so-soy

OMG! That IS the most beautiful soap I've ever seen! Wow, you are awesome at making soap! The colors and the swirls are unbelievable! I think your website looks great!

I prefer alphabetically! If you go to sites that have oils listed in categories I hate having to wade through every category to find something. You are put at the discretion of the person filing these oils under whatever categories they decide but what if I'm looking for something and figure it would be under a certain category and I look and its not there so I move on, but in reality it is on the site, just under a different category..see what I mean. Aphabetically for me!

If you like coconut scents, have you tried the Flip Flops from JS yet? That is a wonderful coconut scent with a hint of something tropical in it! No bakery smell at all.

The 'assumption' is going off of her words - "It also list my other ten products which I just added, lol, after working this past week to formulate and test them all." With the words formulate, test and week all in the same sentence it leads one to believe this is exactly what she did! Make and test lotions etc in ONE week! IMO that isn't long enough time even if you are using bases! Also are you familiar with this person? Are you aware of the past postings by her etc??

Ditto what Meredith said...I think it was poor choice of words to say its 'bashing a supplier' if you say their scent didn't throw in your wax...no bashing at all. Everyone knows not every scent will work in every wax, I would rather have someone here tell me they use soy and an oil didn't throw for them no matter what the variables are. I don't like to waste money and I don't think anyone else does either, so most times I will find another oil that gets better reviews but that doesn't mean I won't someday try that oil to see for myself but a 'tip' is just that..a tip! We here know to 'take it for what its worth to you' about reviews! I have also tried many oils where people here absolutely raved about it in soy and it didn't do anything for me, so its both ways...but it certainly isn't bashing!

Everyone here has given you great feedback, but the one thing I would like to ask you is about this one week turnaround on those B&B products. You said you use bases and you made these new products and had them for sale in one weeks time, now how do you get long term testing results if you made them and sell them so fast? Do you know if the fragrance oil you put in it will work? By that I mean, could the oil seperate from the base? Does the scent hold up after time? Does the oil discolor the base after a while? Did you add to much oil? These are all questions that can only be answered by testing products with time! As others have said, you have one shot at customers liking your products, wouldn't you want to know for certain the product they are judging is the best you can produce? All seems a bit to fast for me!

I have the Philosophy Amazing Grace from Fragrance By Design in some lotion right now (its what I've been wearing for the last few days) and it is sooooo good. I love this scent and to have just a couple drops in a face cream would be heaven!

Millcreeks FCG is awesome...sold tons this spring!

Hey that's great you have a 'money tree'...looks like the world of suppliers is at your finger tips! Shipping won't matter then!

Oh boy......well, first find the wax you are interested in using whether its soy or parrafin or a blend, then locate the supplier that is closest to you that carries that type of wax...you will want to buy wax from the closest reputable supplier to save on shipping costs. BCN is a great place to start out with, you can get wax, jars, oils, wicks etc...all of it from them, and they have their own message board where you can ask questions too... I would recommend starting out with container candles. As for giving out testers, I will give some to family or friends to get their opinions but ONLY AFTER I have burned the exact same candle myself. Before you even melt that first pound of wax you will want to make sure you read up on what a proper burning candle should look like etc...you will need to know proper melt pools for your size container and the melt pools will be from proper wicking...as for decorating the containers, well that in my opinion is the least of your worries and about the last thing you should even be concerned with. You are starting from scratch you need to give yourself plenty of time time and more time to get this going. Yes you may want to try and locate a money tree for the back yard...you are going to need it! This is definitely NOT a cheap business to get into and it will be along time before you ever see any money for your pocket! It is serious business, you are going to be making a product that has the potential to be harmful to people, that is why it is so important for you to really know what you are doing before you start. You will find alot of candlemakers here who will really try to drive home the fact that you need to be cautious.

Hi Broad....good luck in your future shows! I was wondering does the e-book have more info in it than the 'sticky' at the top of the business section here? I know there is alot of good info listed up there, just curious if there is more people should know about? Have a great time at your show and remember, your booth is your 'little store' set up displays that are eye catching but easy for customers to move around!

Ok, here's the list of oil samples I ordered ( it was a bit late last night and I see my original post has some 'rambling' in it...lol) Black Vetyver Cafe---Awesomely strong, scent lasted all day. Falling In Love--I love the fruity-ness of this one, its different, like an 'adult' fruity scent..KWIM? Pour Code Femme Amazing Grace Blue Sugar---Oh man, the smell of this is awesome London-Burberry Green Irish Tweed Angel---Ok, I've tried an Angel dupe from another supplier and it was super strong and all but when I smelled this dupe...hands down this one wins! This smells exactly like the perfume..perfect! Black Code-Armani Touch-Burberry I got sniffie samples of Nectarine Blossom & Honey--wowza! This is definitely on the next order Sweet Temptations Lime Basil Mandarin--super clean and fresh smelling! The thing I found with these oils is what you smell oob is what the true scent is! They smell like I am taking the cap off of the actual perfume bottle and sniffing! There is no fake smell to any of them, they don't have a 'chemical' smell oob, they are just plain wonderful smelling scents! You could wear the oil directly out of the bottle and I don't think anyone would know you aren't wearing the real thing--they are that good. If you like perfume dupes, this is the place for you!

Seriously, you think it smells like a wet ashtray?? I absolutely love this oil! It is so stinkin strong in soywax and the scent combo is out of this world! I have never come across a coffee scent that smelled so true....funny how everyones noses are so different!

Yes her Blue Sugar is to die for! I really like all of them and I got a sniffie of the Nectarine Blossom and Honey and I'm kicking myself for not ordering that one! LOL The philosophy dupes are awesome! I also ordered some of the men scents and holy cow, I have to get those in the lotion, whewie!!!

I ordered two sample packs last week and had duplicated a scent in the samplers and Denise emailed me to notify me of this and ask if that was my intent or would like to change it...I did change it, and although this is something minor I just have to say she was so fast at shipping and then taking the time to send off a quick email to me...that made points with me! I have to also add, if you haven't tried FBD's oils yet and you like fragrances, by all means try her oils! They are awesome and strong! I put some in body lotion and when putting it on in the morning, I could still smell it on my skin when I got into bed at night! I highly recommend FBD!

I tried a few of the WYW scents in pure soy and didn't have very good luck with Perfect Pumpkin, Mulled Cider, or the gingerbread. I did have great luck with the Mango Macadamia Nut (my favorite) bamboo and perfect storm (which to me smells like a 'blow your doors off' hyacinth). You can use 1/2 of what you normally use, but I tried that with the scents that didn't work, and I had very weak to no hot throw. Was really disappointed. They are so expensive there is no way it would be worth it to try using more oil per pound either. But Bittercreek in general has some awesome fragrance oils that work great in soy...So yes, Bittercreek is worth trying!

Violet, let me get this straight, if you only add 50% for retail then if you have a product that costs say, $2.00 add 50% of that, you are only selling it for $3.00??? Really? If I understand you correctly, then dang you are giving your stuff away...not even making money to cover your cost, let alone any profit. Maybe I didn't understand you correctly! I do the same as the others here, x2 for wholesale and x3 or 4 for retail...

Boy, join the club! You, me and the rest of us who have to have wax shipped! I am seriously trying to figure out what I am going to do...I know I have to raise prices and will probably give it through this fall/holiday season with higher prices and see what happens and then make a decision afterwards if I can stay in business or not!

So once again kelly you post something, don't really care for the replies and once again you say 'your being attacked'! Hmm...seems to be an ongoing problem with you doesn't it!

I think you should leave your logo the way it is! It looks very nice, and very professional...I love it!

Geez, settle down!!! Go ahead and leave your site the way you want it, I was just pointing out what prospective buyers might think, but hey, yep its your site, say what ever you want....did you read what scented added here?? You may want to think about that! So ya, get all hyper about it, you asked for comments about your labels...here's one...they look fine if that's the look your going for! How's that?! Now take down your website addy so other people won't go look at it and make any comments about it in YOUR thread that you started about your labels asking for advice...get it, label=products=selling=website..ya, its all related!

Well, then I suppose maybe you shouldn't advertise it in your signature..you put it out there with having this in your siggy.... "It's Here! www.StarShineCompany.com" So of course people are going to look and that's what stood out to me... By stating on your candle pages that your candles are made 'using' 100% soy that is what I would expect to get in that candle, but you are actually adding bw to it so you aren't disclosing the fact there is something else in there. Now you disclose this info on your 'why soy' page, but how many people will actually go looking at that page when they just want to buy candles? It just stood out to me since you sorta 'ripped' other candlemakers who use a blend but don't disclose that fact and call it a pure soy candle...seems kinda the same way to me! That 'why soy' page just really rubbed me the wrong way with your statements, seems a bit 'bashy' towards other candlemakers and that to me isn't professional! Oh well, this is just my opinion..take if for what its worth!

Your labels are fine, but I think you may want to go back and reword some things on your website under the 'why soy' page. Also you state your candles are a 100% soywax but then you admit you use a small amount of beeswax, so aren't customers going to feel deceived by this? You are telling them they are one thing then admitting they are another on a different page. Just something I noticed as I was going through your site that you have posted in your signature.

When I first opened your site, I didn't even realize those pics on the main page were of candles. They seem a bit distorted or something...also that small pic of the body lotions at the top seems totally out of place and has no purpose for even being there. I would get rid of it. Another thing that caught my eye was on your candles page you state "They are all natural" so you only use essential oils and NO fragrance oils? You may be using an all natural wax, but when you add fragrance oils they are no longer all natural...that may be misleading to your customers. Just a thought!

AMEN!!! Don't want any of that LONGWINDED crap to wade through!