Why There is No Such Thing As How to Make Soap Without Lye

For anyone who makes soap, this whole entry will be fairly redundant. However, I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from people who say they are scared of lye, and want to know how to make soap without lye. They’re either afraid of working with it, or they think it will make a bar of soap that will be highly irritating/dangerous. I’m going to address both of these concerns, and hopefully I’ll be able to talk you into making your very own soap—with lye!

Why There is No Such Thing As How to Make Soap Without Lye (more…)

Coco-Cocoa Whipped Body Butter

Whipped body butter is like body butter, but far more decadent. The luxury factor is totally worth the bit of added effort—you feel like you’re frosting yourself, but it a totally non-cannibalistic way.

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Whipped body butter makes great gifts that never fail to impress aunts, mothers, and grandmas everywhere. Because of it’s softer, airy consistency, it is easier to over-apply, so I tend to use whipped body butter before going to bed, or before putting on a big ‘ol pair of socks for a few hours. I’m always rewarded with soft feet and silky smooth skin. (more…)

Why I Use Lard or Tallow in My Soap (And Why You Should, Too)

I wasn’t originally going to publish this today, but I received a few comments on yesterday’s entry about the use of tallow in soap making. I’ve also had a quite a few questions over the years about the use of lard and tallow in my soaps, so I thought I’d finally bite the bullet, as it were, and write a full entry on why I use it, and what the alternatives are if you are morally opposed to using animal products.

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DIY Mineral Make-up

This is a project my friend Sarah found. She’s on a quest to make some all-natural tinted moisturizer/light foundation, and this was the starting point. So, we ordered up all of the ingredients, and this weekend we made some fleshy-coloured face powder.

It’s simple enough. Mix everything together, and then mix some more. Lots more. We pressed the mixture through a fine sieve about twenty times, adjusting the colour as we went. We started with this recipe. It was a bit off. Very, very pale.

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