Lye Water Temperature 113ºF
Oil temperature 115ºF

We experience excessive acceleration, almost to the point of becoming “soap on a stick”, but no separation. Experienced cold process soap makers know that floral fragrances tend to accelerate or separate, so we proceeded with caution while testing this fragrance. Once the lye water was added to the fragranced oils, we alternated using a single pulse of the stick blender followed by gentle hand stirring until we reached an emulsion. At that point, the batter turned a bright yellow color and became too thick to stir. There was no sign of separation so we dumped the batter into the mold and pressed down as firmly as possible to minimize air pockets. As we scraped the batter into the mold we saw large chunks forming so we had concerns that the soap may not hold together in the mold. After 24 hours, the soap bars were holding together but the edges were rough and crumbly where it had not been pressed evenly into the mold. The soap had uneven discoloration with shades of yellow and brown, and what looked like flecks of gold throughout the bars. It was not clear if the soap reached a full gel due to the uneven colors. The scent was strong and beautiful. After 30 days, the soap had discolored to a uniform brown color and the scent remained strong. This fragrance was very difficult to work with in a cold process application, and we recommend only very experienced soap makers try it in their cold process recipes. It performs very well in other applications such as hot process or melt and pour soaps, though it will discolor.