After a few weeks of some fancy-pants, layered-up, Christmas themed soaps, I fancied a bit of a rustic break. A simple to make, quick-to-assemble, low-fuss bar soap made with some lovely oils and butters, lots of creamy clay, and no … Continue reading →

I seem to have a thing for turning my favourite beverages into soaps. Café Latté, Gin and Tonic, and now a Chai Latté. This wonderful, rich soap is scented with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and vanilla. I blended with milk … Continue reading →

I adore clay in my soap, so I thought I’d try a bar with lots of the stuff. The general rule of thumb I’ve been following is one tablespoon per 500g/pound of oils so I decided to take that up … Continue reading →

This creamy Almond Oat Soap came with a rather baffling (and completely unexpected!) mystery! When I sliced it after leaving it to saponify for a day I was delighted to find it was a completely different colour than I expected. … Continue reading →

I’m so excited to share these beautiful bars of soap with you guys! I tried a new technique—a gradient (or ombre) pour—for the very first time, and I love how it turned out. These bars are inspired by all things … Continue reading →

My deep dive into beverage themed soaps continues with this minty lime tribute to the Mojito. It’s bright green and smells wonderfully fresh, and I just love the sprinkling of coarse sugar on the top for a hint of sweet … Continue reading →

I’m so excited to share these beautiful bars of soap with you guys! I tried a new technique—a gradient (or ombre) pour—for the very first time, and I love how it turned out. These bars are inspired by all things … Continue reading →

This intoxicating soap is lightly golden and reminiscent of tropical gardens and exotic locales. It makes me think of small towns in the summer time—specifically Gig Harbor, Washington. My Aunt’s family lives there, and all of my most recent visits … Continue reading →

This creamy Almond Oat Soap came with a rather baffling (and completely unexpected!) mystery! When I sliced it after leaving it to saponify for a day I was delighted to find it was a completely different colour than I expected. … Continue reading →

I’m not sure what it is about this hobby (or maybe it’s just me), but people always assume I have a green thumb (people who have never seen my yard, at least). With the utmost faith in my ability to … Continue reading →

Today we’re getting our mango on (again!) with a lovely loaf of bright orange, tropically scented cold processed soap. I had a lot of fun playing with some bright & summery micas, channelling all kinds of mango-y goodness into colourful … Continue reading →

I wasn’t originally going to publish this today, but I received a few comments on yesterday’s entry about the use of in soap making. I’ve also had a quite a few questions over the years about the use of lard … Continue reading →

I’m so excited to share these beautiful bars of soap with you guys! I tried a new technique—a gradient (or ombre) pour—for the very first time, and I love how it turned out. These bars are inspired by all things … Continue reading →

This formulation is a really fun and interesting one; it’s a solid, self-preserving body wash that I’m calling Birthday Suit Solid Body Wash. You can customize the colour and the scent, and play with different moulds for all kinds of … Continue reading →

I may have a lavender problem. At last count, I had six different types of lavender essential oil in my cupboard (though in my defense, New Directions had a lavender sale last year). Anyhow, that surplus got me thinking about … Continue reading →

After a few weeks of some fancy-pants, layered-up, Christmas themed soaps, I fancied a bit of a rustic break. A simple to make, quick-to-assemble, low-fuss bar soap made with some lovely oils and butters, lots of creamy clay, and no … Continue reading →

I’ve been working on these chocolatey, clay-spiked shampoo bars since early March, and I’m super excited to finally share them with you today! They’ve got a stunning, creamy lather that leaves your hair feeling fabulous, and I’m making them with … Continue reading →

I think one of my favourite things about summer is ditching shoes and going barefoot. As a kid I’d frequently return home with totally blackened feet that grew tough and leathery over the summer months. Now, sadly, I don’t have … Continue reading →

Today we’re revisiting a project I first shared in May 2014—a rich body lotion inspired by a popular LUSH product—as part of my Bee Better work. This six-years-later update features a new emulsifier, fully percentage-ified amounts, clearer instructions, and a … Continue reading →

I adore clay in my soap, so I thought I’d try a bar with lots of the stuff. The general rule of thumb I’ve been following is one tablespoon per 500g/pound of oils so I decided to take that up … Continue reading →

These bright, colourful Citrus Summer Punch Swirl Soap bars are perfect for summer. They smell like fresh, juicy grapefruit and they’re basically a swirly chunk of beautiful sunny weather in sudsible form. This soap recipe is also the first soap … Continue reading →

Last summer Debbi mailed me a few beautiful bars of her homemade soap. One was a goats milk bar, and the other was hemp milk, and I loved them both. Smooth, creamy, and gentle. Sadly they are both gone now, … Continue reading →

Today we’re continuing our sweetgrass series with a beautiful Sweetgrass Gradient Swirl Soap, featuring soft swirls that gradate from a reddy copper to pale cream, much like a sunset. The top is dolloped and swirled, with some shimmery mica whorls … Continue reading →

I am so excited to share this recipe with you guys. I’ve been working on it since shortly after new years, and sharing the progress on my Instagram stories as I’ve been testing and tweaking. This is a conditioning shampoo; more … Continue reading →

I’ve promised you a whipped soap recipe that doesn’t use stearic acid to stabilize it, and here it is. This one uses raw , imparting a delicious chocolatey scent along the way. It’s still wonderfully light and airy, but it … Continue reading →

The part of the world I currently live in is not known for having amazing summers. Amazing summer days? Sure. But summers on the whole? Reliable beautiful days, all in a row, without question? Not so much. We’re moreso known … Continue reading →

Terry’s Chocolate Oranges have been a Christmas constant to me for most of my life. The square little box filled with an orange foil-wrapped globe of orange-scented chocolate was usually found near the toe of my stocking, and was quickly … Continue reading →

After a few weeks of some fancy-pants, layered-up, Christmas themed soaps, I fancied a bit of a rustic break. A simple to make, quick-to-assemble, low-fuss bar soap made with some lovely oils and butters, lots of creamy clay, and no … Continue reading →

The part of the world I currently live in is not known for having amazing summers. Amazing summer days? Sure. But summers on the whole? Reliable beautiful days, all in a row, without question? Not so much. We’re moreso known … Continue reading →

I’ve been wanting to make beer soap for ages, and I’m pleased to say I finally got around to doing it! A friend of mine makes beer (and great beer, at that!) and had some mostly flat stuff that he … Continue reading →

The part of the world I currently live in is not known for having amazing summers. Amazing summer days? Sure. But summers on the whole? Reliable beautiful days, all in a row, without question? Not so much. We’re moreso known … Continue reading →

I bought a bag of bright red cranberry seeds last year, and found them in the back of my cupboard just in time to make a Cranberry Sauce soap as my second Christmas soap for 2014. These pretty reddish bars … Continue reading →

I’m really excited to share this formula with you guys—this Pemberley Hand Lotion was my Formula Botanica final project, and I received a mark of 100% for it! The project was to create a product for a specific customer. I designed … Continue reading →

Welcome to our first Christmas 2018 soap—Sugar Plum Christmas Soap! Sugar plum will be one of our ongoing themes this season, and I’m really excited about all the different projects I’ve devised for it. We’re kicking off the theme with … Continue reading →

This is the second batch of soap I ever made, and it’s become one of my favourites over time. The long curing time is definitely beneficial because I used as my hard oil (and as far as hard oils go, … Continue reading →

I’m pretty excited about this lovely Luminous Summer Body Oil—it’s got some pretty neat stuff going for it. While one certainly can make (and I definitely have) a super-simple body oil by simply combining mica and oil, I wanted to … Continue reading →

I’m pretty darn excited to finally share a formulation for a liquid shampoo! I’ve had a lot of requests for a non-soap liquid shampoo over the last few years, and here we are. This one stars a surfactant blend that … Continue reading →

I was at a party last month and I got to talking to someone about Thai curries. Ginger, galangal, lemongrass, coconut milk, and chilies. The idea wedged itself in my brain. The next day I went to make a batch … Continue reading →

Today we’re continuing our sweetgrass series with a beautiful Sweetgrass Gradient Swirl Soap, featuring soft swirls that gradate from a reddy copper to pale cream, much like a sunset. The top is dolloped and swirled, with some shimmery mica whorls … Continue reading →

The part of the world I currently live in is not known for having amazing summers. Amazing summer days? Sure. But summers on the whole? Reliable beautiful days, all in a row, without question? Not so much. We’re moreso known … Continue reading →

I’m not a big fan of having my shower crowded with two dozen bottles. I’ve had friends with roommates that had so many shower products there was barely room to stand in the shower! Their showers were crowded with a … Continue reading →

It’s time for our second Christmas soap (and Christmas theme) of 2021: Candlelight Christmas Soap. It’s a warm, rich soap that I designed to look like a glowing candle and smell like cozy, fireside cuddles. Let’s get started! Want to … Continue reading →

This two-layer unscented soap is coloured with clay, and is really beginner-friendly. I designed this soap for my dad as a Father’s Day gift since he prefers unscented products; my Christmassy soaps for 2021 were pretty perfumey, so he put … Continue reading →

This luxurious lemon meringue whipped soap takes inspiration from one of my favourite desserts—lemon meringue pie. With its bright lemony scent, faint yellow hue, and decadent whipped texture, it’s lovely in a wee dish by your sink for hand washing … Continue reading →

I had so much fun crafting up these creamy, sweet-smelling, sparkly bars of tea latte inspired soap. The batter is silky smooth and has great play time, so the whole mixing-pouring-swirling experience is calm and easy and fun (no pudding … Continue reading →

Today we’re going back to the basics with a Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion. I pared down the ingredients as much as I could, so this lotion just features five (5!) inexpensive ingredients that can be easily modified to suit what … Continue reading →

I’m so excited to share this with you; it’s something I’ve been working on for almost a year! This particular recipe has been in testing and tweaking since July. I’ve had a lot of requests for a surfactant-powered shampoo bar … Continue reading →