Chocolate Pumpkin Soap

I wanted to participate in Brambleberry's Soap Swap. The idea was to make 12 bars of soap using any of their fragrance oils and then send them in. The team there would swap them around and send you other people's soap to try. I so want to try other people's so I planned out some soap using their dark chocolate and pumpkin pie oils that I purchased last year to make a gift for a friend. I also wanted to play with layers, not swirls, and a cocoa powder line.

So, I planned my soap. I would use olive, coconut, palm, and sunflower oils. I would scent the whole thing with the dark chocolate and pumpkin pie oils. Now, they both contain a little vanilla, so I knew my soap would slowly get darker. My plan was to mix a little titanium dioxide into some of the soap, so it wouldn't get as dark. Then, I had the brilliant idea to add some pumpkin puree, mainly because I had just a little left over from my last batch of pumpkin spice soap. I figured, I could mix that into the titanium dioxide.

I premixed my titanium dioxide and pumpkin, plus a little olive oil so it wasn't clumpy. I premeasured my fragrance oils. I lined my trusty mold and I was set. I blended my soap to light trace, scented it and then poured about half into the mold. I tapped my mold on the counter top to even it out. Oops, I forgot to measure out some cocoa powder! Oh well, I scoop some out and sprinkle it over the soap. I mix my titanium dioxide and pumpkin puree into the leftover soap and pour the soap into the mold. I poured it onto a spatula to keep it in a nice layer over the top. Then, I used said spatula to even out the told because the soap had gotten a little thick.

This is a few of the bars. Overall, I am happy with it. They smell great and you can see that they are already getting darker. A few lessons for next time though:

1. The cocoa powder needs to be sifted to prevent clumps of cocoa in between the layers.
2. Mix the pumpkin puree into the entire batch of soap or use less. My top layer looks a little spongy, but hopefully will harden nicely.
3. Start the whole thing at a much earlier trace. You can see that my top layer was a little thick and heavy, so my layers are wavy, not flat. 

Still, happy with effect. I wish I had gotten this done earlier because they won't be cured before Dec. 3rd to send in for the Soap Swap, but I had such a good plan, I just had to go ahead with it.

What do you think? Any other tips for making layers or a little line in there?