Back to Nature - Next Stage

After 5 very different batches of Back to Nature soap "experiments" I felt I was ready for my next step.  I'm starting to find new possibilities of merging the 2 extremes: vibrant artificial coloring and fragrance VS. total natural colorant and scents.  There are lots of great artificial fragrance choices out there and I can't compete by mixing essential oils myself especially the prices are not permitted.  I love fragrance, I want to be able to use them.  Here's my first try, I called it the Arabian Nights (inspired by Bramble Berry's fragrance Ancient Sedona) , it's a mix of Lavender, Frankincense, Sweet Orange 10X, Anise Star, Geranium, Vanilla, and Vetiver essential oils and then mix in Jasmine fragrance oil.  It is now available at my shop: Arabian Nights Soap

Did I mention I used Honeysuckle fragrance oil and turmeric powder to make these clear M&P soap embeds then dropped into my CP?!  So pretty under the sun.  One issue I always have mixing M&P with CP is the different wash rate they have under water.  CP lasts longer than M&P.  To prevent M&P embeds from falling off the soap and separating, I used LCP (low sweat like CP) M&P soap base, basically it contains less glycerin.

For CP coloring I used dark cocoa powder and a little Australian red clay swirl.  Since I added vanilla essential oil, not much, I'm going to examine color change over time.  I do want a deeper brown.  Do come back and visit this blog entry a week or 2 later, I will edit the post and show another photo to see if there's any color change.