Since that first soap, I’ve heard of all sorts of lovely blends – especially since I asked my Facebook folks yesterday what they would blend with anise. Everything from mint to citrus to fennel to other spices. I gathered up these responses and created a free survey in SurveyMonkey, then sent it to all my Preferred Customers via MailChimp (yet another great service they offer!). And since this is a new integration for them, MailChimp surprised me with a free t-shirt just for trying it out!

So far the top response from the survey is anise + other spices. FYI, the second highest response is “anise stinks, and I don’t want any soap that has anise in it…” Note to self: Do not make a double batch of anise soap.
Some people did say that they might like it in a blend, however. So, I’ve been busy in the blending lab today, trying out virtually every suggestion for an anise blend. If you are new to blending, there are just a few basic things you need to know. This is how I do it – others may do it differently. First, I gather all the bottles of essential oils that I think I might want to use. Then I cut up paper towels into fourths, grab a pen and some disposable pipettes and get to work!

Each drop of essential oil becomes a “part” of the blend. So if I use 3 drops of anise to 2 drops of clove, that can translate into 3 ounces of anise and 2 ounces of clove. Except that would be way too much for one of my regular batches of soap, so I would probably use 1.5 ounces of anise and 1 ounce of clove instead. Always write down what you did! Here are my paper towels all laid out:

Anise essential oil blends - brown dots are from cocoa and vanilla absolutes. I didn't care for those blends much.

Out of the spicy blends, my personal favorites were these three blends:

#1: 3 parts orange, 2 parts anise, 1 part clove, #2: 2 parts anise, 1 part cinnamon, 1 part allspice, #3: 2 parts cinnamon, 1 part ginger, 2 parts anise - peppernuts, anyone?

I like the idea of a peppernut blend. Many people are familiar with peppernuts. I’m just not a big fan of my ginger essential oil. It has an earthy quality that just doesn’t smell quite right. I might be able to add a bit of clove or allspice to help it out… Any peppernut fans out there? Or anyone else want to take my quick survey?

I’ve made a batch of Honey Almond Hand & Body Lotions which have been raved over by my farmer’s market customers already. There are only 3 available at the moment:

Honey Almond Hand & Body Lotion

I also made a test batch of Honey Almond soap with goat’s milk:

Honey Almond soap in the mold

Honey Almond soap cut & cured

I also received some insightful comments on the previous post from Josee who has used the bitter almond essential oil from Liberty Natural.

Liberty Natural sells the bitter almond EO FFPA FFC. There is some paperwork to fill out first but once done, they keep them on file so you don’t have to do it again next time you want to buy. I have some here and I can assure you it is VERY potent stuff. Used at 0.5 PPO it still almost drove me out of the house. This EO has been modified, the prussic acid removed, so that it is safe to use. The reason you have to fill out paperwork is because benzandelhyde is the precursor to amphetamine.

Indeed, if you look at the Certificate of Analysis for this product, it says Prussic Acid (Per FCC Test): 0.015% max.

Besides looking at the almond essential oils, I’ve also placed an order with Essential Oil University for some other essential oils & blends. Although I do like to create my own scent blends, sometimes it is more cost effective to buy the pre-blended oils. Eventually, I’m fairly certain that all of my products – including soaps – will be scented naturally. I’m starting this process slowly, however. I do love my synthetic fragrances!

Essential oils have so many facets to them – they aren’t just good for fragrance! They have aromatherapy benefits and other properties that can make them highly potent. I’m hoping to learn more about those properties as I blend and create products that are beneficial to my customers. This includes watching for cautions related to skin irritation, or oils that are to be avoided during pregnancy. Most of the larger suppliers don’t have this information on their websites, so I have to go looking elsewhere. I wish I could go to the Handcrafted Soapmaker’s Guild conference in May to learn more from Robert Tisserand. He’s going to be one of the speakers, and he’s a well-known expert on the subject. Can someone take good notes for me, if you’re going? (I just read that Tisserand advises to completely avoid cassia in skin care applications. [Robert Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety (United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone, 1995), 204.] Perhaps I shouldn’t have purchased the bitter almond fragrance from WSP.)

I did find a couple “top pick” essential oil lists from some experienced soap teachers if you’re just starting out and need some suggestions for what to buy. Lori Nova of The Nova Studio has a top 10 list with reasons why she chose them as well as some suggestions on how to blend them. She also gives some guidelines on how to figure out how much to use in a batch of soap. Marla Bosworth of Back Porch Soap Company has a top 5 list that includes some different oils as well as her reasons for picking them and blending suggestions.

Hopefully those resources will help someone. Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting patiently for my packages to arrive!

Almond Milk Hand & Body Lotion

I knew that there was such a thing as almond essential oil, but somewhere in the back of my mind I also remembered reading something about it not being the best choice for skin care. So I decided to do a little bit of research. At the top of my list of search results, I found that WSP offers an all natural bitter almond fragrance. It is about 48% essential oil and 52% sweet almond oil – I think. The certificate of compliance lists different ingredients than the official ingredients list. The recommended maximum usage level for lotions is 0.5%. (I normally scent my lotions at 1%.) All the reviewers give it five stars, claim it is super potent, a little goes a long way, best seller, etc. There are no warnings associated with this product.

So why was I concerned? I found a little bit more information about bitter almond essential oil. According to Esoteric Oils:

The main chemical components of bitter almond oil are benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic (prussic acid).
Bitter almond oil should never be used in therapy. The human ingestion of 7.5 ml of Bitter almond oil has resulted in death, so this oil should be handled with great care.

The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) information on bitter almond essential oil states:

LIQUID MAY BE IRRITATING TO SKIN AND EYES. VAPOR MAY BE IRRITATING TO EYES, THROAT AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. BREATHING OF HIGH CONCENTRATION OF VAPOR MAY CAUSE NAUSEA, VOMITING, DIZZINESS AND LOSS OF MUSCLE COORDINATION.

No wonder I had concerns! Oh, and did I mention that bitter almond essential oil is also regulated by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)?

However, I did find an article at statssheet.com which claims that there may be other natural alternatives that still smell like almond essential oil:

In spite of the dangers associated with bitter almond essential oil, consumers continue to demand the scent of almonds in their essential oils. Therefore, oil distillers have responded to their requests and provided “bitter almond” essential oil marketed under the bitter oil name but being derived instead from cherry pits.

This might explain one reviewer’s remarks about the WSP Bitter Almond Fragrance that “Initially it smells like cherries but after sitting it has a slightly more nutty smell.” I’ve sent an email to Debbie May, owner of WSP, to find out what is actually in her product. She is looking into it, but her purchasing manager wasn’t going to be in the office until later, so I’ll let you know what I find out!

I would love to be able to use a natural almond fragrance that is also skin safe. Seems like I may be on to something… Do any of you use a bitter almond essential oil in your soaps or lotions that is skin safe? I’d love to hear about it!

If you’ve never heard of patchouli or why some folks just can’t get enough of it, here is some interesting information:

1. The scent: Patchouli has a strong, earthy scent that is used as a base note in over half of men’s colognes. It was popular in the form of incense back in the 1960′s and 1970′s. To some people the scent of patchouli is exotic, sensual, and luxurious, but to others it’s too forceful and repellent. (Basically, you either love it or hate it.) I had never really smelled it before I started making soap. It’s still not my favorite scent, but it has definitely grown on me.

2. Patchouli is the only essential oil I know of that actually gets better as it ages. The leaves must be fermented and aged before being distilled, which can take as long as 24 hours. Even then, the translucent yellow oil smells harsh. As it ages, it develops patchouli’s distinctive scent.

3. There are different qualities of patchouli, depending on where it is harvested. Patchouli that comes from China is light and not as strong as the darker, more viscous oil that comes from Indonesia. I’ve learned to get the dark stuff!

4. Most essential oils have uses other than their scent. Patchouli is no different. Here are some of the treatments that patchouli has been used for: acne, athlete’s foot, chapped skin, dermatitis, eczema, fatigue, frigidity, hair care (specifically good for conditioning your dreadlocks!), insect repellant, mature skin, oily skin, and stress (specifically for headaches, but only if you aren’t repelled by the scent!).

Sources:
How Stuff Works
AromaWeb – (no longer available)
Wikipedia