Fragrance Oil Finder Website!!!

I stumbled across this today, and am DELIGHTED with it!!

The way I found if was sort of through a spiteful internet search.  You see- an Etsy seller sold a soap with a fragrance oil that was DIVINE.  I have been messing around with making shampoo, and I wanted to use this fragrance to scent the shampoo.

I contacted her, let her know that I wanted to replicate that smell for my hair, and asked if she would mind sharing it with me.  I sort of half-expected a NO, but what I got was not only a NO, but also a little rant about how I was trying to steal her product scent.  Yes, really.  She also went on and on about how she spent months perfecting the scent through blends of fragrance oils.

A little deflated, but also a little annoyed… I had a hunch that not only WAS it a single fragrance oil… but she was dumb enough to copy & paste the exact description of the fragrance oil directly from the product website.  I copied a snippet of it…. googled, and beheld the website below:

http://www.fragranceoilfinder.com/catalog/index.php

It told me EXACTLY where the fragrance oil was sold… and she did indeed copy & paste the entire description.  Teehee!

Okay, fine.  I guess you can make arguments to support her case.  But she didn’t need to outright LIE about it.  A simple, “I’m sorry, but I would rather not share” would suffice.  Further, if you are that concerned with secrecy…. WRITE YOUR OWN DESCRIPTIONS.

That’s all.  I win.  =)

Lavender Roots

No, not the herb.

Well.  I knew the white blonde hair would not last long.  I loved it during cold months…. as I love the look of white blonde hair & super pale skin.  Summer brings out freckles and redness, which makes the blonde look more trashy and dry than anything else.  So I decided to go with lavender!

Here are pics from the first round:

I achieved this using RAW hair dye from hot topic.  I mostly used Candy Pink, and mixed in a bit of Purple Punch.  Not a lot- maybe like 1/4 of the bottle of pink.  I also diluted the entire mixture with 1/2 cup of water.  The dye is hard to break up in the water…. if you REALLY want to be pro, mix it the day before and let it sit (covered) in the fridge overnight.  That helps break down the dye.

Of course, I didn’t do that.  I don’t have that kind of patience.  Hence the interesting different hues throughout.

YAY!  Okay, so a month later, I have some nasty roots going on.  I can’t afford to keep going to the salon…. so I wanted to try bleaching my own roots.  I went to Sally Beauty Supply, and they recommended the following items:

I mixed it up, and applied to my roots as best I could!  Needless to say, I missed quite a few spots.

I was afraid to leave it on too long, so I washed it out after 30 minutes.  I could have gone 45 minutes, I think.

Anyhoo, I reapplied the purple, and got a darker shade this time!  I still love it, and it will fade with each washing….so it can only improve.  =)

 

 

#$%@ you, BB Lilac Fragrance Oil!

I *love* the smell of lilac.  I have a bush outside that flowers for a sparse couple of weeks in the spring, and I bring in fresh bouquets of lilacs every day until they are gone.  When I received a sample of Bramble Berry’s lilac fragrance oil, I loved it enough to buy the 4oz. size.

On Wednesday, we tried making a batch of it.  I set out bowls for green oxide and purple mica.  We soaped at 90-95 degrees.  I mixed the fragrance oil into the oils just before I added the lye.  I let Jessica do the mixing, and gave her the instructions to run the immersion blender in pulses of 5 seconds, and then manually stir the mixture in between.

After running the immersion blender 2 times, she says, “It’s really getting hard!”  I peer over her shoulder into the pot, and it was ALREADY approaching clay-consistency.  Pudding was long gone.  I curse and have her quickly hand over the gloves and the goggles.  We had to move FAST.  I spooned the soap into the 2 color bowls, but mixing would have to be done by hand.  The green mixed rather well, but not the purple.  I am starting to understand that micas only work if you can blend them in with the immersion blender.  And even then…. oxides still look brighter and nicer.

Happy with the green!

Jessica started smoothing a layer of green into the mold… I topped it with the “purple” AKA brown and then she topped that with the rest of the green.  I think we did the best we could.

It was pretty much like sculpting at this point.

Beware of the purple mica bombs!

Encouraged gel. Not like it wouldn't have anyway.

This was such a hot soap.  The whole next day, the mold was warm to the touch.  I just left it in the oven until today.  Here are the unmolding pics:

Caught some air.

More air.

The cut pics:

Here’s a closeup, lest you be seduced by the clever attention-diverting crinkle cut:

Probably not a facial soap.

So anyway, my vision of a purple and green soap did not exactly come to fruition.  Oh I’ll still use it.  And if I get purple mica smears, what the shower does not rinse off, my tattoos will camouflage.

Note to self for future BB Lilac FO usage: stick with one color, and blend it into the soap before adding the fragrance.  Then add it in, and work quickly to get it in the mold!

(I still love you, Bramble Berry.  I wish I knew how to quit you!)  Sorry.  I didn’t even see that movie.