A Few Things
I'll be making a "sister site" to sell the Llama soaps, and possibly
in the future some other items developed as a collaboration between
Lorelei and myself. I got my wholesaler status from Glory Bee Foods, so
now I can order melt-n-pour soap base that's actually *real soap* made
from *real oils* without any of the chemical surfactants and such. It's
a bit more expensive, but worth it to me. Technically I could produce
my own glycerine base at home but it's a major hassle. MAJOR hassle.
I'd have to charge more for the glycerine than I do for the castile
soaps, and it wouldn't be very moisturizing because if you add much
extra oil in the bar it won't be transparent. And since people are used
to being able to get glycerine soap for cheap, they'd never understand
why I was charging so much and it would just be a big ol' fireball of
Not Working Out.
So then. Yep.
In other news, alright, alright, okay! I get it! I won't get rid of the Yuzu stuff. I'll put it back! Okay? Happy? Yeesh.
This is precipitated not only by customers being disappointed but also
because Lorelei had a meltdown at the thought of no longer having the
Yuzu. So, I'll be putting it back up.
I've reworked the Jasmine
fragrance yet again, after wearing my Jasmine scent on one arm and a
mixture of Jasminum Grandiflora and Jasminum Sambac floral waxes on the
other arm for several days. It needed a soft, sweet, green leafy,
chlorophyll hit to it, and I had to find just the right "green" accord
to do that. It's pretty close now. It's so close in the beginning and a
couple of hours in that my guinea pigs couldn't tell which was which,
although my version is more tenacious and complex after several hours
than the natural waxes are.
And I've actually ordered my very
first tea fragrance. Black Keemun Tea, which smells just like a fresh
pitcher of brewed black tea with a fresh-squeezed lemon and honey. This
is unusual for me because I don't generally like tea fragrances.
There's always some strange odor that reminds me of metal, or of fresh
fish scales, or perhaps of fresh blood. Alternately, sometimes they
smell vaguely like fresh urine to me. But I was able to wear this for
several hours without any of the off-odors appearing. I'm going to
swirl it with plain old black tea leaves, finely ground. Eventually.
Now
we move on to the Massage Oils on my site. I was plugging things into
Quickbooks this morning and studying the results, and I realized that
I've been giving away the massage oils practically at cost. Seriously,
the bottles themselves cost almost a dollar apiece, and because I use a
mixture of many different special oils in the formula to help with
viscosity and skin absorption and emolliency, A gallon of that stuff
costs me about $60 to make. A gallon will fill about 13 bottles, which
at $5 a bottle is only $65. I'm not even factoring in the almost-dollar
for the bottles, the shipping costs to get the bottles, the cost of
labels and ink, the fragrance oils used in them, or anything else.
So...an eight ounce bottle of body oil is quite a lot of product,
anyway. I'm going to raise it to $10 a bottle. But because I hate to
raise prices on people, I'm also going to start including hemp, illipe
and babassu oils in the formula. It'll be even more luxurious than it
was before, and the hemp will make it so much more skin-penetrating and
moisture-drawing.
I'm thinking about other products, too,
although I'm frustrated about this because until I finally get into a
workshop I really don't have room for more products. But I know how to
make a DHC-like Skin Cleansing Oil that is water-soluble...using the
two side by side, I can't tell any difference at all. I'd like to offer
that, because it freakin' ROCKS for taking off makeup and dissolving
pore gunk. I've also figured out the "beestung" lip treatment thing, so
I'm getting some roll-on bottles to make up a bit of that. Been using
it myself and the tingle is barely there, but the lips respond.
Actually, with the bit of peppermint oil added in, you have to really
concentrate hard to notice any sort of tingle. So I think it will be a
pleasant, comfortable lip plumper that won't make sensitive people get
blotchy from the nose down like some of the lip venoms I've tried that
are too intense. Someday might even offer a super-hit version that's
stronger for people who need more or who just like to feel the tingle
that tells them it's working.
I may get into hydrosols too,
once I have room. I like to use them myself, so that would be good to
be able to offer to others. It's great to spray them on before
moisturizer, something good to seal into the skin with a thin layer of
EVOO or whatever you use. It's also great for setting makeup. I use the
mineral makeup and it definitely makes a difference in how long my
makeup stays put if I spray a little hydrosol on to set it when I'm
done.
We lost the house on Edgewood. Went under contract
elsewhere before we could get our revised offer in. Oh well. I'll
return to focusing on closing on that other place, the shed/workshop.
Hopefully it won't be much longer. I really, REALLY need more room.
Good god.
10:24:00 AM 
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