soap

Bastille Vanilla & Sandalwood

Brambleberry 6-Cavity Oval — Cold Process Method

Batch #2 — March 17, 2026

Mold: Brambleberry 6-Cavity Oval Silicone (3.5" L x 2.5" W x 1" H per cavity) Yield: 6 bars | Cure: 4–6 weeks | Active: ~1 hour Scaled from: Batch #1 Bastille at 0.6× — 540g oils vs 900g

Lye safety — the non-negotiables
  • Safety glasses and nitrile gloves on before touching lye.
  • Lye (NaOH) is caustic — it burns skin and eyes on contact.
  • Always add lye to water, never water to lye.
  • Work with good ventilation — the fumes are brief but harsh.
  • Soap-only equipment — nothing returns to kitchen use.
  • Raw batter stays caustic until it saponifies.

Safety: glasses and gloves before lye · lye into water, never the reverse · ventilate · soap-only equipment · raw batter is caustic until cured.

Recipe

Component Amount Notes
Olive oil 389g Any grade
Coconut oil, refined 76° 97g Refined, not virgin
Castor oil 54g 10% — lather boost
Distilled water 205g 38% of oils
Sodium hydroxide (lye) 74g 72/18/10 @ 5% SF, 540g oils — confirm at SoapCalc
Sodium lactate 6ml (~1.25 tsp) Into cooled lye solution; speeds unmolding
Vanilla Bean FO 24g Brambleberry; high-vanillin — bars brown
Sensuous Sandalwood FO 12g Brambleberry; warm, earthy, woody
Kaolin clay 11g Slurry: pre-mix into a splash of reserved olive oil, stir in after trace

5% superfat. Oil blend 72% olive / 18% coconut / 10% castor. Fragrance at the strong ~6.7% rate (36g) in a 2:1 vanilla-to-sandalwood ratio. Vanilla Bean is high-vanillin, so bars discolor to tan/brown — cosmetic and expected.

Instructions

Step 1 — Gear Up

Glasses and gloves on. Ventilation on. Pre-weigh everything into separate containers.

Step 2 — Prep the Mold

No prep for the silicone oval mold. Set it on a flat surface.

Step 3 — Lye Solution (allow ~30 min to cool)

  1. Weigh 205g distilled water into the All-Clad 1.5qt bowl
  2. Weigh 74g lye separately
  3. Pour lye into water — never reverse. Stir until clear (heats to ~185°F, brief fumes — don't lean over it)
  4. Stir in 6ml sodium lactate
  5. Cool to ~105–120°F

Step 4 — Prepare the Oils

  1. Melt 97g coconut oil, then combine with 389g olive and 54g castor in the All-Clad 3qt bowl — reserve a ~10ml splash of the olive oil for the clay slurry
  2. Pre-combine 24g Vanilla Bean + 12g Sensuous Sandalwood in a small cup and set aside
  3. Bring oils to ~105–120°F, within ~10°F of the lye

Step 5 — Combine and Trace

  1. Pour the cooled lye solution into the oil bowl
  2. Stick-blend in 5–10s bursts, alternating with hand stirring
  3. Blend to light trace — 3–8 min

Step 6 — Clay and Fragrance

  1. Mix 11g kaolin clay into the reserved olive oil until smooth, then stir the slurry into the batter
  2. Add the FO blend and hand-stir 1–2 min — do not stick-blend after fragrance

Step 7 — Pour and Insulate (rest 24–30h)

  1. Pour evenly into the 6 cavities; smooth the tops
  2. Bridge cardboard over the mold (risers at the corners so nothing touches the soap), or invert a box over it. Individual cavities cool fast — insulate well or you'll get color variation from uneven gel (cosmetic)
  3. Leave undisturbed 24–30h

Step 8 — Unmold

  1. Firm and not sticky before unmolding
  2. Flex the silicone to pop each bar out — sodium lactate helps
  3. No cutting — bars are individually molded

Step 9 — Cure (4–6 weeks)

  1. Rack with airflow on all sides; cool, dry, out of direct sun
  2. 4 weeks minimum; 6–8 is better for high-olive bars
  3. Label with the batch date

Batch Notes

Outcome

Resources