Category: S.O.A.P. Panel

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to test the S.O.A.P. Panel fragrances. Work has kept me busy. Now that I’m on spring break, I can make a bunch of soap!

Fragrance #7 has a floral note. My husband Steve remarked that it smelled a bit like rose. It might also be carnation. There is another note I can’t identify, and there is a vaguely fruity note as well.

As you can see, it is fairly clear out of the bottle. I used 24 grams in my recipe, which was the entire contents of the bottle. My recipe, as before, was 45% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% sustainable palm oil, and 5% castor oil. I used full water (38%) and a lye discount of 6%. The oils were about 105 degrees and the lye mixture was about 95 degrees when I combined the two. I blended to a very light trace before adding the fragrance.

Right after I added the fragrance, it riced a little bit and separated. I would not have been able to incorporate it without blending, as just stirring with the spatula wasn’t working. This separation could be a problem with some recipes or complicated swirls, especially if you don’t want to stick blend after adding the fragrance. I stick blended a little bit more, but there was no acceleration, so I went ahead and gave it a good blend. After that, the fragrance incorporated well and caused no more problems. It didn’t discolor the soap batter at all, though initially I thought it might turn the batter yellowish, as right after I poured it, the fragrance looked yellow in the soap.

I poured the soap at a light-medium trace and drew a bit of a feathery design on the top, as the soap had definitely started to thicken by the time all of it was in the mold. I put the soap away to gel over night.

I cut the soap the next day. It does appear to have very slight yellowish discoloration, but certainly nothing bad and nothing that would cause problems with any colors you might want to use. I think reds, pinks, whites, and greens might go nicely with this scent. After this soap saponified, I could smell mainly the floral scent, but I really can’t decide if it’s more of a rose or a carnation. I don’t smell any fruity notes anymore, but there is something else there besides the floral that I can’t identify. It doesn’t smell like typical rose, if so. I find rose scents are sometimes cloying, but this smells nice. It doesn’t knock my socks off, but it’s nice. I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to buy it, but I don’t dislike it, either.

Scent #5 was my least favorite of the S.O.A.P. Panel fragrances out of the bottle. My initial impression was that it smelled a bit like neem oil. Later, I thought I detected some grass notes and a sort of earthiness. After I poured the fragrance out and let it “breathe” for a few minutes, the strongest note I could detect was a grass note, followed by a sort of earthy dirt scent.

As I did with fragrances 1-4, I used a recipe of 45% olive, 25% coconut, 25% palm, and 5% castor oils. The oils were about 90 degrees and the lye mixture was about 100 degrees when I combined them. I used full water in the lye mixture. I used the full bottle of fragrance, which was 26 grams.

I blended to a very light trace.

Then I added the fragrance oil. There were no issues with acceleration, discoloration, or ricing. Indeed, I can’t tell the difference between the soap before and after the fragrance and had to double-check the time on the picture to be sure.

I expected this fragrance to misbehave, but it soaped beautifully. I poured it into the mold and put it away to gel. It actually took quite a long time to gel, so this fragrance should give anyone time to play.

I unmolded it the next day (a little hastily, hence some bent corners that needed a quick bit of reshaping). As you can see, still no discoloration.

There is a little bit of soda ash on the top, as I neglected to spray the tops with alcohol. The scent is still quite strong, but the earthy dirt notes have retreated a bit. It really smells exactly like grass after saponification, and it’s scent remains very true—no morphing at all. It would go well with a nice grass green color. It might be fun as a novelty soap, perhaps for a golfer, but I am just not loving it. I’m giving it a thumbs up for its behavior in the soap, but a big thumbs down on the scent. I think, however, that some folks who really love the scent of fresh cut grass would enjoy it.

Woo! The snow dance worked. Despite a really cold and somewhat snowy winter, we haven’t managed to have snow days. It keeps snowing on the weekend around here! Anyway, we have one today, so I indulged in a little soap experimentation last night. I tried out the third S.O.A.P. Panel fragrance.

You might recall that fragrance #3 is a bit floral. In the bottle, it smells like jasmine or honeysuckle to me. It’s quite strong, but I like the scent quite a lot. It’s a very pretty, feminine floral, and it is perfect for spring.

As I did with fragrances #1 and #2, I used a recipe of 45% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% sustainable palm oil, and 5% castor oil. I used the full amount of fragrance I had—24 grams. My recipe calls for a 6% fragrance usage rate, which would be 25-26 grams, so I used just the tiniest bit less than my recipe calls for. I also used full water.

As before, I mixed my lye and oils at about 100 degrees to a light trace. Then I added the fragrance. The soap immediately turned a yellowish shade.

As is typical with florals, this fragrance accelerated a bit. It was completely workable, even with some additional stick blending. However, by the time I poured it into the mold, it was thick enough to swirl the tops.

This batch is considerably thicker with about the same amount of “fussing” as the other two, so yes, this fragrance accelerates a bit. Provided a soapmaker soaps cool and stirs, rather than stick blends, it should still allow for swirls and other designs. Some recipes with butters contribute to a thicker trace as well, so it might be a good idea to use more soft oils with this fragrance.

I noticed when I checked on it after 30 minutes to spray some isopropyl alcohol on it that it was already set up firmly. In fact, when I accidentally tugged the side of the mold, it came away from the soap easily. Usually, after only 30 minutes, the soap is not quite that hard. I went to sleep and didn’t check on it after about an hour, but it appears to have gelled just fine, and it doesn’t appear to have become too hot (no glycerine rivers).

I unmolded and cut it the next day (maybe about 14 hours after I made it). The soap is discolored a bit—sort of a yellowish shade. It’s completely workable, however, and I think it would do well with colorants. After saponification, the honeysuckle note comes through quite strongly, so my best guess is that this is a honeysuckle fragrance. Honeysuckle is my favorite smell in the world, so I would know it anywhere. It’s quite strong. It came through gelling quite well. I will check on it over the course of its cure to see how it holds up. Depending on how it performs over time, it might even be possible to use less of the fragrance with good results. Florals tend to give me a bit of a headache if they’re too strong, and right after cutting this one, I felt a bit of a headache wave, but it will most likely mellow a bit as it cures. Strong fragrances can sometimes be overwhelming when the soap is first cut, but as the water evaporates, they mellow out nicely.

Fragrance #3 would work well with white, butter yellow, and gold (if you’re looking to match the honeysuckle colors), but even colors like pastel shades of pink, blue, purple, and green would go well with the scent.

I really like this one. For a floral, it is well-behaved. It doesn’t discolor very much. It’s nice and strong and holds up well in cold process. Two thumbs up, Bramble Berry! I loved this one.

Initially, I thought I detected fruit in this fragrance, and then I smelled a sort of piney, fir-type scent with hints of floral. I wonder if this is a juniper berry scent. I tried smelling some gin to see if I detected juniper in the fragrance, but I’m just not sure. I have smelled a juniper scent used in a well-known bath and body store, and I thought it stank horribly, but this is very pleasant. So, I’m just not sure what it is.

As you can see, it is a dark yellow out of the bottle. I had planned to use the fragrance at 6%, which would have been 25-26 grams in my recipe, but there was only 22 grams in the bottle, so the usage rate is slightly less than I planned, but not by a lot. It is still probably on the stronger end of the typical usage rate.

The recipe I used is 45% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% sustainable palm oil, and 5% castor oil. I used full water (38%) and a lye discount of 6%. I combined the lye mixture and oils at approximately 100 degrees. I blended the oils and lye to a light trace. I used no additives or colorants.

When I added the fragrance oil, it turned a buttery yellow, but initial discoloration was quite minimal, despite the dark orange tone of the fragrance. Here is a picture of the soap with the fragrance blended in.

There was no acceleration or ricing at all. The fragrance behaved very well, even with additional mixing with the stick blender.

I poured the soap at a light trace. I let it set up overnight, and then I unmolded it. I have never used this mold before, so one lesson I learned is that it’s not quite ready to unmold the next day! The corners of my soap were a little torn. I don’t think the fragrance had anything to do with it. I think it’s the nature of the mold not to allow much air in, so the soap was still somewhat soft, even after gelling.

I cut the soap. As you can see, there is absolutely no discoloration. The soap is the same neutral color as when I don’t use a fragrance at all. I was sure, when I saw how dark the fragrance oil was, that it would discolor yellow. I will monitor how it changes over the course of the next week, but at least initially, this fragrance oil performs beautifully. It is very easy to work with and soaps well.

After saponification, the piney scent has retreated a little, and the fruity floral has come to the fore a bit more. There is a definite woody scent to it—almost a sort of fir needle scent. I have to admit I didn’t think I liked those kinds of scents, but I really like this scent. I think the fruity floral blends well, and it doesn’t wind up smelling like a Christmas tree. That said, I think it might make a nice holiday scent for soapers to add to their line. I envision that it would go well with a blue and green palette of colors, too. I don’t see it as a unisex scent. The floral makes it a feminine scent that women who typically like more unisex or masculine scents would probably like.

Two thumbs way up! This fragrance is great. I would definitely buy it.