Let the Good Times Roll!

I’ve been at it again, messing up my kitchen, filling my house with fragrances, and overflowing my dining room table with finished products!   I wouldn’t change a thing about it though — I am having so much fun!

This weekend I managed to make 5 things:  Telangyn Peptide Lotion, Gladback Collagen Facial Serum Spray, Oatmeal Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter, Facial Clay Masks, and Body Balms.

I think I am done now with making everything for my sister’s birthday visit, but I keep thinking of more things to make.  Good thing there is only one more weekend left before I see her because I am running out of room!

Book Launch: Luscious Lotions, Decadent Creams and Nourishing Conditioners

Today I am thrilled to share that my new book, “Luscious Lotions, Decadent Creams and Nourishing Conditioners” has been published on the Amazon.com Kindle Store.

You can find the book  >> HERE

Luscious Lotions, Decadent Creams and Nourishing Conditioners

30 Emulsified Lotion Recipes and Detailed Instructions

Lisa A. Daniels

445 Pages

ASIN: B074GGZYHK

Five Outta Six Ain’t Bad

Have you ever had one of those weekends when everything you did just turned out 100% perfect, or even better than you imagined?   Well, I didn’t have one of those, but it was almost that!   I only had one thing that didn’t turn out to my liking.  All the rest of them met or exceeded my expectations!

I did a lot of things this weekend; three batches of soap, two lotions and bath bombs.   I was quite busy, but now that it’s over, and I put all my stuff away, I feel like I got some good recreation time in.

So let’s start out with what didn’t turn out like I expected and go from there (we’ll get that one out-of-the-way).  🙂

New Lotion and Emulsified Body Butters — Also a Free Body Butter Recipe

Despite sleeping in today, by accident, until 11:30 AM, (ahem…), I did manage to get a few things done this weekend that I have been wanting to try.  I didn’t get to make any soap (as I had planned), but oh well.  There’ is always next weekend!

While I have made many, many lotions in the past, I have not yet tried out any emulsified body butters.    My usual body butter recipe is anhydrous (doesn’t contain any water), therefore any water-based ingredients can’t be included in them.   They are still lovely, but are heavy, oily feeling, and missing out on all the lovely ingredients such as humectants, proteins, and extracts that you can include in emulsified lotions.

Making a lotion that is rich in butters and oils can also be called a body butter, but it is very different from the anhydrous ones.    It can now contain all the great water-soluble ingredients and since it contains water, it is also going to be more hydrating that the anhydrous body butters.

Four New Creations

I got a chance to make a soap this weekend, and it was another palm-free one!   This is my 3rd batch of palm-free soap and, although all of them are still curing (so I don’t know how they feel on the skin yet), I am really loving how nicely they are coming out of the mold after just 1 day!  No sticking at all, nice, crisp corners, and good texture!

I also made 3 new lotions, all of them successes!   I feel so accomplished!

 

Butterfly Dance Palm Free Soap

There is nothing “too fancy” in this recipe — just the usual suspects (Coconut, Babassu, Olive, Shea Butter, Castor, Rice Bran, and Avocado oils).   Those are nice oils though, and should make a lovely soap.

I managed to get the INS values to a decent rate, which I am finding quite a challenge with palm-free soaps.  In order to get them to be hard enough, you have to use harder oils and butters, but those tend to be less conditioning and more cleansing, so it is a tough balancing act to get decent numbers all-around.

• Hardness – 36
• Cleansing – 15
• Bubbly – 26
• Creamy – 32
• Conditioning – 60
• INS – 133

I used Hydrated Chrome Green Oxide, Yellow Vibrance Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Sunset Orange mica and Luster Black mica.  I first did an in the mold swirl and then a little hanger swirl.  I just plopped some dots of color on the top and added a little puddle of gold mica oil, then swirled the top layer with a skewer.  I scented it with Nurture Soaps “Rock Star” fragrance oil.   It smells like cotton candy to me — light and sweet.

It didn’t turn out exactly the way I envisioned, but I think it is still lovely.  It kind of looks like butterfly colors, thus the name — butterfly dance.

 

Summer Shimmer – After Sun Hydration Lotion

I am not a sun-tanner, but my sister is.  I turn twelve shades of “tomato” the minute I step into the sun, but my sister and her girls don’t have this problem.   So I decided to make them a lotion for replacing moisture after sun exposure.   I added just a little bit of gold sparkle mica so that it leaves a subtle shimmer on the skin (but without adding any color — just a few sparkles).

I used anti-inflammatory oils (Avocado, Borage and Shea Butter) and a ton of humectants (Glycerin, Sodium Lactate and Honeyquat) in this.  I also threw in some Hydrolyzed Oats, Aloe Extract, Aloe Liquid, and Allantoin to calm the skin.    I scented it with Brambleberry’s “Mango Mango” fragrance oil.

 

Frankin-Lav-On Foot Cream with Lanolin

I am a foot cream fanatic and now I am really in love with the scent of frankincense, lemon, and lavender.   I recently made a similar facial cream with this scent and I just love it.   So I decided to make thick, heavy, foot cream with this scent.

It has two butters – Shea and Cupuacu.   I added Jojoba, and Argan oils as well as Lanolin (to really seal in the moisture).  I also threw in some rice protein to help with moisture retention, three humectants, Allantoin, and aloe liquid.  I put in just a touch of Dimethicone to help it feel less greasy and eliminate any “soaping effect”.

Since I used Cetyl Alcohol and Cetyl Esters, this lotion feels smooth, creamy, and velvety.  There are no colorants, but it is a light lemon-yellow thanks to the golden jojoba oil and lemon essential oil.

I used it last night and it was wonderful.

 

Rock Star Lotion

I loved the scent of the soap I made this weekend, so I made a lotion to match.  🙂  It smells so soft and pretty!

This one has Avocado, Rice Bran and Sesame oils and Cocoa Butter.   I used all three humectants again (I love moisture), and some hydrolyzed oats.  This one was made with Polawax and Cetearyl Alcohol, so it is a little less “wet” feeling than the other lotion (Summer Shimmer), but it sinks in very quickly and feels protecting on the skin.

I added just a smidge of Kermit green Mica and Yellow Vibrance mica to give it a lime green color.  It looks darker in the picture than it really is.  It is more of a yellow-green – light lime green color.

Some time this week I am going to have to force myself to make some labels for all the lotions I have been making lately.  They are piling up and before I forget what they are, I need to get the labels done and affixed.   Labelling is my least favorite thing about making lotions — you have to really fit a LOT of ingredients on a tiny label.  Not easy!  Although it has taught me to appreciate making soap labels though — they are so much simpler!

I had a lot of fun this weekend making these little projects, and I really hope your weekend was just as great!

 

 

 

Salty Mariner Men’s Lotion, Avobath Type Lotion and Frankincense, Lavender and Lemon Facial Cream with Niacinamide

Unfortunately, I did not have such a  great weekend this week.   We had a storm on Thursday night which knocked out power to many customers around where I live.  Luckily my power came back on Friday morning, but my Internet connection was down all day.  It was sporadically out on Saturday as well.

I am thankful that we did not suffer some of the damage that others around here did, but it was real inconvenient without Internet for so long.  So many things won’t work without an Internet connection.   It’s easy to take for granted how “connected” you really are and be taken by surprise by the handicap when you are without it.

Aside from that, I also had a few chores to take care of this weekend, so I didn’t get as much done as I normally do.  I did manage to get three lotions made though, which is better than nothing.

4 day weekend is kaput. Here is my (long) weekend round-up post.

Wow, that went fast.  I guess I was busy, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

In usual fashion, here is a round-up of my weekend crafting adventures.