10-Minute Luxe Gold Flecked Soap

When I was younger I wanted things as cheap as I could possibly get them. I definitely valued quantity over quality. But the older I get, the more I would rather pay more for something that I love than pay less for something that I’ll really only be happy with the price I paid for it but never the item itself. Back in the day, I’d wear jeans that weren’t the least bit comfortable, but darn if they weren’t within the tiny clothing budget I had set for myself.

But I started to realize where I was valuing quantity over quality… you see I’d buy 3 pairs of these cheaper jeans so that I’d always have several hanging in the closet and ready to wear. But the thing is, denim does better the less you wash it. And since I’m kind of a neat freak, with another 2 pairs for me to wear in the closet, I’d throw the ones I had just worn right into the wash.  I was washing my jeans every single time I wore them making them wear more quickly thereby needing to be replaced faster. And that means that I was buying 3 more pairs of cheap jeans in pretty quick succession to replace the ones that would get holes around the back pockets where over-washing made the fabric weak.

Then, one day, I decided I was going to treat myself to a nice pair of jeans. Nothing cheap but also nothing insane, just a nice mid-range pair of denim jeans. Forty or fifty bucks TOPS. When I realized how much better the fit of my slightly more expensive jeans was, I was in LOVE with them and all of the cheapies went to the donation box. Then I bought some jeans that were even a little more expensive. Still not insanely priced, but boy howdy were these even better! Over time I acquired a few pairs of my really nice jeans because suddenly my jeans were so comfortable that I could wear them ALL day. And AROUND THE HOUSE almost as comfortable in them as sweats. Since I had fewer pairs of jeans, I would be more careful not to dirty them and then wash them far less. This meant that they lasted so much longer and I had to purchase them less often. So by purchasing more expensive jeans, I actually started SAVING money in the long run. Isn’t that kind of crazy?

In fact, when I was in the process of moving last month, ding-dong me packed away ALL of my jeans except for one pair. I literally wore the same pair of jeans for a full week, day after day after day and I remember thinking 4 or 5 days in that this was brilliant. They weren’t all weird and stretched out, they didn’t feel dirty, they were just perfect. Ah. The joy of finding the perfect jeans, am I right? :)

And now you’re all, what the heck, lady? I came here for soap and you’re talking jeans? Yep. And does one segue into the other? Only a little bit, if I’m being honest… you see these days I’m also occasionally creating things that utilize more expensive materials but not just for the sake of spending more… for the sake of making things that are ultra luxurious. I’ve had in my head for AGES to make a gold-flecked soap using gold leaf. And I straight up made one single bar a few years back and I LOVED it. It did get used on the rare occasion and after a good number of months, perhaps a year, even, the gold leaf turned kind of green. But wouldn’t you know that I got TONS of compliments on that gorgeous bar of soap? But gold leaf ain’t cheap…

And so today I decided to throw gold leaf into the wind and hopefully have it fall into my newly poured soap molds. Not really. I was a lot more careful than that but it sounded cool to say :)

Now, this soap will not look pretty forever. After you get it wet and start using it the gold leaf inside of it will sort of turn green-ish with time. But the gold leaf should not mess up your skin, it will just sort of rub and wash away with the soap as you use it. I wouldn’t normally use this fancy of a soap in the shower because that just seems a little over-luxurious for me (though I did test a bar in the shower to see if the gold leaf made a big ol’ mess *spoiler, it did not), but I would totally make this soap  as a gift for somebody else to luxuriate and gold up the shower if they wanted to. Because what in the heck do I care what you do with a gift? :) But my 2 remaining gold flecked soap bars will all be guest soaps that will mostly be kept in the bathroom for looks. You know, the kind that sits next to the hall bathroom sink but is NEVER to be used by residents. Guests ONLY. :)

Done with the gab? Ah, I’ve clean talked myself out so let’s move on…

A QUICK NOTE! SOME GOLD LEAF MIGHT CHANGE FROM THE LOVELY METALLIC TO AN UGLIER COLOR MORE QUICKLY THAN OTHERS. BE SURE TO RUN A TEST BAR AT LEAST A WEEK (A MONTH IS BETTER) IN ADVANCE TO ENSURE THAT THE GOLD LEAF YOU ARE USING REMAINS PRETTY!

How to make lux gold flecked soaps that will be the envy of every house guest you have over.

For this project you will need:

• Melt and Pour Suspending Soap Base
• Silicone Soap Mold
• Loose Gold Leaf Flakes
• Microwave
• Glass Measuring Cups

First and foremost the type of melt and pour soap base is going to be super duper important… No matter what brand you buy, you will want to purchase a melt and pour soap base that says “suspending” somewhere on it. If you purchase just any ol’ soap base all of your gold leaf is going to sink to the bottom of the mold and not be layered throughout your bars.

Next, you’ll want to grab a silicone soap mold. I prefer silicone because it won’t melt or warp like clear plastic should you accidentally pour your soap in too hot. Unfortunately, I cannot recall exactly where I purchased this mold, but it was actually a gigantic mold to make 12 bars. It was big and it was cumbersome but it was a great price and after using it once, flopping around all over the place, I cut the mold into 4 molds of 3. And then I cut one of the molds of 3 into 3 molds of 1. I have to tell you, this is so much easier to handle and I just LOVE this mold, now. So keep an eye out for a gigantic mold that has the size and shape of opening you want and cut down if needed.

You have 2 different ways you can incorporate gold leaf into your bars. Firstly, you can put a sprinkle of gold leaf flakes into the bottom of your molds or you can wait and add it to the melted base in the mold.

Quick tip, when you’re working with melted soap and get it on your fingers, your fingers get really sticky. And this gold leaf is super delicate and drawn to sticky things. To prevent waste of the precious leaf (because it isn’t the cheapest craft material, after all) I’d suggest using a fork to remove it from the bag and place it into your molds.

Either way, you’re going to get some gold leaf floating up on top of the soap. Use something like a chopstick or other wood item to sort of stir it up and distribute the leaf throughout the mold so that it suspends nicely. Now as you can tell, I went HEAVY with my gold leaf and I’m super happy I did because my bars are just GORGEOUS.

I melted half of my soap base, added my gorgeously colorful gold leaf you can buy here and then on the second pour with the other half of my soap base used a less expensive just gold colored gold leaf. The results are still colorful, interesting and gorgeous, but I was able to get away with using less of my very expensive leaf and more of my cheaper stuff. Because we might be going for luxe, but cheap is in my bones, baby.

Give your soap plenty of time to harden and then pop out of your molds. Take care when removing as your fingers can leave impressions in the still somewhat soft soap.

If you do get fingerprints, or if you have ugly backs on your soap, I kind of cheat to make mine look nice again. Take the bar of soap and get it wet and lather it up until you smooth out all of the irregularities. Allow to dry out and then your bar looks pretty darn perfect. Cool, right? Right!