School has begun, the temperatures are starting to fall, and pumpkin pie spice everything has arrived. I have a recipe for homemade soap that is perfect for fall. The fall essential oil blends remind you of bright-colored leaves, crisp mornings, and a spicy aroma that reminds you of fall.
Today, I’ll show you how to capture that perfect blend of these fall scents into homemade honey glycerin fall scented soap.
Never made homemade soap before? That’s okay. This version is a lot easier than you might think!
What You’ll Need for this Easy Melt & Pour Fall Season Soap:
(affiliate links)
2 lb block of Our Earth’s Secrets Honey Glycerin Soap Base – this is enough for 12 bars
Orange Essential Oil (I personally love Rocky Mountain oils because you can order them directly from their site without the additional cost to work with a middle man (aka. essential oil distributer). But any pure essential oil brands will give you the best results. Don’t use cheap oils that are strictly rated for aromatherapy as they may contain too much alcohol which dilutes them!)
1/4 cup Ground Walnut Shells
2 cup glass measuring cup (Pyrex is my favorite)
burlap ribbon, twine, and cinnamon sticks
This recipe makes 12 bars.
I like this particular soap base because it’s the perfect color for a fall scent.
Plus, it has grade A honey in it!! It is also natural with no harsh chemicals. Combine this with essential oils and walnut shells, you have a natural, toxic free soap that doesn’t contain harsher ingredients like you’ll find in the cheaper soaps from the store!
I also like that this soap base is a product of the USA!
For this fall scent essential oil recipe, I combined 3 essential oils – Clove Bud, Cinnamon Leaf (cinnamon bark will also work) and Sweet Orange. I have Aura Cacia oils pictured above because I used these or Young Living oils before I discovered Rocky Mountail oils. Again, any pure essential oil will work for this homemade soap making!)
What’s nice about making your own melt & pour soaps is that you can create your own custom scents. I particularly like this combo for this time of year.
But if you have other oils on hand that emulate autumn air – like vanilla, sandalwood, patchouli, ginger or frankincense – you can mix and match and create different versions of fall scented soap. See some specific essential oil blend recipes you can use at the bottom of this post!
When you order your honey glycerin soap, it will come in 2 – 1lb blocks. I make my soap in 2 different batches, because my Pyrex measuring cup can only fit one pound at a time.
Start by taking one of your 1lb blocks of soap and cut it into cubes. This soap is very easy to cut with a sharp knife. Place the cubes into your Pyrex measuring cup.
Microwave it in 30 second intervals, stirring each time. This is what mine looked like after one minute.
After another 30 seconds, it was almost all melted, but not quite.
One more 30 second zap and the soap is 100% liquefied. I then added 1/4 cup of crushed walnut shells.
(My 7 year old loved helping me pour in the ingredients!) Adding crushed walnut shells really is optional, but I love adding them for both texture and exfoliating purposes when using the soap. If you want your soap smooth, you can leave this step out.
For my fall scent oil combo, I used 20 drops of orange essential oil, 10 drops of clove, and 10 drops of cinnamon oil. If you like your soap to be really potent smelling, then I’d double the drops of essential oil for this fall blend.
Here is the liquid honey glycerin soap with the walnut shells and essential oils well mixed.
Next you will want to pour it into the silicone mold. 1 lb of soap base makes 6 bars. So after you make 2 batches, your 12 soap molds will be full.
One trick you can do to get rid of the bubbles that form on top of the soap as you pour is to spray them with a half and half mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water. Give it just one or two sprays and the bubbles disappear so you’ll have a nice smooth bottom as it hardens.
Wait a few hours for your soap to cool and harden, and you can pop it out of the mold. You can see that most of the walnut shells sunk to the bottom – which is nice because you have one side of the soap that will be specifically for exfoliation.
I added some burlap ribbon, some twine, and a small stick of cinnamon for the perfect DIY gift idea! Now that school has begun, I’m sure teachers would just adore a bar of this as a back to school gift idea! (ADD LINK)
You can also print out these free soap labels to wrap around soap for gifts. Just fill out the form below and the PDF will come to your inbox where you can print.
These homemade soap bars give off the smell of fall and also contain essential oils that not only help wash your hands but can also boost your immune system. Fall is a wonderful season, but it’s also the time when colds like to pop up. This seasonal scent is the perfect combination of pure essential oils that are great at keeping germs at bay. So wash your hands often, and use this soap as a better way to stay healthy!
Feel free to create your own blends and share them in the comments below!
These soaps would also make a lovely favor for your friends and family invited to your Thanksgiving dinner feast! If you are looking for the lowest turkey prices of the season, then go here for the local turkey price deals.
Want to learn how to make more homemade soaps? Check out my other Easy Melt & Pour soap recipes like Lavender and Lemon Poppy Seed!
Anna McMullen says
What a beautiful looking soap. It looks easy enough to make for Christmas gifts. What a great idea. Thank you for sharing how to do this.
faith says
would love to make this
Maura says
Faith – it’s totally worth it and fun! Go for it!
Dawn says
Sorry, though this sounds like a wonderful recipe, but with having to buy all the ingredients and the mold to form the bars, this would cost $3.66 a bar to make a batch of soap. Being on a fixed income I am afraid I cannot justify the cost for something I may not like.
Maura says
yes – the initial costs are high. But if you continue making this soap year after year and as gifts, costs go down!!
Marge says
This sound like an interesting gift.
Where would I get the moods and ingrediances?
Cyndi Fullen says
Just saw this on Hometalk! Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for making it look so easy!
Rise Bourland says
You don’t have to buy store molds. Use a Pringles can (washed of course), milk carton, tuna cans, just about anything. That will save some money. I really love making soap. And if you really get into it, make enough soap to sell.
Leigh Anne says
Where do you recommend buying the soap ingredients from?
Debbie says
This soap looks beautiful but I would be really concerned about the rough walnut shells and the cinnamon essential oil. Cinnamon essential oil is very irritating and can cause rashes, especially for children. How did you find the soap to use?
Paula Almeida says
I’m also into melt & pour soapmaking and your ideas are very good. Your soaps look gorgeous and professional, so you could sell them as well. I live in Africa so Ihave to be extra careful due to the humidity so that soaps dont get sticky. Also, I buy all ingredients from South Africa and they are not so cheap, especially when it involves essential oils. Few people realize the cost of good natural soaps but I manage to sell quite a lot by Xmas. All the best to you
Maura says
Thank you Paula! Good natural soap is expensive indeed! Best of luck to you and your business as well!
Jessica says
If you are concerned about the roughness of the texture, or the cinnamon EO, try a different Melt & Pour soap recipe. Any EO can be harmful if you don’t properly dilute it (citrus?). Sub in granulated sugar for an exfoliate, try lavender, which you can find growing almost anywhere, or can grow it yourself for less than $3 from a starter plant at your local nursery or Home Depot. You can get the soap base at a larger craft store when they have a 40-50% coupon too.
Ann says
I luv this idea for fall gifts! Great post. Pinned! I’d luv to invite you to share it with us at Wall to Wall DIY Wednesday, which runs thru Mondays!! Best, Ann
Maura says
THANK YOU Ann!!
Marie says
How wonderful would this scent be to wake up to every Fall morning in the shower? Would make wonderful gifts too. Pinned 🙂
Maura says
Thank you so much Marie!