Today I am going to share how I make my Juniper Berry, all natural, cold process soap. This soap has a great look and smell for the winter months and uses natural colorants and essential oils along with a botanical top. My motto is natural soaps don't have to be boring.
The soap batter recipe I use is as follows:
Sweet Almond Oil 5%
Castor Oil 5%
Rice Bran Oil 5%
Cocoa Butter 15%
Coconut Oil 30%
Olive Oil 40%
Superfat 5%
Water as % of oils 35%
This is a palm free recipe and designed to not be over drying to your skin but still cleanse.
I wanted the soap to have a woodsy winter feel so to achieve this scent I used an essential oil blend of 50% Cedarwood Atlas, 30% Lavender, 20% Juniper. Cedarwood and Juniper are such great earthy Winter scents and the Lavender adds a sweet note as well.
Staying with the natural theme for colorants, I used French Green clay and Blue Indigo powder. To disperse the clay and indigo powder, use 1 tsp per 1 TSP of water(in seperate containers of course).
To make, blend your lye water, oils and essential oils together. If you are new to soap making, please be sure that you have done your research and understand the safety precautions you need to take when working with lye. Both Brambleberry and Royalty Soaps on YouTube have great video series for beginner soap makers.
Then divide batter into two seperate containers. I used the French Green clay as the base and the Blue Indigo powder as an accent.
Once the batter is divided out and you have blended your colorants in, next do an in the pot swirl by pouring the blue colored batter into the green batter at 12, 3, 6 and 9(picture a clock face when pouring). I then like to do one to two gentle stirs of the batter.
Next pour the batter into your mold. Once your batter has been poured in firmly tap the mold down on a solid surface to get rid of any air bubbles.
I like to do a spoon top with this soap for some texture and then add Juniper Berries down one side of the top for another natural element. Use a spoon to gently push down the Juniper Berries once you have applied them to help them stick to the soap better.
Finally spritz the top with isopropyl alcohol to help prevent any soda ash, cover your mold and wait 18-24 hours before removing and cutting your soap.
Product Links For This Soap:
French Green Clay: https://amzn.to/3UmrPlJ
Blue Indigo Powder: https://amzn.to/3Un9K6V
Juniper Berries: https://amzn.to/3DyRHUQ
Lavender Essential Oil: https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/product/lavender-essential-oil?enrollerId=25861180&sponsorId=25861180
Juniper Essential Oil: https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/product/juniper-essential-oil?enrollerId=25861180&sponsorId=25861180
Cedarwood Atlas EssentialOil:https://www.bulkapothecary.com/cedarwood-essential-oils/
Link to my Stick Blender: https://amzn.to/3Cy0TK7
Link to Kaolin Clay: https://amzn.to/3s8BUo9
Link to long spout pouring pitchers: https://amzn.to/3urMPuT
Mold is from Nurture Soap:https://nurturesoap.com/collections/complete-mold-sets/products/2-5-pound-tall-skinny-premium-mold
Please note that some links are affiliate links meaning I earn when you make a qualifying purchase. This is at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my channel:)