Strawberries & Cream

It seemed like a good idea for me this weekend to attempt a soap with cream again.  This was partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, after all of my ruined attempts, and partly because I had a partial container of cream in the fridge that was going to get tossed if it wasn't used quickly :)

One roommate has asked for a good strawberry-scented soap, and I found this Strawberries & Cream FO at Wholesale Supplies Plus that seemed like it would fit the bill.  It got some good comments from reviewers, and it's definitely time to think about some fun late spring scents.  This FO does have a 5% vanilla content, so I needed to plan the colors and design accordingly. 

I replaced 2 oz of water with cream (approx 20% of liquids are cream) in my 2-lb mold recipe (approx 20% cream) and stick blended the cream into the oils instead of mixing it with the lye water. I had read this tutorial from Amanda over at Lovin' Soap, and this seemed to be easier (and quicker) than trying to mix the cream in with the lye.

Since this FO has some vanilla and will discolor to some degree of brown, I didn't want to fight with the color too much, but I also didn't want a brown Strawberries and Cream soap.  I decided to use some of BB's Super Pearly White Mica to color the entire batch to give it a bit of a sparkle and then to color the portion that was scented with the FO with some of BB's Merlot Mica.  I also used cranberry seeds in the colored and scented portion to make it look a little more strawberry-like.

Here's what it looked like after I poured it on Sunday:

I really love how the color turned out!  Since I didn't want the colors to be too dark, I tried to keep this soap from gelling by putting it in the "icebox."

I cut it today with the handy-dandy wire cutter, and I noticed that I got a bunch of air bubbles.  I wonder if it's from cutting it and dragging the cranberry seeds through the soap?  The soap color got a little darker, but not too brown.  I'd be happy if the soap stayed this color - only time will tell :)

These pictures were taken right before and after cutting - after curing for a few more weeks, I will polish them up a bit more so they look more smooth and shiny.

The scent out of the bottle smelled like a strawberry milkshake, and both my roommate and I love it!  After 3 days, it seems to have faded and taken on a more plastic-y smell, so I'm hoping it's just the mold I was smelling and it will will smell more true after the bars cure.  Cross your fingers!

I will wait with baited breath to see how this soap does after a nice cure - I am hoping I've beaten my cream issues once and for all!  I also hope this soap stays this nice color - reminds me of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls I used to have as a little girl.

Here's one gratuitous pic of my dogs for good measure - this shows perfectly their relationship, even though this picture was taken nearly 4 years ago:

~Chrissy