Velvet Cream soap
This all-natural, vegan soap, made without palm oil, is as mellow as a balloon of brandy. With the chocolate/vanilla/almond-like scent of tolu balsam, and its creamy, rich lather, it's a luxury worthy of any lounge lizard, cove, vamp or sophisticate. Velvet Cream is made with a blend of rich oils including olive oil, olive pomace, cocoa butter and mango butter. Available now through the Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez store.
Heady and exotic
I love making perfume, it's something that brings me a lot of peace. I experiment as much as I can with the natural essential oils that I have and every now and then I come across a blend which I think is successful.
Of course, it is all subjective, what is strange and compelling to me might be repellant to another, but I don't mind that.
When I put together the Nightshade blend, I knew instantly that this was one of the successful ones. It smoothly combined a number of elements, elevated the scents I wanted to feature and produced an evocative perfume that I'm proud to have made.
Not for everyone, Nightshade is heady. It's a late summer's night in Acapulco, a midnight tryst in a winter hothouse or it's the lingering memory of the first time you saw your love. Nightshade is blended to highlight that most beautiful and exotic of scents, tuberose, with a supporting caste of cocoa and black pepper.
Nightshade takes its place with One Fine Summer and Sleepy Lagoon in the current range of Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez's all-natural, vegan eau de parfums.
A new perfume coming to Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez
A sneak preview! A crisp floral with citrus highlights.
Velvet Cream - a new soap
I haven't made a new variety of soap for a while. I've been busy just restocking some 'old' favourites after the Christmas rush. So, yesterday, I whipped up a log of Velvet Cream. This soap is made up of the usual olive oil and olive pomace - a great base for soap because it is super mild and gentle. Added to this is a generous amount of cocoa butter and mango butter. This will give the soap its creamy, luxurious feel. Finally, I added a dash of castor oil. I find that this gives the soap a silky feel on the skin.
For scent, I used vanillin and tolu balsam. I don't know how this will take in the soap - this is the experimentation part. I haven't used either before. The vanillin tends to crystallize, which might be annoying, but has a delicious vanilla scent. The tolu balsam is soft and mellow and has a rich vanilla/resin scent. Overall, I think the scent is delicious, so I'm hoping it holds in the soap for the duration!
Here it is then, in its mould. I'll have more pics after 4 weeks when it is ready to use.
New products for 2014!
I recently trialled a range of bath salts and I was very pleased with the results. I sold them at That Dapper Market and people seemed to respond to them well.
In making the salts, I considered what I wanted out of a bath product - something luxurious and indulgent - something which softens the water (sheesh, Adelaide water is hard!), leaves the skin gently moisturised and provides a wonderful scent (gentle and not over-powering).
So, I used high quality, mineral-rich salts - Dead Sea mineral salt and pink Himalayan rock salt - mixed with skin-softening epsom salts and added a splash of shea oil. I chose shea oil because it feels particularly nice on the skin. The shea oil and the essential oils I added needed to be anchored (oil will eventually seep to the bottom so something needs to keep it suspended around the salt throughout the jar), so I used a blend of arrowroot and bicarbonate soda (again, great for softening water).
I made three, if I might say so myself - amazing - all-natural scents:
The Violet Hour - a complex yet sweet blend of violet leaf essential oil and vanillin;
West of the Moon - a super-rich floral blend of rose geranium and ylang ylang and;
Evening in Capri - a sophisticated dry citrus blend of kaffir lime and bergamot.
Each jar of bath salts is accompanied by a cute little wooden spoon (made from plantation wood) and is beautifully labelled ready for gifting or indulging! The 200g jars of salt will be $16.00 and postage will be $7.00. The salts will be ready in the Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez store about mid-January.
A tweaking of a favourite soap
Having sold out of the first batch of One Fine Summer, I quickly whipped up a new batch. I have kept the same oil content as the first batch, as this is a wonderful, creamy soap and I wanted to keep it that way. I have, however, switched the green to mica and added a splash of rose red (a mix of French pink clay and red oxide).
One Fine Summer still has that glorious scent - so hard to describe but it's like a citrusy floral, green and sweet. Here is a snap of the soap just poured into its mould. The colours will be be more subdued in the cured soap, of course, but how promising! Four long weeks to wait for this one, but let me know if you want to reserve a bar or two as this one gets snapped up quickly!
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.
Breezing along on a breeze
I have just released a new soap - When in Rome. This wonderfully aromatic basil and spearmint scented soap will be fresh start to the day and put you in the mood for scooting around town with the wind in your hair!
Packed full of excellent quality oils including olive oil, olive pomace, shea oil, rice bran oil, meadowfoam seed oil and a dash of castor oil (for that silky skin feel!), When in Rome is a treat for the skin and the senses!
Sophisticated and youthful, When in Rome is all natural, hand crafted, vegan and contains no palm oil. Now available in store!
Top photo: Detail from the cover of "The New Target Book for Girls".
Sophisticated.
I love the smell of vetiver. It's a wonderfully complex, green and smokey scent and I have used it as the sole fragrance in the new soap Mister X... . This soap is also filled with some very good skin conditioning oils, including olive oil, olive pomace, shea oil and macadamia nut oil. I have also added some Mojave living clay, a mineral rich bentonite clay from the Mojave desert.
All natural, vegan and pure luxury! And no palm oil! Now available through the shop - the shop button is above.
As Yet Unnamed
I have a few naming options up my sleeves for this one, but feel in no hurry to settle on it now. I have four weeks, because that is how long this new soap will be curing before being boxed up, labelled and sent into the Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez store!
But let me tell you about what is in New Soap - olive oil, olive pomace, macadamia nut oil, shea oil and a dash of castor oil. But as if that isn't enough to make your skin soft and silky, I have added Mojave Living Clay! Mojave Living Clay is a calcium bentonite/montmorillonite clay from, you guessed it, the Mojave Desert in southern California! This clay is rich in minerals and is excellent for drawing out impurities in the skin. In a soap, the clay offers a silky texture which will enhance your bathing experience!
Here it is, as a loaf, just before being hand cut into bars:
Coming Soon
I wanted to create a scent for a soap that suggested an adventurous spirit. Something floral and exotic, yet edgy. I trialed some combinations of essential oils and finally settled on this new scent. A dangerously exciting blend of rose geranium, ylang ylang and black pepper creates the perfect scent for the mysterious and daring souls amongst us.
Madame X... is lavishly packed with skin-conditioning oils including olive oil, olive pomace, cocoa butter, apricot kernel oil and musk melon oil. It is coloured with the beautiful muted red of Australian red clay. So, whether you will be riding your horse at full speed across the moors, jumping from one Parisian roof to another in your cat-suit or just making a dramatic entrance into the ballroom, you can rest assured that your skin will be in perfect form for your busy life.
Madame X... will be available in the Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez store in four weeks.
A new soap!
If you're a daydreamer, you'll understand how the first days of summer hold a special resonance in your vivid imagination. Whether it be lying in the grass looking up and pondering how blue the sky gets, exploring the pine trees by the beach, or sipping your first Pimm's No.1 for the season, it's a bright and happy time.
And bright and happy really does describe this soap! Starting with a base of olive oil and coconut oil, it is further lavished with macadamia nut oil, shea oil and super-charged with olive pomace. A superb blend of oils to condition your skin, with a dash of castor oil to make your skin feel like silk.
One Fine Summer is gently scented with green geranium and Madagascan tagetes, a green floral with sweet citrus notes. A sweet and youthful scent. Natural chlorophyll colours the soap a perfect soft green.
One Fine Summer is all-natural, vegan and pure luxury! It will be available in Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez's shop in two week's time.
Yes, That's Right
Finally, after some time, I have opened the shop! You can buy soap, if you want it, right here!
Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez
I hope you love the design of the shop and the packaging as much as I do. I have been lucky enough to have Magic Jelly design all of this and give a beautiful, nostalgic but modern feel to Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez.
As you know, dear reader, Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez soaps are all natural, vegan and full to the brim with luxurious skin-loving oils. But not only that, the essential oils used in the soaps will bring the world's flowers, spices, herbs and woods to the palm of your hand.
There will be some further tweaking to this blog too - I will have a button in the side column which will be your very own chauffeur on the glamorous road to soapsville, Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez! So, you can read about it here and buy it with a twitch of a finger!
I have already received some orders from some wonderful people (they must be wonderful, such exquisite taste!) and I am finding out what people are favouring. I have almost run out of The Emporer's Chai (so hurry!) and South Pacific is a winner, as is Love Lies Bleeding. Spicy and floral.
In the pipeline, I have a surprise new scent. For those with a sweet tooth and a longing for bright summer days, you are in for a treat - a candy-sweet scented soap, packed with olive oil, olive pomace, macadamia nut oil and shea oil. It's a bright, happy and luxurious soap.
I have also just completed a batch of Lemon Meringue soap which will have you drooling! A wonderful sweet lemony scent in a rich blend of apricot kernel oil and evening primrose oil. No, you can't eat it, but you'll want to!
So, there is a lot lined up here at Shanghai Lil and The Scarlet Fez. Not just soap here on the blog; you'll have the usual found-photographs, flowers, melancholy musings, a bit of jazz music, graphics, design, art and what-not (do you like the word what-not?). Have a look around.
Look at THIS
I have been flat out
this weekend boxing up soap ready for sale. A lot of fiddly work, but a
lot of fun too. I'm very happy with the results. Take a peek in my
drawers (...I bet that's a line from a Carry On film...):
The labelling and the ribbons have been designed by my good pal Karena at magicjelly.com.au. She has done a remarkable job and I am so happy that she devoted the time away from her own commitments to work on these wonderful labels. Like all of Karena's work, these have a modern, fresh appeal but still pay homage to the past, a thoughtful nostalgia. I recommend anyone check out her site for further beautiful work!
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!
A Winter's Day - Love Lies Bleeding
On this cold winter's day, have I been lying on the couch under a blanket eating crumpets and reading Tennyson? No! I've been making another batch of what I can now call an old time favourite - Love Lies Bleeding.
In making this soap, I have not been content with using just olive oil, I have added olive pomace. Olive pomace is a low-grade olive oil in terms of cooking, but in terms of soap-making, it means a concentrated boost of olive goodness. Olive is a wonderful oil for soaps, and I always use it as a big part of any soap mixture. It produces a firm bar of soap, which makes it better value, and is very gentle on your skin.
I have also used meadowfoam seed oil. The skin loves this oil as it is highly emollient, leaving your skin moisturised. Apricot kernal oil is rich with vitamins E and A and matches your skin's sebum, meaning your skin will drink it in! Topping off this trilogy of extra-luxurious oils is rosehip oil, bursting with vitamin C (though, to be fair, vitamin C isn't much of a stayer, so it's not likely you'll see much of this once it is in a soap!), anti-oxidants and omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids - in other words, one of the best skin friendly oils you're likely to come across!
I've used mineral colourings, as usual, in this batch; the swirl being a rich earthy red. Scented with rose, rose geranium and geranium essential oils, the soap is lively, sweet and, I must say, thoroughly romantic. This is a great skin-conditioning soap. Here are some sneak previews for you - the colouring and essential oils, the soap mix, the poured soap and a Holga photograph of roses to put you in the mood!
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!
The Emperor's Chai
So, it's the first day of winter and looking out of my window at the dark grey skies and glistening puddles I never doubted it for a second. I've already brushed off the tweed and corduroy, brought the cashmere scarves to the front of the wardrobe and stocked up on Yorkshire Tea. Winter, I'm ready. Well, that's not quite true as I found out in yesterday's rain when my small umbrella with the broken arms just wasn't cutting it. The poor thing looked like a screwed up ball of paper on a stick.
Coming home in the rain, armed with muffins, tomatoes and cheese, I was welcomed by the scent of the new soap I had made during the week. The Emperor's Chai is a warm and delicious concoction, full of the gingery spicy smell of cardamon. It looks good too, with a creamy caramel swirl. I packed this beauty with cocoa butter, macadamia oil and pine nut oil, so it will have a silky smooth and luxurious lather.
Of course, I don't need to add that this soap is totally natural. It will be in Shanghai Lil & The Scarlet Fez's store soon.
Evening Star
This is my current favourite: Evening Star. It has the creamiest lather, very luxurious. It is enriched with macadamia oil and pine nut oil and the scent is uplifting: basil and star anise. This will be available in Shanghai Lil & the Scarlet Fez's NEW SHOP in about 4 weeks time. That's right - NEW SHOP! Well, there never was on OLD SHOP, but you know what I mean.
Freshly cut off the block and ready to cure:
Smokey Joe is Back in Town
Freshly cut off the block, here is the result of yesterday's batch of soap, using avocado oil (and olive, coconut, caster and rice bran oils!). This is a personal favourite; I find it is very gentle on my skin, which is prone to dryness. The lather is creamy and rich. The scent is cade and vetiver. Smokey Joe!
