And Some More UCBR Auction Soap: #18 - 23

I'm like a new mother constantly taking pics of her baby until people say, "Enough already! We've seen enough of that kid! Only you are interested in a million pictures of the child." But instead of a child, it's my soap!

Well, for those not utterly bored already, here's some more of my UCBR 2010 Auction Soaps - until I get to 30, you'll have to bear with me. I made these on Sunday, so I'm a few days behind in posting them.
Top Row from left to right:

#18 - Black Licorice: scented w/ anise essential oil and colored with coffee. For those of you who don't cook, black licorice is flavored with anise. This one made my whole pantry smell like black licorice. I was hoping to color it black with white swirls, so I used coffee to color the base and ground mica (it's a mineral) to color the swirl. The swirl came out a beautiful pearlescent color, which you can't really see in the pic. But the coffee part turned light brown. You never know what the final color will be when you use more natural things to color soap, but I prefer more natural than certainty in color.

#19 - Peppermint, Rosemary and Orange: scented w/ essential oils of peppermint, rosemary, mandarin, tangerine and sweet orange. I was going for a light blue base with a yellow swirl, but the colors intensified a bit. I actually like it. Still very pretty.

#20 - Geranium, Patchouli and Orange: scented w/ essential oils of geranium (smells like roses), patchouli (to give it an earthy smell). mandarin and tangerine. Believe it or not, I tried coloring this one with pink rose petals, but, yes, it turned dark brown. I'm not sure if I'm going to scrap this one and make another #20. Let's give it another day or two to see if it looks any better. Smells great though!

Bottom Row from left to right:
#21 Rosemary, Lime and Orange: scented w/ essential oils of rosemary, lime, madarin and tangerine. I'm proud of this one. I colored it a beautiful orange using calendula blossoms, and then topped it with rosemary. Calendula is very good for the skin and makes a very mild soap. The color is gorgeous.

#22 Balsam and Lavender: scented w/ essential oils, this light purple soap is in the shape of an Irish Claddagh. The Claddagh symbolizes love, friendship and loyalty. I chose these scents to go with it since both balsam and lavender are soothing.

#23 Lemongrass - scented w/ lemongrass essential oil. Although only one of these goes into each soap basket, I had to take a picture of all 4 versions. They came out of the molds perfectly. Of course the 3 day stay in the freezer didn't hurt. This mold is my most difficult for removal, and more often than not the Chinese symbols are destroyed, but I still love the molds. I used lemongrass to scent it because lemongrass is such an Asian scent.