Creating beautiful soap doesn’t have to be intimidating; it can even be fun! With the Lava Ombre Melt & Pour Soap Recipe, you can create a unique ombre bar of heavenly-scented soap inspired by stunning tropical sunsets. This surprisingly easy recipe will give you impressive results that look and smell like they were made professionally. Now all you need is a little bit of patience, and you’ll have dazzling homemade soaps in no time!
What’s in This Lava Ombre Soap Recipe?
6 Cavity Soap Mold
This amazing temperature-resistant soap mold will help you concoct six gorgeous soap bars.
Melt & Pour Soap Base
This recipe requires two melt-and-pour soap base types! We like to use glycerin, which gives the soap its vibrant colors, and shea butter which creates a creamy white base.
Mica Powder
Spice up your life (literally) with Simply Earth’s Mica Powder! This versatile powder is perfect for adding sumptuous hues and shades to your Lava Ombre Melt & Pour Soap. So whether you want to bask in the beautiful Tiger Orange, feel regal with fascinating Fuchsia, or light up your life with the inviting Yellow Gold, mica powder allows us to achieve our dream colors easily.
Lava Essential Oil Blend
Lava Essential Oil Blend is a must-have for any fan of tropical sunsets! Its invigorating scent will leave your skin feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. Yet, at the same time, its vibrant and uplifting energy will remind you of vacation days spent lounging in the sun.
Isopropyl Alcohol (in a spray bottle)
The key to an even, perfect melt that looks amazing? Isopropyl Alcohol in a spray bottle. This powerful liquid works like magic to prevent bubbles from forming on the soap and helps bind the soap bases together for flawless results.
Two Small Books
Making an ombre melt-and-pour soap can be a breeze if you’ve got the right tools – like two small books! Having it on hand will let you elevate your soap mold just the right way to layer your colors diagonally – so that the ombre effect will look amazing.
Things to Remember When Using This Recipe
Always dilute an essential oil when using it on the skin. This essential oil recipe is unlikely to cause skin irritation when diluted properly. If the oil has been oxidized (left with the cap off for long periods of time) it is more likely to cause skin irritation. Check out this dilution chart for diluting this essential oil properly.
If you are pregnant, consult your doctor prior to use.
This recipe is safe to use with kids aged 2+.
For more information on using essential oils with cats, check out this blog post.
This essential oil recipe is generally safe to use around dogs. For more information on using essential oils with dogs, check out this blog post.
We don’t recommend ingesting essential oils unless under the direction of a doctor certified in aromatherapy. For more information on why we don’t ingest essential oils check out this blog post.
*Please note: This post is a compilation of suggestions made by those that have extensively used essential oils and has not been verified scientifically with clinical tests nor reviewed by medical experts. It is anecdotal information and should be treated as such. For serious medical concerns, please consult your doctor. The statements given in this blog post have not been verified by the FDA
Lava Ombre Soap Recipe
Lava Ombre Melt & Pour Soap Recipe
Ingredients
- FROM SIMPLY EARTH
6 Cavity Soap Mold
2 lb Shea Butter Soap Base
2 lb Glycerin Melt & Pour Soap Base
Fuchsia Mica Powder
Tiger Orang Mica Powder
Yellow Gold Mica Powder
Lava Essential Oil Blend
- FROM YOUR HOME
Isopropyl Alcohol (in a spray bottle)
2 small books
Directions
- Place two books under each side of your mold so that it creates a slight v shape (3 cavities halfway onto one book and 3 cavities halfway onto the other).
- Cut your glycerin soap in half. Take one half and cut that in half so you end up with ¼ of the soap block. Cut this ¼ into 1-inch cubes. Store the rest of the soap for future use.
- Divide your cut-up soap into three portions.
- Take one portion of soap, and melt it.
- Add a dash of Fuchsia mica powder along with 10 drops of Lava Essential Oil Blend and stir.
- Pour a small amount of soap into each cavity of the soap mold. Allow it to set.
- Take another portion of your soap and melt it. Add a dash of tiger orange mica powder and 10 drops of Lava Essential Oil Blend and stir.
- Spritz the pink layer of soap with isopropyl alcohol, then pour the orange soap over the pink layer.
- Take your remaining glycerin soap and melt it. Add a dash of yellow mica powder and 10 drops of Lava Essential Oil Blend and stir.
- Once the orange soap has been set, remove the books from beneath the mold. Spritz it with isopropyl alcohol and add the yellow soap over the orange layer.
- While the yellow layer sets, take your shea butter soap base and cut it in half. You will be using about half of the soap base for this recipe. Store the rest for later use.
- Cut the soap into 1-inch cubes and melt. Add 10 drops of Lava Essential Oil Blend and stir.
- Spritz the yellow soap layer with isopropyl alcohol. Fill each soap cavity the rest of the way with the shea butter soap base. Spritz the soap with isopropyl alcohol to prevent bubbles.
- Once the soap has been set, remove it from the mold and enjoy!
Notes
- *If you have a scale at home, you can instead weigh out 7 oz glycerin soap and 15 oz shea butter soap.
Tips for Making Lava Ombre Soap
Melting Soap
One of the first steps to this recipe is cutting your soap into 1-inch cubes. This helps the soap melt more evenly. It’s easy to overheat soap, so we want to avoid big chunks of soap that will take longer to melt compared to smaller chunks in the same bowl.
You can melt soap on the stove using a double boiler, straight into a pot, or in a liquid measuring cup in the microwave. Using the stove will make it easier to control the temperature of your soap, but it takes longer. Using a microwave will be faster, but microwaves don’t heat things evenly. To melt the soap in the microwave, you’ll need to use 30-second intervals and stir between each interval.
You want your soap to melt but not bubble up. Soap that is boiling has been overheated. It will still function as a soap but will affect the look of your design. The soap bar will be harder and more brittle.
When first starting with melt and pour soap, I recommend melting it on the stove, so you have more control over how it’s melting.
Soap Layers
For this recipe, we will be creating layers of soap. Between each layer of soap, you must spray it with isopropyl alcohol; otherwise, the layers will fall apart.
We’ll use a book to tilt our mold to create diagonal layers of soap. You’ll want your book to be on the smaller side so that your layers aren’t too big.
As you’re laying soap, you’ll want to be mindful of the temperatures of your soap layers. In addition, you need to ensure the soap layer you have just poured is set enough to hold the layer above it.
You’ll know the layer is set enough if you can touch it gently with your finger without the layer breaking.
You’ll also need to make sure the layer of soap isn’t too hot; otherwise, it will melt your previous layer, and you won’t end up with clearly defined layers of soap.
The soap you are about to pour should be between 125-135° F. If you don’t have a thermometer at home to check the temperature, look for a skin layer of soap on top of your soap. This will indicate the soap is cool enough to be poured.
Mica Powder
For this recipe, we are using four different colors of mica powder. You can swap these colors out for any that you’d like. You can also use fewer or more colors depending on your preference.
When you add the mica powder to the soap, it will at first clump. You can prevent this by first dispersing the mica powder in a small amount of rubbing alcohol. You can also remove clumps by stirring.
Glycerin Soap
Simply Earth glycerin soap will be cloudy and white in the packaging. However, once you melt it, it will become clear and will create vibrant semi-transparent soap when we add the mica powder.
Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol is an important ingredient for melt-and-pour soap. Spraying it over layers of soap will prevent air bubbles and help bind layers of soap together.
Lava Essential Oil Blend
This blend of essential oils has a natural orange tint. Because of that, we add it only to the glycerin soap base. We also add mica. We don’t want the color of the essential oil to tint our shea butter soap base. We want our glycerin soap base to be as white as possible.
Reuse Melt & Pour Soap
If you end up with too much soap for your recipe, you can pour the extra soap into a soap mold. This can be remelted and used in later melt-and-pour soap recipes.
If you have too little soap, simply cut and melt more soap.
Check Out This Lava Ombre Soap Recipe Cheat Sheet!
If you’ve seen those gorgeous, multicolored ombre soaps online but had no idea how to make them yourself, your wait is over! Check out this awesome cheat sheet with all the best tips for making your own lava-hued soaps. Be sure to pick up some melt-and-pour soap base, colorants, essential oils, and an interesting mold for a perfectly swirled ombre effect – the DIY possibilities are endless. Don’t worry if this is your first soap-making adventure; follow this Lava Ombre Soap Recipe Cheat Sheet, and you’ll have a gorgeous set of DIY soaps in no time!