elle110

There are some people who believe it can be a cause of skin cancer but no real data has been established on this. I for one do not put it in my products and I think it is over used as a cheap filler, also, I don't like the way it lays on my skin disallowing moisturizers to penetrate the skin. Elle

My first thought was why don't you superfat with it, I have been toying around with superfatting my coffee soap with it

Umm, maybe, but I don't know how it could be enough to prevent mold, I would be terrified that it was going to get "yuckies" in it. I have tried the creme, it is ok, but I am just dumbfounded on the preservative thing LOL Michelle

http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10751&storeId=10101&productId=10185&langId=-1&categoryId=&showSubCategory=yes Hopefully it worked, I added the page to the beeswax & banana cream, just click on ingredients once there Thanks

Ok, I was on Burts Bees site and happened to look at their Beeswax and Banana hand creme, it says it is 100 % natural, it has water and aloe which would get mold right? How could they make a cream w/o a preservative with these 2 ingredients? I was always under the impression that if you added water to your lotion/creme you needed one TIA Michelle

They are beautiful, where did you get those baskets, they are awesome, I will have to say that this one place I am lacking, since I hate traditional type of baskets!!!

For fun I went to WSP to see what shipping would be for 2 cases of wax to N. KY (where I live) it was $36.00. They are about 4 hours away from me. I order from them a lot, I think there prices are HIGH but I have not had to much problem with shipping cost. One thing I DO love about them is they ship so fast, I can literally put an order in on Monday morning and have it by Tuesday afternoon, one reason, obviously is bcz I live so close. I have had good customer service as well, but I think they need to lower some of their cost, esp on FO and EO

I have only added powdered goat milk at this point but am going to experiment with liquid the winter, my ??? is when you guys are adding cream, do you mean heavy cream? and what is the benefit? is it similar to goat milk? Elle

I did my last show 2 weekends ago. I was impressed with sales this year. I am in agreeance with Robin, people seemed very free with their money. My sales were up tremendously per show. Their were several I did for the first time and some of those were ones I did the most sales. My shows averaged $1500, 3 of them were over $2200 and a couple were only around $800, I normally like to do at least $2100 for a 2 day show or half that for one day. I will give the two smaller ones a try again next year as they were easy indoor shows with short hours. My top seller continues to be my lotion bars and soap, I sold about 600 lotion bars since October (this was the beginning of my holiday season) and am still getting online orders for them. My most popular fragrance is Pink Sugar in lotion bars. Eucalyptus Mint in soap but Patchouli, Lemongrass sage and Blooming Tulips are not far behind. I did try some new marketing strategies that worked. I was already displaying my soaps in big tin buckets in bulk style bare naked and I started displaying my bath salts that way as well, kind of like a candy store, we do prebag some beforehand but people love that bulk look. My bath salt sales were already high but jumped even higher. I also go my website in May so I have tried some different things promoting it. In January I plan on tweeking my baby line as i have a friend who reps some highend shoes, clothing etc to highend baby boutiques and has offered to rep my products as\t a small commission only when an actual contract is signed. She already has a very good business relationship with these stores and will provide a very unique opportunity for me. Also I plan on marketing the you know what out of my lotion bars since they are obviously a very profitable item for me. I am going to have a very professional display made etc and start marketing them to stores. I live in a 5 minutes from 2 downtowns and also have a huge college community near me with very unique stores that pride themselves in carrying unique but useable items (does that make sense) So anyway, it has been a good year, I have not closed my books yet so I do not know exactly where we are at but I am pleased. I am looking forward ot promoting the heck out of my business at the beginning of the year and maybe hire a part-time person to help me. Whew, sorry so long Elle

I sell mine naked at shows etc, transport each fragrance in totes that hold about 40 soaps. They do not crumble, they breathe and like being naked LOL I have also done a lot of research, people LOVE the natural look, I market my soaps and bombs that way. When I am at a show people flock to my products where there might be another soaper who has everything neatly packaged and they will hardly have any customers. So I say scrap the shrink wrap, save some $$$ and SELL some soap Elle

Oh, Lavender Lemon sounds yummy and intriguing, will have to give it a whirl

get in your yellow pages and look for chemical companys, most of them have it and will sell it to you in bulk, some won't due to liability etc. but the 2nd one I tried did Elle

What would be some good essential oils to put in a hand & cuticle balm, I think I want lavender in there but what else would be good? Elle

Personally, I like them unbeveled and that saves you extra work

Isn't that the truth, I can't believe how much of my hard earned profits I have been giving Red Devil, they did me a huge favor discontinuing, made me get off my butt and find it in bulk

How about Strawberries & Champagne (B&BW) dupe, I call mine Berries & champagne, smells so good, well, good enough to drink LOL

I order form them regularly and their service has been nothing but stellar!

People do love the x for $ idea, I sell my soaps for $5 a bar or 5 for $20, the lotion bars are $6 or 3 for $15, Also, a great marketing technique is to never offer a even number of product, such as 4 candles for a certain price, always offer uneven numbers, it is more intriging (spelling) for some reason to the brain....

OMG, I know what you mean, I also test every bar, my shower is a JOKE

I display mine naked and wrap as purchased in tissue, I just go small labels with just my biz name and website address to hold ends together. When I send order via an order on the site, I either shrink wrap it or wrap in tissue, I cannot stand the idea of sending it without something on it. Packaging is an issue for me as well as I like the naked look at shows but want my company info on the bar plus I think if someone is giving as a gift they would not give it just unwrapped. I guess someday I will figure it all outLOL

there is a place called chase molds that does custom molds, I can't find the website right now, I will keep looking elle **The loafs are very cool, I wanted to do a breast cancer ribbon loaf, I wanted my embed to be a tube in a pink ribbon, could not find one so I used a ribbon cookie cutter and actually made a little log of soap and then took the cutter and sliced it down the log to create the ribbon, It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. LOL I should have just made cookie cutter slices and made individual bars but once I get something in my head I have to do it

I pm'd ya!!!!!

PE has a designer make millions of tube molds for their soaps, they are awesome, I have done some in the past but nothing like theirs, some of theirs is so intricate that I cannot believe someone can get them out like that. Almost every design is a tube molds, except for the very small flakes etc they use as accent. Can you imagine, some scenes are several tubes of soap and positioned just perfectly. I have bought theirs in the past just to see how much work goes into each loaf, they must have some very loyal people putting those loafs together LOL Elle

If you get the 24 # soap blocks from WSP you get a price break and doesn't make the shipping seem so high

Mine are finally hard, just took this batch a couple of days. They are a PITA even when you have a good recipe and know what you are doing. I have a TON of respect for kristineshowers, she makes a ton of them Elle