Candybee

Next year I hope to start taking credit again. Had to drop it for a while. Anyway, when I do I already decided to use Square and the reason is I prefer the money to go directly into my account. Also, I used to have a merchant account and even thou the % rate is cheaper with a merchant account the monthly merchant fees add up but the money is in your account within 24 hrs. I also once tried a Paypal account for a while and hated it so I dropped it after less than a year. Also, the money goes into your Paypal account and not your bank account. You have to physically do that and it takes several days. Not good. Maybe its changed lately but its still won't be good enough as far as I am concerned. Paypal has a long way to go to be a good merchant.

Ditto what Vicky said. When I get treated badly by customer service I make sure management knows what was said to me. I'd write them or call and ask to speak to the manager. It could be an employee they have been having prior problems with. Happens. If you don't get satisfaction let mgr know you are leaving.

Okay. Now I remember those. They look like little rocks. If you do craft shows like me I would take them with me to my next craft show. Just bag them up and let your customers take them if they want. At least it doens't cost you anything and you know someone else will enjoy them.

Is that a new scent MO has? Will check it out. So I guess you don't care for frank & myrrh either? This batch of soap gelled last night and this morning its cooled down and even the color is lighter although it did discolor to a medium tannish red the color of a clay pot. I can really smell the witches brew and amber. I can't yet distinguish between the amber and frank. I wonder if they just compliment each other so well. Anyways, its a very sultry, sensuous, earthy, patch type scent that I could picture Mata Hari wearing as a perfume. Its beautiful.

Oh! That is pretty! Glad you can still use it. Its too pretty to waste.

I still love Rice Flower and Shea. BW has the one I use. So delicate and pretty. I used to like Cherry Blossom but now can't find one that isn't cloyingly sweet.

I used my frank today. I was mixing some leftover patch blends and needed a bit more scent for my batch so I added the frank. OMG it smells good! I ended up using 1 part SPL Patch Amber, 1 part MW Witches Brew, 1.5 parts Peaks Patchouli, and .25 part Frank EO. Sort of a hodgepodge of patch, spices, amber and more patch with the frank rounding it out. Will wait and see how it cures. I just wanted to get an idea of how much to use and what it smells like blended. I am liking it. I think I want to try mixing it next time with some orange and more patch.

The only cranberry I have found that I like is CS Cranberry Marmalade. Its strong in candles and has the right combo of sweet and tart with great spice notes. I mix it with orange for a cranberry orange spice.

I use it in palm but have used it in parsoy and its strong. However, I am not a big pecan pie fan and prefer CS Carmalized Pralines to pecan pie any day. Yowzer its strong and so delishous smelling you want to drink it out of the bottle.

My top sellers are CS Lavender and Honeysuckle Jasmine followed by Fillmore's Tuberose & Jasmine and Daffodil.

7Pawz-- I'm sorry about hijacking your thread. I really do like your chunk soap. It reminds me about the first time I ever saw it. It was at a craft show and they made theirs in a white base instead of the clear. The chunks were pink colored and look wonderful in the soap. Made the soap look so creamy like yogurt with fruit in it. I like chunky soap both ways in clear and in an opaque base.

I use CS Pecan Pie.

I only do rosemary mint in my CP and just use rosemary and spearmint EOs. That way I can blend them to my preference. The EOs smell awesome in CP. Have not tried them in wax.

I second Peaks Purely Peppermint for a strong peppermint. I like to mix mine with a little vanilla and creme brulee for a peppermint cream.

Is it usable? Can you rebatch? Or is it fried?!!

Oh I love the thieves blend. My head is reeling from all the suggestions! Not sure what I am going to do with the frank yet but I like some of the ideas I am hearing. I do have a little 5x orange but unfortunately it fades. So I guess I will have to wait until I can get some more EOs or just try the tangerine. I thought I bought grapefruit but can't find it so I guess I didn't get it.

I didn't like patch either when I first smelled it. Its a scent I hated way back in the 60's that I wanted to forget. But after using honey patch I started getting acclimated I guess. Anyway, for me it was an acquired taste. Another scent that used to make me gag was Nag Champa. Agian it took me a couple years to acquire a taste for the scent. Now I like it.... within limitations... but I do like it now.

Well thank you for clarifiying that Dave! I thought I was going crazy. I can see that the goat milk base carried by C&S and CW are the same. I am not going to check out all the bases as I trust they are all from the same company. I was checking the clear bases and both are definitely different as were the NG bases. Just so we are clear those from NG are definitely different bases from C&S. In that case I am glad that CW is carrying them as they are very nice bases. Can't vouch for the clear base as that is not one I have tried but I do know the ultra clear from C&S is very nice.

Well you can check on both Candlewic, C&S, and NG's websites and clearly see the ingredients listed are not the same. Packaging for many M&P bases look identical to others so I can understand how you might make that assumption. You have to pay attention to the actual ingredients listed and also the order in which they are listed. What I have seen they are not the same. I do like the ingredients listed for the NG bases and they have an SLS free version which is a nice option. They don't carry a basic white which is a shame. From what I have read I would definitely sample the NG bases.

Its been a while since I used the bases from Candlewic. But the ones I did use are not anything like the Canadian bases I got from C&S. My opinion was they are of poor quality and I only purchased them on an extremely limited basis. So has Candlewic switched to the Canadian bases and are you sure about that because my experience was much different when I used to buy them. Okay I just went to both sites and compared the ingredients listing for the clear base. It is definitely not the same base. The key ingredients like coconut oil and liquid vegetable glycerine that make the Canadian bases so great are missing in Candlewic's clear base. They are subbing those ingredients with more chemicals instead of the easily obtained and inexpensive natural ingredients. It looks like the coconut base may be the same but I would double check if it were me buying. Those seemingly small changes or substitutes can make the difference between a good base and a mediocre base.

I think they look great just the way they are. I like that you added your tagline into your labels. It always looks better to be consistent and your tagline stresses what the company is about or what it stands for. I can also picture them on the kraft brown labels and they will look really good. Which brown kraft labels are you using? I like the more traditional kraft brown and the prairie gray/brown labels the best. Labelsbythesheet has examples of several kraft labels.

Oh thank you Moonshine! I remember your posting about your working with EOs for you horse with the skin problems. She/he? turned out beautiful. I may give the combo you suggested a little q-tip test and see if I like. Thanks!!

There are a few so called 'natural' bases because they don't use sls or sles. SFIC is the best known but others like Brambleberry and Essentials by Catalina carries their own brand of natural bases. Personally, my favorite bases of all are the Canadian ones sold at C&S. They are super sudsy and you can throw anything and everything in them and they still lather like a champ. Now that is my kind of M&P base where I can add oils, milks, butters, herbs, etc. to it in substantial amounts. Problem though is they always tend to be out of the base I need so I switched to the Chemistry Store bases as my backup. They carry the Stephensons bases which are very nice. Neither the Canadian or the Stephenson are sls free thou if that bothers you. But thats why they lather so wonderfully!!

No Autumn Embers? Does anyone have a sample they can send PFO for duping? It sounds like a prebuy sale. If they get good response they may keep some permanently?

I love the look of chunky M&P. That is pretty!