Cupcake Decorating - Day Two & Conditioner

Well, I officially hate decorating with buttercream icing. I just can't seem to get the hang of it! 

Thought they were mine, huh! Hehe, I wish!! The four cupcakes on the left were decorated by the Chef and the other two by a lovely girl I met at the class named Joanna and they are absolutely beautiful. I have no idea how they got them to hold their shape but they did and they look fantastic!

I didn't manage to take pictures of my buttercream cupcakes because I forgot as I was too busy being frustrated with them which I'm kicking myself for because I actually managed one that was semi-decent.

Anyway, these are the sponge butterfly cupcakes and the royal icing cupcakes. I had a sponge one and it was yummy!

I made a moisturiser/hair conditioner a week ago. It doubles as both but I'm currently using it as my conditioner. It makes my hair so soft and works so much better than any conditioner I've ever bought that I'm truly amazed as it was so simple to make. I've scented it with Coconut Cream from Save on Scents and I definitely added a little too much. 

Sorta looks like jelly here and it's a nice buttery colour but before I actually added the wheatgerm oil it was a beautiful snowy white which I really liked! Next on my list is making shampoo and a more advanced conditioner, I'm hooked!

Cupcake Decorating - Day One

I signed up for a Cupcake Decorating short course at William Angliss today! Let me just say it was so much fun! The chef, Greg Williams, was a lovely guy and he made the class really interesting. Here's what I made on my first day. Not very good but I'll get better with practice I hope!



Stay tuned for Day Two and the result of my hair conditioner/skin moisturiser! Goodnight everyone, I'm exhausted.

Failed Salt Bar

I don't know what happened :(. I used 80% coconut oil, 15% olive oil and 5% castor oil superfatted at 15%. I stirred the soap to a light trace then added some celtic salt, which by the way tastes great with food, that was equal to the weight in oils so 500g oils and 500g salt. Stirred it some more until it was quite thick, poured it in to the mould and shoved it into a warm oven till it was hard. Somehow, all the salt sank to the bottom and did not incorporate with the soap. So, what I got was soap with salt at the bottom. Not the homogenous bar that you're supposed to get. You can see what I mean in the picture below.

When I washed with it, it was very scrubby and the lather was okay. I read on forums that the lather is supposed to be creamy like a lotion and it shouldn't feel scrubby at all! More like a smooth marble.

So, what went wrong? I'm at a loss :(. Too coarse salt crystals perhaps? Not enough lye? Any insight is welcome!

By the way, the fragrance is Yuzu from Sweetcakes. It smells like grapefruit but I'm not crazy about it. It was never really one of my favourite smells. I might blend it with something smoother. It's too sharp for me.

Falls Creek

I have no money left to do any shopping :(. All I can do is window shop and stare at soap supplies, fragrance oils, clothes, bags, shoes etc etc.

But that's because I'm going to the snow!!!!




I haven't been to the snow since I was 7! That was in the US and the only memory I can take away from that was my sister and I pelting each other with snowballs and then trying to tear each others hair out.

This doesn't mean I've stopped formulating though! I have enough to last me for uhhh, some...time..? Anyway, I made the salt bars. Let me just say, they were a disaster. Will let you know about it soon!

Seed Paper

Isn't this a neat idea? Seed paper is just recycled paper with seeds embedded into it. The idea is to plant your seed paper in some soil and watch it grow! An excellent way to give back to nature.

You could use seed paper for packaging your soaps as well! Maybe in a cigar band wrapper? Seed paper can be used exactly like normal paper so you can print on it! The downsides are it's probably more expensive than regular paper and you may not be able to ship internationally with seed paper.

Below are some links to companies that sell seed paper.

Australia
Paper Go Round

USA
Green Field Paper
Flower Seed Paper

Canada
Botanical Paperworks

Here's an article on how to make your own seed paper! But I doubt you would want to go through all that trouble. If you do, let me know how it goes! Click here to be taken to the article.

Whipped Shea Butter and Granola Scrub

I think I maybe just might have perfected my granola scrub. It looks delicious, smells amazing (my uncle thinks it smells like chocolate cake mix) and feels great on the skin. The best part is the fragrance is totally natural and comes from the cocoa butter and vanilla bean. The texture is pretty firm in the jar but it softens up with a little bit of water. It is quite a gentle scrub consisting more of oatmeal flour and ground almonds then sugars.



I also tried my hand at whipped shea butter and didn't really like the results. Needs more soft oils or more whipping, I haven't decided but the consistency is not as fluffy or smooth as I thought it would be. Also, the unrefined shea butter has a pretty strong nutty odour that I quite like but may affect fragrances. Does anyone have any ideas on how to combat this? Or do you just leave it unscented or opt for refined shea butter?

I'm making my first soap in 3 weeks (feels like months) tonight and I've decided to try my hand at a salt bar. My cousin has bad acne and although she loves the carrot and calendula soap, it is so gentle I feel that she may need something stronger.

Therefore, a salt bar might do the trick. I am so bad when it comes to mixing essential oils. I always end up making it smell like an old lady's perfume or an 18th century boudoir. So, I usually stick to just one essential oil or two. If I'm feeling really daring I use three!

Wonder what I'll scent it with. Hmmm...