The Vanilla Files - Artisan Soaps

I stumbled upon Clear Marie's blog, Artisan Soaps over a year ago and read her extensive Vanilla fragrance oil research she's called The Vanilla Files. I fell in love with her immediately. She tested over a dozen vanilla based fragrance oils in cold processed soaps and tested for a number of things:

1. color of soap over the cure period
2. color of lather
3. how scent held up over a year's time
4. how scent sticks to skin
5. and the fragrance itself

Right there, I see a huge amount of dedication. First she had to make 13 batches of soap. Each loaf had to be labeled and impeccable notes needed to be kept on them. (I'd be out. With two kids and an unorganized husband, there is no way in hell I could keep notes attached to 13 items all together in one place).

She got me at the list.

Her research is fantastic. She photographed every step of the way; slices of the soaps to compare color and lather comparisons. She described, a description of each scent so we can get a detailed real version, not a manufacturers "fluffy" made up version. And of course each scent is coupled with the supplier's name. For example: Daystar Supplies-Drizzled Honey Vanilla

Please go have a look at her blog and especially her Vanilla Files. There are eight Files, each of which are full of information and photographs. Clear really did a thorough job and I think it's information we can all learn from.

Thank you, Clear!!