Fun and Simple Soap Making Recipes:
~ including salt scrubs, luscious lotions, lip balm recipes and lots more ~
Nothing’s more fun than sharing and swapping a good recipe. Here are a few of our favorites for making everything from skin nurturing soaps and scrubs, to solid perfume and more. Share your recipes by using the “comment box” at the bottom of this page.
Brown Sugar Body Scrub
2/3 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/3 – 1/2 cup Almond Oil
1/2 tsp. of Vitamin E
45-60 drops of Fragrance or Essential Oil
Mix almond oil, Vitamin E and fragrance or essential oil together in a glass bowl. Add the brown sugar and mix in well. Divvy up into jars and have a great time using it!
Oatmeal Melt and Pour Soap Recipe
(1) Melt 8 oz. of White/Opaque Melt and Pour soap base
(2) Melt 8 oz. of clear melt and pour soap base
(3) Optional: Grind up 1/2 oz. of Oatmeal in coffee grinder for a smoother,
lighter exfoliation. Also, the smaller the particle, the easier to suspend in the soap.
(4) Combine the two bases
(5) Add your Fragrance Oil – approximately 1/2 oz. (Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a good one!) and stir in well
(6) Optional: Add colorant
(7) Add the oatmeal and stir. Wait 20 or 30 seconds – is the oatmeal sinking to the bottom of your bowl/Pyrex or is it staying suspended. If it is staying suspended, skip to step 8
(8) If the oatmeal is sinking, this simply means that your base is not thick enough to support the oatmeal. Either cover the bowl/Pyrex with saran wrap and wait for the base to cool, or stir the melted base until it is becomes thick enough to suspend the oatmeal.
(9) Pour your oatmeal soap into molds
(10) Spritz with alcohol to finish the soap and break up any bubbles on the top of the soap
(11) Wait 2 to 3 hours (or even better, overnight!) to pop the soap out of the molds. Wrap with saran wrap and you’re done!
Old Fashioned Beauty Bath
Makes an invigorating bath!
One pound Barley
One pound Bran
One pound Oatmeal
One pound Brown Rice
One-half pound Bay Leaves
One-half pound dried Lavender Flowers
Boil all of these ingredients in four quarts of rainwater for sixty minutes, then strain the mixture. Use 2 quarts of the liquid for each tub of bathwater. An extra rinse after this herbal bath is unnecessary and would deprive you of some of its benefits. Follow it with a vigorous towel drying.
Cleopatra’s Milk Bath
Pamper yourself with this luxurious bath!
2 cups powdered Milk (dry)
1 Tbsp. dried Orange Peel
2 tsp. dried Lavender Flowers
2 tsp. dried Rosemary
Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a clear glass bottle. Use 1/2 cup of the mixture per bath – soak for 20 minutes. Tie a ribbon and a sprig of dried flowers to the jar for a ready gift!
Ginger Cinammon-Salt Body Scrub by “AJ”
This body scrub has the fresh, invigorating scents of both ginger and cinnamon!
1 cup Sea Salt
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 cup Almond Oil or Olive Oil
Mix all ingredients together, then gently rub over your damp skin (except your face) to slough off dry skin. Rinse with warm water.
Breakfast for your Skin – (Oatmeal & Brown Sugar Scrub)
Exfoliates and is very moisturizing but doesn’t leave a greasy feeling. Before you turn off your shower scoop a small handful of scrub into your hand. Rub gently onto your skin. Rinse.
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup ground Oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 cup pure Honey
3/4 to 1 cup (or to total saturation) Oil of choice – I use Jojoba, Grapeseed or Sweet Almond.
1/4 tsp. Essential or Fragrance oil of choice (optional) Vanilla works nicely. Though this smells great on it’s own.
Mix the brown sugar & oatmeal together in a large bowl. Now add the honey. Drizzle the oil over the mix. Mix well. When all your mix is saturated and sinks to the bottom of the bowl and you have oil on top you’re done. Add your essential oil or fragrance oil. A six or eight ounce wide-mouthed jar works nicely. Spoon mixture in.
Brown Sugar and Lemon Scrub
A touch of lemon makes this scrub so refreshing! – Recipe submitted by Josephine Santos.
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Salt
1 tablespoon of Kalamansi or Lemon
1 tablespoon of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO)
1 tablespoon of Honey
Mix brown sugar and salt, then add kalamansi or lemon juice, virgin coconut oil and honey, mix well.
Aunt Katie’s Body Scrub
Honey 3/4 cup
Caster Sugar 1 cup
Sea Salt 1 cup
Jojoba Oil 3ml
Fragrance or Essential Oil 3ml (Orange & Ylang Ylang are beautiful combined with the honey)
Pour honey into medium sized bowl, then add sugar and stir to combine. Add the salt in increments, to adjust the consistency to your liking. (I prefer a consistency not unlike crytallized honey). When all ingredients combine, add oils and stir well. This recipe is particularly long keeping as the lack of water discourages bacteria.
Gardener’s Soap Recipe
8 oz. Melt & Pour Base
2 T. White Cornmeal
1-1/2 T. Fine Pumice
1 T. Bentonite Clay
2 tsp. of a Citrus Essential Oil (Orange, Lemon, etc.) or Fragrance Oil
Melt base and scent. Stir in cornmeal, pumice and clay continually until it gets to a point where it will stay suspended in the soap. By this time, the soap will be quite thick and cool. Pour into molds.
Honey Bee CP Soap
Olive Oil 32 oz.
Palm Oil 16 oz.
Tallow 24 oz.
Totals 72 oz.
5% Superfatted Lye Amount 9.477 oz.
Ounces of water recommended 23.760 oz.
At trace, add fragrance and 1 Tablespoon of honey. Do not insulate your soap as the honey may cause your soap to superheat.
Easy Shea Butter CP Soap
Coconut Oil 16 oz.
Olive Oil 18 oz.
Palm Oil 16 oz.
Shea Butter 4 oz.
Tallow 16 oz.
Totals 70 oz.
5% Superfatted Lye Amount 9.815 oz.
Ounces of water recommended 23.100 oz.
Easy Lip Balm Recipe – using Lanolin
1 oz. Olive Oil
.3 oz. of Lanolin
.4 oz. of Shea Butter
.4 oz. of Beeswax
Flavor Oil and Stevia for taste.
Melt beeswax gently over a double boiler (or in the microwave if no double boiler is available). In a separate container, heat the lanolin oil and shea nutter up until it is fully liquid. Add the olive oil to the melted lanolin oil and shea butter. Combine the beeswax and all the oil, stir well. Add flavoring (if desired) and pour into containers.
Skin Firming Gel – using CroThix
CroThix has a secondary use as a skin firming agent. (Its primary use is as a thickening agent in liquid soaps, and shampoos.) Here is an easy gel that you can make that is good for all skin types, using jojoba makes a non-comedogenic cream that won’t clog your pores. (CroThix may be purchased at Bramble Berry Soap Making Supplies)
This makes (4) four ounce containers of gel-crème.
Water 13 oz.
Glycerin .5 oz.
Emulsifying Wax or Ceteryl Alcohol 1 oz.
CroThix .7 oz.
Jojoba Oil .6 oz.
Germaben II orPhenonip .16 oz.
Fragrance or Essential Oil .16 – .50 oz.
Heat the water and Glycerin to 170 degrees and set aside. Heat the Emulsifying Wax until melted and add to the CroThix and Jojoba. Stir. Add the water and glycerin to the Emulsifying Wax, CroThix and Jojoba. Mix until the creme is 105 degrees (or less). Add your fragrance and preservative and package in jars or an easily squeezable package. Apply under make up for a more smooth application or as a night creme.
Lotion bars!
Easy Lotion Bars
4 ounces Mango or Shea Butter
4 ounces Beeswax, Yellow or White
5 ounces Liquid Oil (Jojoba or Grapeseed are both excellent)
2 teaspoons of Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil
This lotion bar does not use cocoa butter so you can use any fragrance or essential oil that your heart desires and not have a chocolate over-smell.
Melt the beeswax in a separate container and the butter/oil in another container. Add together, mix well, stir in FO/EO and pour into containers. Mixture will harden in approximately 1-2 hours. The cooler the mixture is upon pouring it, the less ‘divets’ you’ll get in the bar (that sunken spot at the top of the bar).
Easy Clay Mask – made with Rhassoul&Bentonite Clays
1 part Bentonite Clay
1 part Rhassoul Clay
Optional: Skin-loving Essential Oils, such as Lavender, Lemongrass or German Chamomile
Mix with water until the mask has a consistency that you like. Apply to body or face and wait for clay to dry fully. Take off with a warm water washcloth. If all over body, jump in the shower to get off more quickly than a washcloth.
Cookie Cutter Soaps by T.J. Currey
Here’s what you need:
scraps or bars of soap
small metal cookie cutters
small see-thru bags, netting, or tulle for wrapping
1. Slice a bar of soap into thin (1/8 to 1/4 inch) layers.
2. Position small metal cookie cutters and punch out designs.
3. Carefully push soap out and arrange on a pretty dish in the bathroom. You can take different colored soaps and make a pretty bag of them tied with a ribbon on top.
Note: May want to wear kitchen gloves while punching out soaps – the metal cookie cutters are sharp.
Chocolate Lipgloss Recipe by Rachel and Jennifer
2 tsp. Petroleum Jelly
1/8 tsp. Honey
10 mini Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chips (any brand will do though)
1/8 tsp. Shortening (Crisco)
Carefully mix all ingredients into a microwave safe container. Make sure they are all clumped together. (Do not put lid on) Heat at high power for 20 seconds, stir, then repeat until fully melted. Then pour into a small bottle, and freeze for 15 min, or until solid. Then you can apply it on your lips!
Sheer Lipstick Recipe by Anne-Marie Faiola
2 oz. Beeswax
2 oz. Grapeseed Oil
1/4 oz. Wheatgerm Oil
2 tsp. Zinc Oxide (by volume – optional – may substitute Titanium Dioxide)
4 tsp. Lip Safe Mica (by volume)
The zinc oxide will provide a opaque, matte effect to your lipstick. If you use just mica, you will have a more sheer lip balm.
Melt the beeswax in a double boiler. Once fully melted, add the Grapeseed and Wheatgerm oil. Pour your colorant into the double boiler and stir well. Let this mixture sit until mixture begins to thicken slightly (thus suspending the colorant better) and pour into jars or tubes
Colored Lipstick Recipe by Anne-Marie Faiola
This lipstick is a more waxy lipstick than the Sheer lipstick.
Phase 1
4 oz. Castor Oil
4 oz. Jojoba Oil
.5 oz. Beeswax
1 oz. Candelilla Wax
1/4 oz. Wheatgerm Oil
Colorant phase
8 full teaspoons of Lip Safe Mica
1 oz. Castor, Olive or Wheatgerm Oil
Hint: Castor provides more shine than Olive or Wheatgerm
Melt the waxes in a double boiler. Once they are fully melted, add the Castor Oil and Jojoba Oil. In a separate bowl, add your mica to the liquid oil of your choice. Mix in well and make sure there are no clumps. Add the colorant mixture into your double boiler and mix well. Remove this mixture from the double boiler and let sit until mixture begins to cool and thicken (thus suspending the colorant through out the lipstick). Once cooled to an appropriate thickness, pour into jars or tubes.
Luscious Lip Luster
4.4 oz. Calendula-infused Olive Oil
1.7 oz. Shea Butter
4.9 oz. Emu Oil
1.3 oz.Beeswax
Melt beeswax gently over a double boiler (or in the microwave if no double boiler is available). In a separate container, heat the emu oil up until it is fully liquid. Combine the wax and all the oil, stir well. Add flavoring (if desired) and pour into containers.
Floating Bath Soak by Camille Pratt
3 oz. Cocoa Butter
1 tbsp. Creamed Coconut
1 tsp Almond Oil
1 tbsp. Honey
1 tbsp. Powdered Oatmeal
2 drops Tangerine Essential Oil
Melt cocoa butter in double boiler, remove from heat. Mix creamed coconut, almond oil, honey and oatmeal, blend well. Add mixture to melted cocoa butter, blend well. Add Tangerine Essential Oil (or your favorite EO!), blend in. Pour mixture into ice cube trays, chill until firm. Toss one into tub of running water and enjoy!
Note: Use caution upon exiting tub, it may be a bit slippery. But, oh, what a soak!
Shaving Soap
Package this in a wide mouth jar and sell with a shaving brush!
2 pounds Goats Milk Liquid Soap Base
2 tbs. Calendula, ground
8 oz. Melt and Pour Base
1 oz. of your favorite Fragrance
Add melted melt and pour to the goatsmilk base; stir in fragrance oil and ground calendula. Pour into wide mouth jars; wait 24 hours to harden. Soap will get slightly hard but not hard enough to pour into individual molds.
Scented Stones
Great as room fresheners! You will need:
One ceramic or glass bowl,
1/2 cup flour (do not use self-rising flour)
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon alum (available in drug stores),
1 tablespoon essential or fragrance oil,
2/3 cup boiling water and
food coloring (optional).
In ceramic or glass bowl, thoroughly mix dry ingredients.
Add essential oil and boiling water.
NOTE: scent will be strong, but will fade slightly when pastilles dry.
For colored dough, blend in food coloring one drop at a time until desired shade is achieved.
Blend ingredients to form a ball.
Working with a small amount at a time, roll dough between palms of hands to form small balls.
Note: cover unused dough to keep it from drying out.
Allow pastilles to dry.
Solid Perfume
Solid perfume is fun and easy to make and is a wonderful idea for a personal, hand-crafted gift! You’ll want some stylish little butter pots to hold your creations and Bramble Berry, Inc. has a terrific selection. To make your solid perfume, follow these directions:
For a 9 oz. batch (which will fill about 36 pots), you would use, by weight:
2 oz. Beeswax
3 oz. Shea Butter
4 oz. Olive Oil
.5 to 1 oz. Fragrance Oil of choice
Melt all fixed oils together, and add fragrance oil to melted oils. Pour mixture into small jars or twist-up tubes and sell as a solid perfume!
