FINALLY - MNS Portugal is born!

After hours and hours of work I have finally got my 5 new soaps up on line.  They have a category all to themselves because I think they are rather special.  NMS PORTUGAL is the link to the results of a lot of hard work.  As you all know, I love Portugal, its a real inspiration to me and has been, in my soap making, ever since I started, thanks to my good friend and fellow soap maker Shelly.  I have been bleating on about producing a range of soaps that reflect my love for the place and using as many ingredients I can source there as possible.  So, here they are - I hope you like them.

SALGADO AZUL (Salty Blue Spa Bar) The perfect soap for washing away malaise & irritability, especially when its cold and grey outside.  If you are a SADS sufferer, as Im sure I am!, this will really help.  Use this fantastic sea salt spa bar, emerge from your shower or bath a little lighter and feeling clean, clear, fresh and renewed.  This is the first soap I created in the range and is already a top seller for Naturally Made Soaps.

AZEITE PURO (Pure Olive Oil Castile) is fast becoming my absolute favorite soap EVER!  I love it.  Its just so creamy, bubbly, silky and smooth, I have never used soap like it.  Often olive oil soaps can feel a bit slimy on the skin and, although they are lovely and moisturising, people can find this a bit off putting.  My version of Castile soap is very different, this is almost the bubbliest soap I have ever made and yet it still leaves you feeling you have showered with a pot of moisturising lotion not soap.  Total luxury and I haven't even mentioned the scent, its Geranium with a touch of Bergamot - really soothing and peaceful, suitable for both men and women.

FLORESTA VERDE (Green Forest) A little bit woodsy, a little bit herbal, a little bit floral and a little bit piney - all these fragrances in one.  Honestly, this soap is so fresh, It's designed to make you think of a walk in a cool, green forest, on a hot summer day when the sun beats down and melts the pine sap and heats the forest floor.  At the same time you will also think of taking a plunge into a cooling forest pool - check it out!

 

CITRINO (Sunny Citrus) Dreamy Tangerine, Sweet Orange Oil and sparkling, juicy Grapefruit, one of my most captivating scents ever.  Wherever you go in Northern Portugal, unless its deep in the frosty valleys, citrus fruit trees are everywhere and there is no better time to see them than in the winter, dripping with ripe, juicy oranges and lemons, yet at the same time covered in the sweetly scented, waxy, white blossoms that will make the fruit for the next year - Magical.  Get your own hug from the sun!

MEL CREMOSO (Honey & Cream) So sweet, so full of honey, sugar and cream, a pudding lovers dream.  That's where the inspiration came for this soap.  The Portuguese just love puddings, the creamier the better, preferably full of honey and eggs too.  The warm, creamy vanilla and honey scent of this soap will, I hope, make you feel warm and cozy and the geometric shaped sides will give you the feeling that you are showering with your own slice of honeycombe.  This soap is topped with glittering sugar crystals and gold for that extra special Bollywood feel!


So now that you have been introduced to all 5 I hope that you will click on the links and find out more about each one.  I have also included a paragraph or two and some personal photos that show why I have been so inspired by this wonderful country, its natural and geographical bounty, food and countryside.  Each soap comes from two very special places - Portugal and my heart.


I really would love to know what you think about this collection, it means so much to me, I really hope you can see and feel that too XX

New soaps added to the website

Hi everyone, I have been busy today adding lots of new soaps to my site and generally tidying it up a bit, sounds easy but it has taken me the whole day!!

Anyway, go and have a look at:

Rose Garden Mini Soap Cupcakes
http://www.naturallymadesoaps.co.uk/Rose-Carden-Mini-Cupcake-p/rg2.htm
So cute and simple looking.  Its a tiny version of its bigger brother Rose Garden.  Palm Oil Free!

Chamomile Spring
http://www.naturallymadesoaps.co.uk/Chamomile-Spring-p/ch1.htm
I just love this soap, funny how Lemongrass and sweet orange essential oils smell a little like freshly grated ginger when they are put together - or at least I think they do!  This is selling very fast.  Palm Oil Free!

Vanilla Cream and Sugar Candy
http://www.naturallymadesoaps.co.uk/Vanilla-Cream-and-Sugar-Candy-p/vcsc1.htm
One for the kids, or the kid in us!  It has a lovely warm, 'just baked cake' fragrance.  Palm Oil Free!

Azure Waters Sea Salt Bar
 https://www.naturallymadesoaps.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Azure1
Brand new and really different, treat yourself to your very own 'spa' soap home treatment.  Palm Oil Free!  (not ready for dispatch until after 4th May)

So can you spot the obvious connection with all these new soaps?  Easy - ALL PALM OIL FREE!  I'm so pleased.  So now every remake I do will have all whole Devon goats milk and be palm oil free.  Can't better that, oh yes I can, I almost forgot, I'm about to get my first order of organic, lightly refined Shea Butter from Fresholi  http://www.fresholi.co.uk/

Fresholi organic shea butter comes from Ghana and comes from a Fairly Traded Community Project.  This is what they write about their products sourced using this route:

"Wherever possible, we source quality & sustainable ingredients that support community projects around the world.  We embrace wholeheartedly the ethic of paying a fair price in order to sustain these projects & the communities they support. 

It fills us with enormous pride and satisfaction that both our certified organic tamanu oil and our certified organic unrefined shea butter are sourced from such projects."

Click on the link below to see a presentation about their Shea Butter.

http://www.fresholi.co.uk/galleries/projects/projects-shea.htm

Do leave a comment and let me know what you think of both my new soaps and my desire to go Palm Oil Free - have you yet?

Oh My Goodness - Fab new soap evolving!

Yup, another one that is Palm free, think I must be on a roll now.  This is a soap I have been wanting to make for a long time, tried a couple of times and it did not work, but too busy to keep going.  Finally decided to try and crack the Salt Bar soap  -  Why you might ask... well we all know how health giving and healing salt can be, it makes a fantastic bar of soap,  I have used 75% natural, Portuguese sea salt in this trial batch along with lots of coconut oil and Castor oil for bubbly properties.  Its still very young - some bits hard, some bits very sloppy out of the mold - but has now hardened up beautifully.  Its like polished marble.  I have been using some already and it it bubbly, and lovely, scented with peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils - really fresh and invigorating.

Well, I need a name. I am hoping that eventually this soap could be part of a new Portuguese soap range -  have come up with lots of really naff names (Sea Breeze - see below) but need something that says it all, Atlantic coast, white icing sugar sand, lots of wild waves, very cold sea....... can you help?  have a look at the pics and let me know what you think, all comments gratefully received

A close up of the top of one bar, shows the seasalt embedded in the top

 Another picture of a collection of bars

HELP! I would really love a name that reflected everything I am trying to convey, Summer holidays, Beautiful coast, surf, fab sandy beaches etc.
A really great prize available to the best name......................
Thanks, in anticipation

FINALLY!! A PALM FREE SOAP THAT I AM REALLY PROUD OF

Yes folks, after trying out lots and lots of different recipes as well as trying to source a good sustainable supply of unrefined Palm oil things have moved on.  I have hit on a recipe that I am really thrilled with.  It uses lots more olive oil so, while that is great for your skin, it does mean the soap is a lot softer getting it out of the mold and cutting it up, in fact it was really sticky and I did have to force myself to keep going.  3 weeks later it is already lovely and hard, a gorgeous golden colour and it smells wonderful.  I just hope the scent lasts as its citrus based, I used lemongrass, sweet orange and grapefruit essential oils, together they are fab.

I have used full fat, really fresh local goats milk from my favorite supplier Norsworthy Dairy Goats http://norsworthydairygoats.blogspot.com/ and that has just added to the wonderful creamyness of this soap.  It really is great and while I will still be looking for a good source of sustainable palm oil the rush is over.  If customers like this soap I think I will slowly change all my range to this blend.

The soap will be ready for sale soon and up on the website within a week or so.