When I first started this blog it was in response to my customers interest in knowing the stories behind my soap creations. Soon I began writing about all things natural and life anecdotes here and there and sort of forgot to write the soap stories. Today I'm telling the story of Lavande Bleu. In a way it might be called my signature soap, or rather Lavande Bleu embodies everything I am about. However I can't talk about all the unique ways this soap embodies the priorities of Lavande de Bois without first giving credit to my mentor, Lori Nova, of the Nova Studio where I learned to make soap. Lori is an amazing teacher and taught me to take very detailed notes of all my creations. She also explained to our class that even though the recipes in her workbook were available to be used as a starting point; it is uncool in the soap community to flat out copy another soap artist. Part of what makes the cottage industry of handcrafted soapmaking so unique is the individual stamp that a soapmaker puts on their soaps in the form of oils, botanicals, aromas, and colors, etc. The realm of possibilities in soap are endless.
So when I wanted to create a soap with lavender essential oil and oatmeal that wasn't such a unique idea. Do a search on lavender soap and you'll find plenty. After all, there was a recipe in my workbook for a layered soap, oatmeal on one side and lavender soap on the other. It is a way cool soap, one side full of exfoliating goodness, the other aroma pleasure in a fabulously smooth soap.
But Lavande Bleu is special. Swirls of oatmeal soap are intermingled with lavender blue soap (a technique Lori taught our class). Shea butter adds extra luxurious soft smooth lathery soap bubbles. Right now I have Lavande Bleu by my bathroom sink and it leaves my hands feeling smooth and moisturized. No need to apply lotion! And I walk away with the soothing aroma of lavender still on my hands. Oh and lavender, did you know there are a gazillion varieties of lavender? Hence a variety of lavender essential oils.
Perhaps the most used lavender essential oil is lavender 40/42 which is a blended essential oil. Typically consumers want consistency, that is they want their product to smell the same as the last one they purchased. The 40/42 is comprised of a variety of lavenders blended together to maintain a level of consistency. In terms of cost it is typically low to medium priced among the lavender essential oils. I'm not a big fan of this blended oil. When I started making soap I fell in love with a single essential oil, a Lavandula angustifolium from Bulgaria. It smelled so fresh and it reminded me of the aroma in the air when I walked by my own lavender plants. I built my product line around this essential oil. Then one day my supplier started purchasing the Bulgarian lavender from another farm. To my nose, it smelled like turpentine. So I could no longer use it. That's just how lavenders are, different soil, different, climate, different aroma. I'm happy to say that I settled on Lavender Population, also a Lavandula angustifolium, this time from France. I have to admit all that time I was using lavender from Bulgaria while borrowing from the French language for my business name I felt like a traitor. So now it all feels right, French lavender, borrowed French words, ah symmetry. When I take in a deep inhale of this aroma I can imagine myself walking across fields of lavender in Southern France. It has a beautiful complex and pure aroma. This oil is by far the most expensive essential oil I incorporate in my soaps. It costs almost twice as much as the lavender 40/42, but I LOVE it! So that's what I use.
Another cool thing about this soap is it's color. It's blue, but it's also lavender. It's a very blue lavender. So it goes with so many bathroom decors. I was at a friends house one day, and used the bathroom. It had a very masculine decor, navy blue and hunter green. I was surprised at how well her Lavande Bleu soap coordinated with this masculine theme. It just seemed to bring out the blue in the soap even thought it looks lavender when you put it with soft colors.
Despite the exquisite beauty and aroma of this soap, nothing is as important as the ingredients themselves. I'm trending toward going all organic, but I'm not there yet. I'm happy to say that since January of this year all my soaps have organic palm oil and organic coconut oil in them, making my soaps over 50% organic. I'm heading in a direction that is very important to me and look forward to someday having an organic certification.
So in a nutshell how does Lavande Bleu represent the priorities of Lavande de Bois? My priorities are all about incorporating the aromas, ingredients, botanicals, and things that I love and weaving them into a bathing essential that is visually and aromatically pleasing and full of good for you ingredients. Whether I'm using organic ingredients, or my favorite essential oil, I use them even though they may cost more than the alternative. Of course, I can't keep making them if the consumers don't buy it. But fortunately for Lavande Bleu, consumers are willing to pay for the price of quality. It is by far the most expensive soap I create, it is also consistently my top selling handcrafted soap.
