Indulge yourself in Chocolate Mocha Mint Soap

The comfort of a hot cup of coffee and rich chocolate is always a welcomed treat. Those that are chocoholics what could be better than bathing in the rich, silky chocolate? The ingredients in this soap are not only decadent but also very beneficial for your skin! See it's a win-win!
I have to admit the first few batches of "chocolate mint" soap I made was okay but not one of my favorites. I used the chocolate mint fragrance oil and the scent was spot on but deep down I knew that the recipe could be improved. So out went the fragrance oil and in came the fresh ingredients, cocoa, freshly ground coffee beans and peppermint essential oil.

Hopefully I captured the 3 layers in the picture I took. If you look closely, you can see that there are two layers of brown and a layer of pinkish brown. The first layer is quit substantial and takes up about 2/3 of the loaf. This first layer has several tablespoons of cocoa that I added to the soap batter before pouring. OMGosh, it turned the prettiest shade of brown, looked just like melted milk chocolate! It was lovely indeed.
The second layer holds the grounded coffee, again I went overboard and put about a cup full into the soap batter. I love coffee in soap, it exfoliates the skin beautifully.
The last layer I added peppermint essential oil which has a wonderful mental and physical stimulation effect.it.

All of these ingredients mixed together smells wonderful. The peppermint is noticed first however the chocolate scent quickly catches up. The coffee produces a subtle undertone that makes you hold the bar to your nose and inhale deeply.

Benefits of Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a skin-friendly ingredient that helps keeping your skin healthy, glowing and just flawless. Dark chocolate hosts a range of potent antioxidants. These antioxidants protect your skin from free radical damage; keeping it soft and supple.

With great sun protection properties, it shields your skin against detrimental UV rays and thus helps preventing conditions like sunburns and skin cancer. Dark chocolate makes an excellent skin-detoxifier in combination with caffeine. It sloughs off the dead skin cells and allows the newly exposed, fresh skin to breathe freely. Stress is a huge beauty bummer. If not checked, it can ruin your entire personality. Dark chocolate boasts wonderful stress-relieving qualities and work wonders in getting you a glowing skin by reducing elevated stress hormones.

Benefits of Coffee

No matter how much we work out—or even how naturally thin we are!—cellulite is something we all struggle with. A coffee scrub, in this case coffee soap, can be immensely helpful in minimizing the appearance of cellulite, as the exfoliation and massage work together to help stimulate blood flow and tighten the skin.
     No surprise here: coffee grounds are the perfect consistency for a great exfoliator. In addition, coffee beans contain caffeic acid, which boosts collagen production. The caffeine in coffee stimulates circulation, which leads to a more radiant, glowing complexion.

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I just hit the highlights on the skin benefits that chocolate and coffee have for your skin.  The cocoa I used for this soap was pure, unsweetened cocoa.  Thank you all for taking the time to read and please enjoy the slide presentation of our newest soap. Comments and questions are welcomed.