Candybee

I started ordering their colorants to replace my POP micas. The colors are wonderful and spot on. I also love their neons. I've ordered from them a couple of times and got fast shipment and no problems. The quality of their colors is excellent for CP just like they say, no morphing, bleeding, or fading.

Yes indeedy! Michdj - I hated patchouli for a long time. It reminded me of the 60's and those musty apartments and the dirty hippies. Don't get me wrong, not hippies in general, I mean the kids that didn't wash, smoked pot all day then burned a cheap patch incense to cover it up! Ick ick ick!!! But when I started doing soap and candles and buying premium oils I got more and more used to patchouli until now I love it. It grows on you. Too bad you don't like it. Its always been one of my top 2 sellers for years.

Oh! Oh! *raises hand* I know I know!! Put some pictures of your products on that board. Maybe a blurb with why your products are so special and maybe pics of you making them or some of your workroom, equipment, etc., to give people an idea of what goes into it and or the process. I also think Dee's ideas are good ones too!

Thanks!!!! I will check out WSP and Brambleberry. Didn't know there was 15 fold. That sounds lovely!

Handcrafted is just fine. When I made M&P soaps I chose to call them handmade. I created my own recipes, color schemes, techniques, and molded them into new soaps from a lump of soap base. I considered that handmade as the finished product was my creation. Its when you start getting into the regulations that govern bath and body products that you really have to be careful. Technically M&P soap is considered a 'cosmetic' and handmade soap from lye is 'soap'. As a cosmetic, you are required to list all the ingredients on the label. This is not required for handmade lye soaps. Go figure. But there are very explicit regulations for each. Go read a box of Dove soap and see they don't call it soap but "Beauty Bar" I think.

You are welcome! Do you burn melts often or occasionally. Has he had any reaction to others or is this the first one he has been exposed to? Remember that melts have a stronger scent throw than most candles. At least in my experience they do. I rarely burn melts anymore except on a holiday as some scents will actually make my housecats sick as in they may vomit. So I learned the hard way that the scent can cause a violent reaction because of their sensitivity. I can see this happening easily to a baby or young child or anyone sensitive to strong scents.

I have some regular and 5x citrus EOs but would like to find some really good 10x lemon and orange ones. Any ideas who carries these? My lemon completely faded so I think a 10x is what I need.. orange too! Also, I just got some litsea cubeba because I read it helps 'anchor' your citrus scents. Since I never used it before what would be the proportion to the other oils I should use to start out with? Also, are there other EOs besides the litsea c. that help 'anchor' a scent?

Interesting. But if you are allergic to coconut does it matter whether that particular protein is present or not? Won't you still be allergic to anything coconut related? In any event, some people, like myself, are sensitive to too much coconut and get dry itchy skin. What worked for me was splitting my coconut oil with PKO at 50/50% so I still had the "fluffy bubbles" without the dry itchy skin. I know too much of either can have that effect but splitting them worked perfect in my case.

Hmmm... I never noticed. But then I never bought candle supplies from WSP, only B&B stuff.

Seriously, I'd stick to 3-4 scents. I tend to go with spa types and herbal blends for bath.

Patch is good too. Or a blend.

I call mine Gingerbread House.

Of course its possible for him to have an allergic or violent reaction to a FO. BTW many FOs do contain EOs but that would not necessarily be the cause. It could just be this particular FO or a particular component of the oil. This FO sounds like one you will just have to do without in any case. Hopefully its just the one.

I use the actual invoice amount with shipping and calculate the average price per oz. Periodically I review the cost the same way to make sure I am accounting for price or shipping increases. Once I saw the real cost per oz I was spending on FO I learned to order more thriftly and stick to the smallest % of FO necessary to scent my candles. If it doesn't scent my candles at 6% (or 1oz pp) I move on to another FO. You simply can't stay in the business if you don't learn to cut costs.

For bubble bath bars definitely lavender, or blend like lavender & chamomile for a soothing bath. An herbal type to relieve stress and achy muscles; an herbal mint blend. Or maybe you could add the dried herbs to the bubble bars and pick a scent that compliments the blend. Something fun and kicky like bubblegum, pink sugar, tooty fruity, etc for the kids (kids of all ages that is!) A nice vanilla maybe like vanilla silk, vanilla amber, vanilla noel, etc. Vanillas just smell so wonderful in B&B products. Any citrus blend for an invigorating, stimulating bath.

mmmm... Mexican Vanilla just sounds so good.

Definitely a Christmas Tree and a Bayberry type. I also sell a lot of Frankincense and Myrrh, gingerbread, and pumpkin types. Also, orange cranberry or orange clove.

Sales have been declining for a couple of years or more. I keep looking at my sales reports for the end of the sales year and I can see that sales have dropped substantially since 2010 on. My sales are 60% less than they were back then. That is a huge drop in overall sales. I closed my website, merchant account, and candle business last year. This past January I reopened as a soap biz but I don't have all the services I used to have and that hurts business too but I can no longer afford to produce both candles and soap and maintain the services I used to have. I still have some good sales from repeat customers. But from one craft show to another its more hit or miss as far as sales go. From what I have seen it is definitely the economy. I have been to large shows where the attendance hasn't dropped and the numbers are huge. But the majority are now looking at stuff and that impulse buying is largely gone. People are very frugal with their money and you can't blame them. I don't know if all the candles and melts on the market have really made that much of an impact but I could be wrong. From what I am seeing at craft shows the candlemakers that used to crowd shows have almost disappeared as well. For example the last one I did should have had about 6-8 candlemaker booths set up. There was 2 plus the small candle display I had. I now make seasonal candles only for the fall and holidays but thats it. Even with the the few candle makers there candle sales were definitely slow. On the other hand I am selling a lot of soap and getting more wholesale accounts. I am actually having a problem making soap fast enough. So soap sales are up but then I am now a soap company so it should be that way. But the overall sales are not what they used to be a few years ago. But I am optomistic that they will start getting better but not for another year or two. Like someone else mentioned, there is still way too much unemployment so people everywhere are not spending the way they used to. Plus, the financial climate is still uncertain and people tend to save during times like these instead of spending on anything except the necessities and the occasional gift or craft item.

On days that I make candles I can't smell anything for a couple of days. Its probably candlenose you have. Leave your melts alone for a few days. Let them cure. Then try them again after about a week. You will notice a big difference.

www.nurturesoapsupplies.com carries the Rainbow micas. They are the replacements for POP micas that TKB used to sell. They also have some interesting neons. TKB Trading is still selling soap colorants too, micas, oxides. I get the oxides and some micas from them. I also use the natural colorants from www.soapmakingresource.com.

I see you have your PKO and CO split. Thats how I deal with coconut is by keeping it low. However, when you add both the PKO and CO together that makes up 30% of your oils. For someone with sensitive and dry skin that can be too much. If I had an allergy or sensitivity to coconut I would cut it out and use either PKO or babassu at anywhere from 15-20%. You can also increase your olive oil and try 5 or 10% avocado and/or sweet almond oil. I use those in my baby soaps as they are very gentle on your skin. Have you tried a simple castile? If you want a gentle soap try 90-95% olive oil and 5-10% castile. I like adding a little SAO to mine at 5%. If you want a castile you can use in 4-6 weeks you can use 75% olive oil, 15% babassu or PKO, 5% castor oil, and 5% SAO. If you want a true castile you use 100% olive oil but you will need to let it cure for at least 6 mos, a year is even better.

I wish you luck Suzy and hope it works out for you! Getting your property copied feels like someone breaking into your home and stealing. It leaves you shocked and feeling violated. I am hoping that at the very least Etsy will require her to take down the copied photos and text and given a stern warning. Whatever happens I do hope it works out for you. No one should have to go through this. I was lucky. I had my first website set up for me professionally. I was shown the copyright features and given good tips for protecting myself and my website property. I just wanted to pass down what I had learned and hope it helps someone or at least makes them think about it.

It may be unavoidable but there are things you can do to protect yourself. Plus, if you don't do things to protect yourself it can have a negative effect on you if you ever end up in court fighting for the right to use your own property. You can write on each page your copyright statement. You can make sure all your photos have a watermark or show your store name. You can trademark your company name & logo (this is standard practice which you should already have done) You can also copyright any or all of your photos, videos, etc. All these things work as proof that you that you took the time, money, and effort into protecting your property, the dates that you did them, and can be used in court to help establish your case. Don't assume because someone can take something from you that there is nothing you can do about it. In your case your were lucky. The person responsible took down your property and apologized for it. But that is not always the case. Think of it this way, would you buy a house or a car and not insure it? Would you not buy health insurance to cover your family and children if you can afford it? You do things to protect your family and property. Your business is also your property and you worked hard for it. Don't let someone steal it from you because you did nothing to protect it.

Same here. Itemized inventory before and after the show. That takes the pressure off writing everything down. When you do get bigger invest in a good cash register that can do the inventory for you. You do have to be on the lookout for shoplifters but often all you can do is be vigilant particularly when you are alone and busy. I don't worry as much about product theft as I do about losing my cashbox. So I keep an eye on it like a hawk. Today's thieves are more apt to walk off with the cashbox and its happening more than ever. Its happened at shows that I've done. Fortunately not to me.

Suzy I notice that the 'copyright' section at the bottom page is only about Etsy's copyright. Is there nowhere on your site any notice that your text, photos, and website content are the copyright of Suzy's Scent Shop? It should be there somewhere. Also, to protect yourself further, get watermarks on your photos or take photos of your products with your company name showing. Also, if you are able to put a code into your pages so that when a photo is right clicked a copyright message comes up I would use that as well.