Thank you, Rustic Escentuals!

Bought a huge lip balm tube order from lipbalmtubes.com (CLEAR OVAL TUBES coming soon to the shop, those of you who requested them!), then remembered that they are affiliated with Rustic Escentuals and added a note asking for a sample of their "Red Maple Leaf" fragrance with the lip balm tube order. (I received a sample with my last fragrance oil order and instantly regretted not getting more sight-unseen from the description- it smells amazing!) And, yay, they sent me another ounce sample! I know EXACTLY what I'm going to use the two ounces for, but more on that in a few weeks.

So, thank you to the lovely people at Rustic Escentuals/LipBalmTubes.com! (I'll be back for your Peanut Butter flavor oil, which I completely forgot to order with the lip balm tubes...)

Today was awesome, but then... it wasn't.

Winding down my day at 4:15ish this afternoon and heard a weird noise in our garage, like somebody closing a window too hard. I wasn't too worried about it, and asked someone to check on it...

My three bins of fragrance oils had toppled- fortunately, from only about a foot off the ground, but still... The garage was already starting to smell like a jumble of fragrance oils and there was broken glass on the ground. (We've got old carpet on the garage floor so it's warm to walk out there.) In my shock I just imagined broken glass everywhere, all of our fragrances wasted- WOW, what an awful thought!

We took the bins, one by one, to the kitchen for cleanup and to assess the damage. Nobody was more relieved than me to find that only three bottles had actually broken. Sadly, they were brand new bottles, and they were three fragrances that absolutely do not go together- Herbal Essence, Cream Cheese Frosting, and Moonlight Pomegranate (all Bramble Berry, and amazing fragrances on their own!). I mean, if I had accidentally made some amazing, never-thought-of blend, I totally would have saved the oil. But no... Herbal musk cream cheese floral frosting spice. Not fun.

The cleanup was all uphill from there. We had to glove up, wash the oil off of each bottle with dish soap, carefully dry them, and we also gave each bottle a rubdown with Clorox cleanup to kill any leftover fragrance. Took. Hours. It's a very strange thing to think about, but I spent a lot of the time being very happy that the labels that many suppliers use are very high quality. Four of the five companies' labels held up under all of that really well, with very little peeling or running. (We spent most of the cleanup time rewriting the labels on the bottles of one supplier. Their products are top-quality, but it struck me as odd that you would not have an oil-resistant label on a bottle of fragrance oil. Maybe people smashing their bottles doesn't come up much.) Our Bramble Berry fragrance bottles' labels were some of the hardest hit by spilled fragrance oil, but they came through it not too worse for wear. On some of them, you can't even tell that they went through an oil dousing, soapy water and bleach spray. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE BB's waterproof label paper? I have. Several times.) It makes me glad we use the same tough paper for our products. It's a small thought, but it was reassuring.

Tomorrow I have to give our house the sniff test to see if I dripped fragrance oil anywhere and clean it up. If you think about it, we did spill a full 12 ounces of fragrance oil between our garage and the fragrance bins. Scary.

What I've been up to & Projects for next week

I spent yesterday and the day before making and pouring 265 mini lip balms (including a flavor that will be familiar to friends, but hasn't been in the shop yet) and aromatherapy balms!

I have a bulk batch of lotion to make and THREE batches of soap to cut this week. They all turned out so well, but I still get nervous when it comes to cutting them. We're working on a cutting rig that will do the whole block at one time. When we get them cut I'll post pics. :-)

I ordered a bottle of Crisp Apple Rose from Bramble Berry to use in... everything. It's crisp, clean, sweet, light, fresh, fruity, and floral all in one. I'm such a fragrance oil junkie- (maybe I shouldn't say that, it makes me sound like I drink the stuff!) I keep telling myself I have enough, but... then I tell myself that's an awful lie and that you can never have enough fragrance oil. My next fragrance oil purchase will include MMS's Dream (type) Fragrance and Rustic Escentuals' Green Irish Tweed. Both of them are awesome "Well Dressed Man" fragrances! Can't wait to soap with them!

Lip balms coming up next week will involve more Ghirardelli chocolate... I won't say any more about them until the experimenting is done..

New items coming soon...

I spent the day perfecting Mint Chocolate lip balm (with real Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate!) and it's awesome, with the perfect minty kick. Mom says it smells just like Junior Mints. :-) They'll be in the shop soon, and I'll be sure to make plenty of samplers when I get the mini tubes next week.

I also worked on a solid perfume stick with light and vitamin-rich oils- the prototype is fragranced with Gardenia and it smells SO good. The fragrance seems to stick around a lot longer than spray perfume, and it just takes a small swipe to apply. Very convenient! The next fragrance will probably be Red Clover Tea- we've got some family members and friends who just can't get enough of it, but it's such a light fragrance that it can get lost on the skin. We're hoping that in a perfumed oil form it will have more staying power. I also shouldn't forget the solid colognes we'll be making for the gentlemen! We'll update when they're out of the experimentation stage and in the shop. :-)

Scents For Cents listing updated

Just finished updating our Esty Scent Sample listing with all the new fragrances we've added:

- Cedar and Saffron - Cedar combined with smoky scents of patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver, with Eastern spices to give it a kick.
- Earth - Smells like clean, rich, fresh-tilled soil straight from the garden center. (Can you have clean dirt?) It has also been said that this smells like the earth after a good rain. 
- Eucalyptus Spearmint - Very fresh and energizing! Very true to the real Eucalyptus and Spearmint essential oils, with nothing added.
- Fresh Cut Grass - Smells like fresh cut and watered grass in spring. (It makes us think of spring because it has a hint more sweetness than some Grass fragrances.)
- Kentish Rain - A rainy, salty, "green" fragrance with added notes of muguet lily, rose and jasmine, and a touch of violet. This fragrance definitely makes you think of rain by the ocean! 
- Lettuce - Crisp, clean, and very green, like a well-tended bed of romaine or iceberg lettuce. No, you won't smell like a salad- this is a very refreshing unisex fragrance.
- Mocha - A deep rich combination of coffee and chocolate. Not as sweet as some mocha blends.
- Spiced Mahogany - A deep, rich, "woody" scent featuring Patchouli, Cedarwood, and Oakmoss. Spicy notes of Cardamom, Vanilla Bourbon and allspice round out this fragrance.
- Sweet Pea - Very floral and sweet. Just like the real thing!
- Tangerine Tulip - This fragrance is popular in shampoos and conditioners because it is a fruity floral with more depth than sweetness. The tangerine notes are tart, just like the real thing, and the Tulip notes are rich. A very well-balanced fragrance.
- Wasabi - Sweet when you first smell it, this scent then takes on a clean and spicy fragrance. It’s completely unique, with notes of eucalyptus, ginger, peppermint, and thyme. Everyone who has smelled this so far has said “Wait, let me smell that again!” or “What a fun fragrance! It has a definite kick to it!” 
- Woodberry - Woodberry has notes of fresh air, spicy blondewood, moss and mixed berries. A winter forest scent *without* any pine or evergreen notes.

I also got smart and put spaces in between the sections of fragrances in alphabetical order. I hope that makes it easier to navigate around the listing and see what you've already tried. :-)

COMING SOON: A new listing with all of our essential oils available to sample on test strips!

Scent samples a hit!

I just wanted to stop in to say how happy I am that everyone is so pleased with our scent sample offer! We've had great responses from everyone who has tried it in person and from our Etsy page. So, here's a HUGE "thank you" to everyone who has tried them and given us feedback!

If you're thinking of trying a set of 10, please remember that we also recalculate the shipping for every order to make sure our estimate is correct. So if you order a set of scent samples with a soap or lotion you'll end up paying less than the cost of a stamp for the scent samples.

Remember, too, that if you decide you like one of the scents you order, the first time you order an 8 oz lotion from our shop made with that scent you will receive a discount equal to the amount you paid for the 10 scent strips. If you're in the US, that will be 65 cents off the price! Here is a link to the 8 oz. lotion.