dandytea88

I'm sorry to hear this as well  I also didn't know her very well, but she was always so kind and had great tips for newbies such as myself. 

Hi all! I'm hoping someone could help me with something that has been stuck in my brain lately!  I'm currently trying out making cyclomethicone dry oil sprays and have been doing tons of research on which carrier oils I want to use based on their skin benefits, shelf life, etc. The problem is that I have 5 or 6 I want to use and can't decide on just one, so I thought about creating a mixture of them all (and then add that to the cyclo). Is 5 or 6 too many different carrier oils to blend into an "oil base" of sorts?

All the oils have a pretty stable shelf life (2 years or more) but I've never created a definitive "oil" that I'd like to use with my bath & body experiments across the board. I have read that there is the caution that if there's a skin reaction, it will be difficult to identify the troublemaker. Any advice?  Oh, and sorry if this is in the wrong forum!

My top favorites have been Fragrance Buddy and The Flaming Candle though there's many I'm a fan of too. I've been going through all my scents to see how they smell once the FO dries and Rustic Escentuals (though I've always liked them) has really surprised me with scents that were icky out of the bottle when I first smelled them.

I agree with Candybee's post From what I've researched, when you're ready to sell, it's good to decide if you want to go the LLC route or the Sole Proprietor route so you know exactly what you'll need to take care of depending on what business model works best for you. You will need insurance though regardless of which you choose! Too, you can see if your state has any tax rules on SP or LLC companies? In California (where I live) from what I've seen, though LLC provides more protection if you get into legal trouble, it's possible you could have to pay an annual tax of around $800.

But the legal stuff can be scary! Rules can vary too if you are in the city or county only in some places (such as Sacramento, where I am) so it's good to double check and take your time For example, I almost would have had to pay for a Home Occupation Permit (which is a little less than $200) if I hadn't researched this stuff carefully. Turns out, since I'm not in the "city" of Sacramento, I didn't need one!

As a designer, I have to give a nod to Photoshop I might be in the minority, but when I'm making labels, I like to design them in PS and print them on full-size label sheets and cut them individually myself (I put a border around the each label design). I get in between 15-20 labels printed on one 8.5"-11" sheet. Though it's much simpler I will admit to just peel the labels off when you're done printing and voila!  *hee hee* Avery templates just never work when I've tried them in the past (I think it doesn't like me! )

Yup! Maybe I will try to contact them  Thanks you guys! It's super helpful when they are already posted, so I started to buy from suppliers that has them available but I've been trying to contact VA Candle Supply too about their IFRA % but it hasn't gone too well  

Hello all! Has anyone ever contacted AI about IFRA guidelines? I've ordered from them before but stopped when I noticed they didn't have specific usage percentages listed on the website. They are getting ready to have a sale tomorrow (March 5th) and wouldn't mind picking some FOs up but wanted to ask y'all first

I know I'm a bit late to the party but major congratulations!! 

Hiya!

Yup I'd like to go with plastic ones myself As much as I'm uncertain about ordering again from Bulk Apothecary, they seem to have some of the best prices on jars and lids. I really want to purchase them but don't want to sit and count through 100 pieces to make sure my order is correct. Then again, that could happen with any company!

I don't make candles myself, but I wanted to say thanks and give kudos to puma52 for posting this so other candle makers are aware of these "findings" that seems to be (If I'm understanding correctly) leaving the consumers out there misinformed about what's in their candles. Could an air purifier be used if one had such concerns? My MIL has chemical sensitivity and has a floor purifier and one that hangs around her neck. Seems to be sufficient for her since she knows it's impossible/unrealistic to avoid all chemicals out there.

I think I'd rather take my chances and breathe in air from the scent of a lovely smelling candle then say, my daughter's poopy diaper Any mommy whose kid had a blowout knows exactly where I'm coming from! Heehee!

54 minutes ago, chuck_35550 said:

The palm issue is a nasty can of worms. Its not a simple issue for most people. I understand that the natives make money by mowing down jungle and planting palm trees, which destroys not only the homes of wildlife but creates a problem with the ecosystem. You have to look at this from the perspective of how large a footprint does procuring raw materials make on the planet. Certainly drilling for oil makes a huge print but does breathing paraffin fumes pose a greater health risk than breathing soy fumes? Human activity in general, creates problems for the environment and its an honorable thing to respect nature, but gee whizz. Some animal was harmed in the making of any of this stuff, either accidentally or on purpose; so ease up. Whether it comes out of a beaver anus or a downed banana tree, you just can't avoid leaving that human footprint. KWIM?

Yep! I understand where you're coming from. I had never known about this kind of stuff until recently when I really got deeper into the hobby. A couple of kindle books on candle making brought up the decision to use/not use palm and had no clue why until I looked it up. It's interesting to read the different viewpoints on the whole ballpark of animal cruelty as it relates to candle/lotion making  

48 minutes ago, chuck_35550 said:

Does cruelty free walk hand in hand with all natural? Kind of looks like that "our products are all natural" so maybe that was thrown into the automatic thinking of people who only eat pine cones.

I hope I'm correct in my understanding, maybe someone could help! From what I've briefly read about Palm Oil (for example), it is an all natural, non-animal byproduct but it's production "seems" to be a big reason for the endangerment of orangutans in the rain forest because their homes are being destroyed so more Palm plantations can be created. In that way, I think that it can be thought that all natural isn't always cruelty free per se. I know the folks here are more experienced with this stuff so if I'm wrong they can chime in 

And yup, I also agree with CS that they probably meant ingredients that are products from animals, like lanolin I think is a big one because it comes from sheep wool.

Ones that came to my mind is Aztec's Gummy Bears and Bitter Creek's Gummy Bears. They aren't my favorites, only because they're (to me) big the sweet citrus note so they would probably work great for lime or orange jello If you want something IMHO that's more fresh and citrus(y) with less sweetness I'd go with the scent Fruit Slices.

Thank you both a bunch! I hadn't thought about some of the points you guys mentioned. I think I will reconsider and purchase jars instead. That too makes it easier to have a small/big size when the time comes because there's a variety of sizes low profile jars in particular come in. I do want the whole package to look lovely  At least the soufflé cups didn't cost much at all out of pocket  I'll just use them for other things, like keeping my daughter's snacks from falling to the bottom of my purse *heehee*

Hi all  I plan to sell primarily body butters when I launch my business and I purchased some plastic soufflé cups (2oz) with lids from Amazon as well as some shrink bags to seal them up. I got to thinking though, is it better to spend more money out of the gate on the packaging?

I got to thinking that the quality of my product should be better than the packaging but there are only so many sizes soufflé cups come in and I want to have a small size and a big size, very similar to how The Body Shop sells theirs in a mini size and normal size.  Would it be best to stick with the plastic cups/lids until I know if I'll be successful or exclusively use the plastic cups in different sizes because they are affordable and well, they seem like they'll work fine.

Nice to meet you Just2BHappy! I'm a NorCal gal myself

Hi there!

Hope I have this right  I'm posting from my tablet! In the reply box, there is an icon that looks like this: "

Its next to the <> symbol and interlocking chain icon. I clicked it and it opened a quote box. Hope that helps!

I know I'm a bit late to the party but I'm happy to hear that your decision has made you happier about the situation. I have an almost 4 year old and whenever I'm going through my FO's, I never ever let her get too close because I know there's quite the chemicals in there. I hold the bottle cap in my hand and have her sniff without touching it and gives me her toddler seal of approval. As a first time mom, I'm still constantly surprised at the crazy things that happens to kids/what they get themselves into!

I'm sorry he was such a jerk! My husband and I were just talking about how it sucks when others have to suffer because of a person's negligent behavior.  I think you handled it really well!

My picks are Fragrance Buddy's Birthday Cake and The Flaming Candle Birthday Cake I've tried Birthday Cake from A LOT of places, it's the first FO I ever bought. It is one of my top 3 favorite scents ever and flavors of food to eat (Blue Bunny Birthday Cake Ice Cream anyone?) and for me, BC seems to be a pretty good scent no matter where I've bought it from (AI, TFC, FB, JS, RE, VACS). Some have more of the frosting smell and others more cake smell naturally but still yummy nonetheless.

3 hours ago, grama said:

Guess I am the odd ball! lol  I have an Ink jet Epson R260 Photo Printer that I love.  Prints labels and pictures very good.  I have never owned anything but Epsons.  I learned a long time ago to use nothing but Epson color/black cartridges.

Not at all!  I don't know very much about Epson products but if they've consistently worked for you, that's totally awesome! 

I haven't directly contacted them but I have been on their site the past two or three days, preparing for an order and was able to log in okay  I know about a week ago, FB and ICS were down (they use the same kind of online store) and I couldn't get in but it's seems back to normal. Hope you're able to get to your account!

On February 16, 2016 at 6:24 PM, PalmettoWaxWorks said:

We donate a lot of candles and melts to local charities.  While it may not make any direct sales, it is a really good talking point when doing events in the community.  Gives people a warm fuzzy feeling.  There is also a lot of research that shows millenia have almost come to expect some variation of a charitable component to companies that they do business with.

Thats interesting! I had read something similar about donating items/proceeds to a local charity. Like you mentioned, it gets you noticed and even if it doesn't really bring in sales, you'll be noted for the wonderful work you've been doing in your community, which is always awesome. When I read it, it got me to thinking of charities I could help out with that resonate with the mission of my business once I get officially launched

14 hours ago, Candybee said:

It's an HP Deskjet 1512. I print my candle labels on white photo gloss labels from Labels by the Sheet. They come out great. Get lots of compliments on my labels. I use a lot of color in my labels. Doing color labels eats a lot of color ink so be prepared to buy extra ink. Having an account at Staples helps as I use all the discounts through them I can.

I second the HP  I actually have the HP Deskjet 1510 and I love it! Nowadays, you can get both color/black ink for about $25-$30 on Amazon or EBay brand new (I just bought some about a month ago). I think the cartridges (at least for me) lasted quite a while compared to other printers I've had. I used to have a Canon Pixma but when I put a generic ink cartridge in there, it would no longer print