From Pigments To Fragrance Oils: Creating Beautiful Soap At Home

Whether you are an expert soap maker or just a beginner trying something new, we have outlined some of our favourite tips and tricks for making beautiful looking and smelling soaps from the comfort of your home. With so many people looking for creative outlets, or wanting to try a new creative activity, making homemade soap holds a world of benefits. So, keep reading to find out some of the different ways you can create your own wonderful soap!

Reasons To Try Soap Making At Home

There are a range of reasons as to why making your own homemade soap is actually really beneficial:

• By making your own soap, you know exactly what scents, colours and ingredients are going into it. By avoiding shop bought soaps, you are also avoiding any artificial ingredients, dyes and scents that could potentially irritate or damage your skin. By losing the chemicals and synthetics, you are automatically taking better care of your skin, keeping it moisturised for longer.

• Because you will be buying your own ingredients, you can go to extra lengths to make sure that your soap is made from organic, cruelty free and sustainably sourced ingredients. This will benefit the environment, and you are not contributing to some of the harmful processes that many commercial companies use to make their soaps.

• Making your own soap also means you can choose biodegradable ingredients, to avoid clogging up any pipes and waterways, and further protecting the environment.

• Getting stuck into a creative activity like this can be a good outlet for a lot of people, not to mention the relaxing yet rewarding process of creating your own product, designing it and moulding it into whatever your heart desires. And,the soap making process is nice and simple, giving you a calming activity to try.

• Depending on the shelf life of the products you use in your soap, this will determine its expiry date. But using ingredients with a long shelf life or preservative properties can help to make your soap usable for months to come.

• If you’re further ahead in your soap making journey, you might be making your soap in batches, either for yourself or for a small business, in which case you are saving or making money from your home made, ethically sourced soaps!

Creating A Sumptuous Soap

There are plenty of ways to elevate your soap, whether it be a beautiful fragrance or adding some sparkly glitters. These are some of our suggestions if you’re struggling to get creative!

Popular Scents

When it comes to scent, there are a whole world of combinations and layers to explore with fragrance oils. With endless possibilities, these are 5 of the most popular choices for homemade soaps. But, don’t feel limited by this, feel free to get creative and experiment with different smells.

• Lavender – Easily one of the most popular scents, a naturally sourced smell, giving calming and natural aromas. Also used in aromatherapy, or a common scent you might have in the bath, lavender is a brilliant choice for a handmade soap, leaving you smelling sweet and feeling relaxed.

• Milk & Honey – Sweet and soft tones exude from this scent. Even the notion of milk and honey is automatically relaxing and luxurious. It gives a creamy and hydrating smell, to perfectly match your handmade soap.

• Lemongrass – Perfect for those light and fresh yet citrusy tones. Often used in a lot of aromatherapy, lemongrass is a popular and subdued scent, making it a strong contender for soap making. 

• Jasmine – This one can be hit or miss with a lot of people, but the fresh and floral jasmine tones will leave you smelling sweet and even a bit musky. Much like lavender, jasmine is an easily recognisable smell, with a tenacious and fruity scent.

• Orange zest – Another, stronger citrus scent, orange zest is a beautiful fresh smell. Reminiscent of summer and warm weather, orange scents are an all round great smell, not to mention, they can blend beautifully with a range of other flavours like cloves, juniper and even lavender!

These are just some ideas to get the ball rolling, and everyone’s scent preferences are different, so don’t be afraid to try blending scents while you’re creating your own perfect soap!

Decorating Your Soap

After picking your scent, you still get to be creative! Decorating your soap can be the most fun part, picking colours, mixing them and adding an array of decorative elements. We’ve picked out a few simple ideas to try if you’re just starting out but feel free to get inspired and create your dream soap.

Mineral Pigments & Mica Powders

Mineral pigments are ideal for soap making, usually resembling the colour of the pigment within the soap. If you are using the ‘Melt and Pour’ process for your soaps, you can rely on mineral pigments as the colours will not bleed, giving you the freedom to mix, match and wild with your colour combinations.

Mica powders are also very reliable colour pigments, widely used in a range of cosmetics, mica powders are brilliant sources of colour. They are sometimes called Pearlescents, going through a refined manufacturing process and becoming brilliant pigments for us to use! They go through extra refinement for cosmetic products, and the colours are extremely vibrant.

These two powdered pigments are good options, both allow you to mix and match, exploring different combinations with your soap design.

Liquid Wax Dyes

Any water based liquid wax dye will be great to use in your soap too. They are incredibly potent, often used in the candle making process, but equally as effective in soap making! If you do decide to use liquid wax dyes in your soap, be sure to dilute it in a small amount of rubbing alcohol before mixing it into your soap mixture! This will help to prevent any clumping of colour in your soap, which is definitely something you want to avoid.

Glitter For Soaps

With a whole world of colours out there, and a good range of powders and dyes to choose from, the possibilities are endless with your colour combinations and patterns. But, you might be looking to add something a little more sparkle to your soap for some added pzazz. If this is the case, soap glitters could be the answer.

First of all, it’s essential that you buy a soap safe glitter, rather than one you can find in an art shop, as these will not be safe in your soap or on your skin. There are a variety of ways you can use your glitter too:

• Glitter can be mixed into your soap batch during the mixing process, if you’re looking for glitter throughout the product

• Try a glitter layer in the middle of your soap if you have mixed it into your batch 

• For a more subdued look, try a sprinkle of glitter just on the top of your soap moulds, as an exterior addition 

• A few specks of glitter here and there throughout your soap can make for a more interesting effect if you don’t want to commit to full glitter

On the whole, glitters work really well in a clearer soap, or a more subdued colour, but you can always try it for yourself and see what combinations and patterns you like the best! There is absolutely no wrong answer, and so your soap making session should be tons of fun.

Soak Rochford

Here at Soak Rochford, we supply a range of dry ingredients, moulds, glitters and much more. We have everything you need to get started on your soap making journey. If you’re looking for fun and unique moulds, or a wide selection of mica powders and dyes, you can rely on us to supply you with quality products. Whether it’s bath wax or soap storage, we are here to help!

For more information about what we do, or how we can help you, feel free to get in touch with us today. Our team will be happy to speak with you and help you find whatever it is that you’re looking for.