Our Story
I am Janelle. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunty and grandmother. I live in a beautiful country town called Wellington in Central West NSW, where I was born fifty something years ago. Growing up, my family lived on a property on the Dunedoo Road, 12 kms from town. I have only had three years living away from Wellington, working at the Westpac Bank in Coonabarabran and Dunedoo, before I married a Wellington local and we moved into town. We now have two beautiful adult children and five amazing grandchildren, some who also live in Wellington.
My working life I haven’t really had many different jobs although they have been varied. When I start something I stick with it! I’ve been a banker (12 years), a tourist officer, a book keeper, a family day care educator (14 1/2 years), a preschool director (2 years) and now I create luxury bath products, including soaps, and I also work at our Before and After School Care / Vacation Care in my spare time!
I’m a true country bumpkin. I don’t mind a short visit to the city, but I really love coming home. I guess I’m a home body. I’ve spent so much time working at home on my own – probably 20 of the last 22 years. Lucky I enjoy my own company.
I’m a pretty bad golfer, but I keep turning up, even though every week after a couple of holes, I wonder why 😂😂. Someone’s gotta come last hey! I love to kayak but rarely get it out of the shed. Next week!
I’m not a girly girl – I’ve never had a manicure or a pedicure, I rarely wear makeup and don’t do high heels. I have my own relaxed and comfortable style of dress that often involves joggers or thongs. And I hate shopping – yes, any type of shopping, except Bunnings shopping lol.
I love succulents, all things aqua or teal, pasta, I wish I drank coffee but it’s tea for me, and I’m also gluten free. You so don’t want to be me! 🤷♀️ I drive the same car to markets I used for childcare, and I love it – yep, still driving it lol!
My favourite thing in the world is spending time with my beautiful family that I love with all my heart. These are the things that matter, and I try and spend time, even though we’re now spread apart. 💕💕🥰
WHY DID I START MAKING SOAP?
I loved lemongrass soap. Not the store bought stuff, but the handmade variety, however it was not available whenever I went to the markets. I even asked my Mum who was a stallholder, if she could check if I couldn’t get there, but alas, still no handmade soap. So i decided to try and make some myself. I bought a kit and I read and read and read the instructions. The process terrified me – all those safety warnings about dealing with lye (AKA caustic soda). It took me ages to actually get up the courage and feel confident enough to make my first batch of lavender soap, which was moulded in butter containers. My next batch was my beloved lemongrass. These batches were shared with family, who loved them. I think we all noticed the difference my handmade soap made to our skin.
MY SOAP MAKING JOURNEY
I was at a crossroads in my life and feeling a bit lost. Left my job with no real plans on where to from here. And I was out of handmade soap. With my family loving my soaps so much, I posted on social media what I was doing, and there was a lot of interest amongst my friends and community. So I decided to make up some soaps to sell on my Mum’s market stall, and you know what, everyone loved them! I’ve been making cold process soap as a business since the beginning of 2016. I spent time formulating and testing my own luxurious soap recipes, and over the years I’ve tweaked them until I’m really happy with them. I have a lot of happy and repeat customers who love them too.
SO WHERE DID SUCCULENTS COME IN?
It was at this same time my interest in succulents peaked – because I had a pallet around the side of the house lol. I chopped up the pallet, made some little wooden planter boxes and filled them with succulents. Hence Janelle’s Soaps and Succulents was born!
WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT MY LUXURY HANDMADE SOAPS?
I use a range of luxury ingredients formulated together to create soaps that are gently cleansing, have a beautiful skin feel, and leave your skin soft and supple.
My soap bars are conditioning, nourishing, bubbly, long-lasting, they feel nice on your skin, are a nice size to hold, and they smell and look nice. It takes time to get it to a point where you think “This is it!” but I think I’m there. And all soaps are not created equal.
I have won various awards for the last three years at GoatFest Tasmania for some of my goats milk soaps, taking out BEST EXHIBIT in 2023 (Frangipani Goats Milk Soap) and 2025 (Japanese Cherry Blossom Goats Milk Soap)
I have expanded my product line and I make several different sizes of soap, including Soap on a Rope and Tree of Life Soaps, and also a cute range of Children’s Soaps. I also create the most amazing range of solid Shampoo and Conditioner Bars that people are loving, as well as bath bombs, reed diffusers and sugar scrub soap bars.
Although my soaps make beautifully scented decor items, they are made for you to use and enjoy in the bath and/or shower.
Indulge yourself. You know you want to!
WHY DO I CREATE LUXURY HANDMADE SOAPS AND PRODUCTS?
Two reasons: It helps to relieve my stress and because I love making it! And when you make something so beautiful for your skin, you just have to share it. Making my soaps and products has a soothing effect for me. I’m a very nervous person and get stressed a lot. Being creative in this way seems to help. That’s how my business began!
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