The Alternative Liquid Soap Swap

Recently, I participated in a soap swap with 14 other soap makers from all around the country. It was so much fun that I just have to tell everyone about it!  We did alternative liquids in our soaps.  Basically, we replaced the water with anything but water to see how it affects the soap.  It's not a scientific swap because we all used our own recipes, but it was definitely fun!  I'll bold the different liquids used in the soaps.

I just received my box full of goodies last week, so I haven't had a chance to try out everything yet, so I'll be updating this post often as I test out all the different soaps and extras.

All of the soaps straight out of the box!  Everything smells
soooooo good!!

This soap smells soooo amazing!  I'm definitely going to add
Green Irish Tweed to my collection of scents soon!

This soap had lush, creamy lather that is typical of salt bars.
I loved the dual sided affect.  The bottom was a scrubby
salt bar, and the top was a smooth bar.

Ingredients:  Coconut Oil, Sea Salt, Tallow, Sweet Almond Oil,
Distilled Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Olive Oil,
Fragrance, Shea Butter, Sodium Citrate, Mica, Titanium Dioxide

This soap smells lovely and clean!

Ingredients:  Tallow, Sweet Almond Oil, Coconut Oil,
Distilled Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Heavy Cream, Olive Oil,
Castor Oil, Fragrance, Sugar, Sodium Citrate, Tussah Silk,
Mica, Activated Charcoal, Titanium Dioxide.

Is this soap not gorgeous??  And I
love that she sent samples of the same
recipe with different liquids to
compare to!

Ingredients:  Tallow, Olive Oil,
Coconut Oil, Hemp Milk, Water,
Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil,
Palm Kernel Oil, Fragrance, Mica,
Titanium Dioxide

This bar is absolutely stunning to me.  You can't tell in the
picture, but it shimmered and sparkled like gold!  It's
scented with Nag Champa, which I never thought I would
like, but I love it!  It's a very sweet, incense type smell.

The lather is thick and creamy.  It's slightly hard to work up,
but I was really impressed with the feel of this soap.  I felt
like I was holding an antique treasure and just kept turning
it over in my hands admiring the silky feel.

Ingredients:  Lard, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Banana,
Evaporated Milk, Castor Oil, Sunflower Oil, Fragrance,
Color

This was my submission.  I received one of the bars cut from
the far end of the loaf.  Apparently, when I was pouring, I was
light handed with the batter the further away I poured from
the starting end.  Bars from the other end had bold swirls,
whereas bars from this end of the mold had more whispy
swirls.

Of course, I'm a fan of my own soap's lather, but it has a light,
fluffy lather that can turn rich and creamy with just a bit
more work.

Ingredients:  Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Water, Sodium
Hydroxide, Mango Butter, Sunflower Oil, Castor Oil, Wine
Avocado Oil, Fragrance, Sugar, Salt, Titanium Dioxide,
Iron Oxides, Vitamin E

This was a simple bar that smelled very soapy and clean.  I
couldn't detect any fragrance in the bar, but by the time I
unwrapped it, I may have already overloaded my sniffer.
By any means, it was a very light scented bar.

Ingredients:  Lard, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Cucumber,
Aloe, Castor Oil, Green Mica, Blue Oxide Titanium
Dioxide, Fragrance

This soap smells so much like ginger ale it's
unreal!  I can't wait to test it out.  I didn't
unwrap this soap to take pictures, so look
below for a look at the soap!

The swirls hidden behind the label of
Flurry of Ginger.

Ingredients:  Lard, Olive Oil, Canada Dry
Ginger Ale, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil,
Castor Oil, Water, Fragrance, Citric Acid,
Titanium Dioxide, Yellow Mica, BHT, BHA

This is Kauai Coconut.  It smells absolutely delicious!  It
reminds me of a coconut bakery treat that I can't quite put my
finger on the name of.  It is so yummy!

The maker actually collected the Hawaiian red earth clay
herself on a trip to Hawaii!

I absolutely love the decorative soap chunks on top!

Ingredients:  Coconut Milk, Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Sodium
Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Shea Butter,
Castor Oil, Fragrance, Hawaiian Red Earth Clay,
Titanium Dioxide, Blue Ultra Marine, Mica

This soap smells absolutely stupendous!  To me, most berry
scents have a cough medicine note to them.  This one did
not at all!  Just berry sweet!

Ingredients:  Lard, Buttermilk, Coconut Oil, Sodium
Hydroxide, Olive Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Castor Oil, Fragrance,
Sodium Lactate, Iron Oxide, Manganese Violet, Mica,
Tin Oxide, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarine Blue, Tussah Silk

This was my least favorite scent of the lot.  It is a very
earthy, damp soil, vegetable garden type scent, which fits
very well with the alternative liquid.  I just didn't care for it.

I love the way the bar looks, however!  But then, I'm a sucker
for camo..  And did I mention her packaging was adorable?
You can't see it but on the back she had used a paw print
hole puncher to give the soap a breathing hole.

Ingredients: Beef Tallow, Lard, Palm Kernel Oil, Water,
Olive Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Aloe Vera Juice, Castor Oil,
Tomato Paste, Kokum Butter, Fragrance, Chromium
Green Oxide, Brown Oxide, Australian Red Clay

This soap is stunning!  I love the
texture that the activated charcoal
gives soaps.

This bar developed a silky gel coating
the minute it touched water.  This gel
easily developed into a rich, creamy
lather.  It was a very interesting bar
to me as it is so different from my own
soaps!

Ingredients:  Lard, Olive Oil, Distilled
Water, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil,
Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil,
Sucrose, Citric Acid, Mica, Titanium
Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Fragrance

I wish you had smell-o-vision for this soap!  It's probably my
favorite out of everything I received.  The maker graciously
shared his fragrance blend used to scent this soap.  I will
be blending it very soon, and plan to name the scent
Nevermore in honor of this bar.  I'll be checking with the
maker first, though, to make sure it's alright.

I absolutely love the story behind the name of the soap.  The
maker used a locally brewed beer by New Holland Brewing
called The Poet.  The label of the beer features a raven,
which is an obvious reference to Edgar Allen Poe. So the
soap maker decided to name the soap after the ominous
call of the raven.

Ingredients: Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Avocado Oil, Coconut
Oil, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Beer, Kaolin Clay, Sodium
Lactate, Titanium Dioxide, Fragrance

First off, the label!  I absolutely love the design!  The scent
isn't my favorite, but I'm not a huge fan of bergamot or many
tea fragrances.  I can't wait to use this soap, though, as it is
made with ingredients I've never tried before.

Ingredients:  Kombucha (organic raw kombucha, fresh pressed
ginger juice), Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Sustainable Palm Oil,
Sodium Hydroxide, Apricot Kernel Oil, Shea Butter, Sal Butter,
Fragrance, Castor Oil, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Lactate,
Rosemary Oleoresin, Extract

I absolutely love the name of this soap!  This is an essential
oil soap and the design makes me think of birch tree bark.

Ingredients:  Aloe Juice, Olive Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Coconut
Oil, Cocoa Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor Oil, Powdered
Sugar, Salt, Citric Acid, Orange 5x Essential Oil,
Eucalyptus Essential Oil, Ylang Ylang Essential Oil

This soap has very pretty swirls to compliment the delicate
scent.  It's light yet sweet.  I loved the smooth feel of this
bar, as well as the creamy lather.

Ingredients:  Olive Oil, Lard, Water, Oat Milk, Sodium
Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Fragrance,
Castor Oil, Sunflower Oil, Mica, Titanium Dioxide,
Iron Oxide, Manganese Violet

This soap is a lovely fragrance blend.  It's very juicy and
citrus-y (which I love!).  The color combination is
ingenious and looks amazing!

Ingredients:  Tallow, Aloe Vera Juice, Lard, Olive Oil,
Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Micas and
Oxides

And then there were all the amazing bonus items everyone
sent!  The spirulina and sodium citrate were sent as samples
to try in our own soaps.  There were several samples of
different soaps, some lovely lip balms, and two bath truffles.
I also received a 1 ounce fragrance sample called Skinny
Dipping.