Now, here is a soap that you weren’t expecting: I’m calling it Citrus Sunrise! When I was ordering more tea tree and spearmint essential oils, I got upsold on some five-fold orange and litsea cubeba oils which I have been told makes a best seller soap – you will have to make the final call.

Not sure what five-fold orange and litsea cubeba oils are? The five-fold orange essential oil comes from the winterized peel of the orange that has been re-distilled five times to make it super concentrated. Regular orange essential oil has a bad reputation for fading in soaps. The five-fold orange has more staying power. Litsea cubeba also helps anchor the orange scent. If you’ve never smelled litsea cubeba, it’s very lemon-y, without being tart. Some compare it to lemongrass, only sweeter.

Since I was using all-natural essential oils to scent the soap, I wanted to use some natural herbs to color it. I experimented a bit with some rose hip powder in the main part of the soap and some red sandalwood powder for the swirl, which was done in the mold. It didn’t turn out as red as I hoped (the picture makes it look sort of purple, but it’s more brown); however, it still makes an interesting contrast. The soap as a whole has a lightly speckled texture. I also used neroli (orange blossom) hydrosol, or flower water, for all of the liquid portion of this soap. I’ve never used a hydrosol in soap before, so it will be interesting to see if it affects the overall outcome.

Hopefully these 100% natural beauties will be finished curing by Saturday, August 29, so you can tell me whether or not this is a winning combination!