Lego Soap - How Melt and Pour Saved the Business

Everyone wants the Lego soap.  When I first ran across these soaps online I Wanted them! Melt and pour is very simple and yields great results.  I was selling my cold press soap with mixed results I had a great natural product and an awesome variety but it's hard to sell scent and texture online.  People see a flat image and they don't know it smells amazing they don't know it's moisturizing and exfoliating they just see a bar of soap with a low price tag.  

Melt and pour opened a world of fun shapes, bright colors and a huge variety of moisturizing bases.  

Supplies - I found an amazing company with bulk soap bases in everything I could think of: aloe, hemp, glycerine, crazy mixtures of things I had not heard of all eliminating me having to handle any sort of caustic lye.  Color was a crazy adventure, YouTube videos told me food coloring and soap web sites told me I needed cosmetic grade colors.  Different soap bases effect your colors and a few drops go a long way. Add essential oils for scent and you are on your way to a beautiful customizable product that people are as likely to leave in a bowl for bathroom decoration as they are to use it. 

My 420 soap made from a hemp base.  Red is opium scented.  Green is cannibus flower scented.  Yellow is champa flower scented.

Easter themed soaps fully customizable the ones pictured are glycerine based the pink smells like bubble gum and the blue is cotton candy.

The Sunflower soaps are really popular for their large size I add sunflower oil to the mix for moisturizing and antioxidant properties. I love the black soaps. 

Butter ducks is a favorite among little girls tiny soaps that fit perfectly in their little hands.

Anything is possible with melt and pour and I add new molds constantly.  Hearts and flowers Mickey Mouse thanks to the Internet I can make them smell like almost anything from Cab Sav wine to dark chocolate, bacon to beer. 

A link to my lego soaps check out the rest of my shop while you are there.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179560636/lego-soap

 

Cedar Wood Sage Soap

The older I get the more I'm concerned with the products I use.  Hitting my thirties my skin began to need more maintenance.  I'm at a point in my life where I don't make a ton of money and I'd rather spend what cash I have on fun and electronics rather than wrinkle cream and 'miracle' cures.  I wanted store brand prices with name brand results.  Soaps with labels I could read natural ingredients that haven't been tested on animals made from plants that have not been genetically modified.  

This is amazing time to be alive I can type anything into a search engine and be covered in articles I can become an 'expert' in many subjects in a day.  I can benefit from the research and trial and error of others.   A new world of beauty was opened up to me what oils and plants and processes to go through to create an amazing product was lined out in step by step instructions.

I wanted to create a business and I wanted it NOW.  I needed to have variety and I needed a product that would not disappoint I needed it to be affordable.  

I found an amazing company that provides bulk ingredients that are all non gmo not tested on animals and certified organic.  I've also purchased loafs of soap from them for resell this really helped in the beginning when I had no experience actually making the soap- this set me up to have many varieties with out having to invest a lot of money.

There are a few different methods to make soap.  Melt and pour, and cold process.  I offer both kinds the following is a link to one of my most popular cold process soaps.  It is a great scent for men or women.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179215385/cedar-wood-sage

Cedarwood Sage (Vegan, All Natural) 

Ingredients: Olive Oil, Water, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Organic Palm Oil,  Organic Sunflower Oil,  Shea Butter,  Natural Fragrance, Cedarwood Essential Oil, Clary Sage Essential Oil, Rosehip Powder.

Olive Oil 

A great moisturizer, many healing properties 

Coconut oil

Moisturizing, has been shown to help psoriasis 

Sodium Hydroxide

That's lye 

Palm oil

Moisturizing, vitamin A and E, can reduce fine lines and wrinkles

Sunflower Oil

Vitamin E,  moisturizing, anti aging, anti inflammatory, antibacterial 

Shea butter

Moisturizing, vitamin A, healing properties, great for blemishes of all kinds

Natural fragrance 

Made from essential oils 

Cedar wood

Antiseptic, insecticidal, fungicidal

 

Sage

Anti fungal, antibacterial, antioxidant

Rose hip

Vitamin A, antioxidant, reduces fine lines

Homemade Body Scrub

A trip to my mom's house is always a magical and enlightening experience.  Fruit trees in a Mini orchard an extensive herb garden Dad's gunshop business in full swing.  They have recently added animals.  It was on one of those trips that I was introduced to Epsom salt.  Mom had a giant mason jar full of salt and herbs a little oil- she told me how it had helped her skin.  The conversation sat in the back of my mind for a few months until I ran into a similar recipe online urging people to stop spending so much money on body scrubs and make their own -- I saw there was money to be made and decided to do some research and add body scrubs to my line of all natural homemade products I could charge half of what the fancy store scrubs costs without any of the crazy additives and still make a profit.  I'm sharing what I learned with you so that you can make your own scrubs and if you don't have time to make them consider buying them from me.

As I mentioned above all my products contain all natural ingredients - now as we all know many companies claim this because you can say all natural and mean that the chemicals are natural or use gmo products that are classified as natural - what I mean by natural is that any and all herbs used were grown organically and are not gmo.  Any essential oil used came from a reputable source that uses organic plants and methods.  I do a lot of research on the companies I go through because I use the products myself and make them for friends and family.  I don't make a living making and selling these products I have a full time job to support me, I consider this to be a hobby and the money I make from it goes back into the hobby so I can make more stuff and so that I can have these products for my personal use. 

Here is some information about the scrub and the ingredients it contains:

Epsom Salt 

There are many kinds of salts all with their own properties but I've started my journey with Epsom. It exfoliates clears the pores it draws out toxins.  It has amazing properties when taken internally as well. Also amazing for your garden.

Lemon Juice and Zest

I took organic lemons washed them zested them and squeezed out the juice.  Lemons lighten up age spots and scars I have freckles so far I haven't noticed a lightening on them.  It also has antibacterial properties and is great for healing and preventing acne.  It is a natural exfoliant it is moisturizing and can fight wrinkles. 

Olive Oil

There are many kinds of oil you can use.  But I chose olive oil because I bought a giant bottle of it that is organic and pure for a great price.  The properties of olive oil include moisturizing it keeps your skin soft smooth and toned.  It has healing properties great for sunburned skin.  It is an antioxidant and full of vitamin e.  It lightens stretch marks and helps prevent new ones.  It is great for sensitive skin and is an amazing make up remover.  

The above three ingredients form the base for my body scrubs I then customize them with herbs and essential oils.  I call this a body scrub but for personal use I scrub my body with it use it on my face and clean my scalp and hair with it - I use it once a week and shave after I scrub my pores opened up the razor glides easily and hair seems to stay gone longer.  

This link is to the body scrub I make and sell please check out the rest of my shop while you are there. I love to make custom items and if you send me a message about what you would like I can make a custom listing for you and make the shipping more reasonable. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/185822985/epsom-body-scrub