This lavender oatmeal soap is soothing and calming for your skin. And any recipe that uses my garden-grown lavender rates especially high in my books! Using melt and pour, this recipe is super easy to make for beginner soap makers.
Lavender is my favourite ingredient, especially when it comes to natural beauty recipes, a slight addiction which can be seen in a simple search for lavender crafts. But along with being one of my favourite scents, dried lavender buds make this soap as beautiful to look at as it feels when you lather up.
To make this soap as a gift for holiday gift-giving or for someone special, make it in cupcake moulds and then wrap it in a cupcake wrapper.
Who wouldn’t want to get a lavender oatmeal soap cupcake as a gift? I can imagine even the burliest person out there would want to suds up with these!
This post will cover…
- How to Make Lavender Oatmeal Soap Cupcakes
- Materials
- Make It!
- Lavender Soap FAQ
- More Soap Recipes to Try
How to Make Lavender Oatmeal Soap Cupcakes
Making these lavender oatmeal soap cupcakes can work with both cold process recipes and with melt and pour. If you choose to make cold process soap, please follow the recipes and the instructions in this article on how to make cold process soap. Cold-process soap is my go-to skincare bar, but it does take a long time and a lot of equipment to make.
Today, I’ll demonstrate a speedier soap-making project using melt and pour soap. Melt and pour soap kits are very easy to work with and simply require you to cut up the block into cubes, melt it, add your scents, and pour it into moulds.
Materials
- Silicone cupcake mold for 12
- Heatproof container
- Microwave
- 1 kg / 2 lbs oatmeal melt and pour soap base
- 1 tsp lavender essential oil
- 1-2 tbsp dried lavender buds
- Cupcake liners (optional)
Make It!
The melt and pour soap base should come as a block and have a list of the ingredients. You can choose from a number of different formulations, such as glycerin soap, milk soap, and fat and/or butter-based soaps.
I chose a natural soap base that had shea butter and oatmeal in it. If you would like to add oatmeal separately, then grind a few teaspoons of organic oats and add them to the melted mixture when you add the lavender buds.
Use a sharp knife to cut your soap base into 1-inch cubes or smaller. Put the cubes in a heatproof container like a Pyrex measuring cup and put that in the microwave.
Melt the soap base on medium-high in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Stop the microwave occasionally and check the soap base. It should be melting but not steaming. Take the soap base out of the microwave before it’s completely melted and use a metal spoon to stir it until it has no lumps.
Add one teaspoon of lavender essential oil and 1-2 tablespoons of dried lavender buds.
Stir the ingredients well and pour the soap into silicone cupcake moulds. I chose a cupcake mould that was quite tall, but I only filled each cupcake section halfway so that the soap was a nice, manageable size when finished.
Add a few extra lavender buds on the top of the soap if you think it needs it, and allow the soap to dry undisturbed for at least an hour. When the soap is hard, you can unmold it and use it right away or wrap it up for gifts.
A simple parchment paper cupcake liner makes a great wrapper for these lavender oatmeal soap cupcakes. I like the natural look of parchment paper, but you can use any cupcake liner that you think would add to the presentation. Use a bit of garden twine to tie it up, and if you have a stem of lavender, add that as well.
Lavender Soap FAQ
Use dried lavender buds only. Fresh lavender buds are more likely to spoil in the soap and may turn brown or mould.
English lavender is typically used for crafting since it holds its colour and scent well. Some of my favourite varieties for crafting include Purple Bouquet, Royal Purple, and Folgate lavender.
Yes, the lavender buds will eventually turn brown after a few months. To prevent this, you can add some purple dye to the soap so the brown discolouration doesn’t show as much. I like to use ratanjot as a natural deep purple colour, and if you add it as a swirl it will work with the brown and lavender buds. You can also try swapping the lavender buds for centaurea (cornflower) petals.
For more beautiful recipes inspired by the garden, pick up a copy of my Natural Beauty Recipe Book. It comes as an instant download that is filled with 5 chapters of over 40 natural beauty recipes for the whole family.
More Soap Recipes to Try
- Exquisite Botanical Soap that Cleanly Preserves the Garden
- A Sweet Homemade Honeycomb Soap Recipe
- Handmade Sea Sponge Soap Bars
- Fresh and Woodsy Winter Forest Soap
A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.
Does this recipe only yield 12? Looking at doing this for a shower favours, just trying to determine how much I’ll need.
Hi Taylor, yes, it makes 12.
Taylor & Stephanie,
For my baby shower this weekend: I used the “mini silicone muffin” molds and ended up making about 26 mini soaps from this recipe. I coupled them with two DIY lavender shower disks in an organza bag with a little note saying “From Michelle’s Shower To Yours” and they turned out adorable. I can’t wait to give my guests these favors!! Thank you, Stephanie!
Michelle! That sounds so cute! Thank you for sharing. I would love to see a photo if you have one to share. my email is hello (at) gardentherapy (dot) ca
Can you use your soaps that day or the day after you make them? I found so many soap recipes that say you have to let them sit for 4-6 weeks, to get all the water completely out.
Hi Tanya, yes, with this melt and pour recipe you can use them right away. All of the projects in my Melt and Pour soap book (Good Clean Fun) can also be used immediately. You have to let Cold and Hot Process soap cure for 4-6 weeks but not Melt and Pour. Have fun!
Hi, can I use Shea butter melt and pour base instead of oatmeal melt and pour?
absolutely!
Hi what’s the shelf life for this? Thank you
The shelf life will be the same as on the package of soap. Over time, though, the lavender will start to bleed into the soap. So if you want to store them for a long time, omit the lavender buds.
The shelf life will be the same as on the package of soap. Over time, though, the lavender will start to bleed into the soap. So if you want to store them for a long time, omit the lavender buds.
I was wondering if you can use Castile bar soap instead of the oatmeal base soap
It has to be a melt and pour soap base, specifically for making melt and pour soap, but you can use any type of melt and pour soap base. So if there is an olive oil one on the market, that would work. I haven’t seen one though. Regular Castille bar soap will not melt unfortunately.