Bring a little handmade beauty to the holiday season with these elegant Poinsettia Melt & Pour Soaps. Created with Stephenson Triple Butter Melt & Pour Soap, rich red and green mica, sparkling accents and Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil, each bar features the classic colours and details of a festive poinsettia flower.
The dimensional Guest Lotus Soap Mold does much of the decorative work for you. By carefully filling the raised flower details first and following with a contrasting green layer, the intricate poinsettia design is revealed when each bar is unmolded. A touch of hand-painted gold mica and sparkle finishes the design and highlights the beautiful molded details.
This project is a great way to practice detail pouring, layering, mica dispersion and mica painting while creating approximately seven festive soap bars for holiday gifting or seasonal use.
Click here to download the detailed Step-by-Step PDF Guide
Recommended Equipment:
- Digital Scale
- 2 Heat-Safe Measuring Cups
- Small Mixing Cups
- Stir Sticks, Spoons or Silicone Spatulas
- 0.15 cc Measuring Scoop
-
Spray Bottle with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
-
Lotus Blossom Milky Way Wax Tart Mold
- Fine Paint Brush
- Small Sift
- Stainless Steel Heavy Gauge Crinkle Edge Soap Cutter with Wooden Handle
- Microwave or Double Boiler
- Gloves
Formula:
| Ingredient | Usage Rate (%) |
Weight (g) |
| Stephenson Triple Butter Melt & Pour Soap | 97.40% | 227 |
| Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil | 2.60% | 6 |
| Italiano Rose Mica | as needed | 5 × 0.15 cc scoops |
| Hunter Green Mica | as needed | 5 × 0.15 cc scoops |
| Rose Biodegradable Glitter | as needed | 1 × 0.15 cc scoop |
| Egyptian Gold Mica | as needed | 2 × 0.15 cc scoops |
| Super Sparkle Light Gold | as needed | 2 × 0.15 cc scoops |
| 99% Isopropyl Alcohol | as needed | - |
Featured Ingredients:
Stephenson Triple Butter Melt & Pour Soap
Stephenson Triple Butter Melt & Pour Soap provides the creamy, opaque foundation for these festive poinsettia bars. This vegetable-derived soap base is made with a blend of shea butter, cocoa butter and mango butter, creating a rich soap with a smooth skin feel and good foaming properties. Its naturally opaque appearance also provides an excellent canvas for the deep red and green colours used in this project. Micas become softer and more muted when added to an opaque soap base, helping create the elegant, traditional holiday colours of the finished poinsettias.
Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil
Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil complements the floral poinsettia design with an elegant winter-inspired fragrance. Sicilian bergamot rind and winter magnolia open into a floral heart of centifolia rose, damask rose and jasmine sambac, accented with Indonesian ginger and iced patchouli. Silver cedar, musk, benzoin and vanilla create a warm, sophisticated base. The fragrance contains 0% vanillin, making it especially useful for a project where maintaining the red and green colour contrast is important. This formulation uses Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil at approximately 2.6%, below its current 3.42% IFRA maximum for soap.
Italiano Rose, Hunter Green & Egyptian Gold Micas
Three mica colours are used to define and highlight the poinsettia design. Italiano Rose Mica creates the reddish-pink flower petals. Its shimmering rose colour becomes softer when incorporated into the opaque Triple Butter soap base, creating a rich but slightly muted poinsettia red.
Hunter Green Mica colours the surrounding leaf and background portion of the soap. Its deep evergreen-inspired shade provides strong contrast against the flower and creates the traditional red-and-green holiday palette.
Egyptian Gold Mica is reserved for the finishing details. Its warm metallic gold adds definition to the centre of each poinsettia and helps bring out the dimensional details created by the mold.
Rose Biodegradable Glitter
Rose Biodegradable Glitter adds an extra touch of sparkle to the poinsettia-coloured soap. Made primarily from plant-derived cellulose, this ultra-fine cosmetic glitter offers a more eco-conscious alternative to conventional plastic glitter while still providing beautiful decorative shimmer. Only a small amount is incorporated into the coloured soap so the sparkle complements the poinsettia rather than overpowering its molded details.
Super Sparkle Light Gold Mica
Super Sparkle Light Gold Mica provides the final shimmering accent on the finished soaps. This sparkling golden powder combines mica with biodegradable glitter and features a larger particle size than traditional mica, creating a more noticeable reflective finish. A light dusting over the finished poinsettia adds festive sparkle and catches the light across the raised details of the flower. Because of its strong visual impact, only a small amount is needed.
Instructions:
- Step 1: Cut 227 g of Stephenson Triple Butter Melt & Pour Soap into small cubes and divide evenly between two heat-safe measuring cups.
- Step 2: Melt each portion in the microwave using short 10–15 second intervals, stirring between intervals until just melted. In separate small cups, disperse 5 scoops (0.15 cc each) of Italiano Rose Mica and 5 scoops (0.15 cc each) of Hunter Green Mica in a small amount of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Add one colour to each portion of melted soap and stir gently until evenly blended.
- Step 3: Add 3 g of Winters Heirloom Fragrance Oil to each portion of coloured soap and stir gently until thoroughly incorporated. This gives the finished project a fragrance rate of approximately 2.6%, below the current 3.42% IFRA maximum for soap.
- Step 4: Add 1 scoop (0.15 cc) of Rose Biodegradable Glitter directly to the Italiano Rose soap and stir gently until evenly dispersed. If the soap has begun to form a skin or become too thick to pour, briefly reheat it until fluid again.
- Step 5: Carefully pour the rose-coloured soap into the flower portion of each mold cavity. Pour slowly and use only enough soap to fill the poinsettia details without overflowing into the surrounding leaf area. Spritz the freshly poured soap lightly with isopropyl alcohol to remove surface bubbles, then allow it to harden completely for approximately 15–20 minutes.
- Step 6: Once the poinsettia layer has hardened, spritz it thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol to help the layers adhere. If necessary, gently reheat the Hunter Green soap until fluid and allow it to cool slightly before pouring. Carefully fill the remainder of each mold cavity with the green soap. Spritz the surface with isopropyl alcohol to remove bubbles and allow the soaps to harden completely for approximately 1–2 hours.
- Step 7: Once completely cool and firm, carefully remove the soaps from the mold. For rigid plastic molds, gently pull the sides of the mold away from the soap where possible to help release the seal, then apply gradual pressure to the back of each cavity. Avoid forcing the soap out from one point, as this can damage the detailed surface.
- Step 8: Combine a small amount of Egyptian Gold Mica with 99% isopropyl alcohol to create a mica paint. Using a fine paint brush, lightly paint the centre of each poinsettia to highlight the molded details. Allow the isopropyl alcohol to evaporate completely before continuing.
- Step 9: Using a small sifter, lightly dust Super Sparkle Light Gold Mica over each poinsettia for a festive shimmering finish. Apply sparingly so the sparkle highlights the raised flower details without covering the red and gold design underneath.
- Step 10: Your Poinsettia Melt & Pour Soaps are finished and ready to use! Melt & pour soap is already fully saponified and does not require curing. Once the soaps are completely cool and dry, package them in plastic or shrink wrap to help protect them from humidity and minimize glycerin dew.
Tips for Success
Pour the Flower Details Carefully
The crisp contrast between the poinsettia and green background is what makes this design stand out. Pour the first layer slowly and stop before the coloured soap flows beyond the flower details.
Don't Overheat the Green Layer
When pouring over an existing melt & pour layer, the soap should be fluid but not excessively hot. Overheated soap can partially melt the poinsettia underneath and cause the colours to bleed into one another.
Spritz Between Layers
Always spritz the hardened poinsettia layer with 99% isopropyl alcohol immediately before pouring the green soap. This helps the two layers bond and reduces the risk of separation after unmolding.
Be Patient When Unmolding
The Guest Lotus mold is rigid rather than flexible silicone. Make sure the bars are completely hardened before attempting to remove them, and release them gradually rather than forcing them from the mold.
Package Melt & Pour Soap Promptly
Melt & pour soap naturally attracts moisture from the surrounding air. Once the bars are completely cool and the decorative mica is dry, package them in plastic or shrink wrap to help minimize glycerin dew.
Note:
These formulations are provided as a guide and may be used for personal or commercial applications. Voyageur Soap & Candle Company Ltd. accepts no liability for the performance, effectiveness, or outcomes of products made using these formulations. Users are responsible for proper testing, safe formulation practices, and compliance with all applicable regulations.
If you have any questions regarding this recipe, please email us at customerservice@voyageursoapandcandle.com or call us at 1-800-758-7773.