New Beginnings

My New Year's resolution - my only New Year's resolution - is to blog more often.  I am not a fan of New Year's resolutions, but the timing seems right.  2013 was a big year for us, culminating in our move to a larger warehouse space.  The Christmas rush is over, and I have some time to get caught up on all the things I had to push to the side while trying to keep up with all the orders we received during November and December.   And, more importantly, I want our customers and potential customers to have as much information about our products as possible, so they can make informed choices about which products are right for them.  

As I write this, Northeastern Ohio, and most of the rest of the country is coming out of a deep freeze, and many of us are questioning the life choices that led us to live in places where the temps go below zero.  With the horrid weather comes additional skin care challenges.

One of the reasons that I started The Willow Tree Soap Company was that I had terribly dry skin.  Commercial moisturizers didn't do much for me.  My doctor even prescribed something for me once that didn't do much more.  Initially, I focused on making a soap that would not dry my skin but that had the fragrance of Bath & Body Works products (more about that in a later blog), but it didn't take me long to add moisturizers to our product line.

Our Body Frosting is hands down the best thing I have ever used for dry skin, and I have used a lot of things! What makes it so good?

• Chamomile Flower Extract - This soothes dry skin and is thought to promote healing of skin irritation, sunburn, rash and minor cuts, scrapes and burns.

• Lavender Extract - Lavender soothes irritated skin and restores natural moisture balance to all skin types.

• Allantoin - The most critical ingredient in any heavy duty moisturizing cream.  It is moisturizing and keratolytic, meaning it causes keratin in the skin to soften. This property helps skin to heal more quickly and to bind moisture more effectively. 

• Aloe Leaf Extract - Aloe Vera improves the skin's ability to hydrate itself, aids in the removal of dead skin cells and helps protect and rebuild your skin.

• Vitamins A,C,E & Pro Vitamin B5 - All essentials for healthy feeling and looking skin.

In addition, our Body Frosting is loaded with moisturizing butters - 5% cocoa butter and 2% shea butter.

We have sold the 2 ounce unscented Body Frosting since the very beginning of our company.  Over the years, we've received requests for a larger, scented version.  I was reluctant to add fragrance to this product, because doing so changes the texture a bit.   After doing some serious testing, I have come up with a scented version that maintains all the delightful qualities of the original.  We now offer an 8 ounce jar in a variety of scents, and the feedback has been amazing!

One final note about this product - even though the name implies that it should be used on the body, the unscented version is perfectly fine to use on your face.  I do so regularly in the winter to help protect my skin from harsh weather.  

Have you tried our Body Frosting?  Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Sh-Sh-Sh-Shaving Cream?

Who is old enough to remember that goofy radio show that used to be syndicated on Sunday nights, where all they played were goofy songs?  I can't remember the name, but I do remember one song about "I was hit, and fell into a big pile of sh-sh-sh-shaving cream!

And that is today's project.  We have been selling a men's shaving cream (check it out here) that has been incredibly popular.  I am about to start selling a ladies' version scented with strawberry (Strawberries and Cream) and have been looking for second scent to use in the product.

My choices this time were between Mystery Fragrance Nos. 3, 6, and 8.  Because I use lavender oil in the cream, I wanted something that would blend well with lavender.  I eventually settled on No. 3.

This also gave me the opportunity to use Brambleberry's Orchid Pink Island liquid colorant.  I used just a small amount of color, and was very happy to end up with this pretty light pink.

This was a great scent for the shaving cream.   Here's a picture of the finished product, coming soon to shop.willowtreesoapcompany.com.

Men!

They certainly are frustrating, but all of that can be forgotten when they smell really good!   Mystery Fragrance No. 9 is one of the best "masculine" scents I've come across in a long time.  It is very light, and very sexy.  I decided to use it in a pre-shaving sugar scrub for my husband.   This is a great product for exfoliating in general, but in particular for men who have a problem with shaving bumps.

While I was making the scrub, I kept bringing the bowl over to my husband and asking him to smell it. His usual response is "It smells good.  It smells like Kool-Aid."   This time, I got an actual "That does smell good!".  Here is a picture of the finished product, packed in an adorable bail jar from Bramble Berry:

The scent doesn't change at all in the finished product.  I am very much in love with this one!

What I Need

What I need is a really good bubble bar recipe.   Lush makes incredible bubble bars, and it seems so easy ... but, I guess like many things, it is not.

I used Mystery Fragrance No. 7 to make a batch of bubble bars.  I actually made two batches, the first of which ended up all over me, my walls, and my work table when my attention was diverted from my mixer.   The second batch did not fare much better, but it did make it into the molds.

The essential problem with making bubble bars is finding the right balance of moisture.   Glycerin is wonderful for moisturizing skin, but add a tad too much and you've got glop.  That is basically what I ended up with:

The good news is that after a day or two, the bars did dry enough to stay together.  The even better news is that Mystery Fragrance No. 7 is amazing!  It smelled good in the bottle, and the scent stayed true while mixing it in the product.   But, oh my goodness, when these bubble bars hit water, the scent was heavenly.  There is a kind of grapefruity note in the bottle that seemed to disappear in water.   I will  perfect my bubble bar recipe, and will definitely be using this scent in it.

Melt

I have been wanting to make bath melts for some time now.   They are great in the fall/winter, not so great in the summer, particularly if you live where the temperatures can reach 90.  The opportunity to test Brambleberry's fragrances gave me the perfect excuse to try a batch.

I love bath melts.  They are filled with silky, skin softening goodness (the ones pictured below are made with shea and tucuma butters).   And don't let the name mislead you - they work just as well in the shower.  Just break off a small piece and rub it into your skin.

I used Mystery fragrance No. 2 for this batch.  The fragrance is a bit heavy, and my step daughter swears it smells like a perfume she has at home.

Here are our bath melts while still in liquid form:

And here is a picture of the finished product (with a piece broken off for testing purposes!)

The fragrance did really well in the finished product.  It smelled exactly like it does in the bottle.

Overall, I was very happy with how these turned out.   The same cannot be said of my next project, which I will talk about tomorrow ... when I finish cleaning up :)

Anatomy Of A Bath Bomb

I love making bath bombs, and judging by the fact that I have big bowls of them in each bathroom in my house, probably a little too much.   But honestly, what's not to love?   They fizz, they smell good, and they look pretty.   A perfect combination!

I have been wanting to make a "candy" bath bomb, using some combination of desert sprinkles or colored sugar.   Two of Bramble Berry's mystery fragrances seemed like the perfect ones for this project.

First up is Mystery Fragrance No. 1, which smells to me like some sort of bakery product, with definite vanilla notes.   I wish that I had a brown color for bath bombs, because this scent feels like a brown. I settled on orange, with some fall leaves thrown on top.  Here is the result:

I think the fragrance seems a bit sweeter in the bath bomb.

Next up is Mystery Fragrance No. 4, which I want to call Candy Apple, but its not quite an apple scent.   Whatever it is, I am loving it!   I have had the bath bombs on my desk while I work, and the scent is just amazing.   I think of it as a red/pink scent ...

The scent smells just as good in the water as it does in the bath bomb!   Here are some pictures of the bath bomb meeting its end:

More fun stuff coming soon ....

Wine and Gold ....

One of the most interesting things about working with fragrance oils is ... imagination.   Fragrance has the ability to calm, or soothe, or awaken your senses.   Almost always, I associate a color with a fragrance immediately upon smelling it.

Mystery Fragrance No. 5 definitely had that effect on me.  I described it yesterday as a heavy scent.  It brought to mind red and gold tapestries that are so popular in the winter .... and thus, my first S.O.A.P. team project!

Using the Bramble Berry cube soap mold I love so much, I started with a clear base, coloring one half with a gold mica and the other half with Bramble Berry's Merlot Sparkle Mica.   The latter looks absolutely stunning in MP soap.  Below is a picture of it in the melted soap:

Because Mystery Fragrance No. 5 seemed heavy out of the bottle, I was hesitant to add it in too high of a percentage.  I finally settled on 2%, which is just a tad less than the 2.5% I usually use.

And the finished product looks like this:

The scent definitely lightened up in the soap, but the essence stayed true.  I think 2% is the right amount for this scent.