Sold!

I sold soap.

Really I did!

The wonderful Lyssa-Face has yet to see her commissioned Raspberry Vanilla Hello Kitty Soaps that I need to find some way to transport to her but has already raved and thanked and now even paid. Does this make me a professional? Technically. But probably not really. I still wasn't sure how to charge her when I saw her at work so I asked her what she thought was fair. She handed me twenty dollars in cash. I had never even considered charging her that much but she quickly assured me that she was paying for both the finished product and 'my furthered research'.

I think I may have an investor.

♥ Amanda Leigh

New Supplies and My First Order!

I know I promised a post about face masks but that can wait. My package arrived today! I had been out on a wonderful day off from work, enjoying the sun, poking around craft stores, buying my kitty presents, and when I got home my mom immediately pointed out the package that had come in the mail. (I think she just wanted to know what was inside). The amazing Brambleberry was speedy again! Though I probably won't be buying any essential oils from the store, I have found that their fragrance section is very extensive. It helps that she is all about soap making herself. It was one of the only places I could find a good raspberry scent.

When I first made my Hello Kitty soaps a very close friend of mine, the one who got me my job actually, immediately commented that she wanted some, she wanted to buy some, and here have some alcohol so I can get you so drunk you will sign a lifelong contract with me. (I am very susceptible to vodka. Yumm.) She also let me know that she loves raspberry vanilla. It's kind of her thing. At the time I had been awaiting the arrival of my friend from Virginia and knew I would have no extra money to spend, but I found the vanilla in Seattle and a few days ago finally put in the order for the Sun-Ripened Raspberry fragrance oil. Two ounces was very inexpensive and, like the wonderful company they are, on top it I was given a free sample a Dark Rich Chocolate fragrance oil that I am really excited to use with my vanilla.

The raspberry is so big! (And the chocolate is very small.)

I also read up on colourants, not wanting to use food colouring anymore. Translucent soap bases are very good for mica powders that are, apparently very pretty and shimmery. It doesn't work as well in other bases and I really like the look of translucent in the little molded pieces so I thought mica would be perfect. Plus I have always wanted to try it. I picked a Merlot colour for it's deep red violet as opposed to the other red that was very orange. I thought it suited her and raspberry a lot better.

 

Before checking out I threw on ten eye droppers for cheap, not wanting to cross-contaminate. They're so big! I love it.

 I don't know why they're glowing. No, they're not magical.

Overall I only paid about twenty dollars, and that included shipping.

I could not wait to get started. So I didn't.

 

I was a little apprehensive about the mica at first, worried I was going to use it wrong or waste it or ruin my soap altogether. But I added it little by little as the soap melted. It seemed really chunky at first but quickly dissolved as I stirred it in. Already it was pearly and gorgeous. I added a good amount of raspberry, wanting it to be my most prominent smell and then a bit of the vanilla for an undertone. I could use vanilla all day it smelled so wonderful. However the mix wasn't strong enough and I had to add a bit more of each. I'm still not sure it's strong enough but the smell does come through. My family all really loved it. I still might add more next time. After that everything was the same as my original Hello Kitty soaps. I poured it into the molds wising I had some alcohol to burst the few airbubbles but that was just me being a perfectionist (It will be included in my next supply buy.). While shopping I had picked up a silicone mold originally intended for little brownie bites that I intend to use for little square soaps and my roommate begged me to use the extra to make her a couple of squares. I was happy to oblige.

Leaving it to set in the open on the counter, I made and ate some dinner (and got to use some of the onions from the garden!) and when I was all finished they were ready to pull from the molds.

I wish you could really see how beautiful the colour turned out.

With flash so you can see just how shiny they are.

The little squares turned out wonderful as well. I knew I would love this tray.

I am so beyond proud of what I have made tonight. My favourite by far. The recipe was all mine and turned out almost perfect. The only change I plan to make is to up the amounts on my scents. I hope Alyssa loves them because I know I do. Now I just have to figure out fair pricing. Who knows? Maybe I will be selling even more soon.

♥ Amanda Leigh

New Ingredients at Least

Yes, I've bought more ingredients and have yet to actually work on anything new. But I couldn't help myself! We were in Seattle. There was nothing I could do.

While spending the day in Seattle before dropping my friend at the airport, he mentioned wandering through Pike Place Market before leaving the city. I think we were more excited than he was at the idea once we remembered we hadn't been there in a while. We started off in search of honey sticks but the stalls on the ground level were starting to close up. We walked up and down for a while, and out in the beautiful rain looking over the stalls that were still open but we never did find any. But we tried Pluats for the first time and when Michi (also known as The Roommate) mentioned she needed to stop in at the tea shop I remembered one of my favourite parts of the market: The Apothecary. I just needed to find it.

Their first mistake was letting me lead. They ignorantly trusted me when I started downstairs and around every twist and turn after that. A few more flights down I was sure I was about to wander into Diagon Alley when Michi and Jyoudan jumped ship. He found himself a CD store and she dissappeared into a bead store where I asked the lovely woman behind the counter how to get where I was going. She turned me around and sent me back upstairs.

If you are ever looking for Tenzing Momo Apothecary in Pike Place Market walk straight in and past the throwing fish guys. You can't miss it.

Tenzing Momo is a wonderful store that I had been to before but completely forgot about. It's small and comfortable and the staff has never made me feel out of place. They go about their work, happy to help if you ask. If you make a sharp left after walking in you will find a wall of books on health and alternative lifestyles/religion. Behind the counter is their jars of countless dried herbs and teas and on the right you can find a really amazing selection of inscense, tinctures, essential oils, and related items I still plan on going through. The tinctures and oils at least are the store's brand and very fairly priced. I still have a lot of questions on the products that I didn't have the time to ask, such as how much of the actual product is made there, if they grow their own plants and if anything is organic but for now I am just happy to be buying local. I will definitely take a trip to grill them next time.

I spent a little too much time in the store but I'd spent so much time looking for it I think I earned it. I found a lot of nice things I will be buying in the future, including quite a few books I want to read, but for this trip I was excited to come out with the vanilla essential oil I have been looking for as well as a rain scent and chai spice scent. I also bought some tranquility inscense sticks but those won't be going into my soap, they just help me nap after work.

I was very glad to have found it, though Diagon Alley probably would have been just as helpful. Oh well. Until I find it I still have Tenzing Momo.

In other news, while procrastinating from writing this post I ordered, from Bramble Berry, a raspberry fragrance oil, some little eye droppers so I don't have to cross-contaminate, and merlot mica powder for colouring. (Mica powder works best for clear base) This means I have everything I need to make my wonderful friend her raspberry-vanilla Hello Kitty soaps! My first order! I hope I can make her happy! (Wow, lots of exclamation points.)

More soon with new soap and a couple of homemade face masks I had fun trying out!

♥ Amanda Leigh

Review?

My beautiful, wonderful friend Syl, who has been working on getting a beauty blog going wrote a review of my first batch of soap!

 Syl with my soap~♥

I know what a huge fan of Hello Kitty she is and I just love giving gifts so while she was visiting the other day I gifted her a few. She was really excited and it made me happy to see it! And the great person she is she wrote a review!

Overall she loved the look and the smell (which is nice to hear because she has very sensitive skin to fragrances) but commented on a dryness it left her skin with. It's something I had been wondering about so it was nice to hear. I will definitely be looking into additives for moisturizing (which is something my skin constantly needs anyway) and I was already wanting to play around with goats milk soap base which is good for softening and soothing so now I have a really great excuse.

But enough of my rambling. Read it in her own words! Review

♥ Amanda Leigh