cynthia3030

Amazing! Such a creative and professional presentation. Your products should sell themselves based on how pretty and inviting they look. To me presentation goes a very long way. I have a million questions to ask about your display and the products but I will just sum it up by saying job well done. You should be so proud of your beautiful work. I bet your products perform as good as they look.

I have ordered various products from Bulk Apothecary for the past three years or so. I have had no problem with anything I have ordered and would consider their merchandise to be of good quality. There are always coupons online for up to 25 percent off that actually work. In my opinion they have very competitive prices on all of their merchandise. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee on their fragrance oils. I didn't return any of the three FOs that I ordered because I was basically pleased with them. So I can't say if they actually honor the money back guarantee or not. The 16oz FOs are shipped in very pretty brushed aluminum containers that are sealed extremely very well. I find their shipping fees to be reasonable and have always received my orders on a timely basis. One issue I have with Bulk Apothecary is they don't provide a description for all of their fragrance oils so you have to either use your imagination or do some research to find out how a particular fragrance oil smells.

Basically the question was not important now that I re-think it. I guess I was thinking more in terms of a professional photography competition. Should we post "x" amount of photos? Should they be a certain size? Should they be at certain angles? Like I said, not important but your response is appreciated.

Lovely! I wouldn't expect anything less from you. Not sure you recall, but I predicted you would go big time with your melts. One question though. How do you wrap your odd shaped melts?

Very pretty soap and clear and concise instructions. I've read a lot of instructions and these are the clearest ones I've come across. Thanks.

Jcandleattic and Candybee, Thanks very much, ladies. Everything sounds great! I especially like this challenge because it takes a lot of pressure off of newbies that are timid about participating in a challenge with seasoned soapers . Newbies don't have to worry so much about the scent, texture and other stuff. Looking forward to this challenge. One question comes to mind though. Are there any guidelines as far as pictures of our soap? Cynthia

Are you talking about the swirl tools that you can get at Brambleberry?

I must have missed something. Can somebody please explain how the Christmas challenge works?

Your soap looks great!

Very pretty soaps. You really did a great job!

Very pretty. Who needs photo skills when they can make pretty soap. Good job.

My goodness. You have been busy. I like them all but I especially like Home for the Holidays.

Probably like most of you, I understand the pros and cons of soy wax and paraffin wax. Unfortunately the average consumer does not understand the difference; therefore, they are severely misinformed and probably confused as it relates to soy wax and paraffin wax. It is a no win battle trying to clear up all of these insane claims especially when the news media is contributing to the misinformation by broadcasting inaccurate and misleading information constantly. There will always be people that feel the need to bash the competition's product. I think a good approach to somewhat addressing the problem is to educate one misinformed consumer at a time. We all agree that some people will say just about anything in order to sell their product. Once again, if soy wax products are superior to paraffin wax products, why have soy products virtually disappeared from the shelves of most major stores? They don't have a dog in the fight. Their goal is to make money by offering products that consumers want and buy. Cynthia

I have been shopping lately mostly at TJMaxx, Marshalls, Steinmart, Tuesday Morning and a few other stores. One of the first aisles I hit in the store is the candle section/aisle. Naturally I thoroughly examine the candles. I lift the lid, get a whiff of the scent, check out the wick and the wax. I even feel the wax, although I know what type of wax it is before touching it. It has been a couple of years since I have seen a soy candle in any of these stores. I'm not sure about Target and Walmart. Now, I do recall a few years back seeing an influx of soy candles in these same stores. I wonder why these stores no longer sell soy candles? What's up with that? Has anybody else noticed that soy candles seem to have disappeared from these stores and why?

I haven't purchased anything from them in a while but when I did I thought their shipping fees were rather reasonable. Since my last purchase I think all of the carriers have had rather substantial rate hikes that I am sure the distributors passed on to us.

Chris, what do you think of the bulk FOs? What about shipping and handling fees, are they reasonable? Thanks!

Ravens Currently I'm using the same wax combination as you, that Is, 50/50 of 4786/4727. Have you tried LX wicks? They work great for me most times. What I especially like is I don't get that mushroom on the first burn which inevitably happens with our beloved zincs.

I'm still interested and the suggestions sound good. Let's keep the ideas coming.

Welcome back. Wishing you a speedy recovery! Hope you have tons of fun!

I would love to participate in a soap challenge. Being a beginner soaper, it would definitely be challenging to participate and sounds line a lot of fun. Before I totally commit though, I would like to know the challenge that is decided on. My suggestion/vote would go to doing the holiday inspired challenge.

Very nicely done.

Which supplier do you purchase Hotel Costes from? Have you tried it? What's going on with the dupe?

Labels are nice! Are you interested in bartering containers for labels since we live prtetty close to each other?

Depending upon on how much you have; presumably a dram? You might can add IPM or DPG to that amount upto a "half-ounce" and have that sent off for formulation. You would have to let them know you added X amount of "IPM or DPG" so they know to filter this out during analysis and later compounding. Though with the limited amount you do have, your best bet would be to contact a manufacturer directly and talk to them about their replication process. I would recommend IPM, if using a perfume oil or body spray and DPG if using a straight soap/candle FO. What is IPM and DPG?

To add to Chris' response, the wax manufacturer will provide the recommended usage of FO per pound of wax. Generally speaking, any FO used beyond the recommended amount is needless and causes other problems with your product. HTH