Maker Monday: Foaming Bath Frosting + Recipe + Give Away

Foaming Bath Frosting is a creamy, yummy smelling type of body wash that has a neat texture and gives you lots of bubbles! We wanted to create a product that was fun to make and easy to customize. As you can see in the pictures above, this product creates some nice bubbles and really creates a fluffy lather when used with a bath puff! Here's a look into how easy it is to create this product.

We started by scooping the base into our mixing bowl.

To the bath frosting base we add our fragrance oil. This particular batch uses a sweet floral scent we use for special projects around the shop!

I wanted to add a little bit of color to this batch. We're going for a nice light pink.

The pink is a little dark after a few seconds of blending, but after this product is done being whipped to a fluffy texture, the color will significantly lighten!

Here is the foaming bath frosting after all the scent and color is whipped in.

Look at that lovely texture! It's so light and fluffy and smells amazing.

Lee's Simple Steps for DIY Bath Frosting

Ready to make your own bath frosting? We're going to link you to Wholesale Supplies Plus for a one stop shop to get everything you'll need. Here's what you need to make one pound of bath frosting:

• Foaming Bath Whip base from Wholesale Supplies Plus
• fragrance oil or essential oil of choice
• pipettes
• kitchen scale
• mixing bowl
• spatula or spoon
• hand blender
• storage containers
• optional add-ins: 
• moisturizing oil like almond oil, coconut oil, shea butter, etc.
• color; a few drops of food coloring or a pre-mixed color from WSP

1. scoop out 16 ounces of room temperature Foaming Bath Whip base into your mixing bowl (unless you've purchased the 1lb single jar, then use the whole thing!)
2. add up to 16 mL of your fragrance or essential oil of choice, more or less based on preference
3. add 1-4 drops of color if you would like
4. if you will be using a moisturizing oil, add 1-3 teaspoons. Melt the oil if you are using one that is solid at room temperature
5. Start mixing! Use the mixing attachements in the off position to mix everything around a bit so you don't splash ingredients out of the bowl. Then start whipping everything on medium to high for 3-8 minutes until it's all blended! Half way through mixing, use a spatula or spoon to scrape the sides of your bowl.
6. Package your final product. We suggest a plastic jar to avoid slipping and breaking in the shower. You can use jars from WSP, a plastic tub you have at home or even a zip lock bag with the end clipped like a piping bag.

There are additional instructions and recipes at Wholesale Supplies Plus for using the Foaming Bath Whip.

Wholesale Supplies Plus is a great place to order ingredients for small projects like this. They offer small quantities of ingredients and free shipping on orders over $40. Usually they are a one-stop-shop for weekend projects!
 

We'll be sending samples of our Foaming Bath Frosting with online orders over $25 starting March 14th, 2016 until we run out. Click here to get some awesome Halo products and your sample of Foaming Bath Frosting.

Did you receive a sample of the Foaming Bath Frosting from Halo Soap? Let us know how you liked it in the comments!

Tear-Free Shampoo and Body Wash

We finally have a new batch of our Tear-Free Shampoo and Body Wash in stock! We've been back and forth with the development of this product because the batches always slightly separate. While we are looking for a solution and developing a better recipe, we've had tons of people looking for the product! The general consensus was always that the customer didn't mind having to shake a bit before use. We've decided to bring another batch of this product back into production for all those people who love it so much!

This product takes advantage of naturally derived surfactants that have had their pH altered to a neutral 7. 

You can purchase this product here.

A Day of Essential Oil Therapy

Hello readers,

I'm writing to you at the end of my day - actually, the end of my week of #EssentialOilTherapy.

When the week started, I was feeling miserable. Sore throat, achy muscles, super tired. Instead of seeing this as a week of soap making that would be wasted because I was too weak and exhausted to move, I viewed it as an opportunity to try out some natural botanical and essential oil healing!

Read on to hear about my ailments, how I worked through them and how you can use similar methods at home! With cold season approaching, it's time to stock up on natural healing ingredients.

For Headaches and Congestion

I was all stuffed up. My head had a constant dull, achy thud going on. I decided to blend myself a roll on. These are usually a blend of essential oils placed in a glass roller bottle in a carrier oil like jojoba oil or fractionated coconut oil. I like to use the coconut oil. Some people prefer organic jojoba oil. Personal preference really. Then you roll them on your wrists, neck, temples and any other pulse points you find beneficial.

Right into my 7mL glass roll on, I did the following:
10 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
1/2 mL Eucalyptus Essential Oil
10 drops Myrrh Essential Oil
1 mL Lavender Essential Oil
Fill 'er up with carrier oil (I used fractionated coconut oil), cap and done!

While I have quite the stock pile of pure essential oils that I use in product making, I know not everyone has a massive shelf dedicated to goodies like these. You can visit my friend Jen via Facebook and she'll fill you in on how to get your own stock going at home.

If blending your own roll on isn't for you, check out 21drops. They have some great roll on blends. You can buy them locally at Deep Roots Massage.


For Immunity or "Immuni-Tea"!

Next, I wanted something to restore and maintain some of my natural immunity. I had already been downing multiple cups of tea a day. (For those of you who know me, it's no secret that I typically thrive on creamy, boozed-up coffee. I know this is unhealthy, so going forward you'll probably see a lot more posts about incorporating tea into my daily health routine, not just into my soap!) I have a lovely stock pile of Rishi Tea, Gypsy Tea, Fava Tea, and more.

I would brew myself a cup of tea, sweeten it with some local honey then add 1-2 drops of my "Immuni-Tea" essential oil blend:
9 mL Lemon Essential Oil
2 mL Lavender Essential Oil
1 mL Cinnamon Essential Oil*
1 mL Peppermint Essential Oil*
1 mL Eucalyptus Essential Oil *
1 mL Rosemary Essential Oil*
1/2 mL Clove Essential Oil*
Or substitute * for Thieves Essential Oil Blend

I put all of these into a glass dropper bottle. Now I have a little bottle of immunity to carry around with me. I've actually been putting this bad boy in my tea and coffee (yes, I still indulge once in a while). I think it adds a lovely flavor. Just make sure you mix your tea well so you don't gulp down a little oily spot of pure essential oils!

Again, Jen can help you get starting using essential oils at home.


Muscle Relaxation

Finally, to soothe my achy muscles, I've been loading up on my Muscle Rub.

This product is a lovely little tin that is loaded with ingredients to soothe tired, achy muscles. Camphor, menthol, capsicum, eucalyptus, cinnamon - all ingredients to give your body a tingly feeling that says "I'm working these aches and pains right out of you!"









So there you have it! It was a long week made much more tolerable by using some natural healing methods. Check out the links for starting your own therapy arsenal:
Essential oils from Essential Living by Jen
Wholesale Supplies Plus has some great ingredients and containers to get you started.
21drops has some pre-blended products for you that you can also get in the Milwaukee area at Deep Roots Massage.
Finally, you can reach out to us at Halo Soap!

Let us know how your creations turned out! Tag @halosoap in all of your social media posts and use #EssentialOilTherapy

Happy Birthday, Abuelito!

A few weeks ago it was gramps birthday. For those of you who browse the Halo Soap website, you'll know that gramps is our soap and bath bomb wrapper. He hangs out in the dining room with a brewski, wrappping and shrink wrapping hundreds of bars of soap and bath bombs a week. Bueno, gramps!

Here are some other things about gramps:

    

Gramps and Archie are BFFs.

Gramps is a pro bath bomb wrapper.

Happy Birthday, Abuelito!

Whipped Body Balm Featuring Premium Shea Butter from Shea Radiance

We've reformulated our whipped body balm and this new recipes is a keeper!

This recipe features a premium shea butter from Shea Radiance. We love their shea butter, not only because of it's rich, creamy texture but because of their company values.  This shea butter helps the woman who create it make a living. It's processed using traditional methods passed down for generations by the women who create it.  You can read more about this amazing shea butter here.

We will be offering this luxury butter in eight different essential oil aromas in our new Ǽpothεcarγ skin care line. We package it in a biodegradable container (for daily use we suggest transferring it to a more sturdy container like a re-purposed cosmetic jar or baby food jar).

Whipping up a new batch Whipped Body Balm.

This whipped body butter (as well as our solid lotion bars) is a different "type" of moisturizer than one would be used to. It is created with out the use of water or emulsifiers, eliminating the need for preservative. This, in conjunction with the essential oil scents, makes the product 100% natural - something that can not be achieved with a traditional lotion or body butter.

This thick, rich, frosting-like butter is very rich and a little goes a long way!  It's great for extremely try areas. The women in Africa who create this gorgeous shea butter even use it to moisturize their face and hair.

Each scent is drizzled with various botanical oils giving each recipe a different twist - oils like hemp seed oil, sea buckthorn oil and grapeseed oil can also be found in these amazing body balms.

You can find these balms on our website here.

Lip Balm: New Labels and Flavor Profiles

It's been a long time coming, but we finally have our new lip balm labels!

The process has been a long one.  I wanted the new flavor collection to be just right.  I wanted the colors to be just right.

The proof we received for our labels.

We use a chevron pattern for the majority of our products. After seeing the design flaw in our lotion labels (color chevron on white background - too much contrast!) I went back to the drawing board and our new labels were born!

The labels arrived and I was so excited!

Rolls of our new lip balm labels.

So many fun flavors!

Our starting collection will consist of 12 flavors belonging to 4 different "lines" of flavor.

Boozy Balms: Absinthe, Hard Lemonade, Mojito
Cooling and Soothing: Peppermint Crack Stick, Vanilla Crack Stick, Chocolate Crack Stick
Sweet and Delicious: Huckleberry, Wild Cherry, Grape
Tropical Delights: Coconut, Mango,  Pineapple

Later this year, we will complete our lip balm flavors with the addition of 12 new flavors. Three flavors will be added to two of the flavor "lines" as well as the addition of a new "Cafe Collection":
Boozy Balms: Peach Bellini, Sangria, Moscow Mule
Sweet and Delicious: Nectarine, Pear, Strawberry
Cafe Collection: Chai Tea, Green Tea, White Rose Melange, Kona Coffee, Mocha, Hazelnut Latte.

You can purchase our lip balms at our new e-commerce website www.halosoap.com. We have them available as individual lip balm or in 3-Packs!

If you would like to get some of our products in your gift shop, spa or boutique, check out our Wholesale Program page and contact us via our website!

New Product: Hibiscus Rose Body Buff

This beautiful body scrub is part of our new Bliss line of luxe skin care products. This scrub is made with organic sunflower oil, hibiscus and rose petals and an amazing rose fragrance.  It gently buffs away dry, flaky skin and leaves you lightly moisturized. Unlike some of our previous body scrubs which were more on the oily side and had a potential to leave the tub slick, our new line of scrubs wash away cleaner and have an overall more enticing skin care experience.

We will be opening our Bliss skincare line with four body scrubs which will soon have matching moisturizers!

Serums Are Awesome

 

I cannot tell you enough how great serums are. They are like a super concentrated moisturizer, infusing all of their benefits into your skin.  

If I were to take this quantity of oil and turn it into a lotion, it would make about 12-16 ounces of product. Now consider the cost of your average, basic facial moisturizer at Halo Soap. $8 for 2 ounces. That would make this "new" moisturizer cost $48-$64! It would also have a preservative in it making it NOT 100% natural. Now compare that to our serums. Not only is it a deal, but our serums are also 100% natural - made with luxury botanical oils and pure essential oils!

Let's take a closer look:

- Rose Serum - $25 - this product is made with a blend of oils including argan oil, organic rosehip oil and meadowfoam oil.  It also contains pure rose otto to give it an amazing scent and to soften mature skin while strengthening the collagen network.

- Moroccan Argan Serum - $14 - Features argan oil which is typically used for mature skin because its rich in anti-oxidants and fatty acids.

- Balancing Serum - $14 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help balance combination skin. Features green tea, jojoba oil, calendula, ylang ylang essential oil and geranium essential oil.

- Calming Serum - $14 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help mellow reddening issues of the skin. Features licorice root, gotu kola, carrot seed essential oil, German chamomile essential oil and helichrysum italicum essential oil.

- Mature Skin Serum - $20 - Organic sunflower oil infused with herbs and botanicals to help rejuvenate mature skin. Features ginger root, hibiscus flower, elderberry, andiroba oil, pomegranate seed oil, frankincense essential oil, carrot seed essential oil and neroli essential oil.

But that's not all. Did you know that you can combine a pump of your favorite serum with a few sprays of your favorite toner? Mix them together and you have your own instant lotion!

 Just rub them together to get the two emulsified and apply to your face.

Now back to serums.  You can use serums alone or with your favorite daily moisturizer. A little goes a long way and they are just lovely because they soak into your skin so fast!

Head over to our Etsy site to see our collection of skin care products or head over to one of our store fronts to try them in person.

Halo Bay View - 2227 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Bay View, WI 53207

Halo Cudahy - 5601 S Pennsylvania Ave, Cudahy, WI 53110

Unicorn Poop Soap

 

Something we've had on the back burner for years has finally come to fruition.

Sweet, glittery and colorful.

It will be available for a limited time starting Friday, June 6th, 2014 at both of our locations.

Halo Bay View - 2227 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Bay View, Wi

Halo Cudahy - 5601 S Pennsylvania Ave Suite 8, Cudahy, WI

New Lotion Labels

   

We're working on some big things this year at the soap shop.  One of those things is getting professionally printed product labels!  This is our first round of our Original Body Lotion with these awesome new labels.

Our old labels were printed using weatherproof label stock on a laser printer.  We had to individually hand cut them all.  They weren't that great because after a few uses, the label would crack and didn't look pretty!

These new labels are really spectacular.  They are printed on a matte finish "squeezable" label stock.  We absolutely LOVE them!

Konjac Sponges

We recently got something awesome and new at Halo Soap.  Konjac sponges!

These 100% natural vegetable fiber sponges are so great for cleansing.  Some pretty cool things about the Konjac sponge:

• 100% natural vegetable fibres
• Packed with minerals and antioxidants
• Non toxic
• 100% free from impurities and pollutants
• Earth friendly
• 100% cruelty free & certified vegan
• Naturally sustainable
• Environmentally Safe
• Kind to The Environment & Skin
• 100% Colouring Free
• 100% Additive Free
• 100% Biodegradable

If this list isn't enough to make you fall in love with the Konjac sponge, let me tell you - I've used it and I LOVE it!

There are 5 different sponges.

• White Pure Konjac - for all skin types
• Black Bamboo Charcoa - for oily and acne prone skin
• Green French Clay - for oily and combination skin
• Red French Clay - for dry, damaged and mature skin
• Pink Clay - for tired and devitalized skin

I've decided to go with the konjac sponge created with activated charcoal.

We ordered the konjac sponges that arrive wet so before even opening the package you can feel how soft and smooshy it is!  When you come to our shop and see these in person, you'll see how awesome they are before even opening the bag.

Release the sponge!

Here is the konjac sponge in my hand for the first time.  I have to admit.  It was so cool. 

I wet this bad boy and got to work!

Here I am enjoying an end of the night cleansing from the konjac sponge.  It even made this really cool *squish*squish* noise as I used it!

Yes.  I absolutely love my konjac sponge.

Right now we only sell these bad boys at both of our store fronts.  But if you send me a message, we can discuss an online purchase!

Stay tuned for more goodness!

~Lee

Halo Bay View
Halo Cudahy

New: Bath Salts

Finally, Halo Soap has created a unique line of bath salts!

While Bath Bombs are still our number one bath time seller, we've been asked for bath salts enough times that we caved. 

Detox - with activated charcoal and a blend of essential oils for skin detox.

     Scent notes: pink grapefruit, ginger, juniperberry

Radiant - with red Moroccan clay to make your skin radiant

     Scent notes: ylang ylang, bourbon geranium

Feel Better - with strong, mentholated oils to open sinuses

     Scent notes: tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus

Calming - with a calming, relaxing scent

    Scent notes: lavender

Soothe - with vanilla to calm and soothe your senses

     Scent notes: vanilla, almond

You can purchase these bath salts via our Etsy shop or at our storefronts in Cudahy, WI. and Bay View, WI.

We will soon be adding an option for refill bags to our product line!

Soap, soap, soap!

I've been working like crazy at the soap shop to load up on soap after the holidays!  There are some long awaited returns sitting on this rack - Lavender, Oatmeal Milk and Honey - and some new ones too! 

I've been wanting to make a Pomander soap and a Patchouli Twist soap for quite a while. And I finally had time to do it! Want to know why I've been able to make all this soap? 

 My new oil melter! This bad boy helps me make 6 batches of soap a day (with time to spare!) when before I was only making 2-3 batches. 

These three batches of beer soap for Miller Brewing Company were made in under an hour! I love it. 

Well, folks - long story short: you have tons of soap to look forward to in the coming months!

On a final note, I leave you with a picture of kitty:

Meow!

Working on Grand Opening Invites

I went camping in the Dells this past weekend.  It was nice to get away from the hectic days of preparing to open a second shop.  However, I had invites to work on!  I worked on them during the 2 hour drive up there, the 2 hour drive back AND in the mornings!

I wanted to finish off these fancy invites with a wax seal:

It didn't take long to get a hang of it.  I should start wax sealing everything!  It was a lot of fun :)

Here's the result of wax sealing for a bit in the morning before tubing.  You can see how each one is obviously handmade.  There's such a variety between the seals!

It wasn't ALL work.  I did enjoy some wine and snacks while working:

The end result? Beautiful invites for our Grand Opening Event!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

On May 4th, 2013 the Halo Soap family participated in the Making Strides against breast cancer walk at veterans park. We met a lot of fun people including a group supporting their friend who is a survivor!

We would love it if more people wanted to walk with us next year! Email stacie@halosoap.com if you are in the Milwaukee area and would like to walk with us and/or help us raise money.