MIA

I know, I've been slacking...  Don't get me wrong, I got tons of stuff to write, many soaps to be photographed, so little time!  This is how I feel:

 I promise, I'll get going!  At the mean time, if you have urge, please like my Facebook page, it gets far more actions than this blog right now and photos uploaded almost everyday!

https://www.facebook.com/ShiehDesignStudio 

Lip Balm with Sheer Shimmer Fun

What if you don't want the full coverage of traditional lipstick?  What if you want the moisturizing power of a lip balm but wish there's a fun sheer color to it just for a little fling?  I thought about it myself too.  My usual Emu Lip Balm is made of:

Shea butter

Cocoa butter

Bee's wax

Candelilla wax

Meadowfoam oil

Emu oil

Castor oil

Cetyl alcohol

Stearic acid

Tocopherol (Natural vitamin E)

If you make your own lip balm using shea butter you would know how painful it is.  Shea butter is great emollient and I love how it feels on my lips.  But with so many people allergic to shea butter and it tends to crystallize and becomes grainy over time, I finally decided to eliminate this ingredient once for all.  I've tried many different vendors and other heating methods but none works well for me.  I simply replaced shea butter with mango butter in my new lip balm, eliminated cetyl alcohol & stearic acid, and readjusted the % all of other ingredients.  I also reformulated the balm to have a harder body, somewhere between a soft balm and traditional lipstick, to carry sheer color for some fun.  Let me introduce
Berry Pink Sheer

 Island Kiss Sheer

Passion Sheer

 Bite Me Sheer

Can You Have Too Much Pumpkin?!

I know summer is not over, but for cold process soapers we have to think ahead just like a fashion designer.  Cold process soap needs to cure over a period of time before it can be used.  So, I'm already thinking about autumn even though it is just the middle of the hot summer!

I recently bought a bottle of unrefined Pumpkin Seed oil out of curiosity.  It is a deep redish mossy green color oil that smells nutty.  Unrefined Pumpkin Seed oil contains Omega-3, Omega-6, Vitamins A and C, Zinc, and other minerals and earned it's nickname "green gold".  It is very easily absorbed into our skin without feeling greasy.

This is my remake of Pumpkin Chai.  It is made with a new recipe that uses 15% unrefined pumpkin seed oil and scented with a majority EO blended fragrance that resembling pumpkin chai latte.  15% pumpkin seed oil usage in a recipe is considered REALLY high.  This is an expensive batch of soap for sure if you know how much it costs to obtain virgin pumpkin seed oil!  If I cannot source this for much cheaper price, I will not make this into my regular line, only limited edition.

The nutty scent from the virgin pumpkin seed oil did survive the saponification.  For sure if you want to use this oil for a high percentage you have to chose your scenting fragrance carefully.  In my case it is a none issue because I'm making Pumpkin Chai, the nutty smell actually complimented the scent mix.

I have to say, the test scrap under the water is totally too much for my skin.  I can feel the virgin pumpkin seed oil working, but too rich for me at 15%!  It's hard to explain.  I bet it's great for extremely dry skin but is it totally necessary?
The next batch I lowered the pumpkin seed oil usage to 10% and in conjunction with fresh banana buttermilk.  I feel this is a better fit for me.  Again, it is totally personal experience, and just because something is good for us doesn't mean the high % the better.  There is to a point, too much is doing the opposite.

Simple Droplet Effect in Cold Process Soap

This is a very simple technique, all you need is thin trace soap batter and you can get this look too!

 

Here's my silent video of the making: