Gettin' re-stocked, testing, and a name change!

This past month and a half, we've been spending all of our time re-stocking old favorites, and coming up with what we hope will be new favorites. We've been on the hunt for even higher quality supplies, and ways we can improve our products in both feel and appearance. I gotta tell ya, it's been quite the exhausting time, but it's been totally worth it! Research and testing is the name of the game. We've been doing some pretty small test batches, and so far everything is coming out the way we'd like it to.

White Whiskey (back) and Gin (front)

In terms of aesthetics, we've been going for a slightly cleaner and more simple look. Many bars will look exactly the same, but a few will be different. Instead of spending a ton of time focusing on a complicated design, we're spending that time formulating an even better recipe and packing each bar with goodness that your skin will appreciate! Let's see some more photos!

Gin, in the mold

Gin, prior to pouring. It kinda looks like a nice pudding...

Bourbon, right after pouring. This is what it looks like before the vanilla discolors the bars to a nice warm brown!

After the ginger is added. Looks like some kind of spiced bread!

I love how soap looks like pudding before it's set up! Well, we've also been tweaking our sugar scrub recipe and working on some new stuff, but we'll see more photos of that later.

Also, we should mention that the company name, The Soap Distillery, will be changing to something that's a bit more inclusive for our other products. We'll continue to make booze inspired goodness, but keep an eye out for STILL - Spirited Bath and Body Care! We'll have more on that later, and will be changing our facebook name, etsy shop, etc to reflect this new hotness :) Make sure to follow the blog and facebook for updates!

We haven't gone anywhere...I swear!

So, what's all this then?

So, things have been getting pretty chaotic around here lately. We've been busy busy busy with testing formulations, and there's been lots of ups and downs. Formulating new products can be a very rewarding experience, but I'll tell you, it's been a frustrating and difficult one as well. Choosing the right balance between raw materials is far more difficult than people assume it would be,  and making sure you are keeping temperatures consistent and following the process correctly can be trying! But, when it comes down to bringing our customers a good product, it's freaking worth it. So, aside from new fragrance blending, here's what we've been up to:

 Body cream: I'm debating on whether I want to offer a body cream or a lotion in the future, but it doesn't hurt to test out the waters! Look how creamy this is...it came out so well! It's thick, creamy, and loaded with shea butter, macadamia oil, as well as aloe, green tea extract, and beta glucan. I've been using it a bit, and it absorbs surprisingly quickly for how thick it is. This would be amazing in the winter. And I love that it looks like frosting...

YUM. (even thought it's not edible)

Body washes: So here's the sad bit: I originally posted a sneaky photo of a body wash that we made, and it came out, again, awesome, and after being tested for a while it was ready to sell. However, dude to human error, I must have written something down incorrectly, or missed something, because I can't recreate the recipe to save my life! So, back to the drawing board. Not really a big deal, because now we get to play around a little more with some new materials. Aloe has been a favorite, as well as glycerin. Just saying. I've used the creamy one in the middle and the clear one on the side several times myself, and my testers will be getting some samples of these soon. We'll also be getting the new recipes challenge tested once we decide on one or two we like the best, all for your safety!

Which would you prefer? Creamy or clear?

 New soaps: We're not called The Soap Distillery for nothing! While we've been messing around with some non soap bar products, we've also been improving our soap recipe (can you believe it gets BETTER?) and blending some new scents. This recipe has loads of cocoa butter, shea butter and macadamia nut oil. It's similar to the recipe that we use for The Hair of the Dog and White Whiskey soaps, but improved! This one in particular is Gin, and as you may have seen in the last post, we've been working to re-blend some old favorites, as well, to make them even better than they already are.

This Gin fragrance has strong notes of juniper (of course), fir, sage, honeysuckle, and bergamot. It's an earthy, but sweet, blend inspired by one of my favorite gins.

Creamy cleansing goodness.

Now, our sugar scrub is just about ready to go. So, if you care about your skin at all, you'll try it out! :) Perhaps it's release will be the next post...

See, we told you we haven't been sitting around doing nothin'!