Bath by Chocolate

Yesterday, we cut our Chocolate Soap. Oh. My. Goodness... This soap smells absolutely good enough to eat (but I "know" that it won't taste as good as it smells!).

It's a rich, dark brown colour from the cocoa absolute used to scent it, with sprinkles of "white chocolate" (really unscented white soap) on top. We used extra shea butter and avocado oils in this soap to make it even more decadent than our regular soaps, and I think that this soap - along with our Mocha Silk - is going to simply fly off the shelves.

It will be on the shelves the first week of July. Enjoy!

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"Happiness does not depend upon getting other people's approval - it depends upon getting your own approval."

Celtic Gospel Soap

Yesterday, we made our newest batch of Celtic Gospel soap. This soap has been popular ever since we introduced it a few years ago. The scent - a blend of lavender, lemon, rosemary, peppermint and clary sage - is enjoyed by both men and women. It's just a really fresh-smelling blend.

We still have some bars on the shelf, but we know we'll run out before too long. This newest batch will be available the first week of July.

We're now completely out of olive oil and castor oil and just waiting for our new shipments. I have enough olive oil left (already measured and poured into a soaping pot) to make a completely new soap - and it's going to be Chocolate!!! Scented with pure Cocoa absolute, it will make a delicious addition to our regular line-up of soap. We should be able to finish it before closing the store in 3 hours :) And then that will be it for soapmaking until next week :(

It's an absolutely gorgeous day today here in Nova Scotia. The sun is shining, it's currently 16C (it was warmer earlier, but the wind has picked up a bit). The forecast is calling for a chance of thundershowers tomorrow afternoon - I hope we get one! I love watching lightning, or even just hearing the thunder if it's too light outside to see the flashes.

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"There is no wrong time for happiness." Indeed...

Laurie's Own

I finished cutting a full batch of Laurie's Own soap yesterday. This is my mildest soap - the main oil is olive, with just a touch of cocoa butter and a splash of carrot infused sunflower oil. For those that like Castile soap, you will indeed enjoy this one.

I started making this soap when my sister-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago. I wanted to make a soap that she would be able to use while in the hospital receiving chemotherapy, and Laurie's Own Soap was born. Laurie fought the cancer like the goddess she is, and has been in remission ever since.

I donate 10% of all sales of Laurie's Own to the Canadian Cancer Society, so when I sell the last bar of this latest batch, it will be another $21.04 donated. Not a huge amount but every dollar helps, and my thanks go out to everybody that buys it.

I still have a few bars of Laurie's Own on the shelf, but they're almost gone. This new batch will be available the first week of July.

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"Happiness cannot be found by following other people. Find your own way."

One Old Soap and One New Soap

I'm going to start at the end today, which is one of our regular soaps. I made a new batch of our Heathbell Meadows soap a couple of days ago. This is a highly moisturizing soap, with loads of cocoa butter and olive oil. It's scented with mainly lavender, and just a hint of thyme. When I first started selling soap, I would cut all the bars as soon as I took the soap out of the mold, let it cure for a minimum of 6 weeks, then wrap and label the bars for selling. Then a couple of years ago, I decided I would leave the soap in log form, and cut off the bars when they're purchased. Well, I found out the hard way that Heathbell Meadows refused to be cut once it gets a few weeks old. It's almost as hard as a rock and ends up bending my cutter! So, when I took the soap out of the molds on Sunday I cut it all into bars. It will be on the shelves during the first week of July

The first batch of soap that I made is a new to us soap, and it smells absolutely scrumptious!!! We're calling it Mocha Silk, and it will be available during the last week of June. It's loaded with olive oil (as with most of our soaps the main ingredient is olive oil), and also contains palm oil, avocado oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and castor oil, scented with coffee essential oil and cocoa absolute, with a dollop of powdered silk (it really does make the lather silkier!) and red clay. Next time, I'll probably leave the red clay out. This soap is a dark, rich brown - almost as dark as bitter-sweet chocolate! - and so the red clay isn't even noticeable.

I took pictures, but I can't find the cable to upload them here. Once I find that cable (wherever it chose to hide this time), I'll upload the pics so you can see.

And the sun has finally decided to grace us with his presence! Yay!! My line is filled with freshly washed sheets, drying in the sun and brisk breeze. When I get back home from the store, I will bury my face in each sheet as I take it down off the line. I love the scent of sun-dried clothes. No dryer sheet or fabric softener will ever match the scent that Mother Nature blesses us with...

Quite some time ago, I bought a book on Happiness. Here's a quote that I'd like to share...
"The moment you commit yourself to allowing happiness into your life it will be followed by a string of events that otherwise would not have happened, as providence comes into play." I love that quote. In fact, there are a lot of quotes in this book that I enjoy and find very inspiring. I'll share some of them in future postings...

May your day be filled with sunshine.

Buttery Goodness

In between customers at the store (which is a bit more quiet now that Mother's Day has passed), I've been busy making lotion bars and lip butters, which are now out on the shelves again. We had been sold out for a few weeks, and I've finally been able to take the time to make more.

For your skin's pleasure, we have our Lotion Bars in Indonesian Interlude and Secret Temple back in stock! Our lotion bars are wonderful for extra-dry skin (especially areas like the bottoms of your feet, knees, and elbows - or anywhere you find "lizard skin"). They contain unrefined, fair-trade shea butter and cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, local beeswax, vitamin E, and essential oils. Our Indonesian Interlude is scented with the essential oils sandalwood and geranium. Secret Temple is scented with the essential oils of vanilla, sandalwood and patchouli.

And back in stock is our Bodacious Rose Lip Butter in our clear pink tubes. This oh-so-smooth lip butter makes your lips feel very kissable. It contains local beeswax, unrefined free-trade shea and cocoa butters, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, castor oil, vitamin E, and Bulgarian Rose absolute. So for everybody that has run out and have been patiently waiting for me to restock, they're ready for you!