SOAP testing...cupcakes anyone?

Bramble Berry's Mystery fragrance #5 is next up; right out of the bottle my first impression of this fragrance was fruity, tart, and spicy, similar to Apple Jack & Peel.  A punchy apple cider with strong citrus and clove notes, with a pretty big bite to it.  It wasn't one of my favorites, but wasn't one that I disliked either. 

My Idea-I'm jumping on a soaping bandwagon a bit late in the game, but I've been dying to try those cute little soaps that look like cupcakes, so realistic that you want to just take a bite out of one.  You know the ones, you see them and you just can't resist them.  So you buy the cute little buggers knowing full well that you will probably never use them, and they will just sit and look cute.  It's one of those "I bought it cause it was adorable" types of purchase.  Don't lie...you've made those purchases too, I know you have!  Anyway, I am not a baker type of girl, I do not make cupcakes, nor do I bake anything that doesn't come out of a box or without complete instructions; and I am even known to get those wrong on occasion.  So here I am thinking OK, I can do this, it's soap right?  It's not like I have to bake it right?  I might as well live a little and give it a try.

The color-I was thinking fruity apple punch cider here so went with a no color base for the cake and Burgundy oxide for the frosting part, and I used a silicone mini muffin pan for the mold (which I scored at the used store for $1).  For the recipe I used my basic recipe with the addition of Lard.  

The Results: Once in the soap base this fragrance morphed almost instantly into a much more floral fragrance.  I immediately thought of changing the whole design idea because it became way to floral to work with a cupcake/dessert design, but I already had everything ready to go and had zero time to alter my design idea.  (I didn't have a loaf mold ready to go).  Note to self:  be better at having a backup plan if something doesn't work out.  This fragrance didn't accelerate trace, but did discolor my soap base to a bright yellow color.  As for the cupcakes themselves, well lets just say that for now I will leave those to my fellow soapers that have way more patience than I do.  Out of 2 dozen cupcakes, only 3 looked decent enough for a photo shoot.  As you can see I need a lot of practice.  

See the frosting, it looks brown right?  Nope that's ash.  Yep these little buggers ashed up on me like crazy, the color is more of a mauve (see below).  This was a great learning experience for me though, and I did have enough left overs to make some mini soaps, and some soap curls for a future project.  So not a total loss, and while the cupcakes are sure not perfect by my standards, everyone seems to love them anyway, and of course can not resist them because "they are so darling".  I am thinking that these are worth a little practice in the art of Frosting cupcakes. 

Overall, while I did not end up liking this fragrance, it performed well and was perfect to work with.  It is a very strong fragrance (3%), and has really stuck in the soap so far.   I am giving this one to the fragrance, since it changed so much for me once I stuck it in the soap. 

Monica:    4     Mystery fragrances:  2

So on to the next challenge, Fragrance # 7 which is one of my absolute favorites OOB!  Can't wait for this one.