Growing up, I just loved the smell of rose-anything…roses, rose water, rose scent, rose soaps, rose drinks, you name it, I’ve smelled it. So of course when I took on the hobby of soap making sometime last year, I wanted to try soap making with pure rose water. Why rose water? Rose water offers many benefits for your skin and overall well-being and here’s to name a few:

• It is rich in vitamins A, C, D, E and B3 hence good for nourishing and rejuvenating an ageing skin
• It has natural antiseptic,  anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties so it can help cool and soothe irritated skin as well as diminish redness
• It can be applied as a natural toner to help balance and revitalize normal to dry skin
• It does magic as an aromatherapy ingredient to help reduce stress

I wanted to use pure rose water as an ingredient in my soaps, however, I had no idea how adding additional liquid-based ingredient would affect the properties of my soap base. So I set out to give it a try and guess what? Soaps turned out great! And they smell absolutely breathtaking, look pretty and make adorable holiday gifts. In fact, I made these right before the holidays as gifts for my special friends. They were a total win!

Here’s what I used for my Rose Water Soap:

• 1 pound Shea Butter Soap Base
• 1/2 tbspn of Pure Rose Water (I bought mine at Whole Foods)
• 1/8 tspn of Rose Fragrance
• Few drops of Red Colorant
• Rectangular Soap Molds (not seen in the image)
• Soap Making Straight Cutter (not seen in the image above but if you plan on making a number of soaps, it is a tool worth investing in)
• Microwave Safe Measuring Cup or Bowl
• Rubbing Alcohol (I keep a spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol ready to go for my projects)

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

Cut up soap base into small cubes, place them in a microwave safe measuring bowl (as seen in the image above) and begin melting the soap cubes in the microwave in 15-20 second increments until soap is completely melted. Stir to make sure no small cubes are hidden within the soap mix and the soap is entirely melted.

Add 1/2 tablespoon of pure rose water, 1/8 teaspoon of rose fragrance and a few drops of red colorant to the melted soap mix and stir properly & efficiently (no need to rush this!) until all ingredients are dissolved and mixed well. These colorants can be very strong so I suggest you go easy at first and add only a drop or two to see how far along you are in accomplishing your final ideal shade. Then, if needed, keep adding a few drops until you’ve reached your desired shade/coloring. Since I wanted more of a rosy shade, I added my red coloring very slowly to the mix to avoid ending up with a deep red color. To give you a perspective, here’s the mix when I added my first two drops of red colorant:

See what I mean?

Once the ingredients are mixed well, pour your soap mix into soap molds. I ended up using 4 of these molds for my entire mix.

As you can see, bubbles appear as you settle the mix in the molds. No worries. Spray rubbing alcohol gently on your soap mixtures to rid your soaps of bubbles. Let your soaps sit for at least a couple of hours at room temperature and then pull them out of the molds gently when ready.

What a beauts!!!

BTW I’m already taking showers with my rose water soap and the bath smells like roses!!!

These soaps literally took me less than 30 minutes in the making (from prepping to settling into molds). So think: they’re quick, economical, pretty and make great give-away’s!!!

For some helpful tips for your soap-making adventures, refer to my tips on my previous DIY Pumpkin Spice Soap project.

Also, fyi, I bought these ingredients very last minute as this fabulous idea materialized in my head practically two days before the Holiday party (where I unveiled them to my friends). Hence I had to rely on what I could find quickly at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. Albeit I’m an avid shopper of both, there are plenty of online stores which offer way more soap making ingredients and molds you can play around with. One of my personal favorites one-stop shop is Bramble Berry. But, with Michael’s and Hobby Lobby’s frequent 50% and 40% coupons, you can’t beat the savings!

Enjoy!!!