Primal Elements Shea Butter Soap Base - Moisturizing Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Base for Crafting and Soap Making, Easy to Cut - 10 Pound

Love this base. I found the lather to be rich and leaves the skin feeling hydrated. I have purchased over 10 times. I tried another brand but had to return it. The other brand had a strange odor. I have found this base to have a very mid scent, allowing for fragrances and essential oils to work with just a little. Holds color well also when I do loafs.

Great soap, base lots of lather customers love it

Wonderful base I have been using this brand for years resulting in creamy soap with rich thick lather and very cost effective

I make soap for my small business Nevermore Candle House and LOVE this soap base! I didn’t want to use cold process soap because I didn’t want lye in the house with my small kids and this soap base was an amazing and safe alternative! It’s so easy to melt down and mix with fragrance and mica powder. The base holds fragrance so well and smells good even without added fragrance! It lathers well and moisturizes skin well and looks so gorgeous when poured into my soap molds. It doesn’t seem to sweat after time and has been very durable and useful. Love this base!

The smell is light and doesn’t have that chemically soap smell! Lather is impeccable. Super easy to work with!

I went back and forth on how I felt about this base. It's finicky- even more finicky than craft store bases I've used. For the price, I can't really complain. I won't purchase the 10lb again, but may give the 5lb a try. I liked it a lot for a creamy sugar scrub mixed with salt, sugar, AO and fragrance. It's been the biggest hit with my male testers - they LOVED it.First off it could've arrived in better condition. Part of the plastic was ripped, and the soap had small patches of transfer/discoloration, maybe from improper storage? They were only surface deep and I scraped them off, but still annoying. It was also one of the sweatiest bases I've tried right out of the package. I had to wash my hands twice while cutting it into 2.5lb blocks. I thought of returning it, but figured I'd give it a try.I hate posting the photos attached because they're some of my ugliest work, but I couldn't get this soap to work well for multiple layers until like 5lbs in, and even then, it could be better. I'd stick with two or three layers max, and probably just the shea. It layers MUCH better with itself than it does with my clear base.The pink rose soap actually "seized" toward the end, probably from being microwaved so many times. I've never had that happen with MP (or CP, knock on wood). It bubbled and was so thick it congealed. A little almond oil mostly fixed that and allowed me to finish but messed up my color and pattern scheme due to the extra time i had to take to fix it, and not wanting to risk more additives in terms of mica. Even once I fixed it, and liberal sprays of alcohol, the layers came apart and had to be glued back together.I use fragrance around 3% (1% vanilla stabilizer if needed, unnecessary in rose but used in red and white peppermint soap), and usually 1/2tsp mica per pound of base, dispersed in almond oil or 91% alcohol. I'm careful not to exceed 5% of total additives with this base. I tried white kaolin clay, but because the base is so white, it turned it gray and despite vigorous stirring and dispersing in AO first, the clay clumped up.I tried layers again, this time with half being a different brands clear base. It went well at first, but this base just doesn't like to be reheated more than two or three times max. It also scorches VERY easily. For over a pound of soap, I had to microwave two or three minutes, but after the first minute I had to take it out every 5-10 seconds to stir, or it would boil and turn rubbery.Microwaving the layers individually does work marginally better, but I much prefer weighing my mold and pouring from a large batch. It's more time consuming to color and scent 6 or 7 cups, as opposed to 2. For this base, I have switched to melting and working with each individually, but make sure you have everything weighed ahead of time. If the layer gets too cool, your next layer won't adhere well.It also developed little white chunks everytime i use it, no matter how hot or cold the base is, which I've also never had happen in MP (CP yes) - untethered shea butter maybe? I haven't noticed the chunks much in the final product, but they are annoying. It hardens rather quickly as well. Adding room temp FO nearly sets it in the pitcher, so you have to work quickly.It works okay for swirling/color blending, but I haven't tried with more than two colors due to the issues I had with the base. Now that I know it's quirks - if it stays reasonably priced, I may order 5lbs at a time for my creamy sugar scrub or simpler designs. I haven't tried whipping it, and likely won't. I don't think it would turn out well.I will say, it feels soft and lathers well. If it's not lathering, you probably scorched it on accident. It holds scent well. It takes my amazon purchased cosmetic grade mica powder well, which is nice - I can save the pricier mica for CP.I love that the base is SLS, cruelty, and paraben free, but I'm curious about the thiosulfqte. I use sodium thiosulfate in my homemade color stabilizer for vanillin containing FOs, but I wonder if that isn't necessary with this base? If that's the case, the company should add that it's vanilla stable and up to what percentage - that's a huge selling point for serious soap makers, and would save a bit of money on color stabilizers, even if my homemade one is pretty cheap.Overall , at its current price under $4/lb. it's a decent product if you know what to expect. I'll use the remaining portion for scrubs and single color soaps, and end up giving most of the layered ones away or selling as "seconds."

Very nice product feels good quality is great

I was skeptical at first when i saw some of the reviews, but I just lost my job and so handmade Christmas presents it is. I consider myself pretty crafty but have only used melt and pour a few times in the past due to the fact it is pricey. When i came across this listing, it was less expensive than the other brands and had so-so reviews, but i am on a budget so i decided to go for it. I am so glad i did, because it is super easy to work with, literally microwave for 30 seconds, then 10 second bursts until melted. Just make sure to stir between bursts. It holds fragrance really well and lathers really nicely. I had to hold back a bar of each of the bars i made for myself. I did make some coffee ones but the grounds all sank and i added the fragrance too soon and the smell went wonky so i tossed those (totally user error), but the botanicals did really well. Most floated which gives a lovely look at the back of the bar, but a good portion stayed put throughout the bar. Exactly the look i was going for. Will for sure be buying again.