'Scent'sational Soap Challenge Wk5!

This weeks soap challenge set by Amy Warden of Great Cake Soapworks is all about blending your own fragrance. It's something we have done in the past but I've not thought about it quite so scientifically before.

After doing a bit of reading about the different 'notes' of essential oils I thought I'd try and make my blend with the recommended mixture of three parts from the top note group, two parts from the middle group and one part from the base note group. I noted down all the oils which work well together and came up with a formula of complimentary scents.

Less is more I told myself- or KISS- 'Keep It Simple Stupid'! Only problem with this was that just using three essential oils just wasn't daring enough this time, and I saw this as an opportunity to have some fun! So... I went to town!!
For the top notes I used three parts of each bergamot and orange,  for the middle note two parts of each geranium and  lavender, and for the base, one part of each rose and geranium. These were all essential oils I had in my fragrance stock, including...gasp..actual rose otto essential oil- well in for a penny, in for a small fortune! The essential oils were weighed to make up 3% of the soap base oils.

My next decision was to keep it plain and natural or...wait for it... Go to town!!! I just thought well, hey, its gonna smell extravagant (hopefully), it should look extravagant! So I added a bit of colour to turn it a lilac colour (representing the lavender) and added toppings of bright pink roses (the rose bit) and dark purple butterflies (don't ask- I'm just into butterflies at the moment!)

You can see the colour of the blended oils in the small pot in front of the pan above- it was really dark and thick!

I added one last little white swirl just to bring in some contrast to the lilac colour (getting a bit carried away by this point!), added the toppings and then kept my fingers crossed it would work as this is probably one of the most expensive soaps I have ever made!

 I removed the block from its mold this morning- it was very soft but looked and smelt wonderful- I can't wait for it to cure to see what its like to use.

 I have to say the whole scent is stunning- but I am finding it hard to pick up all the elements. I can't smell the orange for instance, and the lavender and geranium are definitely more recognisable. I asked my husband what he thought it smelt of- his answer was 'mmm nice Bubble Bath' !!! (not sure if that was a good answer or not!)

This really should be a luxurious bar to use- it's made with our usual recipe with Portuguese Olive Oil and Goats Milk and is totally Natural and Palm oil free.

If you want to see all the other soaps created in this challenge click this link.  We both hope it will go on as we have enjoyed that challenge of trying something new and pushing our boundaries - Thank you Amy for this wonderful opportunity.

  

                                                                                                     Shell.