Ok......am back

My dad passed away on the 27th. So, I was away in Chennai for nearly two weeks with my mom and my sister.

Am back and have been restless to make some soap. I am kind of getting obsessed with this whole soap making……and so have just made a new batch of soap. I have attempted Milk Soap this time. Many soapers have warned about the milk getting burnt because of the heat it creates in soap. The sugars in the milk are the problem. After a lot of research, I decided to use the Half and Half method to make this soap. I divided the total amount of liquid required into half water and half milk. I mixed the lye in the water and when the oils and the lye mixture reached light trace, I added the milk in a slow stream. The soap mixture immediately started to heat up. I had very little time to add my FOs and a bit of colour. It really thickened up and when I poured (put) it into the mould, it was the consistency of thick pudding. Also, despite my best efforts to keep the temperature down,  it gelled on me. Am a bit disappointed as I was hoping I would have an ivory coloured soap. Have to wait and see how it turns out.

Soap going thru gel stage

 Adding fragrance oils instead of essential oils is another first for me. Thankfully, there was no issue when I added the FOs. I have scented the soap with a mix of Melon and Berry FOs. It will be interesting to see how the smell holds up after the soap has hardened and cured.

Since I wanted a really moisturizing soap, have added a good amount of cocoa butter. 

I bought myself one of those chocolate moulds so that I can make sample sizes of my new soaps. Aren't they cute?

The colour of the samples indicate that I could have ivory coloured soaps after all. Can you notice the hint of blue in them? I tried to swirl in some colour as it was thickening up pretty quickly