Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Lori Nova:: Award Winning Swirling Champ

Lori Nova owner and teacher at The Nova Studio in California, sent these soaps for me to try.  Aren't they beautiful? The Nova Studio is a workshop where Lori teaches many different classes/tutorials on: cold and hot process soap making, candle making, bath melts and bombs as well as many other crafty courses.  I so wish I were closer so that I could take her classes.  They sound like so much fun!  I wrote about her soap making boot camp before and it sounds like a BLAST!

I love the swirls in all the soaps she sent, obviously, but then the little packaging... simple cello bags with cute handmade tags and thin raffia to bind it all together.  The final touches certainly do speak to me. It shows how much time and care goes into it all.
  
The soap I tried and kept going back to, was the Lemon Cinnamon soap.  At first sniff, it smelled a little like mulled cider with a hint of lemon.  BUT, when I bathed with it, it exploded with the scent of lemon with a hint of spicy cinnamon.  It was fabulous!!  I wouldn't have put the two scents together thinking they were too foreign to each other, but it worked so well and they melded together like a ballroom dancing couple, dancing.

The size was perfect.  It was on the smallish side, but not skimpy at all.  It was also a bit thicker than a typical bar, but the shape worked quite well in my hands and the suds came willingly and easily as I rubbed my hands together.  I must say that it was a refreshing bar to shower with and it gave me the boost I so desperately needed yesterday morning.

Thank you so much, Lori, for the gorgeous soapy artwork.  No wonder you are The Soap Making Guru.  

Please check out her site and also her blog to stay informed about what is going on in the soap world and at her soap studio.

6 comments:

Heather@Twin Birch said...

Yay for Lori! She is really amazing!! She shared her fantastic technique at the HSMG conference last month! It was just so fun! Her soap is really, really gorgeous!

Suds to Love said...

Beautiful soapy swirls

Lori at The Nova Studio said...

aw (blush) - i'm so glad you like my soap! thank you for the nice review! and thanks heather & trisha for the nice comments.

for the lemon cinnamon combination, i have to give credit to one of my assistants, safi, who brought it to my attention (previously i was doing cinnamon orange, which is quite nice, just a little less original). this one pictured above did an interesting separation of the brown color (cinnamon powder), which ended up being ok because it looked a bit like wood (to me). it's a great soap that smells amazing - just not the best for sensitive skin.

this blog is such a wonderful idea joanna - thanks for bringing so many cool soaps into our virtual living rooms!

Anonymous said...

I want to make swirls! What a highlight of my year it would be to be able to attend one of Lori's workshops.

Michelle said...

Those are some fantastic swirls. I wish I were closer too because I'd be taking classes!

Traumschaumseife said...

Hy Joanna,

your blog ist great and fantastic! i will put a link on my blog, if it is ok.

Read you,
Claudia (germany)