Lavender Ombre Cold Process Soap

Watch the video here.

 Recipe

Olive Oil (35%) | 140g

Coconut Oil (30%) | 120g

Palm Oil (30%) | 120g

Castor Oil (5%) | 20g

Distilled Water | 112g

Lye (caustic soda) | 60g

Superfat - 0%

Brink Pink Mica Powder  ~1g

White Shimmer Light Gold Mica Powder  ~1g

Lavender Mica Powder (coming soon) ~1g

Tools and equipment used

Mini tall skinny mold

Long silicone spatula

Soap making goggles

Gloves

Stick blender

Easy pour cups

Digital scale

Directions:

1. Prepare lye mixture and set aside to cool (Always run your recipe through a soap calculator to ensure your ratios are correct). Meanwhile, weigh and combine the oils.

2. Pre-mix mica powders (~1g) with Olive oil (~4ml). Using the spatula, make sure to fully disperse the mica powders in oil to avoid streaks in the finished product.

*This is an important step, especially for this technique, because we want to avoid stick blending the colorant in - we need the soap batter to remain thin and fluid throughout the process.

3. Pour the lye water into the oils and stick blend the mixture until thin trace.

4. Split the soap batter into 3 easy pour cups - around 195g each.

5. Add the dispersed colorants and fragrance oil. Mix until fully incorporated.

6. Place the mold in a slanting position - I  placed a spatula underneath one side. Start pouring one layer of the lavender batter, letting it slide down the mold, from top to bottom.

7. Pour a small amount of the pink batter on the lavender batter. Mix and pour one layer on the mold.

8. Repeat steps using up all the pink batter. Then, proceed with the white batter.

9. At this point, the soap batter got really thick so I scooped it out into the mold using the spatula.

 10. Tap the mold gently to release air bubbles and let it set overnight. 

11. Unmold and cut into bars. This mold makes 6 standard-sized bars.

 12. Allow them to cure for 4-6 weeks before using or giving away. 

What I would do differently:

1) Soap at a thinner trace - or just after emulsion. My soap batter got really thick halfway through so the transition didn’t show up smoothly in the middle.

2) Choose a more slow moving fragrance oil to prevent quick trace.

Although it didn’t look as planned, I still love the way it turned out. Would you try this process? If you have, feel free to share them in a comment below!