Friday 24 August 2012

Lotion making – so much fun!

I love natural body lotion and being able to make my own, is just sooo much fun! I use all my favorite ingredients including Evening Primrose Oil, Borage oil, Sweet almond oil and Jojoba oil, this lovely lotion will soothe and moisturise my Winter skin.
I have lotion pump bottles ordered and arriving shortly, meaning luxurious Bare Naked Body lotions will soon be in stock!

Monday 20 August 2012

Wish List….

Bare Naked Body only uses essential oils and slowly slowly, we are increasing the range and amount of essential oils we stock and thereby use in our products. Essential oils are more costly ($) than fragrance oils, (the latter are often labeled “Perfum” on bath and body products) however the benefits of pure essential oils outweigh any price.
Bare Naked Body essential oil wish list:

- Pomelo
- Blood orange
- Jasmine
- Boronia
- Australian Lemon Tea Tree

Mmm... hopefully, soon, I can add some of these into the product range. 

Lisa 

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Super Sugar Scrubs

Firstly, my camera is out of action at the moment so I apologise for the lack of photos.
I have been asked to make sugar and salt scrubs for quite a while now and I finally have all the ingredients and can start whipping some up.
I enjoy making products that I enjoy using, first and foremost and usually, most other people like them as well! 
My sugar scrub contains unrefined organic shea butter, mango butter sweet almond oil, rice bran oil, olive oil, making for a super nourishing blend of natural, skin loving ingredients. I also use only the highest qualify essential oils for scent and natural clays for colour… so good.
I used the Lavender / Bergamot salt scrub in the shower tonight and let me tell you, it is heavenly!
Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Lisa xo

Thursday 9 August 2012

Soaping Soaping

Many of us crafters are preparing for Christmas and Festive season already. Soap has a four week “curing period” in which the chemical reaction takes place, all chemical leaves the soap and the soap bars harden up. So, I have to give a lot of thought to keep up stock levels for wholesale orders, markets and my loyal customer base.
So, back to the soap kitchen for me and on the agenda today – Goats Milk and Lavender. Made with local Busselton Goats’ Milk, Margaret River olive oil and Lavender essential oil, this is a creamy bar of soap, which soothes skin and smells devine. By far, it is one of my best sellers and personal favourites.
Lisa xo

Thursday 26 July 2012

Custom Soap cutter!

Finally, I have saved my pennies and invested in a custom soap cutter ! Now all Bare Naked Body soap bars will be uniform in size...

I am officially in Love !

Here is as example of the stunning bars they cut -


Saturday 21 July 2012

Natural Soap Colourant - experiment Part 2


So I have been experimenting with some additional natural soap colourants – Madder Root and Alkanet Root Powder. See last months entry for Part 1 where I added Madder Root and Alkanet at trace to the soap.

Part 2 of the experiment was infusing the oils with madder root and alkanet and then using the infused oils to make soap. Here is a picture of the jug used to make the Alkanet root powder infused soap (yes, I know the jug is red – after lots of small batch soap making recently, it was all I had available, as I usually use white jugs!) I was so excited to see the lush purple hues come through - naturally!


I could not wait to unmold the infused oil soaps!

Here is the Alkanet root infused oil soap - 



It does look a little more mauve in real life, but not Purple and definately not as purple as what was in teh jug above. I think I might need to insultate a little more to ensure the soap goes through gel to bring the colour out. It is winter in Australia and rather cold! Still, I do love the Alkanet Root Powder soap and the depth of the colour, however, I wonder whether it will lather purple? I will let this soap cure for four weeks and them report back, as to the colour of the lather.


Here is the Madder Root infused oil soap - 

The Madder Root Powder infused soap is lovely, but again, for this kind of colour, I do prefer the warmth that I achieve with natural clays.

VERDICT – I will not be introducing Madder root powder into Bare Naked Body soaps, as I prefer the depth of colour and effect I achieve with Clays.

I will be doing further experiments with Alkanet Root Powder infused oils and soaps as I really want to achieve a natural purple colour! Stay tuned for further purple soap soon!


Lisa P



Thursday 19 July 2012

Loofah Love


I have been looking at a big box of supplies I ordered for over a month now and all the goodies in there temp me to get my soap mojo back and start creating again. I have had a steady range of luxury soaps for a few years now and really want to start  expanding and experimenting with some different product lines. 


These beautiful, natural loofahs have been staring me in the face for a while, but today – today we make them into Loofah soaps! 


I wanted to try two different techniques in the pvc pipe - one lined with baking paper and the other not lined.

I have used one of my favourite soaps - Green French Clay - and it not only looks calming, with the pale green contrasting the loofah, but is super nourishing with added sweet almond oil, rice bran oil and sunflower oil. 

Here is the soap hand cut with a very sharp knife. I love the patterns the loofah makes!


I cannot wait for this soap to cure four to six weeks, to give it a whirl in the shower and get rid of all that dead Winter skin!

Lisa P




Wednesday 11 July 2012

Natural Soap Colourant experiment - Part 1

Bare Naked Body only uses natural colourants and you may be surprised how many colours there are in nature - Cinnamon, cocoa powder, spirulana, paprika, annatto seeds, parsley etc. I am familiar with all these, but some more obscure natural colours I have been meaning to use for a while now are Madder Root and Alkanet Powder. Both are completely natural and not synthetically produced - which is very important to Bare Naked Body.

Madder root powder can produce a pink to coral colour in the soap and alkanet root powder can produce a blue, purple to blackish colour depending on the pH of the soap. There are two techniques to adding natural colourants to cold process soap and that is either adding the powder at trace or infusing the oils with the colourant and then filtering it before adding the lye.

Here is my first test - adding Madder Root and Alkanet Root Powder at trace

The alkanet root powder soap is the first photo and yes, the soap looks purple/blackish and with the large specks of alkanet root powder showing, the soap reminds me of road base! So, I will not be adding alkanet root powder again at trace and will soon experiment with infusing it instead.

The madder root powder soap looks a nice pastel pink and I do not mind the look of the small specks showing through. I do however, prefer the more solid colour I get with clays, like Pink Clay and Red Clay.

Well, either way, now I know that natural colourants added at trace does not produce the results that I want. Experiment 2 on the way - adding madder root and alkanet into the oils and infusing. I shall report back soon with pictures of the infused oil soaps.

Thursday 5 July 2012

Australian Pink Clay soap


This is a new addition to the Bare Naked Body range and we love it! The pastel pink colour comes from Australian Pink Clay, which has therapeutic qualities as it restores firmness to skin, smooths fine lines and soothes stressed skin. This soap is great for delicate or sensitive skin.
With highest quality essential oils, the scent is earthy and grounding, with Lavender and Palmarosa essential oils. Both Lavender and Palmarosa essential oils are excellent for soothing sensitive skin and moisturising dry and damaged skin.
This is my new favourite and with Rosehip Granules on top, who could resist a relaxing and soul nourishing shower with this one?
Oh - what's it called? Seduce...

Monday 2 July 2012

About Me and Bare Naked Body

I thought I would share a little bit about myself and Bare Naked Body with you.

Bare Naked Body is my passion project and my hobby has quickly morphed into a body products business. I started making luxurious, natural soaps and body products after suffering from adult onset eczema and finding that all the products I already owned flared my skin up and only natural solutions would soothe my skin. Friends and family soon wanted to buy my products and word spread - so I created Bare Naked Body and I am the Artistic Director, Creator, Visionary, Blogger, Soap Maker and Chief of Everything!

I am a twenty-something who loves my wonderful man, little dogs, sunshine, chocolate, baking, mangoes, sleep, summertime and sand between my toes.



Welcome to the home of Bare Naked Body – Western Australia. This is Busselton beach where we currently spend around a quarter of our time. With a beach like this, why wouldn’t you!
I gain my inspiration for bath and body products from nature and with the sand between my toes and the wind in my hair, I design and create luxurious, natural products.
Enjoy and welcome. Please feel free to comment. 
Lisa 

Friday 1 June 2012

Olive Oil & Goats' Milk

This all natural, Olive Oil & Goats Milk bar is great for sensitive skin and many of my customers use this creamy bar for their children or babies, with great results.



Soothing... with Lavender Buds and Organic Calendula Petals on top.. mmm


Monday 28 May 2012

Back in Action - Green French Clay

Today we picked ourselves up and starting re-stocking and re-creating some luxury soaps. I started with one of my favourites - Green French Clay. 

Bergamot, Clary Sage and Lime essential oil - these earthy, crisp scents ground me, comfort me and remind me why I love aromatherapy and making soap.

Here is the freshly poured batter - 

Sunday 11 March 2012

Castile Bar - change of design

I love the gentle and mild Castile Bar.... we are fortunate to be able to source local Olive Oil from the Margaret River region of Western Australia and with the some of the finest and freshest olive oil, we think our Castile Bar is really quite special!

Our previous design of Castile Bar had a rose bud of the top of the bar, but this "egg-shell skull" soap needs to be treated soooo gently, to ensure the rose bud it not knocked off the soap or broken off, leaving a small brown dimple where the bud was.
Bare Naked Body Castile Bar - handle with care FRAGILE
So the Castile Bar has been re-designed, with a slightly textured top and sprinkle of luxury Lavender buds on top... what do you think?
New Bare Naked Body Castile Bar

Friday 9 March 2012

This Bare Naked Lady

It is hot in Perth, Western Australia at the moment and this meant that this palm-oil free soap traced very quickly, so the red French clay tops are not as pretty as I usually like. The smell is fantastically romantic and sensual, with sweet orange, ylang ylang and grapefruit essential oils. The red French clay is also great for dry or mature skin.
At markets, people think this soap looks like fudge or white and pink chocolate... mmm.... Don't try to eat it though!
Cut into generous bars for ultimate bath time pleasure !!!




Wednesday 7 March 2012

Perth Upmarket - 4 March 2012

Perth Upmarket  - www.perthupmarket.com.au  - is a brilliant market with handcrafted, artisan, locally made wares. On Sunday, Bare Naked Body had a stall on the verandah at UWA and we had a great time, talking about our soaps and launching our new range of Bath Salts and Lip Balms.
Bare Naked Body market stall set up before the shoppers arrive!

We had a brilliant day, meeting other people with similar dedication to luxurious and handcrafted products and had great feedback on our soaps!

Here is a sneak peek at the Nourishing Lip Balms which will shortly be posted on the website for sale...
In the meantime, I have to get going on setting up the Bare Naked Body Etsy account shop with our many luxurious items.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Freshly Cut Soap - Bare Jojoba Bar

I love cutting fresh soap! You just never know how the glorious patterns will turn out and how the textured tops will look. My Jojoba Bar is one of my best sellers – with nourishing jojoba oil, which is similar to our skins natural sebum, it is a fantastic bar for body, face and shaving.

The Bare Jojoba Bar does not contain any essential oils, making is especially soothing for sensitive skin and great for shaving your legs!



Beautiful! Cut into long logs of soap and then hand cut into individual bars.




This batch will be ready on 6 April 2012 and I have this is stock at the moment after a sell out Christmas Season. Lesson: I must make much more soap to keep up with post Christmas demand!


About Me

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Natural, luxurious, artisan Bath and Body products... because your skin wants to be Naked... Our products are handcrafted in Western Australia using sustainable and where possible, local ingredients.