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Scenting premade lotion base


soygirl

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I am going to get into selling scented soy lotion along with my soy candle line. I have found a premade lotion base that I love, and have tested it with seven of my skin-safe fragrances on friends and family for over six months now. My question is this: For those of you who buy lotion base and scent it to sell - how do you answer the question "Do you make this yourself?" I have been telling people that I buy the lotion base, add fragrance and package it. I'm wondering if there is a better way to say this. Technically I'm not making it. It's not my own formula. But, it's still a lot of work to add fragrance and package it, so I consider it my own product. How do others handle this question?

TIA,

Margie

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Someone asked this the other day ;) I think the replies were to say that making lotions require lots of work and testing and that you've found a base that incorporates all that you're looking for in a lotion and that you believe in this product and just add your special little touch to it (being fragrance and/or color) and bottling.

Let me see if I can find the thread....

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I guess it depends on what you are personally comfortable with...

you created that scented lotion.. by adding your custom scent and pckging.. so if you feel ok saying you made it .. do so.. I use bases, and customize my own scents.. even add EXTRAS.. so I am fine with calling it my own creation..

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Thank you. Your comments are very helpful. I really do love the properties of the base I found, and I doubt I would be able to make anthing similar without a lot of trial and error (and expense!). I have enormous respect for those who do make their own though, and wouldn't want to sell them short by claiming that I make my lotion. I like the idea of stressing how much I believe in the base that I found, and that I add my own special "touches".

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You can market it as being "handcrafted" (as opposed to "handmade" or "homemade").

hand·craft

n.

Variant of handicraft.

tr.v. hand·craft·ed, hand·craft·ing, hand·crafts (habreve.gifnd-krabreve.gifftprime.gif)

To fashion or make by hand.

hand·made

adj. Made or prepared by hand rather than by machine.

home·made

adj.

  1. Made or prepared in the home: homemade pie.
  2. Made by oneself.
  3. Crudely or simply made.

I fail to see much difference in the definitions of these words. I'm not sure who came up with the "You can say handcrafted, but not homeade or handmade" thing, but it's crap.

If you feel comfortable saying you made it, by all means do so. Like annareeb, I use a base, customize my own scents AND add extras to my lotions, and I too feel completely comfortable saying "Yes, I made this." It's a personal thing.

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Do you say that you didn't make the candle, because you didn't create the wax, and you didn't create the FO and the dye? No, it's yours. You didn't mix the wax if you bought a preblend, but it's still your candle, right? Same goes for bases. You bought the base, but you CREATED the product.

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there was a good thread on this on the soapdish, but I can't find it!

THere were some good replies, such as (somewhere along these lines, I don't have them worded exactly) "I currently have my lotions manufactured" "To assure proper presevation... " and stuff like that. I don't quite remember it all, but try wording those two phrases together somehow, and try to elaborate...

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I say that I start with a base that includes the proper preservatives and add other ingredients to it (FO and dye) to make it my own. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been asked if I made it; I think it's obvious since it's in packaging that is my own style with my own labels and most people don't seem to care if it's "from scratch". Just like the zillions of people at BBW don't care if it's "from scratch".

That said, I have used handmade lotions from some folks here and I DO think they're better than mine. I just don't have the time to master yet another art form right now :undecided

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