The cut pics are up

I cut the 3 batches made yesterday.  First up, Mandarin Plum – which had the hanger swirl done, but I think my hanger is a bit too thin to pick up a significant amount of the colour at the bottom of the mold to pull up through the top colour and it’s creating too little a swirl to create a design.  Created a few ‘nice’ bubbles!  I don’t detect much mandarin in this, so I might add some additional orange to it if I make this one again.  Don’t know if it will be a popular seller yet, so time will tell if this one returns later.  The colour didn’t stay reddish-purple , so it really doesn’t look ‘plummy’ so much now that it’s out of the mold.  Hmmmm.  My feelings are mixed on this one.

 

Next is the Awapuhi Seaberrry, both tropical plants with Asian roots and medicinal uses.  The fragrance is a high end,  slightly aquatic, not overwhelmingly floral, and behaved beautifully in the cp process.  No acceleration  no discoloration  no ricing, just easy, fragrant and kind of relaxing. Spa- like.    I used Peacock Blue from Conservatorie, but it turned a bit more like an aquamarine, which actually suits the fragrance better.  Spoon swirl was done here, though it doesn’t look like I did anything in some places!

 

 

– and last but by NO means least, Black Pearl, the REAL Black Pearl.  This batch this time around had only half of the liquid as tea.  The other half was aloe juice, plus the usual colloidal oatmeal, the 3 usual oils,  3 milks, Tussah silk, Vitamin E, a bit of New Moon mica mixed with the activated charcoal, Peacock blue mica, and Pearl White Mica all from Conservatorie, and the fragrance Queen of the Nile from Nature’s Garden.  I love the name The Black Pearl for this one, though it seems to make one think pirates, gold, and ancient maps with large red X’s on them.  I went more towards the colour of the ocean, a bit of swag and the black to tie it together with the name.  Very little swirling was done with it, though.  Most of it was from the pour alone, so I cannot take the credit for the swirly look within.  I doubt that bright yellow at the bottom will fade.  The first batch had bright yellow but it didn’t fade along the edges very much at all.  The TD gave me a lot of grief though.  Spots here and there, but nothing too major.

I think the yellow near the bottom can be trimmed off prior to wrapping in their packaging sleeves, so the yellow isn’t going to be a huge problem like it was the first time.  The rest of the white areas stayed nice and white!  I’m very pleased with this one .  These will all be ready April 5th and I truly hope they all sell out because I love making these.  The challenge Queen of the Nile FO presents gives me a chance to try something new to make it work without the discoloration being an obvious issue.  I love a challenge!  That’s the nice thing about soaping.  When you do another batch you can change the look a bit and with the scent the same its still the same soap, just different look.