A selection
It's coming up to that time of year again and the (sometimes) painful task of buying gifts is here! I have noticed over the years that the people who are the least frazzled by gift buying seem to follow a few simple rules:
1. buy early;
2. buy thoughtful; and
3. buy small.
I think buying for men is particularly difficult for some people, but here at Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez, I have a few solutions for you:
Top Row
The Emperor's Chai delicious cardamom
Mister X... green and earthy vetiver
Lemon Meringue lemony may chang
Middle Row
Smokey Joe sophisticated smokey cade
Evening Star aromatic star anise and basil
A Siberian Wood a dry wood
Bottom Row
Spearmint Julep fresh spearmint
St Clement's zesty sweet orange and may chang
The Fez No. 1 the gin and tonic of soap, lemongrass, may chang, juniperberry and
wormwood
Each soap is available from the Shanghai Lil and the Scarlet Fez shop for $7.50, plus postage. Each soap is hand crafted from all natural ingredients, vegan and without palm oil. Packaged and labelled in a range of beautiful boxes, these soaps make a thoughtful (relaxed gift-buying person's number 2 rule) and small (relaxed gift-buying person's number 3 rule) gift for men. Buy now and I can help you with relaxed gift-buying person's number 1 rule too!
My further advice is, if you have to buy a gift for a fellow like curly-locks below, I'd suggest Smokey Joe. He looks the type.
Photo from Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez collection.
Spring Sherbert Gets a Facelift
The recent (and briefly) sunny weather has put me in the mood to make a favourite: Spring Sherbert. Containing the usual cocoa butter, apricot kernel oil, meadowfoam seed oil and vitamin E-rich rice bran oil, I tweaked this recipe to use annatto colouring for the yellow swirl. The mica colour I had previously used seemed to disappear, so I was keen to amp up the depth of colour for this batch.
I am very happy with the results. A perfect pale yellow, just right for spring. The wonderful fizzing floral scent of lemongrass and lavender complements the colour well. And it nearly will be spring when it's ready!
Spring Sherbert
Winter is the season of indulgence. It's also the time to plan - it's about anticipation. You know what is just around the corner - SPRING! Well, it's months off yet, but it's good fun planning ahead. Dust off those gardening books, get out those holiday brochures, buy a ridiculously lightweight and cheerful shirt online.
Avid readers of this blog (!) will remember I made a batch of Spring Sherbert a couple of weeks ago. You know the one - it was brimming over with olive oil, apricot kernel oil and cocoa butter and it was scented with a floral dreamcloud - or lemongrass and lavender essential oils to be precise (for those more practical types). The soap appears to be a modest little number, a soft and creamy yellow like the finest alabaster, but it fizzes with springtime joy when you smell it. Yes, I love it! And this is what Spring Sherbert is doing today:
Making Spring Sherbert - A New Soap
Last week, I made a batch of soap using a generous proportion of avocado oil. I was happy with the result, though I have yet to test it. Avocado oil holds the promise of adding an extra special quality to soap but it does tint the soap a very soft green. I don't have a problem with this; I think I should use it as a feature, but with this batch of soap I had also added a yellow swirl, which just disappeared in the green. The final cut bars look a bit blurry. Ok, but not the best.
So today I remade this recipe, this time exchanging the avocado oil with cocoa butter. Cocoa butter tends to make a soap creamy, a favourite quality of mine for soap. I started, as usual, with olive oil. The olive oil I used was a new sort, and it smelled of freshly cut grass. This made me happy, because I wanted the soap to be a fresh springy number. Sadly, this smell doesn't stay in the final soap, so the pleasure was one that can't be shared.
I also used apricot kernel oil, a super oil for your skin. A touch of rice bran oil for that vitamin E goodness and I'm done.
The scent I used here is lavender and lemongrass, which when combined offers up a dreamy spring-fresh perfume. Lavender is a sophisticated scent, though many have rather homely associations with it. The dry sweetness of lemongrass is refined and uplifting. Here, with the lavender, the lemongrass sparkles - a fizzing floral lift. Thus, Shanghai Lil & the Scarlet Fez's new soap is born - Spring Sherbert!
Here are some process shots showing cocoa butter, essential oils, the soap mix and the poured results:
Spring Sherbert, like all Shanghai Lil & the Scarlet Fez soaps, is 100% natural, vegan and super luxurious!
