Haul: Brambleberry December 2015

When I found out that I'd be staying stateside for a bit longer, I figured I should stock up on some secondary soap making oils. While I did that I bought a few bits and pieces that I've been wanting to try.

Mini Mixer: Initially I scoffed at the idea of getting this. I don't need to disperse my pigments! That's what my stick blender is for!
After several batches where stick blending in a pigment was not an option - I wanted to keep the batter from thickening up and stick blending is no bueno for that - I thought, hmm, maybe Anne-Marie has a point. So I picked this up. This has come in very handy with dispersing my pigments into a lightweight oil as well as mixing kaolin clay into my fragrance oil.

Mini Mold: Seriously, these are tiny. But the mold was $2 and I liked the shapes. I can make embeds with these! I can make tiny soaps because why not??

Tussah Silk Fiber: This is evidently good to add shine, more lather, and silky feel to your soaps. Between this and the goats milk and my own superfatting, I think my soaps are next level shiny, moisturizing, bubbly, and silky. So far I'm liking this, though I do have issues with figuring out how to add it to a 100% goats milk substitution lye solution because the temperature stays very low, preventing the silk from dissolving.

Mango Butter: I like that this butter is very firm and yet skin loving so I repurchased this. It's a bit on the pricey side, but I'm a splurger when it comes to my soaps.

Shea Butter: Repurchase. I feel like everyone who delves into bath and body products needs some of this in their stock. It's a relatively cheap product but is insanely good for your body. I like to mix this 50/50 with cocoa butter and use that melted as an oil for my skin after a shower and these two keep my skin very soft and smooth.

Titanium Dioxide: Repurchase. I got one of these in my first brambleberry order and I used it all up so I figured why not pick up another few. This has really helped my whites be more white and it also helps mellow out some otherwise strong colors.

Sodium Lactate: After another batch ended up softer than I'd like, I decided I needed to do something about it. After some research I figured out I had to either sub in other oils and butters that allowed for harder bars, or add in some sort of extra additive that helps the bars retain their shape. I decided no, I will not sacrifice my butters an oils, and went for this. It makes a difference even at .4-.6% in my recipe. My tricolor swirl batch that ended up with a dead scent was able to be unmolded and cut less than four hours after I had made it. The soap was still warm as I was cutting it!
Sesame Oil: Repurchase. I like this as a superfatting oil and have taken to using it to disperse my colorants. Nothing particularly special about it besides it's moisturizing and cheap.

Sunflower Oil: Repurchase. I bought two of these. Stable, conditioning lather, and I can also use this to disperse pigments.
Castor Oil: Repurchase. I bought two of these as well. Castor oil is good for bubbles. It has other properties but I care most about the bubbles. I'm a bubble whore.

My free sample was a fragrance oil in white rose. It's a very authentic scent and I like it but I try to stay away from flowery scents because my Dad is not a fan. He associates flowers with funerals and cemeteries.

This concludes my most recent and probably last haul from Brambleberry for several years. I like their pricing and speedy shipping. They have lots of resources to help new soapers, as well as good recipes that they have tested. I get a sense of pride and love in what they do from the company, and that's a good feeling to have when buying something. Whenever I next am able to buy soapy supplies it will most likely be from here.