Make a gift for your Valentine
Here are suggestions for creating a massage oil, and for making Melt & Pour soap with a valentine theme.
Organic Melt and Pour soap is a high-quality product that is very nice to use.
Choose between clear, white and goats milk.
Moulds that are great for Valentines gifts:
- LOVE
- Heart of Roses
- Heart, Round, Oval
- Hearts and Rectangles set
Or maybe your beloved would prefer something quirky - a charming sheep, a starfish, a chrysanthemum?? Have a look through the moulds available.
The LOVE mould looks wonderful made with clear Melt & Pour with brightly coloured lettering.
A message to all you guys who shop with us: The woman in your life would be thrilled with a Heart of Roses soap that you have coloured and fragranced. (Or if you're in a hurry, a kit makes it simple!)
The Heart, Round, Oval mould could be a good choice for making a gift for the man in your life. This makes smaller soaps with no pattern - how about a collection of them with different fragrances?
If you have played with Melt & Pour soap before, just go for it!
But if you are new to it, here is info on colouring the soap, and fragrance.
Colouring Melt & Pour soap
You have two main colouring ingredients: mica and titanium dioxide. Mica gives the colour, and titanium dioxide changes the opacity – how transparent your soap is.
Mica is a shiny, glittery naturally occurring mineral, and we stock all the colours of the rainbow (it’s true!) plus silver and gold and bronze in different sized particles.
Titanium dioxide is a white powder that is unreactive.
Both these ingredients have been used in all kinds of products for a long time, and are considered to be extremely safe. (Titanium dioxide in nanoparticle form may be less desirable – nanoparticles are incredibly tiny, and may be absorbed by our bodies in ways that ordinary particles can’t. Yet another reason to make your own skin care products!)
You may like to select a colour that complements your fragrance. Lavender is purple, rose is red, mint is green – or maybe you’d enjoy mixing it up! What perfume is black?
Soap made with mica alone can have a translucent look that can be attractive. It looks more watery, somehow – less substantial.
But you can also add just mica to get a colour you want. For example, when Chelsea was making a black soap for Valentine’s Day, she used only black mica, adding it until it was the depth of colour she wanted.
Add only titanium dioxide, and you have a solid-looking white soap. Adding goats milk is another way to make a soap look white.
In between is an infinite range of possibilities! This is where your creativity gets to flow.
Pastel colours
Once a soap has titanium dioxide added, the colour from mica will be more muted. The same thing happens when you add mica to goats milk soap.
So…
If you want delicate pastel shades, use more titanium dioxide and less mica.
If you want a brighter colour, use just a touch of titanium dioxide, or none at all.
For a translucent colour, add a touch of mica.
For a clearer colour, add more mica.
How much?
What sort of ratios are we are talking about ? In our melt & pour kits, we include 10g of titanium dioxide and 20g mica to a kilogram of soap, for you to add as needed. That’s a maximum of 1% titanium dioxide, and a maximum of 2% mica – quite small amounts.
Some colours are pretty much impossible to achieve in soap: we have never seen a truly red soap. All shades of pink, from pale and delicate to robustly reddish, but not a bright red.
Using more than one colour
It's fun to make a soap using more than one colour. Our melt & pour soap with mica is very good for this – we have had no sign of ‘bleeding’ from one layer to the other, which can be an issue with vegetable dyes. The only tricky part is preparing just the right amount of coloured soap for each layer! But at least leftovers can be reheated and reshaped.
Choosing a fragrance
Click here for info about fragrance.
Final touches
For a truly exotic look, dust the end product lightly with a gold, silver or bronze glittery mica – you can use a cheap little paintbrush to waft some on. Sparkle and satin will give different effects on different coloured soaps, though the satin may show up better. Experiment – and have fun!
Have a wild and wonderful time!
Make your own massage oil
Massage oil is a gift that keeps on giving – and once you’ve done some massaging, you might just receive one as well!
It can be as simple or as sophisticated as you like.
Many massage therapists use almond oil alone, as it’s not only nice to use, but it’s great value. We have two high-quality almond oils:
- cold-pressed virgin certified organic sweet almond oil
- cold-pressed refined sweet almond oil
If you'd like to do something special, read on!
Massage oils are usually a blend of a couple of carrier oils, perfumed with one or more essential oils which bring healing qualities as well as fragrance.
While almond oil is an excellent base, grapeseed, jojoba, apricot and peach kernel oils are good too. Start with one or more of these, and add smaller amounts of oils with great moisturising or nourishing qualities.
1. Choose a container
What are you going to put your massage oil in?
A new bottle with an elegant black lotion pump? (A Go Native lotion pump looks fine on a 100ml bottle.) Or a recycled Go Native bottle with a handmade label?
Or maybe you have a beautiful empty bottle in the back of the cupboard - I seem to collect blue glass ones.
2. Blend the base
It's easy to make an organic massage oil, as an organic option is available for many of our oils.
Here are suggestions for making the base for 100ml of massage oil:
3. Add fragrance
Fragrance will make your gift memorable. And if you are the one doing the massaging, you get to enjoy it too.
Maybe you delight in blending perfumes, or maybe you’d like to keep it simple, with just a few drops of something that smells wonderful.
Therapeutic grade essential oils: These bring healing qualities as well as fragrance. Here are some that most men (and many women) enjoy:
Cosmetic grade essential oils: These provide high-quality fragrance, but without the healing properties of the therapeutic grade oils.
Rosewood and Yuzu are likely to appeal to men, and a touch of Vanilla can be great in fragrance blends.
Fragrance oils: Coffee, chocolate… a bit wacky in a massage oil??
There are also a host of fruity fragrances, all with subtlety and depth.
Here's another way of thinking about fragrance:
What effect do you want?
Sensuous: Sandalwood, vetiver, ylang ylang, amyris, patchouli, rose
Energising: Citrus (lemon, tangerine…), mint (peppermint, spearmint), rosemary
Relaxing: Lavender, clary sage, bergamot
Now all that's sorted, make a label (include the expiry date of the ingredient with the shortest life) and wrap it up!
Organic Melt and Pour soap is a high-quality product that is very nice to use.
Choose between clear, white and goats milk.
Moulds that are great for Valentines gifts:
- LOVE
- Heart of Roses
- Heart, Round, Oval
- Hearts and Rectangles set
Or maybe your beloved would prefer something quirky - a charming sheep, a starfish, a chrysanthemum?? Have a look through the moulds available.
The LOVE mould looks wonderful made with clear Melt & Pour with brightly coloured lettering.
A message to all you guys who shop with us: The woman in your life would be thrilled with a Heart of Roses soap that you have coloured and fragranced. (Or if you're in a hurry, a kit makes it simple!)The Heart, Round, Oval mould could be a good choice for making a gift for the man in your life. This makes smaller soaps with no pattern - how about a collection of them with different fragrances?
If you have played with Melt & Pour soap before, just go for it!
But if you are new to it, here is info on colouring the soap, and fragrance.
Colouring Melt & Pour soap
You have two main colouring ingredients: mica and titanium dioxide. Mica gives the colour, and titanium dioxide changes the opacity – how transparent your soap is.
Mica is a shiny, glittery naturally occurring mineral, and we stock all the colours of the rainbow (it’s true!) plus silver and gold and bronze in different sized particles.
Titanium dioxide is a white powder that is unreactive.
Both these ingredients have been used in all kinds of products for a long time, and are considered to be extremely safe. (Titanium dioxide in nanoparticle form may be less desirable – nanoparticles are incredibly tiny, and may be absorbed by our bodies in ways that ordinary particles can’t. Yet another reason to make your own skin care products!)
You may like to select a colour that complements your fragrance. Lavender is purple, rose is red, mint is green – or maybe you’d enjoy mixing it up! What perfume is black?
Soap made with mica alone can have a translucent look that can be attractive. It looks more watery, somehow – less substantial.But you can also add just mica to get a colour you want. For example, when Chelsea was making a black soap for Valentine’s Day, she used only black mica, adding it until it was the depth of colour she wanted.
Add only titanium dioxide, and you have a solid-looking white soap. Adding goats milk is another way to make a soap look white.
In between is an infinite range of possibilities! This is where your creativity gets to flow.
Pastel colours
Once a soap has titanium dioxide added, the colour from mica will be more muted. The same thing happens when you add mica to goats milk soap.
So…
If you want delicate pastel shades, use more titanium dioxide and less mica.
If you want a brighter colour, use just a touch of titanium dioxide, or none at all.
For a translucent colour, add a touch of mica.
For a clearer colour, add more mica.
How much?
What sort of ratios are we are talking about ? In our melt & pour kits, we include 10g of titanium dioxide and 20g mica to a kilogram of soap, for you to add as needed. That’s a maximum of 1% titanium dioxide, and a maximum of 2% mica – quite small amounts.
Some colours are pretty much impossible to achieve in soap: we have never seen a truly red soap. All shades of pink, from pale and delicate to robustly reddish, but not a bright red.Using more than one colour
It's fun to make a soap using more than one colour. Our melt & pour soap with mica is very good for this – we have had no sign of ‘bleeding’ from one layer to the other, which can be an issue with vegetable dyes. The only tricky part is preparing just the right amount of coloured soap for each layer! But at least leftovers can be reheated and reshaped.
Choosing a fragrance
Click here for info about fragrance.
Final touches
For a truly exotic look, dust the end product lightly with a gold, silver or bronze glittery mica – you can use a cheap little paintbrush to waft some on. Sparkle and satin will give different effects on different coloured soaps, though the satin may show up better. Experiment – and have fun!
Have a wild and wonderful time!
Make your own massage oil
Massage oil is a gift that keeps on giving – and once you’ve done some massaging, you might just receive one as well!
It can be as simple or as sophisticated as you like.
Many massage therapists use almond oil alone, as it’s not only nice to use, but it’s great value. We have two high-quality almond oils:
- cold-pressed virgin certified organic sweet almond oil
- cold-pressed refined sweet almond oil
If you'd like to do something special, read on!
Massage oils are usually a blend of a couple of carrier oils, perfumed with one or more essential oils which bring healing qualities as well as fragrance.
While almond oil is an excellent base, grapeseed, jojoba, apricot and peach kernel oils are good too. Start with one or more of these, and add smaller amounts of oils with great moisturising or nourishing qualities.
1. Choose a container
What are you going to put your massage oil in?
A new bottle with an elegant black lotion pump? (A Go Native lotion pump looks fine on a 100ml bottle.) Or a recycled Go Native bottle with a handmade label?
Or maybe you have a beautiful empty bottle in the back of the cupboard - I seem to collect blue glass ones.
2. Blend the base
It's easy to make an organic massage oil, as an organic option is available for many of our oils.
Here are suggestions for making the base for 100ml of massage oil:
- Start with say 60ml of a light, smooth, spreadable oil such as almond, apricot kernel or peach kernel – or a mix of any of these (the last two are great for sensitive skin).
- Jojoba is wonderful in massage blends, so try to include some – it’s silky and nutritious and great for ‘glide’.
Sesame oil is widely used in the Ayurvdic tradition, and grapeseed is another alternative.
Add 20ml, perhaps… - Add 10 - 15ml of a rich or special oil: avocado, or macadamia, or your current favourite (mine is our kiwiseed oil).
- Leaving a bit of room for some fragrance, you may like to add a few ml of an oil that brings its own special qualities:
- It’s hard to resist adding some gently melted organic virgin coconut oil, with its evocative aroma.
- Our organic rosehip oil is full of nutrients to leave the skin feeling alive and cared for.
- Argan oil is wonderful for the skin.
3. Add fragrance
Fragrance will make your gift memorable. And if you are the one doing the massaging, you get to enjoy it too.
Maybe you delight in blending perfumes, or maybe you’d like to keep it simple, with just a few drops of something that smells wonderful.
Therapeutic grade essential oils: These bring healing qualities as well as fragrance. Here are some that most men (and many women) enjoy:
- Bergamot is extracted from a member of the citrus family, but with a relaxing warm richness. Avoid just before sun exposure.
- Frankincense has a clean, spicy aroma and a wide range of healing properties.
- Ylang ylang's exotic perfume soothes away stress.
- Palmarosa comes from a plant related to lemongrass, and also has stress-relieving properties.
- West Indian Sandalwood is relaxing and calming.
- Australian Sandalwood is refreshing yet sensuous – and brings its sensual qualities into any blend.
- Patchouli's fragrance is a bit exotic. It brings stress levels back to normal and encourages relaxing sleep.
- Vetiver is earthy and warm, relaxing and comforting.
Cosmetic grade essential oils: These provide high-quality fragrance, but without the healing properties of the therapeutic grade oils.
Rosewood and Yuzu are likely to appeal to men, and a touch of Vanilla can be great in fragrance blends.
Fragrance oils: Coffee, chocolate… a bit wacky in a massage oil??
There are also a host of fruity fragrances, all with subtlety and depth.
Here's another way of thinking about fragrance:
What effect do you want?
Sensuous: Sandalwood, vetiver, ylang ylang, amyris, patchouli, rose
Energising: Citrus (lemon, tangerine…), mint (peppermint, spearmint), rosemary
Relaxing: Lavender, clary sage, bergamot
Now all that's sorted, make a label (include the expiry date of the ingredient with the shortest life) and wrap it up!