We have been very busy for the past couple of months updating our website. The old site was a bit old-fashioned. Left-hand menus are out; menus across the top are in, even though they are less efficient. We resisted for ages, because of this, but finally gave way to fashion! We hope you all like it and are finding it easy to navigate. Remember the search button if you get stuck.
You'll notice that we now have a mobile and ipad-friendly website as well. A third of customers buy via these devices.

In this issue

• New products: scales; roll-ons; deodorant tubes; rose essential oil, cosmetic grade
• Micas in cold-process soaps
• Want to customise M&P soap?
• Recipes: winter shea whip, lavender and chamomile nappy balm

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New products

Scales If you are serious about making your own soap and skincare products, scales are essential. Our scales are white with a glass top. They can weigh up to 5kg and go up in 1g increments. You'll find them in the Extras section, under Equipment.
Roll-ons Great for liquid lip balms: Just fill with a carrier oil: almond, rosehip, camellia, jojoba. Or make a liquid perfume: Fill the roll-on to halfway with camellia oil. Add a drop or two of rose geranium essential oil. Shake well. Fill to near the top and shake again. Insert the roll-on cap and there you have you perfume. Roll it on your skin and massage in. The roll-ons are found in Packaging.
Deodorant tubes Useful for things other than deodorants too. Try making a muscle rub with this recipe (makes 75g) 40g olive oil 10g beeswax Melt these two gently, take off the heat and add the oils below. 10g eucalyptus blue gum essential oil 5g capsicum oleoresin 5g camphor essential oil 5g cajeput essential oil                                            Find them in Packaging.
Rose essential oil, cosmetic grade Therapeutic grade rose essential oil is so expensive it's out of reach for most of us. We now stock a natural alternative which will give the aroma but not the benefits. Check out our cosmetic grade essential oils here.

 

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Micas in cold-process soaps

Micas are a great way to colour soap. M&P soap is easy as you can see immediately what colour the soap will be and you have time to adjust it.

CP soap is very different.
We have experimented with 250g of soap, adding 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, & 2 tsps of mica.
Hopefully you can see the three shades in the pictures below.
The micas are blue, purple, yellow, red, and green. (The green may not appear on mobiles and ipads. Weird, I know. It's on our blog though, so check that out here.)
The yellow actually comes out much brighter than the picture shows.

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Want to customise M&P soap? It's really simple. Just add a carrier oil to the soap base. Melt 1kg of clear M&P. Add 50g of hemp oil. (That's 5%.) Fragrance it, colour it, stir and pour into bars. There you have hemp M&P! Naturally, you can do the same with any carrier oil. You can try adding more than 5% but we have found at 10%, it's hard to incorporate the oil into the base and it sits on the top when it has cooled down.

 

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Recipes
Winter shea whip (Makes 400g) 300g shea butter 100g rosehip oil 2g essential oil/fragrance oil Melt shea butter until it is slightly soft only, not completely melted. Add rosehip oil. Whip with an electric whisker as you would for whipping cream (not a stick blender) until it has doubled in volume. If the mixture is too soft, put it in the fridge until it hardens up a little then continue to whip. Spoon into jars. Because this is whipped, if it gets hot, it will melt and you’ll lose the whipped effect, so in summer it’s best to keep it in the fridge.
Lavender & chamomile nappy balm (Makes 100g) 40g NZ hazelnut oil 20g shea butter, wildcrafted 20g calendula infused oil 10g coconut oil, organic virgin 10g NZ beeswax few drops lavender and chamomile essential oils Melt everything (except the essential oils) together gently in a pot. Take off the heat and add the essential oils. Stir. Pour into a container and leave to set.

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Kind regards,
Elinor & the Go Native team