Samples from Majestic Mountain Sage!

I received a note on twitter that MMS would be sending me a sample of the Lemon & Basil lip balm that Taylor made on April 29th and I was thrilled because I have always wanted to make a more 'savory' lip balm, but wasn't sure exactly where to start in terms of how much of each essential oil or sweetener to use. Their recipe is a great starting point!

This balm is yet another example that there are many different (and awesome) formulas for different occasions! The balm doesn't go on thick or sticky, so it's perfect for everyday use; smooth texture, very light but still moisturizing. I didn't expect to like the flavor of basil in a lip balm, to be honest- I tend to associate it with our Basil Aromatherapy sticks, I think. But I really liked it! Basil is a complex flavor- you taste a strong herbaceous flavor (not quite "Italian food", but close) first, but that quickly disappears and you taste the "fennel", "black licorice" notes. The last thing you taste is a very mild herbaceous note mingled with lemon. Very nice! I noticed that I reapplied a couple of times to catch the different 'notes' of the flavor- I like that! It shows what a complex blend you could create with a few different 'savory' essential oils. I agree with what Taylor said on the blog- if I made this blend, I'd make the lemon more of the 'main' flavor, with Basil the background flavor. (Ooh, I wonder what Orange would taste like with Basil?) It had the perfect amount of sweetener, too, since it was just used in the recipe as a flavor enhancer. I'll try to remember not to overdo it on the sweetener when I start experimenting. :-)

Thank you again to the lovely people at MMS for sending this sample! We have a really nice starting point to experiment with savory lip balms now!

The second item in the picture above is a lotion sample we received in a recent order. This is very moisturizing for a light lotion and doesn't go on greasy, so if you're looking for a light, ready-for-summer lotion base to fragrance, it's worth a try! I was surprised to find that I like the tropical-but-not-suntan-lotion-tropical Green Mango fragrance in the lotion, even though I didn't like the scent 'out of the bottle'. My boss here at Canfield Crafts loved the lotion and fragrance so much that she stole it and I haven't been able to try it since... ;-)

Review by the Lip Balm Wrangler!

Our mini balms, aka "Bullet Balms", were featured today on Christina (the Lip Balm Wrangler)'s blog, and we are thrilled that our lip balms received 5 out of 5 twists! Thank you, Christina, for the absolutely lovely review!

Check out her review of 5 flavors at her blog.

Be sure to subscribe to posts at LipBalmWrangler.com or visit Christina's Facebook for her thoughts on lip balms and glosses of all sizes and flavors!

The Power of Positive (Feedback, that is)

I was talking to a friend the other day about the reasons to leave positive feedback when you shop online, and I thought I'd take some time to talk about it here as well. Why is feedback important, and how can you make your feedback more helpful to online businesses?

Nowadays a lot of our shopping is done online, so it's convenient, but it can also tend to be faceless and impersonal. Small businesses and shops spring up every day on eBay and Etsy (to name just two major places people shop). Many are excellent, but depend on word of mouth for customers. You can have a hand in helping a business succeed and improve with your feedback!

Helpful feedback lets the shop owner know what they're doing right. Did the item ship quickly, arrive well packaged and in the condition described? Was the person you communicated with friendly and open to answering questions?  You can leave positive feedback for any one of these reasons if the service was good. If you feel like writing a quick note about the good service you received, even better! Believe it or not, the simplest reason to leave feedback (even if the customer service was just the normal amount of communication and no more) is that it lets the shop owner know you received the item. Unless the person who ships your item asks for delivery confirmation, sometimes they have no way of knowing if you got your package (besides e-mailing you). Even if you never write a note in the feedback section, that's okay- clicking the "positive" button or leaving those is five stars is still helpful to the shop.

Constructive feedback is the kind that shop owners like the most because it helps them know which direction to go in. If you liked something specific about the product you bought, great! Let the shop owner know! If you didn't really like it, but you're happy with the customer service, it's still valuable to let them know. Some people might not feel comfortable telling someone "I didn't really like...", and it's definitely a hard phrase to hear when you've worked hard on something. Both take a bit of practice. If you feel able, leave the positive feedback about their good customer service, quick shipping, etc- then also send an e-mail or note explaining what you feel the product needed. It takes a little thought, a bit of time, and a lot of tact- but a crafter/seller who wants to be the best at what they do will appreciate hearing what their customers want!

Leaving positive feedback, even if you don't leave any note, is still helpful for one very important (but often overlooked) reason: It protects the shop from trolling or abuse in the future. Yes, you can definitely provide some excellent insight for the shop owner with your feedback, but the whole purpose of feedback is to let others know how the shop measures up, right? Don't get me wrong- if you have had an awful experience with a shop and can't resolve the matter with the owner, leaving negative feedback is absolutely your right (I've done it as a last resort, and believe it or not, still got a snippy, sarcastic response from the shop owner. Wow!). But everyone has seen some poor unsuspecting shop owner get blasted by someone for something that clearly wasn't their fault, or that they are obviously trying (complete with groveling) to make right. Wouldn't it be great if every single person before that who'd had a good experience with that shop had let people know? It would make the troller's comments suspect, at the very least.

A business can only grow if it has a record of trust with the people it serves. With the "feedback" page that so many sites offer, everyone who shops can have a hand in helping the good reputation of a business. Please don't neglect to leave positive feedback when you shop online!