Soapcrafting Blog Tour: Avocado Moisturizing Bars

Welcome to another stop on the Soapcrafting Blog Tour! We are celebrating the release of Anne-Marie Faiola’s new book Soapcrafting with step-by-step techniques for making 31 unique cold-process soaps. The first part of the book is all about how to make soap from techniques to safety guidelines, walking you through a basic cold-process batch, and even helping you choose your oils, colorants, and scents. The second part is where it gets fun!! Eight different techniques on playing with color, five different ways to use creative molds, five different recipes inspired by food, five more exploring natural additives, and eight cool super swirl methods are included! Be sure to click on the photo of the book below to order your own copy:

Soap Crafting by Anne-Marie Faiola
Soap Crafting by Anne-Marie Faiola

As a participant in this Tour, I get to feature one of the recipes from the “Inspired by Food” section: Avocado Moisturizing Bars. I received everything I needed to create this soap, aside from the water to mix the lye, and the ripe avocado.

This is a three-layer soap, scented with a delightful Wasabi fragrance, and colored with chrome green oxide and yellow oxide, with the middle layer being a mixture of the two.

Colorants and Avocado Slurry Prepped and Ready!
Colorants and Avocado Slurry Prepped and Ready!

First, I began by adding the avocado slurry to the soap:

Avocado slurry in the soap pot
Avocado slurry in the soap pot

Then I divided out the soap into the three different colors, added the Wasabi fragrance to each, and layered them into the mold. It was nice to have Erin’s tutorial on Even Layering in my head at this point!

First layer is all green!
First layer is all green!
First layer poured, second layer ready to go!
First layer poured, second layer ready to go!
Second layer poured, third layer ready!
Second layer poured, third layer ready!

Finally, it was time to texture the top:

All finished!!
All finished!!
Avocado Moisturizing Bars by Great Cakes Soapworks
Avocado Moisturizing Bars by Great Cakes Soapworks

I discovered that I’m not always the best at following directions. There were two places where I read the steps, but didn’t do what it said. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ruined the soap! The first was in the amount of colorant I used. I mixed up the full amount, and used the full amount, but I was only supposed to use part of it! Second, I was supposed to get the soap in the freezer right away, but I got caught up in spritzing the top with alcohol, and by the time I had done the full 90 minutes that was recommended, the soap was getting hot. I realized later I was supposed to spritz the soap while it was in the freezer. But since it was already heating up, I just left it out to prevent a partial gel. I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s a bit crackled!

What a fun project this has been!! I LOVE the silicone liner in the mold. It made the sides and bottom of the soap super smooth, and clean-up was so easy! The bottom of this 5-lb mold slides out, and the soap just slipped out – so cool! Thanks to Brambleberry for this opportunity!!

=Giveaway Alert=

Now, who wants to try this soap? I would love to send out a few bars (U.S. residents only), so please leave a comment either about your experience using foods in soap, or what type of food you think would be fun to put in soap! I will draw 3 winners on Saturday, August 31 at 10pm CST and winners will be notified.

Update: Comments are now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated! So many great ideas!!

Page with Comments

  1. I’ve ground up cooked baby carrots in an unscented soap. Also I’ve used an entire seeded (not peeled) cucumber in a Cucumber Melon FO scented soap. My customers are amazed that there is a veggie in their soap!

  2. Soap came out beautiful! I was just thinking of using an avacado in my soap this morning! I’d love to try out a bar! Thanks!

  3. I love using food in soap although I have only used it once. I made carrot and yogurt soap earlier this summer and it was the first time I had to freeze the ingredients and add to lye. I soap at room temp so the frozen aloe, calendula tea, and carrots was a big help because I didn’t have to wait for the lye to cool down.

  4. Amy I saw some Lychee berries at our health food store. Looked interesting I have seen fragrance. I also use fresh pumpkin we grew in our garden. Cooked it and made soap! Was the best!

  5. This is one area as a new soaper I have never experienced. I am so excited to try this recipe and would love to try a bar!! I have mainly heard of Carrots and avocados in soap but I know there are many out there that use all sorts of fruit or veggies. This is such a great tutorial for those of us who are scared to attempt it!! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!

  6. My most popular soap uses food. It is Cucumber Banana. I cannot keep it in stock! It makes an extremely mild facial bar. Fun post. I’ve also tried carrots and tomato paste in soaps and am planning a pumpkin soap soon.

  7. Very cool, I love how it turned out. I am still playing around with melt and pour but it is exciting to see all these great ideas. When I great around to learning to do CP I want to add wine must to it. It is the left over fruit pulp after you press the wine. In the past I saved the must from my pumpkin wine and used it to make pumpkin bread and it was divine the same with the plum. I have heard that soap makers love the pulp left over from a Chocolate Raspberry Port my wine friends and I make. I never understood that til now.

  8. Amy, I love how you are so willing to share your “oops” and explain what went right, and what went wrong. Very informative because we all have those moments (and are not always willing to share them with others) and we try to figure out how to avoid the same mistake twice.

    I was wondering what the avocado brings to the party to make this a moisturizing bar. Is it the avocado or the oils in the formula that make it a moisturizing bar? Really curious because I don’t use food items in any of my formulas. Thanks!
    Angel

  9. @Angel – Here’s a quote from the book: “Avocados are high in vitamins A, D, and E, and also contain high levels of lecithin, potassium, protein, and amino acids. In raw form, they can be used to treat sun-damaged skin. In soap, avocado is beneficial for dry, itchy skin, and its antiwrinkle properties make it a good addition to caring for mature skin.”

  10. Wow, I Have been thinking long and hard about adding fruit, I started with goat milk so the freezing for lye should be no problem, but I never put my soaps in the freezer. I wonder… I need to make two small test batches of a fruit soap and freeze one and gel the other. I just might like the results of not gelling. My other question is this spritzing thing. I never have ash issue except when I do spritz. I have done it like three times now and all three times there is ash. could it be the spritz if for if you trow your soap in the freezer and that is my problem?

  11. Well the soap looks absolutely amazing! I currently only make m&p however I want to get into using rebatch soap. I love the idea of making all natural soap & adding natural additives of my choice! CP seems fun but because of my young kids I want to eliminate the use of lye for the time being. I think your soaps are amazing and you have fine talent!

  12. I don’t know much about food in soaps (or making soap!) but I do know that I like soaps that have oatmeal, milk and honey in them. Both for the scent and what they do for my skin.

  13. I think my hubby would love this soap! It looks awesome! One of my favorite soap of all time was the coconut lemon grass that you made when you first started making soap! I love the coconut smell!

  14. I have never made soap, but I love love love good hand made soap. I recently ate a fabulous cupcake with a really rich raspberry creamcheese frosting. There were so many fresh raspberries in it that it had this AMAZING smell. It made the taste that much better. So, basically, I think raspberries would be nice in soap. The seeds could even be exfoliating:) And since I always put cinnimon and lemon juice in my berry pies I think a touch of that might go nicely in an exfoliating raspberry soap. The added citrus tones could be fun.

  15. Looks good enough to eat! I’d love pumpkin and creme fraiche soap. I also love scones and clotted cream but that could be a messy soap! 🙂

  16. I love the cracked appearance. Gives it such good character, I think it was a great mistake! I have an aunt that would Love the wasabi fragrance. You know my nose would probably not like it. Good job Amy!!

  17. Great post! The crackling looks amazing! I love to use avocado oil in soap, but it never occurred to me to use actual avocados! I’ve only ever used honey and milks in soap so far. I’ll have to try this one. I’d also love to use fresh strawberries and make a strawberries and cream soap. Maybe blueberries sometime too…

  18. Making soap is only half the fun. I’d love to use this moisturizing soap on my face. Your products are so nice to use. I’m already making my Christmas list so my daughter will order some for me this year. In general I’m a citrus girl but hey I like your peppermint bars too.

  19. Wow, cool soap, Amy! I think the crackle effect from the soap overheating just adds character to its look. I’d like to try a bar!
    I loved the watermelon juice soap you made last year and was totally kicking myself for not buying more. It had lots of big bubbles but was mild and the watermelon scent was still present more than 3 months later when I used the last bar. I’d totally buy some bars if you decide to make more this year. *hint* ;D

  20. I’ve never made soap before so have no experience using food in soap. I,’d love to see a soap made with strawberries (not sure if this is possible though because they do spoil). I think the seeds would make a good exfoliator!

  21. I loved reading about your soap today! I have the book on my Kindle and this is one of the recipes I’d like to try out, guess we need to read carefully and take notes? lol, I’m with you on being excited about making the soap and missing some of the more important points =)

    I’ve used Pumpkin and Carrots and yogurt in soaps so far, looking forward to using cucumbers and anything else that looks interesting!

    Thanks for the opportunity to have a bar of your soap =)

  22. I’ve used avocado in my soaps, love it! Hmmmmm, I’ve wondered about using squash in a soap. You know, you always have way too much zuchinni that you can’t give it away? Maybe you could soap it? Have you ever tried that?

    I got the BB book on my Kindle Fire, I am enjoying it!

  23. Hi Amy! The cracks look blue to me so it seems like it’s part of the design. 🙂

    I love using food in my soaps. In fact it’s hard for me to make just plain soap. Lol! I made several batches of fresh avocado soap 2 months ago because it was in season and it is amazing! I use yogurt as a base for my soaps and to that I add any of the following: banana, tomato paste, aloe vera, egg, cucumber, etc. On my to-do list are papaya, pumpkin and carrots. 🙂

  24. My grandson has decided he wasn’t going to eat his jar baby food any longer. So I was planning on using some of his left over jars to make soap. I hope it’s as easy as you make it look. 🙂

  25. Beautiful soap! One of the first cold process soap I had made was a Blackberry Sage scented soap. It had coconut milk, coconut water and the best was real fresh squeezed blackberry juice! We had just picked blackberries for some jam and I had left over berries and thought I’d squish them up and add the juice in. Turned out well. I’m kinda scared to use mashed food rather then juices lol

  26. You are so gifted and I love all Ideas you come up with! Some much and love you put in all your creations. Thanks so much and God Bless You!

  27. I don’t make my own soaps but I sure love using the ones you make 🙂
    I have used food in masks and homemade shampoos, my favorites are honey and lemon, coffee and coconut.

  28. I’ve just begun my soap making adventure. LOVED IT! Can’t wait to make my second bstch. Love the avocado because I grew up in California on them at every turn. Nev could have imagined a wasabi fragrance. Love ginger and lemons. So that’s what I’d like to try next. Thanks for sharing your experience!

  29. I love the crackled look of your soap!
    I am not commenting to enter the give away, since I’m not a US resident. I just wanted to contribute my experience and ask a question too.
    I actually did a series of fruit and vegetable soaps back in May. I did strawberry, banana, avocado, kiwi, mango and papaya, and I had to stop there because it was becoming an obsession, everytime I finished one I was thinking about the next fruit!
    I let them all gel, except the banana one, because it turns dark when it does and you can’t see the cute speckles on it (keeping it uncoloured, of course). All the rest did gel and I’ve actually got very good reviews on them by the people who’ve used them. Is there another reason other than the aesthetic one for not letting them gel?
    Also, I puree the ripe fruit or veggie with the oils before I mix in the lye water. This is the method I learned from Ramy Sanchez, but I have already ordered Anne-Marie’s book and I’m eager to learn about her different methods for making these and other soaps.
    .

  30. I am relatively new to soaping, am amazed at the recipes and techniques I have seen. I haven’t used food in my soaps, I’d love to see just about any fruit or vegetable added to soap. This recipe looks great, I think I’ll visit the avocados at the grocery store this week. Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial.

  31. I have used avocado oil and butter, but never tried an actual avocado before…..I just love to eat them!! I suppose I could sacrifice one, for the sake of soap! I love the crackled look of your soap, it’s probably one of those things you couldn’t repeat if you tried! 🙂 I have now used poppy seeds, walnut seeds, oatmeal, honey, goat milk, coconut milk, wine, cucumber, carrots and a different veggie that I’m not ready to reveal quite yet….waiting to see how it turns out first! Not all in the same bar, of course! Would love to try the avocado!

  32. Thos soap sounds great and I would love to give it a try with the avocado 🙂 I bought many of the supplies for CP soap although I haven’t tried it yet I’m kind of hesitant though your tutorials are always very good so I’m inspired!!

    Amy Hughes

  33. My favorite food to soap is tomato juice – from my hugely abundant tomato garden is best! Second would be any of what I consider orange fall foods – carrots, squash, pumpkin…

    Your soap looks amazing!

  34. @Anna – What a fun array of fruits and veggie soaps!! You’re absolutely right – preventing gel is simply to prevent the soap from turning darker.

  35. I’ve never used food in soap except oats. Carrots might be nice. These turned out beautiful. I’d love to win one! Thanks for the opportunity.

  36. I have used a variety of fruits and veggies in my soaps: pumpkin, cucumber, strawberries, blueberries, and carrot. I like putting them into soaps occasionally but the only soap I make often is my Cucumber and Aloe. I save the pumpkin for fall/winter and the berry soaps for summer/spring. Your soap looks great and the crackle adds a unique flair!

  37. I have successfully made several different soaps using beer, coconut milk, & cream. The only food soap I have tried was rebatch with banana and sadly it turned out awful. I have been wanting to make an avocado soap, as well as some with fruit purees, but have not had the courage.

    Thank you so much for showing me how lovely it an turn out. I have enjoyed all of your toutorials and hope you will consider adding the soap challenge ones to your blog when the challenges are finished – for those of us who are unable to participate (some day I hope I can be a part of this.)

  38. I WOULD LOVE TO WIN this Avocado soap! I’m sure it is amazing, just like all of your soaps!!!

  39. I’m very intrigued by this avocado soap! It looks creamy and delightful! I would really like to use some of the blueberries or blackberries that I
    picked this summer in a soap. I love the idea of a blueberry “dessert” soap! 🙂

  40. I haven’t tried any foods yet. I have thought about pumpkin, but I haven’t worked up the courage.

  41. I love your tutorial and the soap looks wonderful. I had to laugh when you said you didn’t exactly follow the directions in two steps. That is something I would do. To answer your questions regarding what fruit or vegetable I want to include in soap. I can’t just include one, so here is the ones I have planned to use:
    Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Blueberries, Strawberries, Pumpkin, Carrots, Avocado, etc.
    Thanks for the tutorial Amy. Great job.

  42. I’ve used honey, oatmeal, chocolate, beer, pumpkin. All made wonderful soaps. Interested in the avocado.

  43. The crackling on the soap looks cool! I’ve used avocado, cucumber, oatmeal, coffee, and herbal tea in cold process soap. I wonder how much of the food’s properties survive the lye?

  44. I have used pumpkin, beer, salt, wine, egg nog, goat milk, honey, oatmeal, coffee, cinnamon, ginger, nori, aloe juice coconut milk, finely ground coconut, tea, egg, maple syrup, milk, and sugar in soaps. Most of them take special care to make sure that you don’t have too much heat or the soap separates. I am always thinking about new things to try in soap.

    I’ve seen people use candy (candy corn and hard peppermints) and I’ve wondered about that. I’m also looking at playing with carrot, tomato, cucumber, and looking at apples (my friend has a tree that has exploded with apples, and I’m wondering what to do with the pile in my kitchen, other than making apple sauce, pie, and dried apples that my kids call “apple snacks” and eat like candy”

  45. I have yet to use anything besides colloidal oatmeal in my soap. Your blog has inspired me to try using it more in my next batches! Thanks for the great help to other new soapers like myself!

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