New Soaps and lots of New Ideas...

The swirl in this soap is made by taking some of the soap and
 adding Vanilla fragrance to it. The rest is colored with Titanium Dioxide

I'm back, with some new soaps and lots of new ideas. I hope I'll manage to give life to those ideas and share some of my enthusiasm for handmade soaps and soapmaking with you.

These are two new soaps I made couple of days ago. I've changed the dimensions of soap so it would fit better in hand. New dimensions range from 5cm x 2.5cm x 6cm to 6cm x2.5cm x 7cm, and they weigh 90-100 gramms each. These soaps need to cure for at least 4 weeks, but I was pleased that someone couldn't wait to get their hands on it, so I've already sold some of them.

Rose and Mastic Body Butter

For English, scroll down

Βούτυρο Σώματος με Τριαντάφυλλο & Μαστίχα 

Η εμμονή μου με Μαστίχα Χίου συνεχίζεται ... Σήμερα έφτιαξα λίγο βούτυρο σώματος με λάδι Καρύδας, βούτυρο Καριτέ, Αμυγδαλέλαιο και Καστορέλαιο, αρωματικό έλαιο Τριαντάφυλλου, αιθέριο έλαιο Palmarosa και Μαστίχα Χίου. 

Μαστίχα έχει τόσα πολλά οφέλη για το δέρμα, έχει αντι-μικροβιακή (υπό τη μορφή αιθέριου ελαίου) και αντι-φλεγμονώδη δράση, και είναι φυσικό αντιοξειδωτικό. Η έρευνα έχει δείξει ότι η μαστίχα Χίου συμβάλλει στην επούλωση των τραυμάτων και την ανάπλαση της επιδερμίδας.

Πέρα από όλα αυτά, έχει ένα πολύ ωραίο, φρέσκο ​​άρωμα που, κατά τη γνώμη μου, λειτουργεί συμπληρωματικά με το άρωμα Τριαντάφυλλου ή Λεβάντας.

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My obsession with Chios Mastic continues... Today I made some Rose & Mastic body butter with Coconut oil, Shea butter, Almond oil and Castor oil, Rose perfume oil, Palmarosa essential oil and Mastic from Chios.

Greek Mastic, a natural fragrance for handmade soap

Handmade Soap with Chios Mastic
 Χειροποίητο σαπούνι με μαστίχα Χίου

I've been on a roll these last couple of weeks. Lots of ideas, energy and several batches of soap set to cure. What I want to write about today is my current obsession with Mastic and the first time I used dividers to make some color swirls.

Other than for its lovely fresh fragrance, using Chios Mastic (Mastiha) has some amazing benefits:

"Ever since antiquity, Chios mastiha has been well known for its medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. 
Nowadays, it has been gradually revealed by the scientific community, through accurate and scientifically acceptable methods based on laboratory research and clinical studies carried out by independent researchers in Greece and abroad, that natural Chios mastiha is gifted with unique beneficial and therapeutic properties, thus confirming what has been historically recorded over the past. 
To be more precise, scientific evidence has confirmed Mastiha’s beneficial action against disorders of the peptic system, its contribution to oral hygiene, its significant antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory action, as well as the fact that it constitutes a natural antioxidant agent. In addition to that, Chios mastiha contributes to wound healing and skin regeneration. " [LINK]

And it smells great! All in all - an ideal, natural addition to handmade soaps.

I purchased 10 g. package of mastic resins in my local super-market for aprox. 3.5 EUR.

First time I used Chios Mastic resins in cold process soap was a week ago, in my Lavender & Mastic Soap and I was very happy with the result. Although I used both Lavender and Palmarosa e.o., the aroma of Mastic was very distinct after the soap was unmolded.