Yesterday I made 2 lbs of bastile soap.  I used light flavor olive oil.  I used this type of olive oil initially with my very first castile/bastile soap which I found hardened right away. I was able to cut them up at less than 24 hours old.  Since that initial batch I purchased some pomace olive oil.  When I made bastile soap with pomace I had problems with very soft soap.   The non-gelled soap that was sweating lye water was made from this pomace oil.  Other soap recipes that included this pomace oil seemed to be OK, but when the pomace oil was at higher percentages then the soap was really soft.  I hear that's pretty common with castile/bastile soaps.  Anyway I was curious so I went back to that light olive oil that I used way back when.  Maybe light olive oil  makes for a harder bar much quicker than pomace. 

No fragrance or colorant was added.  I used frozen half and half instead of water and I added honey and colloidal oatmeal to the mix.  I did CPOP and forced gel because I like the toasted smell (not burnt smell) and I don't mind the darker colored soap.  I used some bubble wrap to simulate honey comb.  I unmolded and cut in less than 24 hours.  No problems with soft squishy soap like when I used pomace.  The color is a dark caramel color with flecks which I'm assuming is from the colloidal oatmeal.  The fragrance is wonderful.  A natural sweetness and creamy buttery smell from the honey and half and half.  I hope some of the smell stays around after the long cure that is desireable for high olive oil content soap.  The oatmeal is colloidal so it's been super fine ground and should not be scratchy.  This soap should be super mild to the skin. 

I think I need to make more Oatmeal Milk Honey soap using another recipe that doesn't require such a long cure time.   I may stick to using this light olive oil rather than going back to the pomace, at least with any recipe that requires higher percentages of olive oil. 

So, I didn't like the look of the soaps I had made in the Nutter Butter trays.  They were just too shallow and the soap didn't pick up the ridge detail in the tray.  So I tried making confetti soap again.  So I shredded some of the blue Nutter Butter tray soap and also cubed up some of it.  I made up some more soap which I colored with Titanium Dioxide to make it white in color.  Then I tossed in all the shreds and cubes and poured into a mold.  I sprinkled some cosmetic glitter over the top.  The glitter will wash off.  I cut the soap up today and it came out pretty good. 

I used a wire cheese slicer, but it doesn't cut very smoothly.  I switched back to a knife which produces a very smooth surface. 

I have been testing my various recipes.  I gave each soap 2 showers before I moved on to the next.  These soaps had a variety of percentages and cominations of the following oils: coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, olive oil, castor oil, jojoba oil, mango butter, lard, canola oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, and rice bran oil.  My soap dish won't fit all of the soaps so I moved onto my shower doors railing. 

There are a few more soaps in the shower caddy off to the right as
well.  All of them except for 3 on the rail and 2 on the caddie were made by me.  All of them are cold process/hot process except for 3, the stripy one 4th from the left and 2 on the caddie, are melt and pour.  I used different fragrances and colors techniques for each of them.  I also experimented with different molds.  So, that's why some of the soaps are different shapes.  These are all the test recipes except for the 3 tallow recipes which are not ready to use yet.  I've pretty much decided that all the recipes pretty much feel the same to me.  So, for the future I'll just pick a couple of them and stick with them. 

I made glow in the dark skull and cross bones soaps using an ice cube
silicone mold.  I used some glow in the dark powder to mix in with some
translucent melt and pour soap, some black oxide into the same translucent M&P soap, and white M&P soap.  They are so cute!!  I fragranced them with star anise fragrance oil.  Ever since I started eating fennel I have really started to like the anise/fennel fragrance.  I was never a real fan of black licorice, but I find I really like the scent now.

And they actually glow in the dark!!

Oh what fun!!  Great for Halloween or anytime you want some spooky fun!