Cheap Soap Trick

If you have trouble sourcing a melt n pour soap supplier, try this cheap alternative made with regular bars of soap. I chose this lux soap because it has mineral salts and marine extracts to make my ocean themed soaps.

Shred the bar into little curls. You can save these for dressing as well.

Then add a little oil or water. Through some experimentation, I realise you need a little oil to protect the soap from drying out & hardening in the microwave. But, not too much or your soaps will be too slippery to manage in the shower.

Then hit the start button on your microwave. Stand back and watch the soap explode, I believe soapers call this the volcano effect in the hot saponification process. Stir down the foam and keep going until everything is melted.

Spoon the liquid mixture into moulds, I use ice trays to make cute little accent soaps. Leave it in the mould for at least 24 hours before popping them out.

After popping out the soap, cover with a tea towel and leave it out to air dry for a week. And you have your fancy guest soaps!

Soap Mould

There isn't much here for soap-making hobbyists. Who knew sodium hydroxide is controlled by the NEA and you need a license to purchase some. Store-bought lye is NOT skin-safe, please don't use it! So you really need to locate some melt-n-pour suppliers in town.

I really have this thing against cute chocolate moulds for soap as it makes it too small to clean yourself properly. I was cleaning out my brother's handmade chess box when my dad offered to make me a soap mould. Today, he brought back some wood in the right size to make a 3 loaf mould, 2 normal sized bars and 1 cubed bar. I have some scrapbooking stamps that I can press onto the soap and lovely double-sided bird print wrapping paper from Christmas. So I guess I am all set. Hhmmm...when is the next occasion?

Mustafa Centre

Rows of chutney!

Made an almost midnight provisions run at Mustafa Centre, it's 24 hours. The variety is overwhelming with pre-mixes for curry to chapati, everything an Indian mom would want to make her life easier. I come here for hard to find items like ground pomegranate and mango powder. Prices are cheaper too! I checked.

An entire aisle of ghee!

年年有余

Ok, sometimes  余 is used interchangeably with 鱼

Auspicious to start the year with a goldfish charm

Green Tea Salt Scrub

This is a green tea scrub to help promote overall well-being this Chinese New Year.

In theme, I used sea salt as a base with it's healthy invigorating properties and chose macadamia nut oil, a rich nutty emollient.

Glycerin again, it helps attract moisture to the skin.

This is melted cocoa butter. Well known as a moisturizer, it also acts as a natural preservative with it's antioxidants helping to extend shelf-life of products naturally.

This is the mix of essential oils I used to create green tea as I remember it to be...light and refreshing with undernotes of flowers and fruits. Collectively, the essential oils will make you happy, relieve stress and bring all sorts of improvement to your health. Exactly what we all need this festive season.

The mixture turned a slight yellow once everything was mixed in. I added a drop of natural blue food colouring that turned the mixture a pastel sea green. That won't do! So I added a drop of yellow pineapple essence and the mixture turned a bright jade green.

This is the finished product!

Grapefruit Sugar Scrub

Sometimes, I make my own bath products to ensure it contains only the best ingredients for my skin. Sourcing for organic produce ensures the ingredients contain at least 30% more vitamins and minerals than ordinary produce. It's also preservative free. Just make sure it's used within 18 months or keep it in the fridge.

Today, I am making a sugar scrub. Coarse, unrefined cane sugar is full of alpha hydroxy acids that acts as a natural skin peel, especially beneficial for aged skin.

Then, I add in an entire bottle of glycerol and fresh aloe vera gel.

Succulent leaves of the Aloe Vera plant can be purchased from the market. I am cutting 2 leaves today to process and keep as raw material for my bath products. When cutting, be careful not to agitate the sap underneath the skin. In any case, the sap can just be washed away before extracting the aloe vera gel.

Powdered flowers or hydrogenated fruits to add colour naturally. These are hard to source for, so use food colour if all else fails.

This is my personal blend of Grapefruit, Chamomile and Eucalyptus essential oils. Meant to lift your mood, calm the nerves, invigorate the body by removing fatigue and muscular aches then to boost the immune system. Generous amounts of essential oils are added to ensure it delivers everything it's meant to.

Lastly, add in a carrier oil. I like to use grapeseed oil due to it's light fragrance that doesn't interfere with the scent of essential oils. Grapeseed oil also contains vitamin E and is beneficial for the body when absorbed through the skin. 

The final product!

New Website & Graphics

Another New Year thing, I had to change my website, webshops and graphics. This is the first thing I made and there are more to come! Stay tuned.