This gorgeous pink clay soap recipe is my absolute new favorite. And so, I just had to share the recipe with you.
I love everything about it, the gorgeous smell, the pretty pink color, the way it makes my skin feel. Honestly, it’s to die for. You’ve gotta give this a try.
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Vegan, Palm Free, And Smells Amazing!
Beautifully Natural Pink Clay Color
Important Notes
Pretty French Pink Clay Soap Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
Notes
Vegan, Palm Free, And Smells Amazing!
Another thing to note is that this clay soap recipe is totally vegan, free from palm oil, and very easy to make organic (if you buy the right ingredients from the right suppliers). So honestly, you have no excuse not to get your apron on and whip up a few batches of this CP soap!
This soap is excellent for the face, as the clay is great at absorbing excess oil, dirt, toxins and other impurities. That’s not to say it’s not good for your body, too! Its smell is gorgeous, both floral and citrus (which combines my two favorite scent profiles). I had never used May Chang essential oil before, and I have to say it’s one of my new favorites.
Beautifully Natural Pink Clay Color
Now, let’s talk briefly about the color. I get nervous when soaps recipes are ‘pink’. I love pink, but I’m in my 50’s now so my blinding hot pink days are well behind me. Because the only coloring agent in this clay soap is the beautiful pink clay, the color isn’t extravagant at all. It’s absolutely perfect. Even if it’s too much for you, I have a suggestion below to make it a bit more muted.
Another thing to say about the clay as a coloring agent is that unlike many natural substances you’d think would be great for coloring soap, it doesn’t actually change color at all during sap. So no brown or grey soap here, just gorgeous, mature pink!
Important Notes
- Both Rose Geranium and ordinary Geranium is an excellent essential oil for wrinkles, and so I use it whenever I can. It’s also a great option if you can’t afford rose. Regardless, rose essential oil is much too expensive to be using in a soap anyway. Orange Blood can easily be substituted for your standard Orange or Sweet Orange essential oils.
- While you can substitute essential oils for fragrance oils (i have done so in some of my recipes in the past), I prefer not to do this anymore. I find that soap batter seizes much too quickly when working with fragrance oils. Save them for your melt and pour soap recipes.
- As I said above, if you want a less vibrant pink, you can add your clay with the essential oils at light trace. You can also substitute for any colored clay you prefer. Cosmetic clays come in all sorts of different shades. Explore your options and be creative!
- Feel free to substitute whatever carrier oils or cosmetic butter you prefer. However, be sure to run your altered recipe into a lye calculator, as you may require different amounts of lye and distilled water. All oils sap at different rates, so this step would be absolutely essential.
Watch How To Make Basic Cold Process Soap
Before you make this soap, take a few minutes to watch the video below for the basic method. For more detailed information see how to make cold process soap at home.
Pretty French Pink Clay Soap Recipe
This French pink clay soap is my new favorite. I love everything about it, the gorgeous smell, the pretty pink color, the way it makes my skin feel.
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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Active Time: 45 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour
Yield: 10 Bars
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Author: Angela Wills
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Ingredients
- 270 grams Coconut Oil
- 360 grams Olive Oil
- 135 grams Avocado Oil
- 90 grams Mango Butter
- 45 grams Rice Bran Oil
- 127 grams Soapmaking Lye
- 250 grams Distilled Water
- 1 tsp Pink Clay
- 17 grams Blood Orange Essential Oil
- 13 grams May Chang Essential Oil
- 9 grams Rose Geranium Essential Oil
Equipment
Mixing Bowl (Glass, Aluminium or PET)
Spoon or Spatula
Instructions
If you’ve not made soap before, take a look at myfull cold process tutorial here.
Make sure you are making the soap in a well-ventilated area. Put on your gloves and eye protection, your mask, apron, and long rubber gloves.
I always find it best to then prepare and weigh all of the ingredients before starting so we can add them efficiently later on.
Ensure you’re using a glass container or one made of PET plastic. Set aside to use later.
You should also take the time to ensure your mold is prepared by cleaning and thoroughly drying it. If you are using a silicone mold like I am, you should be good to go.
If not, you may want to make use of a bit of baking parchment/greaseproof paper to ensure easy removal of your soap later on.
Weigh out your water and your lye crystals into two separate containers. Ensure the containers you use are for this purpose only and never use them for anything else again. I find glass is best. Never use plastic.
250 grams Distilled Water, 127 grams Soapmaking Lye
When you’re ready, slowly add your lye crystals to your water and stir with a stainless steel spoon until the crystals have dissolved. This will result in a chemical reaction, and the lye water will begin to increase in temperature and release noxious fumes.
As you pour to crystals, turn your head and lean away slightly so that you can avoid splashes. Try not to breath in any of the fumes that release during this process. You’ll notice that the lye solution will rapidly begin to increase in temperature. This is normal.
Add your pink rose clay to the lye solution and stir once more with the same stainless spoon. Put to one side, preferably somewhere well ventilated.
1 tsp Pink Clay
Weigh out your oils (excluding essential oils) and mango butter into a glass bowl (again, one that you only use for this purpose).
Then, apply heat until melted. You can do this in a double boiler/bain-marie, although I prefer to just use the microwave in 30-second bursts.
270 grams Coconut Oil, 360 grams Olive Oil, 135 grams Avocado Oil, 45 grams Rice Bran Oil, 90 grams Mango Butter
Now, check the temperature of both your lye solution and your oil/butter blend. You want them to be balanced between 90-120F. Once they have both cooled to between these temperatures you may move on to step 7.
Now the oil/butter blend and lye solution are temperature balanced, pour your lye solution into your oils. Once more, turn your head and lean away to avoid splashes.
Using an electric stick blender, blend your mixture in bursts of a few seconds. Immediately the mixture will become a creamy, opaque color. This is known as an emulsion.
Continue to blend in bursts until you reach a light trace. For a good explanation of trace, including pictures, refer to step 5 of our basic cold process soap recipe.
Now we are at trace, we can go ahead and add our essential oils and give it a stir.
It is importation to work quickly yet carefully as soon as you add your essential oil blend as soap batter has a tendency to harden quite quickly once added.
17 grams Blood Orange Essential Oil, 13 grams May Chang Essential Oil, 9 grams Rose Geranium Essential Oil
Pour or spoon your mixture into your chosen mold. To even out the top, you can pick up your mold and lightly tap it back down onto the table a few times.
If this fails, it is likely that you have poured your batter into the mold too late and it has already thickened significantly.
You can use a spatula to attempt to smooth the surface if this happens, otherwise, accept that your bars of soap may be a little irregular in ascetics and in weight.
Then, cover it with a piece of cardboard and leave for 24-48 hours.
After the first 24 hours, check to see if your soap had hardened. If so, remove from the mold. If still relatively soft, leave for a further 24 hours. If after that time it is still too soft, go back and check the measurements of your ingredients.
Otherwise, remove from the mold and cut into even bars. I usually get between 10-12 bars out of this soap recipe.
Once your soap has been cut into bars, but it is not ready to use. As the bars are still quite caustic, we must leave them to cure for 4 weeks before they are safe to use on skin. During this process, your bars will also become harder as they lose more water.
After 4 weeks, check the PH of your soap using universal indicator strips to ensure it is at a safe level of between 8 or 9.
Notes
This will make a 1281g loaf, and can but cut up into between 10-12 bars
Category: Soapmaking
Cuisine: N/A
Difficulty: Intermediate
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Soap Calculator & Formulation Guide
Select your chosen oils, along with the weight or percentage. The soap calculator will then show the total weight of lye and water required. The result can be instantly adjusted by changing your preferred superfatting level or water/lye ratio.
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