Magic Hands Workshop is in the HOUSE

Magic Hands Workshop (MHW) made amazing soaps, and as you know, Jackie of MHW gave me her soap recipes and I have been offering a few of them:  Hawaiian Sandalwood Shea Butter Soap, Alabaster Sea Salt Soap, Red Currant Sea Salt Soap and Eucalyptus Tea Tree Facial Soap. Well, this month, there will be much more added to our line:

Lavender Mint Sea Salt Soap, Bitter End Shea Butter Soap, Ambre de Nepal Shea Butter Soap, Cucumber Mint Sea Salt Soap and perhaps Wildwood Rose Soap.

This is Bitter End revealed - just out of the mold.

Bitter End is AMAZINGLY fantastic. (you think I kind of like it?)

This is Jackie's photo (above) and here is the description she wrote in her old listing:

Isn't it odd how something bitter can seem so sweet? Bitter almond, bitter orange, and bittersweet chocolate. Smells like something you'd want to eat. As long as that's really almond and not cyanide, that is. Ingredients: Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, water, sodium hydroxide, palm kernel oil, canola oil, shea butter, fragrance, bittersweet chocolate.

So how could I NOT make this soap?  It smells unreal.  It smells like everything I love.  So, perhaps I have more chocolate in mine than she used to make.  It's my first time making it, so when you buy a bar of it, I'd love your feedback.  Perhaps, I'll dial back the chocolate a tad.


Bitter End, coming soon:  End of November.


What are YOUR favorite Magic Hands soaps.  Perhaps I could bring them back for you?

Poison Apple & Other News

Poison Apple will be removed from our fragrance selections and perfume oils until its return in the Fall of 2011. Spring is springing and we need to make room for fresh scents that we have in store for you. If you want to get a hold of any Poison Apple perfume oils, now would be the time, because starting on Wednesday, Poison Apple will be tucked away until Summer disappears.

I also will be tucking away Salt Snow until next Fall. I have 2 in Black Pumpkin and 2 in Poison Apple that I want to sell quickly, so only on ETSY, they are on clearance if you want them.

However... Poison Apple soap just finished curing, and that will be at the regular price. I just posted those online at Product Body AND the etsy shop.

Out with apples for now. :)

Tell Us About Your Faves

What are your favorite perfume oils that we offer?survey software

My New Favorite Holiday Scent

Gingerbread Spice, which, right now, is only available in the Holiday Crush Set.

I may have to add it to the catalog, at least temporarily, after the holidays.

Yummmmmm.

Raspberry Linzer Cookie Scent... Oooo

I had a wonderful note on my wall on Facebook last week from a fellow bath and body colleague who tried some Crush On You and Creme Fresh. She brightened my day with her note:

"OMGEEE~! I got my order today, Joanna-that Rasperry L Cookie Scrub is THE BEST Cookie smell I have EVER smelled!!!! WOW, my mouth is freaking out and my brain is Peeved it can't have cookies :) Also the Creme Fresh is now the moisturizer I NEED for my face. I'm Dying! Thanks soooo much :)"

I just had to share because I that scent is so "to die for" and I don't know if people are really believing that this is truly the real deal. It smells like THE COOKIE. A lot of fragrance oils say they smell like stuff and you get it and it's like, "huh? This smells nothing like blah blah blah." But this is the real McCoy. It is now a permanent part of our collection. I can't stop sniffing it. That's why.

My friend, Kim Pilla, made the actual cookies you see in this photo. I did not get to taste them, sadly.
Perhaps the next batch she makes she won't create them the size of her FACE. Then she might have some extras! ;)

October Scent Reveal

If you aren't aware of the Scrub Of The Month (SOTM) subscription, I'll briefly describe it, but go here if you want more fun details. We've designed 12 unique, limited edition Crush On You scrubs (our most popular non-soap product) in limited edition packaging that we're selling to our customers on a subscription only-basis. We are releasing the scents one at a time, each one only being announced once the previous month's scrub has shipped.

Because we just started and our September shipping date was the 15th of September, we have our new scent reveal. The Scrub Of The Month October scent is

BLAZE

pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, amber, black pepper

I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

September's scent was Caramel Apple and my teeth hurt just making it.

You may join the subscription at any time!

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Ooooo! Another Rave! Thanks, Dollface!

Cindy Bokma, the talented writer, mother, (to me) comedian, fashionista, extrordinaire who writes Hello Dollface blog and Conversations With Famous Writers blog has written about our products, again.

What a HONEY PIE!

I'd love to regurgitate it here, but you should go over there and read it yourself.

Some of my favorite words...

Hands down
Julia Child
lathers up
whisper
no lie
Hello?
heaven
sniffing me

Cindy, perfume. I like it.....


;)

Product Of The Day At Product Body

CHEZ SALT in pink grapefruit

Emulsified shea butter and olive butter salt scrub made by hand and excellent for the AFTER WAX of the bikini area to keep ingrown hairs at bay.

Salt. The magical bikini area mineral.

Oh yeah.....

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Wash and Road Wash Price Drop For Good

Yup! We dropped the price.

Road Wash went from $16 to $13.50 and Wash went from $22 to $19.50.

A...N....D... an awesome new scent that you could die for:

c o c o n u t l e m o n g r a s s

Just get me the suntan lotion and a smoothie. STAT!

Dark Chocolate Almond Shea Butter - Drizzle It

(Please do not steal this photo. If you want to use it for some reason, please ask permission. Thank you.)

We have made Dark Chocolate Almond Whipped Shea Butter that is TO DIE FOR, ohmygoshyouhavetograbonebeforetheyareallgone! Yes. I spell checked. It IS in the Webster dictionary under Joanna's slang.

I have a wonderful tip for shea butter that one of our spas shared with me. She buys our shea in bulk and for massages, they melt and drizzle it on their clients. Can you imagine a warm drizzle of dark chocolate almond shea oil and a rub to match?

Oh, heaven. Can I have some whipped cream, a strawberry and some champagne with that?!

In case you don't know where to go, let me help you ;) Product Body

Shea in Sexy

Whipped Shea Butter, never before offered in .....drum roll, please......Sexy Laundry Day!

o h y e a h

Feel clean, feel sexy, feel lightly scented and super duper moisturized while it gets colder in your neck of the woods.

Scent Review of Sexy Laundry Day

A lovely, lovely customer of mine gave me a scent review for Sexy Laundry Day that I'd like to share.

Sexy Laundry Day is the perfect name for this scent. It's soft, sweet, and clean. Think clothes on the line on a summer day with sweet undertones. It's perfect for my job where perfume is not allowed but I still want to smell nice. I used Crush on You and Cream both scented with SLD since layering the scent makes it last longer. Once it's on the skin, this scent is subtle yet alluring. My husband caught my arm and pulled me close to get a better sniff. Now that makes me want to use it every day!

Nell

ps- I love the salt soap too.

Thank you, Nell. I appreciate your emails and wonderful comments.

SEXY Laundry Day

We are testing out a new scent that we are digging. It is a wonderful scent in soaps, but comes off a bit more floral in body products.

The new complex and secret scent is called: SEXY Laundry Day.

Description: Fresh and clean with notes of exotic flowers...jasmine and ylang ylang.

If you'd like to test it and give us feedback, you can. It is available on Product Body only in the Trial Sized Crush On You (for now). If we get a great response, we may keep it for a long time....

I think it is a perfect Summer scent that isn't fruity or coconut-y.

More Bombs...

I think they came out pretty good considering I've only been at this bath bomb making for a couple of months.  My favorite from the 68 bombs I made is the Yuzu with calendula petals (below).  They remind me of mellow yellow Easter eggs.   Or sugary candy....like sugar coated jaw breakers, but the size of a croquet ball.

 
These are some of them wrapped and ready to go.  Some of the others that went out in the order was Riceflower & Shea, Red Lychee Tea, Lavender and Dark Chocolate Almond.

I was having a heck of a time getting the right balance of everything.  Practice does make perfect and I kept at it, and it paid off.  Phew.  Now my fingers feel raw and my arms are definately feeling "the burn".

My Mother's Day Gift

To me, this was the perfect gift.  I love gardening, but don't do it like I used to.  I feel I have even run out of time to go shopping for plants let alone watering them.  Oh, I used to be so good.....

So some of my plants are:  cucumbers, tomatoes (3 different types), purple string beans, yellow watermelon,  jalepenos (3!), basil, lemon thyme, Japanese eggplant (2), cilantro, and peppermint. Look what a beautiful job the kids did decorating the border.

This is a frangipani flower blooming and it smells heavenly.  This baby tree is in the backyard, while I have a much larger tree in the front that blooms hot pink.  Oh they love the heat... frangipanis drop all there leaves in the Winter and look like branch sculptures and in the summer months, they bloom and smell up the joint with gorgeousness.

Wish I knew of a way to incorporate them in my body products.  I have never found a plumeria/frangipani scent that smelled anywhere near the real thing!

Blue Bubble Bath Hunky Chunks

I have blue bubbles on the brain.

The carrot cake Bubble Rubble is now gone, never to return to the Bubble Rubble family, unless I have a special order of 6. But! We have blue Sparkling Champagne again which will be made on Tuesday and will be ready for shipment on Wednesday.

Bubble Rubble is solid bubble bath fun.

Then I had way too much fun creating small hearts and muffins. I may have to do a special give-away just to make more in another scent..... ;)

hearts

blue muffins

One More Left!

Carrot Cake Bubble Rubble.  There is only one jar left and I am not sure I will run it again.  I think it isn't as popular as I had hoped.  I love it and I know my friend Carrie~Gigi loves it.  No matter.  New scent for Bubble Rubble coming soon...... 

Something good  ;)

Sparkling Champagne Crush On You

Our Crush On You is a big hit in the press in general, which I am so glad about. It is also one of my personal favorites and is in every shower and sink in my house (and my mother's house and my friend's house...). I wasn't so sure that a new fragrance I got would be well received because it was an unusual scent. Sparkling champagne may not appeal to some, but it evokes happy memories for me. My children love it, but they think it smells like Coke (what do they know of champagne....the finer things).

Well, I put it out there, and Crush On You is usually the place I start with new scents, because I think people are more willing to dive into an unfamiliar scent with Crush On You because it washes off. This month, Sparkling Champagne has become our best seller! Who knew? Of course with help of Maya at Wedding Bee who tipped off a flock of women who are getting ready to take the plunge.

To celebrate, I tip my latte and slurp a little caffeine down so I can gear up and make more batches of the lovely bubbly Crush.

Cheers!

Busy Day

Today I didn't even have a chance to breathe. Work work work. Days like that are fine, but I missed reading the blogs I like to read and I never even got around to drinking my second cup of coffee. You know it is bad when I can't get to that! As promised, I will be making my first batch of Bubble Rubble In Carrot Cake and will share with pictures. Hopefully they won't turn brown like the sweet vanilla mango. If there is vanilla in the fragrance (which I am betting there is), it will be a shade of brown, perhaps a mauve-like taupe.

Yes, tomorrow, Bubble Rubble.

I also would like to shout out to The Wedding Bee for reviewing us on their blog. How nice is it to just stumble on a great review you knew nothing about?

Ruby Red

My favorite smelling scent right now....

Ruby Red Grapefruit. It is tart, tangy, fresh and citrusy all at once. It is a strange smell, in a way. The tartness can take you by surprise... almost knock you down and make you wonder for a brief moment if it's good or just weird, and then the high notes swing in like Tarzan and lift you away to a vacation paradise spot.

I have found the scent I have been looking for. Ruby Red, juicy and tart with a touch of orchid breath. The new foot scrub (name to be released any day...:)) comes in two scents: "Ruby Red Grapefruit" and "Cookie". I just sent them off to a major magazine who will have the first pass at it. We are so excited about this one. It is truly wonderful. Your feet will never be the same.