Easy Homemade Melt and Pour Soaps: A Modern Guide to Making Custom Creations Using Natural Ingredients & Essential Oils

by Jan Berry

Create Beautiful Herbal Soaps The Safe, Easy & Fast Way

Feel good about pampering yourself with these artisanal soaps featuring natural botanicals, colorants and exfoliants. This comprehensive, beginner-friendly guide to melt-and-pour soapmaking from Jan Berry, author of Simple & Natural Soapmaking , includes 50 inspiring recipes plus design tutorials and a stunning natural colorant gallery. Her method is incredibly easy; all you need to do is melt your soap base, infuse it with healing herbs or flowers, add essential oils and natural colorants, and pour it into a beautiful mold. As soon as your soap is dry, it’s ready to use!

This method is a safe soapmaking technique that doesn’t require handling lye. Plus, because it’s so simple, many projects make for excellent family-friendly crafts. Kids will love helping out with simple soaps like Sunflower Sunshine Bars or playing with Aromatherapy Soap Dough. As you work through the projects, Jan leads you through a variety of techniques step by step. From simple herbal infusions in Wildflower Honey Soap to advanced methods of layering and swirling as in the Ocean Waves Soap, there’s always another project to excite beginner and advanced soapmakers alike. Here, you’ll find all the information and inspiration you need to make soaps that are gentle on your skin and fun to make!

Expand your herbal product collection with these other books in Jan Berry's bestselling
- Simple & Natural Soapmaking
- The Big Book of Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home (coming April 2020, available for pre-order now)

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published November 19, 2019

Reviews

[Wendelle]

This is a very good book with actual recipes and tons of photos that leaves one in awe of the different kinds of craft soaps that can be designed and envisioned.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m ready to make my soap! Such a great book packed with lots of ideas, instructions, tips, and lovely photos.

- Desiree Reads
October 2, 2025

[Jodi Geever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pandemic times have caused me to get crafty. Enter melt-and-pour soap. I was surprised at how many steps there are to the process (spoiler: it's not just melt soap base, pour into molds, add dye powder and scents.) Thankfully there's a "microwave method" for those of us who are afraid of lye *and*afraid of our stoves!

This method will help anyone craft beautiful, spa-quality soaps at home!

[Kyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next time I'll try online pin-board

This is really for people who want to get into soap making in a big way, not for the uncertain apartment dweller who wants a minimalist way of life. I want to cut down on plastic use not homestead or start a soap empire.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Easy Homemade Melt and Pour Soaps: Safe, Simple and All-Natural Creations for the Whole Family” which I received through Goodreads Giveaways is a beautifully illustrated book filled with easy instructions for making herbal soaps.

For a beginner there are simple soaps like "Sunflower Sunshine Bars" to more complex patterns like "Ocean Waves" for the adept crafter. There are 50-plus recipes with pertinent information about each specialty soap followed by instructions/ingredients that are easy to understand and follow. At the end of the book in the “Information Techniques Library” are helpful hints including tips on natural colorants, essential oil properties and other additives. Well-developed, with beautiful illustrations this book is a wonderful resource and a great addition to any interested hobbyist's library.

Loved this book and I'm looking forward to trying out my skill by making one of these herbal soaps as a Christmas gift.

[Kelly Tarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to a crafting hobby; appropriate for adults or older teens. Thoughtful, clear and well-structured. Clear and simple instructions allow anyone to end up with beautiful results. I liked that the book offered both simple (one color in a pre-made mold) projects as well as more complex layered and structured options as crafters progress in skills and confidence. Because these soaps are often given as gifts, a short final chapter with packaging ideas would be nice. Similarly, a more visually appealing chart of mix-and-match color/scent/ingredient ideas would be helpful to encourage newbies to try their hand at custom recipes. Overall a great introduction to this hobby for beginners.

[Patti Triplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked out many books from the library about M&P soaps, and this one was the best of them. Rechecked it put so many times that I decided I just needed to buy it. The recipes are easy to follow. The resources the author provides are fantastic and lengthy. Many essential oil combinations listed, great descriptions of methods of infusion and ways to use herbs or dried fruit for coloring. Great addition to any maker’s library.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to come back to this book when I have more time to dedicate to this.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures, fun ideas, creative projects, and great instructions. I appreciate the emphasis on natural ingredients, too. I hope to try some of these.