Jadryga

Awesome, great idea Suds, I will! Thanks! Ooh, do tell Lavida, I'm looking at the 5:1 glycerin extract from Aromatics & More, but all the recipes I could find were for powder.

I want to try this stuff! (excerpt from http://www.naturalcosmeticsupplies.com/soap-nut.html) Soap nut is used in Cleansing Lotion, Protein Shampoo, Protein Shampoo with Conditioner. Soap nut contains a high level of saponins. Antibacterial mild foaming agent, cleanser, exfoliant. Soap nut Powder is used to cleanse hair, skin and laundry. Helpful in removing stains from hands. May soothe the eczema, psoriasis, itchy skin, sensitive skin . Soapnut is an excellent hair tonic. Soap Nut extract comes from the fruit of the Soapnut tree. The pulp of the fruit contains a high level of natural foaming agents. This extract can be used to wash skin and hair. Soap nut when added to a facial mix of milk powder and clay to provide delicate cleansing of the skin, it is added to salt scrubs to add cleansing action. As a hair and body wash, add 1 teaspoon of Soap nut extract to a cup of water. Use this as a hair wash or mild cleanser. Soap nut can also be combined with Amla, Neem & Shikakai extract for a more nutritive hair wash. Mix all of the herbs in water and let sit till thoroughly dissolved. The wash should be kept refrigerated and used within 4 days or preserved with an anti bacterial preservative. The powdered seeds are said to possess insecticide properties. They are employed in the treatment of dental caries. It cleanses the skin of oily secretion, its a hair tonic, and forms a rich, natural lather. Its detergent action, which cleanses the hair and removes, accumulated debris and a sebaceous material further more imparting speculiar reflection and hair luster. Anyone have any experience with it? Was thinking of getting some from Aromatics & More. http://www.aromaticsandmore.com/products/botanical_extracts1.html I'd probably use it in a facial wash with some glycerin, honey, oatmeal and agave I've found that liquid castile soap has this odd smell that permeates my unscented stuff...

You know, I say take your time. I came up with a name I thought was brilliant (after lots of frowning and thinking) but now I'm considering changing it... and I've sold quite a few soaps already! Thing is, I didn't consider the context in which it's used. Our national language is not English. We have 3 main cultures here - Malay, Indian and Chinese - so everyone is multilingual... which inevitably means English is not necessarily something everyone's fluent at. "Sinfulicious" is too much of a mouthful for most people here Me First, Naturally is interesting, but it doesn't quite roll off the tongue to me (I tried saying it a couple of times, hee). I'm just going to toss a few random ones out here... Soapin' Someday Soy & Soaps Someday Soap Me First! Soap Me! Someday I Want Soaps Soapday SoyaSoaps (Yes, I know some of them are horrendous, but hey, I said random!)

Hey PiP, I think it would be much easier to use a malibu tube (easier to fill too). Lots of places have them - Kangaroo Blue, Elements Bath and Body, etc. HTH!

I'm trying out a new system! Since it's hard for me to get B&B ingredients over here, I'm starting a barter system - graphic designs for B&B ingredients. I've also added a portfolio page at http://www.freewebs.com/thejadwishlist

Just tossing something out... don't know much about bath melts... maybe adding something like Cromollient SCE from Lotioncrafter might help? It makes the oils water-dispersible at very low levels (1-5%). http://www.lotioncrafter.com/store/Cromollient-SCE-pr-16235.html

Omigawd, I LOVE that gift set! The soaps are gorgeous, but pink and cocoa always has a special place in my heart. I so wish I could order that!

It's a preservative and yes, if you're using it rightaway and not planning on storing it for a long period of time, you can do without it

Old Mill is the name of the FO supplier, not part of the FO name

Fragrance oils and essential oils are extremely concentrated and will definitely irritate skin (badly) if used in high concentrations. Fragrance oils and most essential oils that aren't diluted make my skin itch like mad, even if it's just a little bit of residue on a tissue. Let's say you use 2% of eo in a perfume. Let's say you spray twice which would be maybe... (this is just a guess) 0.01 oz of perfume. 2% of that is 0.0001 oz of eo, diffused over a large area of skin. Now, it's strong enough for you to smell it, for people near you to smell it, and for it to last for hours. Some people get irritated skin from perfumes. Imagine a whole DROP. Certain essential oils like lavender, tea tree and manuka can be used neat, but only in small doses, and there is still a chance of sensitization or irritation. This should only be done if you know what you're doing. Research is your best friend

I'm going to try goat's milk ones! Finally, a recipe without citric acid! Thanks for sharing, Shafeena!

No problem! I'll edit and save each accordingly once I get back from the hospital... daddy's in for some minor heart surgery, the boys in his family have a history of heart problems... mom asked me to pop by to bring... of all things... BREAD

Ahh, I get you now! I thought you were talking about the technicalities of the design itself, not the function of the design. I'll have to wait for a reply from Carrie about that one then. Not sure if she'd like the woman as an integral part of the logo, or simply as an addition for product labels. That was an excellent point, Top.

Hmm... could you clarify on that, Top? I'm not quite sure I get what you mean.. Do you mean the pink lady or the original lady?

Mountain Rose Herbs, Eden Botanicals, From Nature With Love are good places to start

Well, self tests will do for basic things like separation, but it's not always reliable for checking the efficacy of your preservation system. Sometimes if a lotion has gone moldy or is currently the host for the Annual Bacteria Meetup, it's not always visible to the naked eye. Lab testing is a must for that sort of thing. I think there's a thread here somewhere about lab testing, you could just run a search. If I remember right there are two types, a basic one that costs about $40 and another one that costs about $400. Maybe one of the lotion experts will clarify.

Sure, if you'd like! Alternatively, I can edit the pink lady to resemble the original lady more, and shorten the hair so it doesn't get tangled up. It was just hard for me to copy the original lady since the sample I used for reference was so small :embarasse Could you send me the original, full-sized clip art of just the lady? Once I get it, I can do both and let you decide

It'll always be cheaper than buying from Walmart, so what you can do is market it as deserving of that higher price! Firstly, the word "HANDMADE" always implies more effort, better quality (not always true, but first impressions are always important), and lastly, unique. Play that up, maybe talk about the care taken you've with each soap to make sure it's worth every penny and good for your skin. People will usually view something that's not mass-produced as more desirable. Secondly, market it as having better ingredients. Maybe play up the (exotic?) oils you may add, like apricot kernel oil, shea butter or macadamia oil, or other additives like honey or goat's milk, or even your essential oils. Thirdly, make sure your packaging looks good. You may just use kraft paper and raffia twine, but if you pack it well and your label is charming, you'll immediately up the perceived value of your soaps. Some people may say "Oh, CP is better quality soap than MP" (there's a thread somewhere here that addresses that) but you can always say it depends on how well the MP is formulated and how good the base is (no sulfates, that sort of thing). Lastly, believe in your product. Trust me on this, it'll show. HTH!

If it's bar soap, don't worry about it! Bar soaps don't need preservatives, so that's a pretty solid ingredients list. I can't quite remember if liquid soap needs preservative.

Yeah, that was the fussy bit I worried about I was considering shortening it, but figured I'd just put it up for comments before going through the extra trouble. The flower, as mentioned earlier, should be credited to Jenny & Andreas at http://www.brainsgoboink.com They're great photographers! If you'd like to use it Carrie, or you'd like me to tweak it a little more, just let me know. Glad you guys like it!

I've been contemplating this too! I'd probably go with both. To me the tin spells decadence, but the lotion tube would definitely be a lot easier to use. I'd probably market the tin for large sizes (I probably wouldn't carry around 3oz of solid lotion) and smaller tubes as "travel" sizes. Alternatively, you could use a massage bar mold and put THAT in a tin, then say it's the same recipe as your convenient tubes, but as a pampering massage bar in a tin

Scary! Some of our locally produced B&B products have no ingredients lists. Those I avoid like the plague. You never know, they might be perfectly good products, but I don't see why I should risk it. I mean, if the manufacturer doesn't care enough about the consumer to label their products... tsk. I guess our labeling laws aren't as strict as some countries, and that worries me. I've been thinking for a while to do a freelance article about reading B&B product labels to send to magazines, but haven't really gotten around to it. Why can't these people just research some before touting "all natural" products (or peach eo)? It really confounds me. I mean, it's not like Google was invented yesterday!

Logo alone minus the flower background (which, if ever used, should be credited to my awesome European friends at http://www.brainsgoboink.com).

There we go! My take on it I'm slightly worried it may be a little fussy, but I kept most of the elements intact.

Ahh... Yeah, that's why I figured it was a temporary solution. I like the font style switch though! :highfive: I also agree with you about the woman, if everything went one way it would be somewhat dull, but (it looks exactly like the original, especially on my small, slightly fuzzy workplace monitor) I was thinking that it could be drawn so it flows a little better. I love the simplicity of the woman, just not the way it's... oh, hard to explain. I think I didn't phrase it well earlier, and I'm still having trouble now! I'll just sketch something later when I go home to my beloved tablet (in about half an hour) - a picture speaks a thousand words