Desirable New Labels

Flowers, ribbons and diamonds abound

I love it when the days start getting milder and you can see signs of new growth on the trees.  It's hard not to have a spring in your step this time of year!

But the changing season isn't the only reason I am chipper.  Karena at Magic Jelly has given this blog a spring clean and I am very happy with the cheerful, festive feel it now has.  And there are new patterns for the ribbons on the soaps too!  It's great fun putting together the packaging for the soaps I have made, it gives me a real lift seeing them waiting for their new owners.  Here is what I mean:

So, these are in my shop right now.  See the fancy "Visit the Shop" button to the right?  That will take you straight to the shop and you can make your selections there.

Fresh Cut

Even the Palms Are Swaying

The weekend's batch of South Pacific soap has now been cut and has been squirreled away for its four week curing time.  It will nearly be spring when it's ready!  Dust off the deck chair, polish the mai tai jug and get ready to swoon!

South Pacific

Soaping on a Sunday Afternoon

I am hoping to have the Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez shop open in about two weeks, so I have quite a few things to do, like make soap.  

So, I made a block of South Pacific soap today.  This is the one scented with ylang ylang and may chang essential oils - a mix which makes a super-uplifting and dreamily tropical scent. 

But that's not all; this soap is packed with olive oil, and olive pomace (when olive oil just isn't olivey enough for you!), coconut oil, luscious cocoa butter and gentle apricot kernel oil.  This mix of oils makes this soap a fantastic conditioning soap, gentle and creamy. 

I'm Done With Winter, It's Time To Dream

Remember those tropical reveries you have while you're sitting at your desk at work?  You've finished re-arranging your pens, reading the 'bunch-of-dates' quotes for the next week and you're on your third cup of tea by 9.30am?

Remember blue skies and sunrays?  Well, I've created a soap that will let you enjoy your reverie and take you to your own Bali Hai.  Say 'aloha' to South Pacific:

South Pacific is made with olive oil and coconut oil, superfatted with cocoa butter and apricot kernel oil.  Cocoa butter is an excellent emollient and skin conditioner while apricot kernel oil is super-gentle and nourishing.  Who needs a holiday tan when your skin will look and feel so good with this soap!

It is the dreamy, delicate scent of ylang ylang and maychang, however, which will send your mind drifting away to where the palms sway over the yellow sands.  And it looks good too, with it's soft green swirls like ripples in a lagoon.  You've got to dream, right?!

So, click on the gorgeous song below and get ready to see South Pacific in Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez's shop. Mahalo!

Say Hello Boys! to Shanghai Lil's new boxes

I was very happy to receive the first delivery of boxes for Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez's range of all natural soaps.   Modelling the orange number is the lovely South Pacific soap I recently made.  Just swell!

From Small Beginnings

I thought I'd whip up a batch of my favourite South Pacific soap.  It doesn't come from the South Pacific (unless you close your eyes) but it is enriched with mango butter and scented with a delicious mix of essential oils that will take you to your very own Bali Hai.  

Here are those smooth and rich oils: olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil (rich in vitamin E) and mango butter.  Waiting on the sidelines is a loving bowl of meadowfoam oil - a brilliantly moisturising oil that gives the soap an extra luxurious feel:

And here is the soap a day or so later.  It takes 4 weeks to cure but I like to cut the soap when young.   I refrain from polishing or otherwise smoothing the bars out - I prefer you to know they were cut from a block.