Luscious Lotion Bars!

With sandal season in full swing what better time than now to add lotion bars to your line? These great little gems pack some big punch for extremely dry skin and are simple to make. We have a few recipe ideas for you to try from making them from scratch to using our base and a few simple added ingredients. They will make a lasting impression on your customers and their skin!

I had a few friends and family test these out for me. They all LOVED them! The comments I heard most were that their feet & elbows looked immediately better and stayed that way with daily use! If I had the pick of ONE item for my beach bag (other than SPF 80 Sunscreen, I am a blond hair blue eyed Norwegian folks! LOL) I would most certainly pick these. There is nothing I love more than the look of my feet freshly pedicured! With these the need for that pedicure decreases immensely! These work EXCELLENT on any patch of very dry skin!



Lotion Bars from Scratch!

• 1 Part Beeswax 

• 1 Part Shea Butter

• 1 Part Oil (I personally used avocado for this but others will work as well! Try the variable oils as they will change the outcome of this!)

• Essential or Fragrance Oil 1-2% OR leave it unscented, this is so natural it may be most appealing that way.

Melt the wax and butter in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave melt using 30 second burst just until its melted. You don't want to over heat oils & butters! Once melted add the liquid oil and any fragrance or color desired. You can lightly color these using our Mica Powders!

INCI Ingredients list for labeling:
Beeswax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter),Persea gratissima (Avocado) Oil and then you would add either the fragrance or EO here and the mica if used at the very end.

Lotion Bar Recipe Using BC Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base with Added Beeswax

• 90% Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base

• 10% Beeswax

• 1-2% Fragrance Oil

Melt the wax and base together in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave melt using 30 second burst just until its melted. You don't want to over heat oils & butters! Once melted add any scent or color desired. You can lightly color these using our Mica Powders!

INCI Ingredients list for labeling:
Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E). If you add scent or color add that to the end.

Lotion Bar Recipe Using BC Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base with Added Steric Acid

• 85% Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base

• 15% Steric Acid

• 1-2% Fragrance Oil

 Melt the wax and base together in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave melt using 30 second burst just until its melted. You don't want to over heat oils & butters! Once melted add any scent or color desired. You can lightly color these using our Mica Powders!

INCI Ingredients list for labeling:Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Steric Acid, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E). If you add scent or color add that to the end. 

All of these shown to the left are made from the above recipes. The top left Lotion Bars from Scratch! recipe. I actually did not color that, the beeswax is very yellow that I use thus the color. This I scented with Spearmint EO. The Top Right is the Lotion Bar Recipe Using BC Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base with Added Beeswax I did color that gently using some mica I had on hand to show the colored version. I scented this with Fruity Loops and I believe that has since disappeared into a certain teen age daughters room. And the bottom is the Lotion Bar Recipe Using BC Lip Balm & Lotion Bar Base with Added Steric Acid In that I used no color and scented lightly with the BNL Warm Vanilla Sugar. mmmmmm!

I used the new 2 oz. Lotion Bar Molds for all of these. These are great because they are a. inexpensive b. can be sold with the product to protect it during shipping and on store shelves and c. the bar can be removed from the mold and placed back in between uses. They are one of the best ideas I have seen in years! I then made a simple fold over topper for the bag using my home PC and card stock and used our 4" x 6" Resealable Cello Bags.

Give one of these recipes a try and you too will never know how you survived without a lotion bar! :)

Happy Crafting!
Flicker

Yankee Doodle Dandy!

This month with the 4th of July coming up, I decided to do something colorful and fun! Melt and pour chunk soaps in Red, White and Blue! Yankee Doodle would be proud of this soap! This project is simple and fun!

What you will need:
White and Clear Soap Base Also sold at BCN
Blue and Red Dye
For best results use Non-Bleeding dyes!

Mold
Fragrance: Black Cherry

Instructions:

Make three full size bars of soap. One white, one red and one blue. Cut up 4 weight oz. of white soap base per bar and microwave on medium heat in 30 second bursts just until melted or until the majority is melted, add .10 oz fragrance & dye and stir well. Pour into the mold, and spritz liberally with rubbing alcohol.
*For best results I recommend using only GelTones Non-Bleeding dyes for this project!

Allow the bars to cool and cut bars into chunks using a cutting board and very sharp knife. Do not use a serrated knife as it will leave marks on the soap chunks.

Pour a very thin layer of soap into the bottom of each mold and liberally spritz with rubbing alcohol. Allow to cool.

Place the chunks in the molds and again spritz liberally with rubbing alcohol.
Finally melt the clear soap 8.5 weight oz for four bars by cutting it up and melting in the microwave on medium heat in 30 second bursts just until melted and add .2 weight oz of scent. Pour over the chunks very slowly, moving around the bar to ensure no voids in the soap.

Allow soap to cool and remove from the molds and wrap tightly in Stretch Wrap or Shrink Wrap to prevent sweating.

This is a great project for any skill level and the perfect product to do for summer craft shows!

Happy Soap Making! Have a safe and fun 4th of July!
Flicker!