little leaves on it, what do you think? It's a shame it has that white flecky thing happening, I might leave the oatmeal out next time. If you'd like to see what the original one looks like, you can see it on my website, well, till I get the chance to put the new one on that is:)

Reminder to myself - don't soap when upset!!!

Geisha Girl

I'd been planning Geisha Girl for a while and couldn't wait to make it. I had set aside a morning when I thought everything would be AOK to have a nice quite morning soapmaking:) The only thing I had to do was pick up a few essentials down the shop. Sounds easy? It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped.

I thought I'd get my bit of shopping done first so I'd have a nice clear mind. I've found that my soap always seems to come out better if I can relax, take my time and just concentrate solely on making them.

I got everything ready to make it so I could start when I got home and off I went to the shops. Everything was fine till I was backing out of the carpark, had the car turned almost all the way around ready to drive off, when someone decided to back out as well (young man with his girlfriend in the car) and hit me.

As you can imagine I was very upset. I went home unpacked my things, had a cuppa and tried to settle down. As I had everything ready to make soap, I decided to go ahead and make it, well, I find soapmaking relaxing and thought I’d be OK and it would be all right.

Well, I was wrong:( I got right to the end, had it in my soapbox and was quite pleased how everything went so well. Put the cover over the top and Oh NOOOOO! I found the last oil that I was supposed to add at trace. Panic, panic, I had to add the oil or the soap would be no good.

I was so angry with myself because I’d tried to be so careful, knowing that I was still upset and I wanted to get the layers the way I wanted them.

Luckily I’d poured at a fairly light trace so I just had time enough to stir the remaining oil though, I knew it was going to turn out plain now, so I quickly added some balls that I’d done ready for another soap to hopefully make up for my lost layers.

So the layers went out the window and this is what it turned out like.

Exactly the same oils, colours and fragrance as the top soap, but totally different look, thanks to the man who was more interested in talking to his girlfriend than watching where he was going and my inability to concentrate when upset.

So the very next day I was determined to have my layers and tried again, with the result of the top photo, now that's more like what I wanted:)