soap of the day: December Turquoise (and a giveaway!)

So, Dude. Totally not trying to toot my own horn here, but these may be the coolest bars I've made in over five years of soapmaking.




I am beyond thrilled with how these turned out. My only concern is that the Lemon Verbena fragrance oil I used might give them more of a greenish hue that I was looking for. If it does, I'll just have to reformulate with a different scent.

Have you smelled Lemon Verbena? One of the big companies (Yankee Candle or Crabtree & Evelyn, I think) introduced this natural, herbal fragrance in their products a couple of years ago, and I guess it was a huge success. It's a lovely, lemony, earthy (without being too "bra-burner-like") fragrance, not unlike lemongrass but a little more ginger-y.

I'm actually introducing a brand spanking new line of these GemSoaps this season, and I'm doing the birthstone theme. So far I've batched December Turquoise and November Topaz (Ginger-Orange scented - picture to come). January Garnet is in the hopper, and I'm looking forward to seeing how those sultry bars turn out.

So, ya want one of these December Turquoise bars shipped to you for free/gratis/nuthin'? Even if this first batch yellows a bit, they should still look super cool. Simply leave a comment to this post and I'll randomly choose a lucky winner next week!Follow @nicole_mcinnes