Customer Reviews

Making Soaps & Scents : Soaps, Shampoos, Perfumes & Splashes You Can Make At Home

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was my first book that I bought on soap making and I really wished I had read the reviews first, before I purchased this book. I should have known something was not right when she didn't have any pictures of her finished soaps with her recipes. Could it be because they don't come out right, so she has none to show? I have attemtped to make two of her recipes so far. The Cinnamon Ginger,pg. 71; which came out a dark, ugly, smelley, mess. My second attempt was her Soothing Honey Vanilla Soap, pg. 73. What a fiasco that turned out to be. She neglects to tell you that when you add the 6 ounces of melted beeswax to the oils that are at 100F degrees(as instructed by her Basic Vegetable Soap), the beeswax will immediately solidify again and float on top. So, now I had to re-melt everything to a temperature around 150F to get the Beeswax to stay melted and blend into the oils. And of course, my Lye was already at 100F, waiting to be added to the oils. I see now why she has the section of water baths to regulate your Lye/Oil tempertures. You are going to need them. Anyhow, in order for the beeswax to stay liquid, I had to keep the temperature around 150F. And now I wasn't sure which temperature my lye should be. She also neglected to warn you that honey can cause your batch to separate, that happened to me also, when I added the warmed honey. I have serious doubts that my soap will turn out ok, it is in the mold now, but it did not look good when I poured it. And, I also just found out, after reading on the Internet, that you should not add more than 1.5% beeswax to a batch, otherwise you will have problems keeping the batch at a liquid state. The other reason is because of Beewax's hardening properties. Since it makes a soap hard, too much is not good, not unless you have a jack-hammer to slice it:). Well, her recipe called for 6oz of Beeswax, which is more than 13%, I am afraid I will end up with a brick in the morning. Again, this is the type of information she neglects to explain to you. Another important note is the use of Essential Oils in her reipes, e.g., again, her Soothing Vanilla Soap says to use 2 oz of Vanilla Essential Oil. I am not sure who her supplier is, but I couldn't find pure Vanilla Essential Oil for under $194.00, for 2 ozs, and that was for Vanilla Absolute. I am so glad now, that I used Fragrance Oil instead. I don't have 200.00 to throw away, while I try to figure her recipes out. Again, this is book is truly lacking in information. I am sure an experienced soaper would have known these things, but than, I think an experienced soaper would have read this recipe,laughed and tossed it aside. And yes, how much lye do you need for the Lemon Lime Coconut Hair Bar on pg. 91, anyway? That's right, somehow the editor neglected to add it. Hopefully, once I become more experienced, I can use some of her recipes, but for now, I think I will stay with the Internet, so I can learn. Buyers beware, is all I have left to say about this book.

I read this entire book in one evening! The book was well-layed out and easy to understand. I purchased another book on soap/liquid making and the other author explained everything in the chemical names! It was so frustrating to read. Catherine explains everything in simple, easy-to-understand words that a beginner can follow with out any help.

Many of the soap ingredients are found right in your kitchen except for the Lye, which she tells you that you can purchase the Lye at your local hardware store, like Home Depot.

She also includes wonderful recipes. I bought the book mainly for the soaps but ended up enjoying the perfume section even more. I made my first Rose Water (eau de toilette) batch last weekend following her easy directions. I have since found other recipes on the Internet, but have found Catherine's recipe to be one of best recipes for Rose Water!

She even tells you where you can purchase your supplies and those hard to find (which weren't many--like the essential oils) items with the Internet addresses as resources. Its funny, but this is my bible now for working with perfumes.

If you're a beginner or simply curious about starting or dabbling in soap/perfume making, I would definitely recommend reading this book FIRST!

This is not a good book for making soap or anything else. It has more pictures than recipes and what recipes it does have are not very practical.
This is NOT a book for beginners either, spend the money on something else like soap making for fun and profit, and the soap makers companion.
I bought this book, and was very dissapointed, I resold it and not for very much I might add.

This is one of the best books I have read on soap making! Catherine (the author) tells you what kinds of ingredients to use and why they would be used. The recipes are not too large to handle like many soap making books. I found that to be excellent! Also included is how to make your own perfumes (which turn out wonderfully!) all the history and reasons for are listed inside the book before she gives you the recipes so you understand the recipes! Catherine is a great writer and knows her stuff... I am going to buy her other two books also!

I love to make natural soaps and I collects book that refers to soapmaking. For a person that already knows how to make soaps, this book is full of ideas. However this book is not for the novice soapmaker, since it lacks of alot of information which is vital for a beginer. A novice should look some place else for more deep information in order to ensure that he/she learn the ups and down of soapmaking. Other than this, it has nices photos.

Bardey's book basically rehashes a lot of tips found in other books. It's not a book for beginners but soap pros will find nice ideas for expanding their soap lines.

Note: One BIG problem I had with the Bardey book is in the "Custom Soaps" section. She lists the recipes but has no pics of the actual soaps! She only has pics of ingredients. Ugh!:-(

I found this book very helpful as a new soap crafter. It was full of great ideas and info. I really liked the charts in the back on the essential oils. I would recommend this as a must read to any new soap crafter.

This is a poorly written book, that is suitable only for academic study, and a poor one at that. If you are serious about trying to make soap, you should look elsewhere. I was lucky, in that I have a minor in chemistry from college, so that I could fill in the essential data omitted by the author. If I did not have experience to rely on, making soap from this text would have been near hopeless

This is just another book that was written to cash in on the current DIY craze in toiletries and bath products. The author is not much of a soapmaker, and I ended up selling my copy to a used bookstore within 6 months of ordering it. The book is beautiful to behold, while being a pain to actually use due to the format and size, but is essentially useless next to the few books that actually impart info which empowers crafters to make ingredients decisions because they've learned something. Read Cavitch if you want to learn something.

This is just another abbreviated Martha-esque book.

NOT for the novice soaper but interesting for inspiration, this book has some major errors that may cause a novice headaches and make an accomplished soaper wince.

Oh - I am not addressing the fragrance portion of this book

For starters, please do NOT mix your lye solution in a glass container - even Pyrex can shatter and you could end up with horrid burns. And a dust mask doesn't protect you from fumes so keep that in mind!

Please also, don't use crayons to color your soap... I mean REALL!?!

And while I'm at it, don't line your mold with waxed paper. Or go ahead and try it and then come back and write your own review! It won't peel off easily... I recommend freezer paper myself.

And the last thing I will mention is that her discourse on how much better vegetable oil soaps are than animal fat soaps is just plain wrong. She gives a nicely balanced "basic" recipe for veg soaps, but doesn't do the courtesy of providing one for animal (just tallow alone is not great, but then neither would be just coconut oil). You can use almost any blend of oils & fats to produce a soap to meet almost any needs... don't limit yourself to what she thinks is gospel.

Go online, read a ton of free stuff on a few sites, join a soaping forum online or find a friend who soaps... That will be much more helpful than this book.

Some of the references and suppliers are outdated, but it was published in 1999 so that is to be expected, and some are still around.

Good luck.