Spellkast

I ove the one from Peak's. It's strong and throws really well in my wax

It's not neccessary to have a contract for wholesale, but I like to cover my butt- PLUS, I like to feel all high and mighty and professional...LOL! If you send me your e-mail address, I can email it to you (provided you have publisher.) It's super simple and just states basic things...plus, I also like having the person's signature on file (just in case I need a new pair of shoes..hahaha!)

In my business though, I just got a website with an online shopping cart that automatically tells the people how much shipping is. Now this thing is usually WAAAAYYYY off, and so I wait until I get the box packed up and get a stamp on it BEFORE I charge their credit card. I think it's a *little* more time consuming, but certainly more honest. I'm sure Cierra didn't do this on purpose to generate bad business, but it is certainly something that should have been caught, ESPECIALLY since Sabrina had already emailed them and brought the matter to their attention (the 10 1 oz. bottles should NOT weight 3 lbs, unless they're also packing the box with a brick or two.) So, they knew she was unhappy with the rate quoted, and you would think they would have stopped the package before it went out and checked it against what she was charged, especially since we're not just talking a dollar or two!I wouldn't be so angry if I hadn't had major customer service issues with that company a couple of times before...makes me mad when nice people are taken advantage of.

Unbelievable!!! I knew they were ripping you off! I hope they refund you that money right away! At least it didn't take forever to get there, though!! :embarasse Ya know, I'm always so excited to get my stuff, I never even LOOK at the postage rate on the labels!!! Maybe I should start doing that! Thank you for bringing that to our attention and I'm never ordering from them again if they don't refund that $$ to you!

Hi Gretchen! I have two ways of doing it. One is if I contacted the person, I give them my retail brochure to look over and a sample or two, and if they like it, I have a contract and a simple sheet stating my prices for each item, a quantity minimum and suggested retail price. Then I also have a catalog I send out to people who have requested it. It looks exactly like my retail brochure, but says wholesale brochure and at the bottom of the item's description, I list the wholesale price, the suggested retail price and the minimum. Also, you mentioned you don't want to get ripped off with a website, if you were serious about getting one, you should contact prairieannie on this board, or go to geekoasis.com. They did my website, was far from a rip off, did a great job and are wonderful to work with. Also, Stacysscentsations(dh) also has built websites for a few members on the board and from what I've seen have done great work. Neither of them would rip you off, I can assure you of that. So, anyway, good luck in your venture!!

I have NEVER seen or been asked for 8 oz. wedding favors...doesn't mean they don't exist, but most people want something small for two reasons: expense, and space. Since weddings are so outrageously expensive anyway, they tend to want smaller items that are less costly- so votives are the majority when it comes to candles, or little organza bags with tarts. Also since most tables are packed with the centerpiece and about 6000 utensils and giant plates and such, there isn't much room for an 8 oz. candle. Has someone requested that you make wedding favors for them? Hell, if they asked for 8 oz. candles, make 'em!!! That'd be a great profit for ya!! But generally, the most popular are votives, in my experience.

I haven't gotten mine yet I've been waiting so very impatiently, too!!!!

IMO, you've got the right idea. The goat's milk has better lather whereas the shea base is more moisturizing. If you mix them both together, you could have one kick butt bar of soap! TLC made some soap for the M&P swap that was a mix of I believe, oatmeal, goat milk and honey bases and it is seriously the best M&P I've ever tried. Or like mystical suggested, you could save the extra money and just experiment with some clear or opaque M&P. You could add your own goat's milk, shea and castor to regular M&P and make an even bigger kick butt bar of soap! I've never tried the shaving soap base, so I can't help ya there...but the shea and goat's milk are both great on their own and would probably be fantastic together!

I think it's cute- it'll grab their attention and definitely add some more contact info if you're selling your stuff yet. You could get a TON of repeat business from this, and you want people to be able to contact you...ya know though, doesn't seem like a very lucky mouse with two hungry kitties sitting there.

Have you tried candellila wax (sp?) I've never used it, but I've heard it mentioned on the board for people who would prefer not to use beeswax. The only place I can remember for sure that carries it is WSP. HTH! Oh, and Hawaiian sun posted a wonderful recipe a while back- I think it was under "non-greasy lotion bar recipe." You could probably sub that wax for the beeswax.

You tell them...or they won't know about it. Either you risk coming off sounding pushy and actually make some sales, or you don't say anything at all and worry that you've lost some sales. In order to run your own business, you HAVE to be good at marketing and if you're not able to tell people about your business without sounding like you're begging for sales, than maybe owning your own business is not a smart move- or you can hire a sales person to do the dirty work for you.

I like the WVS from Alabaster and Tony's. Both are really strong to me, unlike some other's I've tried (ICS, SOS, WSP, JS) I think Tony's is more true to BBW's though. HTH!

LOL...I poured some out into a cup and lo and behold- you're right! Little metal shavings! Can't I market it as an exfoliating bar of soap?

Dose anyone know if these drano kitchen crystals are ALL lye? The back says caution contains lye (and that's exactly what red devil says) and the guy working at ace hardware when I asked for lye said that this was what I was looking for- but it looks different- totally different- from red devil...has anyone used this in soap?

Yeah, that's a small amount of oil for hard butters like that. I've found that with the harder butters, you need the same amount of oil as your butters (so 8 oz. butters, 8 oz. oils.) It also will be very greasy because it's butters and oils, but it should soak in fairly quickly since FCO is a lighter oil. If you want a less greasy body butter, you could try adding some water, a preservative and some e-wax...there's a GREAT recipe in the recipes section for bunny's bootilicious body butter (or something along those lines.) If you've got all the 60 ingredients it calls for then you could try making that. It's more like a really nice, non greasy cream. Also, the corn starch does help cut down on the greasy feeling a little bit, but adding too much will cause the recipe to be grainy feeling. And since body butter is for INTENSIVE moisturizing, yours is just fine! HTH!

I've found that since AXE is so darn cheap- it's actually less expensive to buy the actual product than to make it from scratch (once you factor in everything.) My Brother in law loves this stuff and it just wasn't worth it to make it for him

well, I broke down and spent the million dollars on the stuff from sweetcakes- I've never smelled the real perfume, so I won't have any idea if it's dead on or not, but I trust you guys! Now after buying the stuff, I'm debating adding it to my line...hmmmm, decisions, decisions! Thanks everyone!

I've re-used some lip balm tubes for myself and I re-fill them for people once the product runs out. I just twist it all the way to the top and melt it in the microwave- then I quickly take it out and wipe it with a paper towel. If that doesn't get it all out, I boil some water and pour it in there to melt and flush out the rest. It works pretty well, but I usually do about 20-30 tubes at once so I'm not wasting my time on one stinkin' tube. It'd be more cost effective for me to throw the darn thing away! HTH! It IS possible- just a question of which is more valuable to you: your product you paid money on or your time.

I searched for amazing grace, but nothing came up about the best dupe- was it titled differently perhaps?

I got a special order for some things scented with Amazing Grace- I know sweetcakes sells it- is it dead on? Is there a better one out there? This is for a really good customer who is accustomes to my scents smelling as close to the real thing as possible so any help or suggestions would be soooo very appreciated!!! Thanks!

Well, I left my lye water out for two days (I ran out of Coconut oil) and when I went to use it, it had formed these caked on crystal like thingies that would NOT blend back into the water. I got fed up and soaped with it anyway, hoping the blender would hit it and work it's magic- but the soap traced SUPER fast (which is odd for this recipe and FO) so I suggest you use it within 24 hours.

CHAI TEA!! You HAVE to get that one!! Silky V Vanilla Banana Nut Bread Girl's Night Out Tropical Vanilla Paradise Cranberry Orange Oxygen China Rain Watermelon Mama's Blueberry Cobbler Just a few

I think Mystical named some of the absolute best suppliers out there- except she's missing Peaks!! And if you want to try out the soap dish or the whisk, they are other boards like this one...I just found out about them a week or so ago and they have some great information on there..also, you should check out the scent review board and scent forum- they'll help a lot when deciding which oils to try from which suppliers (some even list how they hold up in CP, which is great!) http://www.soapdishforum.com/forum/ http://www.the-whisk.us/forum/index.php http://www.scentforum.com/fsr/suppliers.php http://www.grandscentral.com/ http://scentreviewboard.obisoap.ca/index.php?sid=0305e7edaae2c81189818a400ff14bd6 http://www.thescentreview.com/ That should keep ya busy for a while!! Don't forget to actually get up from the computer to make stuff though...that's my main problem! Have fun!

I'd steer completely clear of royal aromatics if you want your products within THREE MONTHS! I'd go with SOS (Save on Scents) instead. Almost all of the perfume/cologne dupes I've gotten from them have been totally dead on accurate and they ship incredibly fast. They are a bit more pricey- but they're worth it, IMO.

I hate to admit it, but I used to use BBW's stuff :embarasse It was before I knew about this world, though. And anyway, I've found that I like the stuff from WSP MORE than BBW because you really can load it up with FO and it stays super thick. Plus, you only need such a small amount to get great lather (or bubbles.) It works even BETTER than their bubble bath and all of my customers agree wholeheartedly. It creates MUCH more bubbleage (stealing bunny's word) and the scent's stronger (at least with how much I put in.) As for their body spray, try some cyclomethicone- feels exactly the same to me. There's a co-op going on for it right now!