Pure Soapmaking by Anne-Marie Faiola

Pure Soapmaking by Anne-Marie Faiola ISBN-13: 9781612125336 Spiral-bound: 240 pages Publisher: Storey Publishing Released: Feb. 9, 2016

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
The pure luxury of soaps made with coconut butter, almond oil, aloe vera, oatmeal, and green tea is one of life's little pleasures. And with the help of author Anne-Marie Faiola, it's easy to make luscious, all-natural soaps right in your own kitchen.

This collection of 32 recipes ranges from simple castile bars to intricate swirls, embeds, and marbled and layered looks. Begin with a combination of skin-nourishing oils and then add blueberry puree, dandelion-infused water, almond milk, coffee grounds, mango and avocado butters, black tea, or other delicious ingredients -- and then scent your soap with pure essential oils. Step-by-step photography guides you through every stage of cold-process soapmaking.


My Review:
Pure Soapmaking is a step-by-step guide to making cold-process, natural ingredient soaps. You will be using lye to make solid soap bars. The recipes made about 9 to 20 soaps, so the book is intended for people making soaps to sell or give away rather than just personal use. She mentioned things to consider when selling your soap. These recipes don't use synthetic fragrance oils or dyes. We're told how the various oils and natural additives (for coloring, fragrance, etc.) will affect the final product.

The author started by explaining the science of soap making, safety measures, and the equipment that she recommends. This equipment will be dedicated solely to soap making. She included things like a scale and an electric mini mixer, and these are needed to do her recipes. She explained the overall steps for soap making along with tricks, tips on handling potential problems, and warnings of things to avoid. She included enough information that I felt I understood and could handle every step. There were also color photographs to illustrate these steps and the steps in the recipes.

The 32 recipes started fairly simple, but she quickly added more ingredients and steps. She showed how to create designs using layers, swirls, circles, embeds, and combinations of these. I suspect she used every ingredient that she talked about earlier. She also explained how to create your own recipes. I'd recommend this book to those interested in making "natural" solid soaps in large batches.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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