Coconut and lime MP soap

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 2 hrs
Yields: 4 bars of soap

Let your senses take you on tropical vacation next time you shower. This soap is scented with the smooth fragrance of coconut paired with refreshing lime, the perfect combination for island dreams! The layered design of the soap is softened by the crinkle cutter, giving the soap a cool wavy look.

To make this soap you will need white and clear melt and pour soap base, a green and a blue mica, and the coconut lime fragrance from Candlescience. All the ingredients are available from Pure Nature. In addition, you will need the small square silicon soap mold or another square mold with approximately 500 ml volume, and a crinkle soap cutter.

ONE: Cut the white melt and pour soap base into small cubes and add to a heat proof Pyrex jug. Heat on high in the microwave in 20 second bursts, until the soap has melted. Try to avoid the soap from reaching boiling point!

TWO: Add 1/2 teaspoon of the coconut lime fragrance and stir well.

THREE: Pour approximately 1/3 of the white soap into the mold.

FOUR: Spritz the surface with 99% isopropyl alcohol. This is to disperse any bubbles, but also to prepare the surface, so that the next layer will adhere to it.

Let the soap cool down and solidify to the point where it will support the next layer, but has not yet completely hardened. Usually this is when the soap is still slight warm and when you gently press on it, it will leave a dent. The soap has to be hard enough so that the next layer will not push through the surface of the previous layer, and yet not too solid so that the two layers will fuse together.

FIVE: Next, cut half of the clear melt and pour soap base into cubes and place them into another heat proof Pyrex jug. Again melt in the microwave in 20 second bursts until melted.

SIX: Add about 1/4 teaspoon green mica and stir well. The mica I’m using here is Apple Green Mica from Pure Nature. You don’t need a lot of mica to colour clear soap base, but feel free to add a little more or less until you reach your desired colour.

SEVEN: Add 1/4 teaspoon of fragrance and give the soap another good stir, before carefully pouring it over the white layer. Spritz the soap with alcohol.

Again, wait for the green layer to harden sufficiently to hold the next layer, without it pushing through.

EIGHT: Re-melt the white soap in the microwave in 20 second bursts and then pour it over the green layer. Spritz with alcohol.

NINE: Cut and melt the remaining clear soap, add 1/4 teaspoon of blue mica and 1/4 teaspoon of fragrance and carefully pour it over the white layer. Again spritz with alcohol.

For the blue layer, I’m using Blue Lustre Mica from Pure Nature, which is one of my favourite blues!

Wait for the blue layer to harden before proceeding.

TEN: Re-melt the remaining white soap and pour it over the blue layer. Spritz with alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles.

ELEVEN: Leave the soap to cool down and harden completely before unmolding. Using a crinkle cutter, cut a thin slice of two of the sides, and then cut the soap into 4 bars. This way you will get 4 bars which are wavy on both sides!

Troubleshooting: Because it’s tricky to get the exact right moment of pouring the layers, they can sometimes separate when cutting. If this happens, you can melt some clear soap base, and brush a thin layer of soap onto each end before sticking them together. Once the ‘glue’ has completely cooled down, you can carefully tidy up the soap using a knife.

Because melt and pour soap bases contain a high amount of glycerin, they attract moisture and will ‘sweat’ if not wrapped. You can either place them into cellophane bags or wrap them into cling wrap to store them.