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Luxury Soaps:: The Complete Soap Guide.

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Where the Senses Meet the Psyche

After a hard day, coming home and drawing a bath is one of the most renourishing things for one's psyche. But, the great indulgence is in the soap you choose. From high lather producing shea soaps, to a hard milled, exfoliating lather of a handmade oatmeal soap, nothing completes the experience until you have chosen the soap that will wash away the worries of the day. Don't think of it as an indulgence, think of it as self-help therapy.

Tell us your favorite soap and relaxation bath practices! It could help us all!

Soap Photos

People with their soaps!

Stick blender by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

Kitchen Scale by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

High Heat Mixing Spoons by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

Green Nitrile Gloves by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

Stainless Steele Stockpot by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

Saftey Glasses by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

Glass Pyrex Container by Mossy Creek Soap Studio

automatically generated by Flickr

French Lavendar Abbey

French Lavendar Shea Butter Soap

European Soaps Lavender Scented Shea Butter Pre De Provence

Amazon Price: $7.00 (as of 02/17/2012)

BIG, BIG, BIG in France, the home of people with LOVELY skin, shea butter is one of the most comforting and soothing soaps on the market.

This has the wonderful addition of French Lavendar, which soothes and relaxes your mood and body.

Primo Soaps

Luscious Luxury Soaps

You're Gorgeous: Luxury natural handmade soap from fine natural ingredients, based in the Conwy Valley in North Wales.
Pre de Provence Soap: Shea butter enriched soaps spring to a rich lather at the slightest touch.
Crabtree & Evelyn: Following in the tradition of 19th century French soapmaking, we take thirty steps to create each tablet of our triple-milled soaps. Infused with conditioning botanical extracts to soothe and comfort the skin.
French Soaps from FrenchSoaps.com: Soapmakers in the South of France follow techniques perfected by their ancestors, using natural ingredients and fagrances that are unique to Southern France.
Valhalla Soap Company: Experience incredible handcrafted products made from today's finest ingredients, with yesterdays simplicity and elegance. We at Valhalla only use the finest products available to soap makers, so that we may give you, the luxury soap connoisseur, nothing less than excellence.
Luxury Handmade Soap: Botanical soaps that are made with a blend of tropical nut butters and exotic oils, no animal fats are used. Rich silky lather and aromatic blends of pure essential oils or fragrance oils give you the luxury of handmade soap
LUSH: Soap Cut Off The Block. My daughter swears by all of their products.
Squeaky Monroe: A cool collection of shapes, sizes, colors and scents. All are pure and natural, free of synthetic dyes, perfumes, or preservatives.

French Lilac & Rose Shea Butter

Luxury soap to die for!

Handmade Provence French Lavender Egyptian Geranium with Rose Clay, Crushed Flowers and Shea Butter Soap

Amazon Price: $12.00 (as of 02/17/2012)

French Lavender is so fragrant, so soothing to the skin, so luxurious.

Mediterranean Roses are the some of the most lush, and fragrant, roses you'll find anywhere in the world.

No wonder they are highly prized in France and used regularly in their soaps and oils!

Rumor has it that the scent of roses has an effect on the heart, which is a BIG reason why they make such wonderful gifts for lovers, and of course lavender is prized for its soothing and relaxing qualities..

Renoir's Roses

Some useful terms to know when shopping for soap.

Wikipedia Luxury Soap Making Information

The following terms are from the soapmaking section of Wikipedia.

Cold Process is a method of making soap (saponification) which does not require use an external heat source to force the saponification process to begin. (Heat is often still applied in order to melt fats or oils that are solid at room temperature and to speed the reaction.) For this reason, this process is often used by soapers, or home soapmakers. Lye, either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, is mixed with an appropriate amount of fats and/or oils to start the saponification process that leads to soap.
Hot process is a traditional method of making soap, still used by some soapmakers.

In the hot process, fats and oils are boiled in a lye solution (either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide). After saponification has occurred, the soap is precipitated from the solution by adding salt, after which the liquid component was drained.
Melt and pour is a process often used by soapmakers. The process differs from the cold process or hot process in that no actual soap is made; a ready-made soap base acquired in commerce is melted and poured into individual moulds, tray molds, or blocks which can then be sliced. Additional ingredients such as fragrances, colourings, and moisturizers may be added.
Rebatching, or hand milling, is a soapmaking technique used by hobbyists and artisan soapmakers. The commercial equivalent is French milling.

In rebatching, commercially purchased or previously made soap (a soap base) is shredded or diced finely and mixed with a liquid, into which the soap shreds begin to dissolve. It is then heated at a fairly low temperature until the mass is more or less homogenous. When it becomes translucent and reaches a thick, gel-liked consistency, it is spooned or piped into molds and allowed to harden.

Luxury Soap Spa Gift for Valentine's Day

Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets Essence of Luxury Spa Bath and Body Set

Amazon Price: $67.49 (as of 02/17/2012)

There isn't hardly a more useful gift (except chocolate) for someone you love.

Relaxation, comfort, and mood enhancing scents- what's NOT to like about that?

Luxury Soap in the News

Tycoon splurges $20m, checks into hospital
Luxury in the sky
Ed Bazinet, multimillionairem taken to mental hospital after blowing $20m on ...
New tag for ultra luxury: A bar of soap at Rs 720

Special European Style Baby Soaps

Noodle & Boo French-Milled Baby Soap, Two 3.5-Ounce Bars (Pack of 2)

Amazon Price: (as of 02/17/2012)

So many chemicals in mass produced soap, and such tender baby skin!

Really, think hard about what kinds of soaps you use on your little ones. They can be healthy and GOOD for them! These have healthy oils, oatmeal and other things that cherish and nurture soft skin.

Shaving With Soap

Bey Berk Silver Shaving Set

Amazon Price: $62.50 (as of 02/17/2012)

My father used to shave with soap, and a true razor. His skin was under a lot of pressure because of his work environment, but he always looked GREAT.

Many men actually prefer to shave this way, and if so, then a beautiful set of tools is NECESSARY!

How to make soap!

Exotic Soaps

Hard to find luxury soaps

Soak: Offers Demeter, Molton Brown, Primal Elements, 3000 BC, e shave, Tipton Charles products and bath bombs.
Vernon Sinclair Aromatics: Scented bodybars combining essential oils, herbs, and selected fragrance oils.
Dreamsoap: Offering the Reve-de-Provence line of authentic French soaps and bath products, made with shea butter, organic olive oil, and essential oils of Provence.
Maja Soap: Offering soaps and products including perfumes and cream powders.
Midani Erbe: Collections of soap, Pre de Provence, Midani Erbe, Kama Sutra.
Scicorp Systems Inc: Offering a baby safe, fragrance-free, germ killing, biodegradable, moisturizing and natural cleansing product.
French Soaps, Ltd.: Fine French soaps and skin care.
Jupiter Imports, UK: Offers the original red Lifebuoy toilet soap, also Pears "Vinolia".
Tspink corp.: Offering soaprocks and other earthly treasures.
Seattle Soap: Skin care soap products for a clear complexion.
Miracle 2 Soap: All-natural liquid soaps, without harsh surfactants.
Bon Savon: A comprehensive collection of soaps from around the world. Including soap for body, hand, pet, laundry, facial, and shaving.
Thunder Mountain Soaps: Natural soaps made with fine oils, as well as some products made with goatsmilk.
Pacifica: Offering aromatherapy candles and scented soaps.
Redgum: Offering castile soaps and natural skincare products from Australia. Shipping provided worldwide.
DeLuxe Soap: Offering vegetable soaps for bath and body.
Sassy Suds: Assorted soaps and shower gel.
Sulfur Soap: Formulated for acne prone skin.
Rocky Mountain Soap Company: Soap and bath products including bath oil, massage oil and bubble bath in custom fragrances.
Splash Body: Bath and body products from a Canadian soapmaker.
Seventy Degrees and Sunny: Primal Elements glycerin soaps, potpourri and gift items.
Galassia New York: Offerings include soaps, home spa bath kits, bath tea or goat milk bath.
Amalthia: Soap from olive oil and Cretan herbs.
Fine Soap Gifts and Favors: Includes gift baskets, as well as soaps in a variety of scents and bath oil.
Soaphia.com: Offers variety of health and beauty products.
African Pacific Organic: Certified 100% organic, no synthetic oils or chemicals, not tested on animals.
Go Products, Inc.: A new bar soap concept that completely eliminates bar soap mess and waste at home or away.
Air de Provence: Natural vegetable oil soaps from the beautiful region of Provence in France.
Aoqili Premium Seaweed Soap: Developed by Chinese dermatologists to reduce the accumulation of fluid and astringe the skin.
Getfresh: Supplies a range of soaps and other aromatherapy bath and body products.
Carbolic Soap: A cleansing product that used to be available in most hardware shops.
American Soap Company: Offering a variety of soaps, bath beads, and bath salts.
Lush: Wide variety of bath and body products, including original blends of soap, bubble bars and hair products.
Mistral: Soap and bath products. List of store locations, gift ideas, and online shop.
Funk Bubble: Features natural bath, shower, hair and skin care products in a variety of fragrances.
Pangea Organics: Uses sustainable manufacturing process to produce, distribute and market organic bath products.
Relax Inc.: Sells products made by Cucina.

Lemons!

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Home made soaps...

Personalized Luxury Soap Anytime!

As a very young girl, I was fortunate to know many very old people, and I don't mean in their 60's, but 80's. They were incredibly kind and patient, and they also knew things that no one else around me knew.

One such woman, a neighbor, almost totally blind, continued her life-long habit of making her own soap out in her yard, near her fabulous flower garden.

She made her own lye with ashes from her fireplace, and cooked her soap in the back, adding things that she preferred. It surprised me at the time, but she raised her beautiful flowers with her homemade soap in mind, using the petals for the fragrance, color and roughage that would keep the skin softened and smooth.

I learned a lot by watching, though I didn't think to get her recipe and instructions at the time. I later regretted it, of course, because her soaps were fragrant, beautiful and felt so good!

I enjoyed watching the process, but I enjoyed even more helping her cut the soap into bars, wrapping it in tissue paper, and helping her put them in her special closet.

I recently came across a library document that explains the process so well, including how lye is made, and used for soapmaking!
Old Fashioned Soap Making

I hope that you will consider learning to make your own soaps; wonderful to give as gifts, of course, but even better when you find your own PERFECT recipe for yourself!

If not, however, there simply isn't anything like soap that is homemade, handmade, and gourmet!

Easy little soap making guide

Making Soaps & Scents : Soaps, Shampoos, Perfumes & Splashes You Can Make At Home

by: Catherine Bardey

Amazon Price: $13.22 (as of 02/17/2012)

No, it isn't difficult! It seems its a skill that humans have had throughout history!

Here's a wonderful little guide to making all your favorites right at home!

Great American Tradition: Hand Made Soap!

Don't miss these terrific pages!

How about some Beer Soap????

Soaps? Oil? Candles? Wine? What helps you destress at bath time?

Tell us your recommendations- Life is stressful!

How do you like this lens? Have you used a hot bath and soap for your daily de-stressing?

submit

Reply

kingfishernaturals Jan 31, 2012 @ 10:41 pm | delete

I'm also a soap maker & always on the look out for new recipes, a really good page with tons of info.

Reply

veryirie Jan 17, 2012 @ 10:02 pm | delete

I loved the story of your neighbor's soap making and your helping. It must have been a pleasant task to share. I bet the smell was wonderful!

Reply

KarateKatGraphics Jan 17, 2012 @ 1:50 pm | delete

I like oversized bars of soap and even made a lens about that :) -- nice page!!

Reply

skiesgreen Jan 16, 2012 @ 4:02 pm | delete

Beautiful lens full of good information. My grandmother made soap in here laundry and I enjoyed watching her as well. *Blessed* and featured on Blessed by Skiesgreen 2012.

Reply

GypsyOwl Jan 8, 2012 @ 4:30 am | delete

Your luxury soap recipe is fabulous! Love the videos about how to make soap. Couldn't be easier to follow.

I have made candles and bath salts.

I love to use lavender oil in a bath salt. A few drops in a mixture of Epsom salt and baking soda make the water divine. An easy recipe would be one cup Epsom salt, 1/2 cup baking soda and 6 drops of lavender oil. Should be enough for 4 baths. If you want to change this to a 'body wash' you can add 1 cup of your favorite liquid body soap (something creamy). Then use sparingly and gently (it will be a 'scrub' due to the salts, so use a small amount (maybe on the back of your hand) the first time to ensure you are not sensitive to it).

Thanks for such an amazing page about luxury soap and how to make it!
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by Margaret_Schaut

Margaret_Schaut

One of my favorite things is a wonderful, handmade luxury soap!

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Basic Soap Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started (How To Basics)

Amazon Price: $11.60 (as of 02/17/2012)

Luxury soap is a consumable, meaning that people use it up over and over again. This makes it a prime income generating opportunity. Develop a small business of your own by making your own soaps, offering them for sale throughout your area, and developing your customers. in an economy like this, it may make all the difference.

Milk Luxury Soap: An Ancient and Cherished soap

Milk baths are famous for the good they do for skin

Milk Soapmaking: The Smart and Simple Guide to Making Lovely Milk Soap From Cow Milk, Goat Milk, Buttermilk, Cream, Coconut Milk, or Any Other Animal or Plant Milk

by: Anne L. Watson

Amazon Price: $9.17 (as of 02/17/2012)

If you live in a rural area and have milk cows available to you, a treasured soap-making opportunity is available to you!