Jadryga

For suzanne's sample, the cursive font suits Simply Soft much better, but I don't think the font for the Body Shop suits it, though I realize that may just be a temporary solution. I think she's hit on something though - since she switched the font styles (cursive/bold rather than bold/cursive), it draws the eye properly to the brand name. Before this it looked more like Body Shop - Simply Soft, rather than Simply Soft Body Shop (Wait, it IS Simply Soft Body Shop, right? ). The line art drawing also strikes me as a little jagged for the "soft" concept. It also doesn't quite flow well, since everything is leaning to the right except the woman. Was it done by mouse? Would you mind if I did a little sketch? Fingers are itching with inspiration

I think there are some at Lotioncrafter... take a look there

I found the exact same compact at Kangaroo Blue, but at nearly half the price: http://www.kangarooblue.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=162

I think I've found them! Here's an article on them: http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/467647/2056 And here's the actual manufacturer: http://oberk.xture.com/Flip-Top-Jar-Cover/860907/oberk.aspx

Oops, wrong thread!

Yep. Just about anything water-based like juices, hydrosols, witch hazel, milk, teas, etc. though bear in mind that some of the more complex liquids (like goat's milk) could possibly make your preservation process a lot harder If you're going to use something complex, I'd definitely go for testing (well, testing's recommended no matter what you use really, if you're thinking of selling. Better safe than sorry!). You may find a recipe that is fine with water may need more preservative with something else, that sort of thing, and sometimes if a lotion goes funky, it doesn't always show right away.

It's warm here (all year round), so virgin coconut oil is always liquid at room temperature. The exceptions are in air-conditioned rooms. I have a bottle of virgin coconut oil from Manila that is perfectly clear at room temperature. If I leave the air-conditioner on at night though, it's all cloudy in the morning Easy test would simply be to pop it in the fridge for an hour if you're not sure.

Yay! After trekking through a boatload of sigs and stuff, I have a pretty long list of candletechie websites. Maybe I'll compile them later or something. Thanks people!

Some oils are strongly scented though, like neem and virgin coconut oil, so you may want to either avoid those, or work with the scent in mind.

I'm no soaping expert, but I'd assume it'd be the same as freeze-drying milk. You'd end up with... milk powder! Or something equivalent to it, at least, which will probably be somewhat reconstituted when you lather your soap up with water. Feel free to debunk this theory

Just about any carrier oil can be used to cut fo's or eo's for any application. Other carriers include cyclomethicone, water (you'll need an emulsifier like polysorbate 20 for water-based diluents), etc. Anything really, so long as the ratio of fo/eo is kept low; they're pretty concentrated. The usual is about 1-2.5% fo/eo, if I'm not wrong. That's usually more than enough to scent your entire product. Eo's are usually stronger than fo's, so you can use a lower ratio. This is subjective though, really. You may or may not like a strongly scented product.

I have a German guy friend who's quite neat, clean and well-mannered... once we went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant with my mom and aunt, and after looking at the fish in the aquariums, we parted to go to the loo. I came out pretty fast, then I stood and waited... and waited... and waited... after about 10 minutes, he came out and apologized. Turns out he couldn't bring himself to touch the doorknob after seeing a bunch of guys who didn't wash their hands after using the urinals and they were out of paper towels, so he was waiting for someone to open the door so he could slip out

Unless stated as fl oz, yep

I have to admit, I was thinking that too! Yep, my DH prefers a spray as well. The most convenient I guess.

Hmm... even if this were to hold true, Xaipre, not all honeys are equal. All honeys have a certain degree of peroxidal activity, but these vary widely from honey to honey depending on the pollen source, and only certain honeys are certified to have anti-bacterial properties that are non-peroxidal, hence the "active" manuka honeys (which cost a bomb, by the way). The amount of honey (as a sole preservative) you'd need to preserve your original product (depending on the complexity) would probably be impractical, let alone the amount needed to counter further contamination (dirty fingers and unpurified water, etc). In addition to that, there is also the risk that the honey has been tampered with (additional sugars, etc). As to the good vs. bad bacteria, it's true yes, that not all bacteria is bad. We do need a certain amount of good bacteria to function properly, but the potentially devastating consequences of breeding bad bacteria outweighs the benefits of keeping the good bacteria by far. Honey as a preservative for complicated bath and body products is untried, untested and unverified. Synthetic preservatives aren't even 100% as is (goat's milk, anyone?). I wouldn't risk it. Maybe one day, if like you say, there's adequate testing and such. Until then, I'm not going to court a lawsuit with it

Lucky woman

Oh, thanks Lindsay, alrighty then, no list I know a lot of them have it in their sigs, but I was hoping there'd be something a little easier to refer to, since sometimes I browse and remember something nice on someone's site, then later on I can't quite remember who it belongs to, and I have to start scrolling through everything to find the right sig. Thanks by the way, Angi!

Wow, thanks for the info! Actually, I noticed some time back that Lush had surfactants in their soaps, but never really made the connection with MP for some reason or the other.

It's always nice for me to check out what everyone has made (and maybe do some shopping!) but I can't seem to find a list of sites that belong to CT members, so I thought I'd start this. I'm also looking for wholesale suppliers for some things like candles, soaps, etc... and I'd like to support the techies (over random people I've found on google)! I'll start. My site's a work in progress... still fleshing out my range of products and getting the graphic design and domain stuff done, so be nice! :embarasse Jadryga - http://www.freewebs.com/chocoprincess If there's a pre-existing list, please nudge me that way and delete this thread

Probably won't do much for existing, old stretch marks... haven't really played with this one, because I used up all my glycerin for something else! My cousin's wife is currently using one of my oils for her belly... it's just pure MNO and avocado. I keep meaning to make some of this for her belly, but she's liking the other oils so far, so haven't really gotten around to it Not sure it'll totally prevent stretch marks, but keeping skin soft and supple will probably lessen the chances of them occurring? I've been using virgin coconut oil... good for those who like the scent, I guess. I personally don't. It's alright for a while, but it lingers for a good LONG time.

I'm inspired! Though I'm thinking more along the lines of peppermint and lavender I've contemplated making bath bombs once... but I can't quite find citric acid This will be an interesting experiment.

I am SO going to bite that if I get it.

What's truly scary is... men's restrooms.

Yeah, I read that somewhere before... scary stuff. Wouldn't 60-95% alcohol dry your skin out something fierce though?

It's light to me! I use it in practically everything, really. Absorbs really quickly, only slightly slower than jojoba to me. I have a facial oil that's mac + avocado and a body oil that's mac +avocado + rbo. The body oil leaves my skin soft like nothing else.