Monday, October 5, 2009

10 Fun Scents for Halloween Soaps

by Kjersti Wasiak

Halloween is a great holiday to make soaps for. For one, soap is a fun alternative to giving out candy as party favors or to trick-or-treaters. Just make sure you label them as soap, as some soap looks good enough to eat. It will not usually hurt them to eat it, but it certainly will not taste good. Secondly, candy is a big part of Halloween and the soaps are a fun in theme way to clean up from what can often be sticky candy eating. Below are 10 of my personal favorite scents for using in Halloween soaps along with some ideas of what types of soaps to make with the scents.

Berry Bewitching Brew - I used to use a scent called Witches Brew just for the name, but it kind of stunk. I found Berry Bewitching Brew a pleasant smelling alternative. It is somewhat fruity, but it also has notes of cinnamon and musk. I like using it for my witch shaped soaps as well as my boo bar soap that has ghosts coming out of a cauldron.

Black Licorice - Honestly, I do not really like black licorice or the smell of it, but I still find it one of the best scents to use in the black colored soaps I make and it is one of my more popular Halloween scents. I like to use it in making black bat soaps and black cat soaps mostly, but I also sometimes make black witch soaps with it.

Black Magic - This is a more manly alternative to Berry Bewitching Brew. I do not like it much because has patchouli in it, which is a scent I cannot stand, but the blend is better than Witches Brew, which just stinks. It has notes of ylang ylang, sandalwood, baby powder, and vanilla. I use this for a manly version of witch soaps and myboo bars as well as for black cat soaps and black bat soaps for those that do not like Black Licorice, but still like the strong scent of things like patchouli.

Candied Apple - This is a very fruity apply scent that is reminiscent of candy apples. This would be good in an apple shape mold, although personally I have only used it for making soaps in a silicone muffin pan mold.

Candy Corn - This scent smells of vanilla, butter, and a hint of almond and does replicate Candy Corn pretty well. I do not like the candy, but I do like the scent. I love using it in my Candy Corn Mountain Soaps, which I make using layers of white, orange, and yellow in a massage bar of soap.I have also used it for making layered candy corns in a candy corn shaped mold.

Harvest Moon - This is a slightly fruity mostly woodsy (mostly pine) scent. I like to use it in moon shaped soaps for the fall season. It would also be good for scarecrow soaps or fall leaf soaps.

Pumpkin Apple Butter - This is my favorite of my Halloween scents. It is not only seasonally appropriate, but is just a wonderful smell of pumpkin and apple. I like to use it to scent my Jack-o-lantern and pumpkin shaped soaps. It is also good for other general Halloween, Fall, andThanksgiving soap designs.

Tricks or Treats - This scent is kind of like smelling the various candy you end up with from trick or treating. Some say it is more like marshmallow or pina colada. It is certainly an odd scent, but still pleasant. I like to use this as a substitute for Black Licorice in some of my cat soaps, as it stays in the candy theme while appealing to those that do not like Black Licorice.

Werewolf - This is just a fun scent because of its name. It is an interesting blend of earthy scents like patchouli along with hints of citrus, lavender, and ylang. It is a good scent for werewolf, wolf, or dog soaps.

Witching Hour - A little more towards Witches Brew than Berry Bewitching Brew, but less mystical and more tolerable for those that do not like patchouli while still being good enough to please patchouli loves. Basically those that do not like patchouli probably will not like this scent despite it being balanced with herbal scents, but it is not bad enough that I a patchouli-hater cannot stand to make soap with it for my customers that like patchouli. I sometimes use it for more manly (or just grown up) scented witch soaps, boo bars, and black cats.

Note: I get all of my fragrances from Natures Garden, but there are plenty of other good sellers of fragrances that have their own versions of some of my favorites or something similar, although Natures Garden is the only place I know of that has all of the ones on my list.

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