Wellington soap maker Janelle Frappell wins top prize at GoatFest in Tasmania

Ms Frappell said she learned about GoatFest - an annual festival held at the Longford Showgrounds in Tasmania - on social media and thought the goats milk soap competition could be a good way to get some recognition for her work.

"I had sort of been looking for some validation for my soaps - I know how good they are but I just wanted to put my soaps up against others and see how they went, so I posted them over," she said.

"The day of the competition came and went and I didn't hear anything so I thought 'oh well, maybe next time'. The next day I decided to check their Facebook page and I saw a photo of a big ribbon with my frangipani goat's milk soap."

Ms Frappell sent five soaps over to Tasmania to be judged and ended up winning six awards including best overall exhibit for her sunrise-inspired frangipani soap, a result she said she was "pretty chuffed" with.

"I was really excited and amazed that I actually won, it was a really good feeling," she said.

"I make a lot of soaps from the one recipe and the main difference is just the fragrance and the colours that go into them. But I actually won with a couple of different recipes - all my own recipes - which is good."

This is the first competition Ms Frappel - who has been making soap since 2016 - has entered any of her soaps in.

In the scented soap category Ms Frappel won both first and second prize for her frangipani and lavender goats milk soaps. Judges also deemed her black raspberry vanilla soap to be the best in the decorated category and her 'luxurious' and honey and oatmeal soaps took out first and third in the botanicals category respectively.

Wanting to cut back on waste, Ms Frappel initially started making soap for just herself and her family. When she started posting her creations on Facebook, she was inundated with messages from locals wanting to give her soap a try.

Now, Ms Frappell is a familiar face at the Dubbo Rotunda Markets where she regularly has a stall selling her soaps, shampoo and conditioner bars, bath bombs and succulents.

"I get good reviews from the public and I have some very good customers - there are quite a few that will buy 20 at a time. Once they try it they usually come back and buy more," she said.

"The soap you buy at the supermarket are mass produced and sometimes they take the glycerine out of the soap and sell that as a different product. Whereas with our handmade soaps you get everything that went into it.

"Natural, handmade soaps are so much better for your skin than the commercial ones."

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