Work in a well-ventilated area away from kids and wear gloves, goggles, long sleeves and if needed, a mask.

Use a digital scale to measure out all your ingredients.

Pour the water into a heat-resistant container.

Add the lye to the water. Stir the lye into the water slowly until it dissolves. Take care on this part as the chemical reaction will cause it to heat up quickly (avoid splashing on your skin or breathing in the fumes)

Melt the coconut oil with the olive oil in a small saucepan on medium-low heat.

Once the oils are melted, allow them to cool down to 100 degrees before mixing with the lye water.

Slowly add the lye/water mixture to the oils, a little at a time (again, being careful!)

Place the immersion blender in the middle of the bowl at the base. Pulse for several seconds, then quickly swirl with the blender switched off. Repeat until it comes to a trace.

Be careful to prevent it from splashing as it will burn the skin. This will take a couple of minutes. You will know it’s the right consistency when the soap from the blender drips and pools up at the top of the soap in the saucepan. This is known as the ‘trace’. 

Finally, add the essential oils and mix them quickly with the immersion blender.

Separate the soap into two containers and stir in the brown oxide pigment into one of them.

Fill half of each mold with the two separate containers.

Swirl the soap with a toothpick

Allow the soap to harden in the molds for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.