When I first started making my own beauty products, I began with sugar scrub. That was fun, but I wasn't passionate about sugar scrubs. I then dipped into making Lip balm - now that was more like it! Fun! After that I began researching soap making like CRAZY. The thought of lye was always scary, so I watched tutorial after tutorial online, downloaded e-books, and read as many articles as I could absorb. I came upon www.brambleberry.com and was amazed at what they had to offer and decided to break myself in gently to the soaping world by starting out with melt and pour soaping.
Here is a picture of my lip balm
I have an amazing relationship with essential oils - not any essential oils will do. I'm an essential oil 'snob', if you will. I only use doTERRA because they have the purest grade on the market. Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade is the only way to go. Everything is not only organic, but is only sourced from the place in which that particular plant originated from (example: Lavender comes from France). When a plant is grown somewhere other than where it originated from, it alters slightly to adapt to the new environment, changing the quality. These particular oils also go through a series of tests making sure that there is nothing else in that oil - (example: perhaps a weed was picked and mixed into the bunch) If this were the case, doTERRA would not use that particular batch of oil. Only the purest will do!
Anyways, knowing the therapeutic benefits these oils have, I incorporated them into the soaps I made. I would also add organic herbs from my garden, and clays that I had for their health benefits. I LOVED soaping!! Because I got my melt and pour base from bramble berry I knew exactly what ingredients were in it, which gave me peace of mind. They even had an organic base to choose from! My creative juices were flowing and it gave me great satisfaction. No more store bought soaps for my family. Not if I can help it!
My first melt&pour invention with coffee grounds and peppermint essential oil.
I call it "Zebra Cakes"
I would post pictures of my latest creations on facebook and began getting floods of messages asking if I'd sell my stuff. So began Untamed Essentials. A long time family friend living in Texas who has her own soaping business strongly encouraged me to take the next step and dive into the cold process method of soap making. I began studying the cold process method diligently again making sure I understood how it is supposed to go, and what could potentially go wrong and how to handle it. I ordered some supplies, and finally after having the supplies for nearly a month, I did it.
Ta-Da! Here is my first batch.
