Mountain_Annie

Casmir by Royal Aromatics, A customer is requesting this fragrance..and I have a small sample of the actual perfume...but I have no idea if RA's is the same thing as what she wants...or if it's even still available through RA. I haven't found another supplier with this same FO name. The spelling for the perfume is accurate...as opposed to Cashmere, or Cashmire etc. Does anyone have a sniffie sampler? and/or a few ounces to spare? And/or do you know if RA still carries it? I haven't been able to get an answer from them. Thanks a bunch! Mt Annie

>>> I personally think it is dumb to make one tart Not if you have a large customer database..with customers always requesting small samples. Whether it's 'dumb' or not really depends on your own situation. I've personally never made just one tart...but I can certainly see WHY someone MIGHT make just 1.. and it isn't dumb at all to pour just a few at a time. Let me explain for those who just aren't gettin it: (for whatever reason) :rolleyes2 We own a shop, as well as having an online shop, and I'm constantly being asked for sampler packs of 2 or 4...(and yes, even ONE)...on up to 6-8 pack samplers because we offer a LOT of different scents. (Our scent list is readily available to all of our customers ...online & off) In our case, if you're talking about pouring up 1 or 2 lbs of tarts each and every time a customer wants to sample a new scent...then I'd VERY quickly have a house and shop FULL of nothing but tarts that may..or may NOT...sell well! Now THAT would be DUMB! I usually pour no less than 6-8 for customer sampling...but if RetroChic thinks it's worth the chance that this customer will make a rather large "future" purchase (which usually happens with us) then it's certainly feasible to only pour up a few at a time. After all...it only takes a very short few mins to pour, pop out and bag...and then you have the potential of making a larger sale from that small sampler..as opposed to having countless LBS of tarts already poured and no place to display or store them! Besides...that's wasting a LOT of wax and FO...which you could use for other incoming orders and for those tarts that are constantly needing re-stocked. HTH. Oh, and I'll add this: Many times those few minutes that it took to pour up a small pack of samplers more than paid off....turning into rather large, full-blown candle orders. :smiley2: ~Mt Annie~

Thanks rustic. You've all been a great help. Is the watermelon a true, sweet, watermelon scent or more of a Peaks Jolly rancher/candy type?

Applause! I'm glad to see you standing up for yourself! There are a few ppl here...as I'm sure you know...that can be a little.. uhmmm "less than helpful" to put it nicely. Those rude answers were just uncalled for. I'll bet half the ppl on this board were wanting to know how to calculate for very small amts of wax...but were "afraid" to even ask because of peeps like this. Those who "seem" to know everything ...and expect that you should too! Or those who seem to know everything because they have 2,000+ posts...most of which were rudely posted b'coz they did not know the REAL answers...or else just complete worthless dribble that's pretty much meaningless. Like "Yeah...I saw that too"....just to bump up their number of posts here and make themselves "look more important"! It seems if you have less than 1,000 or so posts you're not "worthy" of some of the "posting goddesses" answering you without disdain...but I'd be willing to bet that those few who answered with such "venom" had NO idea what the answer was. We should all keep in mind that JUST because someone is new to this community board does NOT, in ANYway, shape, form or fashion, mean that they're amateurs...or beginners...nor stupid!! Some of those ppl just joining (with only a few posts) may just know much more than those who have been here since the very beginning. On the other hand...4,000+ posts does NOT necessarily mean that that person is a "professional" at anything. It MAY just mean that they have a big mouth and/or just like to "look" important and knowledgeable. JM2C. Good luck to you Retro! Donna (Mt Annie)

Hope I'm posting this in the right place: Does anyone know where to purchase the beehive/bee skep type jars? I asked last year about this time but no one had an answer then. Hopefully, some have been found since then. I certainly can't find them. Some of the glass companies should look into carrying these b'cause I know a lot of folks who would like to buy them. Surely SOMEbody sells them....right? The only place that I can find them they are huge and over $30.00 each + shipping! TIA, ~ Mt Annie ~

Ok...I know that CS Wildberry Mousse MC's Berry Creme Brulee and BC's Country Berry Hotcakes are all three very very similar, if not the same thing...but are these not at all like Kys Wildberry Crisp? Someone says "Yes, KYs Wildberry crisp is almost an exact dupe of the 3 above" and then someone else says "No, it's not even close!". So, I'm confused. Is it the same...close...or nothing at all similar? BTW, is the W-crisp now discontinued from KY?

Thanks ladies. Good point Scented. I may just try both since they're very reasonable. I'm hoping the candy corn is strong enough to use on it's own but if not....you're right...it should at least be 'mixable'. Grama, I have heard good things about CS watermelon! I'll have to try it when I re-order. Thanks much for reminding me so I can add it to the list. Being from the south...(born and raised in Bama but now a Tennesseean) I've busted a ton of watermelons too. The only downside to eating watermelon around here is fighting off the d*** yellow jackets! (grin) I don't think we've ever busted one when a swarm wasn't 'waiting in the wings' to devour it!

Thanks Karen. I emailed FOC but haven't heard back yet. A couple of ppl on one of my email groups seemed to think that they had a few annual sales so I just wanted to check here to see if any of you knew more about that. I've personally never saw a sale either.

Hi all, I've been wanting to place an order with FOC. Just wondering if they ever have any sales or specials (other than what's listed on their website) and if so, how often? Does anyone know when the next one might be if they DO have them? I'm signed up on their mailing list but haven't heard a thing about any specials or sales. I received very little info other than the short welcome letter quite some time ago. Thanks in advance, Mt Annie

Yeap. The first stock car races begin during (and as a result of) the prohibition period...when the production and/or sale of liquor was outlawed. Stock car racing (NASCAR) was all started from moonshiners here in the mountains trying to (very successfully) out run the local sheriff & company so as not to get caught with their illegal "shine". There's still quite a lot of moonshine still made here in the mountains of east TN.... but why anybody would want a candle in that scent is beyond my comprehension. Mt Annie in TN (Where the "moon" comes over the mountains...in gallon jugs). =========================

Has anyone tried these two from candle cocoon's scent event? Watermelon or Candy Corn?

>>> and applied to an application the scent has blossomed Yes, some FOs do change drastically once in wax or B&B...but FO smells the same poured OUT of the bottle as it smells IN the bottle...until it's incorporated into those candles or B&B products. When mixed into a dry potpourri (or paper air fresheners for example) the scent is exactly the OOB scent. If you pour some FO onto a Qtip/cottonball/or into a shot glass (OOB) it doesn't change. If you pour some onto potpourri botanicals (OOB) it still doesn't change. What is there to "change" it? Whatever scent you have in the bottle is the same scent you'll have OOB in a dry potpourri medley. Simply mixing it into botanicals doesn't change, morph or blossom the fo into anything different at all. That's why it needs to smell the same OOB as a true fruit cake would smell.

That's a good question scented...and if I were using this in a straight candle/wax application I would have most certainly tried in wax beFORE asking for any mixing suggestions here...but my main purpose for this particular FO mix is for a potpourri oil....which will smell exactly as it does OOB on the potpourri. I've had several different ppl asking for this FO in the past few months alone...and probably 10-15 who have asked all together...so I'm looking for a dead-on OOB fragrance. I've also had the scent requested for air fresheners (the paper type) to go in customer's kitchens. So, again, it would have to be a very close match OOB. Thanks for inquiring. I can see why you would be curious. ~ Mt Annie ~

That sounds very close! I'll check it out. I have a few FOs by Connie but I got them here off the classies. I have several "spice and white cakes" that I could mix in so I'll go and search out her website and see about the Applesauce cake. Sounds yummy! Thanks a bunch hon. ~ Mt Annie ~

Help! I cannot find a good, true Fruitcake FO. I've purchased the namesake from the only company that I've found who carries it but it smells nothing at all like a fruitcake OOB. I'm looking for a kick-butt combo/fo mixer to get a Southern Style Fruit Cake where you can actually smell all the rich dried fruits, nuts, dates & raisins as well as the cake. I would prefer a mix without a "rum type" scent...unless someone thinks that it would definitely add to making a dead-on fruitcake. Although many/most ppl probably *do use rum in their fruitcakes I personally do not like the fragrance. Besides, being from the south...the best fruitcakes here have never "smelled" anything like rum to me. If I remember correctly, when I open a good, southern-style fruitcake I smell the following: dried mixed fruits w/ top notes of dried cherries, dates & raisins nuts and the warm, gooey, spicey, cakey-breadbut, unfortunately, I haven't been able to duplicate it very well. I *must be leaving something out! or else I haven't found just the right combo yet. COULD it possibly be the rum???? Surely not. I just don't smell any rum in most good Fruit cakes that I've had. Please PM or email me with any mixing ideas...or even better....if you know of a pre-mixed FO that smells even close to a true Fr.Cake please LMK. TIA for any suggestions! ~ Mt Annie ~

Thanks to all who replied. Great ideas and the spreadsheet samples were a HUGE help Wayne! My best!

How do most of you organize your FOs? By scent type, by supplier, alphabetically or other? What have most of you found to be the BEST way to organize them? (on paper AND when storing) Also, is there a good form of some sort...(or spreadsheet) available for organizing the fragrances on the computer and/or for printing hard copies? I have sooo many...but I'm stumped as to where to even begin! It seems too overwhelming.... Thanks for any help!

Has anyone tried this one? CS Strawberry Shortcake. I'd love to hear some reviews! Also, could one of you who have this one possibly spare a small sniffie ball sampler? Thanks a bunch! Mt Annie

I don't know. I'm no expert. I'm just passing along the info but I would ASSUME that the VP of Gov Relations would know what he was talking about. :smiley2: You say that its been discussed time and time again. Has this been on the CT board? If so, I completely missed it and ...evidently....so did a lot of others who replied here. :smiley2: Do you have a link to the discussions? I'd love to read more. The reasons I posted the msg was (1) to let everyone know about it of course and (2) so that they would have a link to try and DO something about it if they chose to do so. To let their voices be heard. If we don't speak up...nobody will.

The big dogs will be pulling for this too since it gives them more of a chance to knock the little dogs out of business. ~Mt Annie~

Yeah...what they said. (grin) Looks nice otherwise. I REALLY love the fonts used on your banner. Is that a fairly common font? It looks very nice! Good luck with your site! ~Mt Annie~

Yeap...It looks as if the government will do anything...and I do mean ANYthing...to bail out their own a**es !! :mad: :(

Just got this in from Ted Cohen, Ebay's VP of Government Relations, and was asked to help spread the word. It's inSANE! (Quote) Internet Sales Taxes - Right now in Congress, lawmakers are considering sales tax legislation that would require consumers to pay sales tax on everything they buy via the Internet, from retailers anywhere in the U.S. - not just from retailers in their own state. This would also present a significant burden for small sellers, who would be required to collect and remit sales taxes to up to 7,500 different taxing jurisdictions. Please write to your lawmakers today! More: Internet Sales Taxes--Your costs go up. Your buyers' costs go up. You are required to comply with the same tax laws as the nation's largest retailers. This scenario could soon become reality. The sales tax laws governing today's Internet and catalog retailers are simple: If you sell something to a person living in your state, you collect sales tax. If that customer doesn't live in your state, you don't collect the tax. However, a number of state governments and the biggest retail giants in America are planning an aggressive lobbying campaign to change the law. They want to require small retailers to operate like the biggest retail chains, collecting taxes everywhere. We all know times are tough and state governments are looking for more tax money. Likewise, big retailers see an opportunity to gain a competitive edge by imposing new costs and higher prices on their smallest competitors. Luckily, the tax ground-rules can't be changed without congressional action. There's still time to stand up and be counted. If you think adding a new tax burden on small Internet retailers is a bad idea, now is the time to make your voice heard! Send a letter to your U.S. Representative and Senators today. http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/takeaction/tell-congress-not-impose-new-taxes-internet It won't be easy. But together, Internet retailers like you can stop these new taxes. Sincerely, Tod Cohen VP and Deputy General Counsel, Government Relations (End Quote) ===================== ~Mt Annie~

Hi Eve, Actually, NG's PCC (purchased here on classys as well) *was one of the alcohol-y ones...but it wasn't NEAR as bad as a lot of the other pumpkins I've tried ...and I've tried a LOT of them. I can probably work with NG's PCC...but otherwise...only 3 pumpkins have been "bearable keepers" so far. It *could be those plastic bottles but not sure because I have several in glass bottles although they may have been in plastic previously. (I usually transfer to glass if at all possible) OR it could just be that they're older...or that they've always smelled that way. Just not sure. The other scent in many pumpkins, besides the alcohol....is a funky, rancid / rotten scent that I can't quite describe...but it almost turns my stomach. I've also found it in several of the "general" Fall/Autumn/Harvest type scents. I haven't tried the Solos Vanilla Plum...but I'll keep in mind that it's one of "those" FOs. (wrinkling nose)

Hi holly, I've noticed the weird, "rotten" note in many, and I do mean MANY, pumpkins from various suppliers. What *IS this? I also smell alcohol pretty strong in many of the same ones. Do these funky scents tend to mellow out in wax at all? I' haven't yet tested the funky smelling ones. Just sniffed them OOB.... so I'm very curious. Are they even *worth testing when they smell that way? ~Mt Annie~ Holly writes: >>>> I have the Vanilla Latte which I need to test. To my nose it has that slight "rotten" note that I smell with a lot of vanillas. I know others that tend to pick up on this weird note in some vanillas as well. It depends on the nose, I guess.