Soap and the Finer Things in Life - 5 new articles

Yesterday on Soap Queen... Stenciled Glitter Soap How to Color Glitter I Love Milk and Cookeez - Two Scoops I love Milk and Cookeez Emulsified Scrubbin' to our Elbows More Recent Articles Search Soap and the Finer Things in Life

Here's what you'll need to make this versatile, easy-to-make soap:

Be the only one in your neighborhood with custom colored glitter! It's easy to do and you only need a couple of ingredients! So grab your Iridescent Glitter, Mica and Mini Scoops and get ready to make dazzling glitter in any color of the rainbow!


The concept is super simple. Just combine 1 mini scoop of mica (any color) and 1 tablespoon of iridescent glitter. Mix until fully incorporated.

Above, I made shimmering green glitter using shamrock green mica. I also made a classic yellow glitter using yellow mica. But wait, there's more...

We're baaaaack! Grab your afternoon snack (milk and cookies of course) and enjoy the rest of the Milk and Cookeez interview! See the first half of the interview here!

Anne-Marie: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you like to do when you’re not creating for Milk and Cookeez?

Tammy: When I am not creating I spend time with the fam. I have 3 children, a 10 year old daughter, who I might add is my biggest fan, and 6 year old and 2 year old boys. They keep me grounded and focused. I enjoy volunteering my time with my daughter’s Cheerleading Squad and gardening.

Anne-Marie: What is your favorite thing about running your own business?

Tammy: I love making people smile. I also love knowing that I am giving them a high quality bath and body product that doesn’t just look fun it is really good for you. I also enjoy knowing that I make the decisions on what products I use and what I can neglect to offer, it goes along with the Type A thing.

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the cutest website called Milk and Cookeez. I was so enamored with the cuteness factor that I bought some goodies that (thankfully!) came in the mail shortly after my splurge for practically instant gratification. I was so enamored with my purchases that I contacted Tammy (the owner) and she graciously agreed to a Soap Queen Interview. Yesssss!

Anne-Marie: Is this a full time or part business (or just a fun hobby)?

Tammy: I would have to say, it’s a full time job with part time pay. Having 2 websites, a blog, and keeping up with social media definitely takes time. Then adding in production, designing, and product sourcing- it takes at least 40 hours a week. I love every minute of it though and wouldn’t change a thing.


Anne-Marie: I love your website! Do you have any other outlets?

Tammy: Right now we are mainly focused on the website. In a few weeks I will be doing my first ever Holiday Boutique. I am anxiously awaiting my first real step at working in a shop. I also sell my products wholesale across the USA. Right now I sell my cupcakez in a local cupcake shop, a few different products in a All Girl Spa in NJ, a Gift shop in Laguna Beach, CA, and a pet spa in WI (it’s a people line).

Anne-Marie: Your bath cupcakez, cookeez and soaps are so detailed! How do you have time for it all? What type of things do you outsource?

Tammy: Thank you for the compliment. I adore details. To me details make or break products, whether they are bath and body, home décor, or fashion. Details are necessary. I must say that as I have grown and become more comfortable with what I do and learned a lot more, I have really added to my products.

As far as outsourcing, I don’t. It’s a bit of a “Type A” thing. I like control. Right now I am working with a wonderful Cold Process Soap Artist, Kristy from Kristy’s Lovely Lathers. She has designed and made my newest line, Sweeteez. Sweeteez is Milk and Cookeez self proclaimed, Signature fragrance. I make the “coordinating products” while Kristy makes the most luscious and beautiful, Sweeteez, Cold Processed Goats Milk Soap.

Anne-Marie: I loved your tub taffy and cookeez! How long did it take you to perfect these recipes and the look you were going for? I used the tub taffy the other night and felt super moisturized when I got out of the tub.

Tammy: Thank you again. Cookeez took awhile. As I mentioned before, I’m not a baker, so I had a few "not so good" batches before I perfected the recipes for all of the cookeez. I love the tub taffy. While it is a very monotonous task to make it, I love what it does for skin. Olive butter is a fantastic butter and I don’t ever see myself changing this recipe. It works so well and is so good for dry skin.

The look that I like is a bit of vintage, with a fun, whimsical feeling. I like to think back to things that I liked as a kid and bring them out in my work. The cookeez are packaged just like a bag of cookeez. I even buy my bags from a local Cake and Candy shop. The tub taffy is reminiscent of a day at the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I have fond memories of watching the taffy puller make all of the luscious salt water taffy then making a small bag of my favorite kinds (my favorite being Neapolitan).

Anne-Marie: Tell us about your new Ice Cream and Clean Bath Shoppe!

Tammy: Ice Cream and Clean is a “Cool division of Milk and Cookeez”. All of the products that are sold at Ice Cream and Clean are of a “cool” nature. We sell our beloved Scoopz and have now added a Scoopz on a Cone option. You can choose from 3 different soap cone fragrances to enhance your tub soak. They are a true bath experience; you can get “Ice Cream and Clean”. We also carry a wide variety of Soapylove’s Soapy Pops and our own Soapopz, which are our take on Soap pops. Finally, we offer Icy Slushy Scrubs, a combination of organic cane sugar, Mango & Shea Butter, and Melt and Pour Soap. They are individual sized mini Ice cubes that clean, scrub, and moisturize all in one. Ice Cream and Clean follows the same ideals as Milk and Cookeez: Yummy fun for you and your tub.

I had an AWESOME Saturday at Otion. I was there all day working with Julie from a lavender farm in Sequim, Washington. Though she is already one busy lady, getting her Masters in Horticulture and running her farm and burgeoning toiletries business, she has big plans. Rather than experimenting with recipes for the next year, she decided to get all her questions answered with a custom designed day, including recipes already figured out, at Otion.

Here was the schedule of the day:

9:30 start (lay of the land, coffee, bath rooms)

9:45 – 11:30 – Advanced Lotion with Whipped Butter (includes preserving and shelf life)

11:30 – 11:45 – break

11:45 to 12:45 – lip balms/lipsticks (4 different recipes)

12:45 – 1:15 lunch delivered from Old World Deli

1:15 – 2:15 – Body Scrub (three emulsified scrub recipes)

2:15– 3:15– Soy container candles

3:15 - 4:00 - Bath fizzies

4:00 break

4:15 – 5:15 – Spritzers & follow up questions

5:30 End

We jammed all of that into the day and Julie left with a huge pile of goodies by the end of the day between all the recipes we made. And most importantly, she now has a stable of successful recipes to turn to when expanding her line.

Julie was super smart and brought a store bought lotion that she loved. We dissected the ingredients and created something similar both in feel and performance. It was fun to make similar recipes with and without IPM to feel the difference in slip and feel. We also played with the addition of talc to reduce oiliness in the oh-so-rich body butters.

We made lip balms and lipsticks. We had lots of fun experimenting with manly-man type lip balm flavors and ideas. Julie is a huge fan of unrefined hemp oil so we spent some time talking about the tradeoff with the unrefined hemp versus shorter shelf life for products.

We had a delicious lunch delivered by Erik, the Otion Store manager, from Old World Deli. I got my typical (homemade pickled onions, with fontina cheese & spinach, grilled to perfection) and Julie had a delicious chicken pesto sandwich.

Then we were back in the thick of things (literally!) with emulsified sugar and salt scrubs. We made a variety of recipes and discussed the pros and cons of each. It was fascinating to see how much salt and sugar needed to be added to get any sort of legit 'scrubbiness' to the products.

We did have one small mishap. The emulsifying wax/oils/stearic acid mixture spilled a bit on our protective paper towel. We didn't think much of it and kept using the microwave until we smelled smoke. Whoops! The oil/wax combo coupled with the dry paper towel caught fire in the microwave. That was quite a surprise and we put out the (small) fire quickly, marveling at the strange occurrence and vowing clean up thoroughly after each and every spill from here on out.

Then, with barely a pause, it was back to the races to finish the busy learning schedule with bath fizzies, candles and making body spritzers (Polysorbate 20 is your friend for body spritzers). We did take a quick break to run across the street for donuts for a late afternoon pick-me-up. We were both pretty tired but satisfied when 5:30 rolled around.

Thanks for a fun day, Julie!