Forget Your Troubles And Relax Gift Box

So after working Monday to Friday and then catching up with laundry, the cleaning and finally finding time to do some grocery shopping on Saturday, on Sunday I managed to find 5 minutes to open the parcel that had been delivered the previous day. I haven't had time to order anything for myself for ages and was expecting this to be new stock and so when I opened the packaging and found this, I was really surprised and I had no idea who has sent it.

I love pretty boxes! I love Surprises! Who doesn't? Instantly I felt special because someone had sent me a very unexpected gift.

Opening the box, I can see tissue paper and then under the packaging are lots of goodies.

The first thing I find is chocolate - I love chocolate! Please note that the chocolate is missing from this image, yes of course I have eaten it :-) Only this chocolate was dairy free chocolate which I thought was really lovely, never had dairy free chocolate before and was surprised at just how nice it was.

 

Also in the box was an adult colouring book, in fact I will tell you what the label says:

Forget your Troubles and Relax

The box contains:

An adult colouring book and pencils to help you colour your worries away.

Touchable bubbles as you are never too old to have fun.

An eye mask and chill pill soap for you to take time out for yourself and wash your worries away.

A wish bracelet to remind you wishes can come true.

Tea bags in a handy little pouch as a cup of tea helps wit everything.

A bar of chocolate need I say more.

I hope you enjoy your box x

How lovely is that? I was so thrilled and ever so slightly tearful that someone had thought about me, however I had no idea who and so went on a mission, I worked out that the box had been sent from a company called Craft Magic, I found them on Face Book www.facebook.com/CraftMagicSaltburn

Then I leave a message on Facebook thanking whoever has sent me this lovely gift when the lovely lady who runs the shop in Saltburn which is packed with lovely gifts reminds me that she had told me she was sending me something, only I have been so busy and struggling to relax at all, I had quite forgotten.

What this box has done for me is not only made me feel special and thought about but it also made me realise that I really do occasionally relax, forget about work and just spend some time for me!

These boxes are now available via the Facebook Page and so if you know someone who could do with a surprise gift just for them to appreciate then you know where to shop.

Thank you so much to the smashing lady at Craft Magic xx

Easter Egg Soap Mould

Easter is coming..........



Egg Shaped 3D Silicone Mould.

We made this mould several years ago but it has been more popular this year in the run up to Easter. This is a one cavity mould so more suited to melt & pour soap, seen here coloured with mica and displayed in a cute little egg box. The perfect Easter gift. We also have egg shaped bath bomb moulds and also this little mould. 16 cavities made in silicone.
Both moulds are available at www.themouldsshop.co.uk

Understanding Fragrance Oils For Use In Cosmetics, Soap And Wax

Having designed a small range of Fragrance Oils for manufacture by a UK company the most important aspect was safety, I had dabbled with blending Essential Oils but I am not a chemist and whilst I think that I have slight knowledge of Essential Oil properties when you look at the ingredients and allergens in Essential Oils then it all becomes quite complicated. In fact working with chemicals is tricky business, even the most natural ingredients when combined can have surprising reactions as I know at my own expense but that is another story.

Fragrance Oils come in many different grades and this is where there can be some confusion. There are Fragrance Oils sold that should only ever be used fragrance as in oil burners or Pot Pourri however these are simply marketed as Fragrance Oils, they are not suitable for use in any cosmetic product or even in candles and wax melts. Unfortunately these oils are sold with very little information and as the price of them is quite low then they can be attractive, after all with rising prices of just about everything, keeping manufacture costs down is important. Research suggests that some consumers have made the mistake of purchasing such oils for use in cosmetic and wax products and when a product is described as: "For use in burners, perfume and home scent" or "For burners, home scent, aromatherapy" then it is easy to see why this error could be made. One of the products I checked out even had a bar of soap in the images, yes the details did then outline the uses for the Fragrance which didn't include for use in cosmetics or even wax but still  the product title and the images are misleading and so it is easy to see how mistakes can be made.

There are Fragrance oils that are only suitable for use in wax products and are not suitable at all for use in cosmetics.

There are fragrances oil that are suitable for cosmetics but only wash on, wash off products like soap, bath bombs, shower gels, shampoo etc.

Then there are fragrance oils that are suitable for leave on products such as creams, lotions and moisturisers.

The importance here is checking that the fragrance oil that you purchase is suitable for its intended use. Regardless of what you intend to do with your finished product, even if you are only making things for your own personal use and not for retail you should check the MSDS, Ifra and Allergen data and most importantly check the manufacturers guidelines for use and stick to their usage percentages, even if you have a Safety Assessment that states that you can use a specific percentage, if the percentage supplied by the manufacturer is lower than what a safety assessment suggest then use less, if the percentage suggests that you need to use more fragrance oil than your safety assessment then stick to your safety assessment.

There are varying qualities of Fragrance Oils being manufactured, some are concentrated and the manufacturer will specify a lower percentage for use. There are also some much weaker fragrance oils on the market, the manufacturers suggestion will be a higher percentage. Some Fragrance Oils contain essential oils that are very strong and therefore if they are suitable for use in cosmetics the percentage for use will be very low, if that information is ignored and a higher percentage used for a particular product then it is a strong possibility that the final product isn't safe to use on the skin. When a soap mould or bath bomb mould is damaged you should recognise that it is probably the essential oil of fragrance oil that is responsible but where that Fragrance oil has been used an the incorrect percentage. Fragrance oils to take caution with are ones that contain orange, clove and cinnamon essential oil, the suggested usage percentage on some fragrance oils can be as low as 0.1 percent for wash on wash off products and less for leave on products, I am not aware of any Safety Assessment that has such a low percentage for Fragrance or Essential Oils, and so understanding the vast differences between the grades of Fragrance Oils on the market and respecting the manufacturers usage guidelines and they do differ greatly then you should always be working safely and manufacturing safely.

New Holly Berry Silicone Mould

Our new Holly Berry Mould, 12 cavity silicone mould with a variety of berry sizes, all realistic in size to an actual Holly Berry. Now available on the website The Moulds Shop prices starting at £4.49 for one mould.

Feeling quite excited now to have both moulds available.

Aluminium Moulds and Citric Acid Warning!

Was a little shocked to find aluminium moulds being marketed to use to make Bath Bombs. Initially I thought that they looked great until I noticed what they were made from.

 I don't have an A level in Chemistry or even a GCSE for that matter, however I do have enough knowledge to be sure that Citric Acid an ingredient in Bath Bombs does not work well with aluminium. And so I went on a mission to look at the MSDS for Citric Acid. As we stock Citric Acid at Summer Naturals, I have MSDS - Safety Data to hand but I went an extra mile and pulled up different MSDS data on the internet.

My initial fear was confirmed, Citric Acid does indeed corrode Aluminium, the two do not react well at all.

As part of the EU, and manufacturing in the UK I am fully aware of the regulations that those who make bath and body products including bath bombs have to adhere to. In some EU countries, mainly France and Spain, MSDS is required for not just the products being manufactured but also the equipment used to make the products. It stands to reason, any piece of equipment used in the manufacture of products that come into contact with the skin should be safe to use.

Can you imagine buying a bath bomb that has been moulded in an aluminium mould if the aluminium mould reacts badly with the ingredients used in the bath bomb?

I am very aware in my line of work that aluminium poses a threat to a lot of people, personally I use aluminium foil in my kitchen, I have consumed coke from aluminium cans and so this led me to explore why coke that is packaged in aluminium can's isn't a problem. The reason being, the amount of Citric Acid in Coke is minimal. The amount of pure Citric Acid used to make a Bath Bomb is actually quite a lot of undiluted citric acid.  I searched and searched more just to be sure, Snopes raises some useful information.

What I recognise is that the contact from pure citric acid with aluminium is an issue, small diluted quantities of citric acid is not. Bath Bombs use citric acid mixed with bicarbonate of soda as well as other ingredients but in quite a pure and un-concentrated form, the amount of pure anhydrous citric acid used to manufacture a bath bomb is far more concentrated than the amount of citric acid contained in a can of coca cola.

Top and bottom, the EU reg's scream safety. And then researching this more I look at aluminium food cans and learn that whilst aluminium is a great medium for holding food products that the aluminium cans are lined. At this stage the best I can offer is that dinted cans should not be purchased because there is a risk that the protective coating over the aluminium may be damaged and may contaminate the food. This is a whole new story.

And so, if you have purchased Aluminium Moulds, described as being suitable for making bath bombs in and are selling those products or even offering them as gifts, with or without safety assessments then hopefully this information will be helpful.

Christmas Moulds - The Holly and The Ivy

We love these lovely decoration moulds, perfect for decoration Christmas themed soaps and bath bombs!

We still need to make a Holly Berry Mould, hope to have that made in the next few weeks.

Both of these moulds are currently on offer at
www.themouldsshop.co.uk

Made in top quality silicone, in the UK for cosmetic use only.

As soon as we have a Holly Berry Mould made, I feel a new soap design coming on.

The moulds would also make fragranced mini wax melts, three or four in a burner - lovely!

Concave Bath Bomb Mould - Something Different!

Well, I say something different, we have been asked time and time again to make this mould and now we have!

www.themouldsshop.co.uk

And so the mould is in two parts, the bottom semi sphere and the top a concave semi sphere. Simply make like a regular bath bomb and then you can fill with piped decoration, we used foaming bath butter and decorated with M&P soap decorations. Very pretty!

This new bath bomb mould is available at The Moulds Shop