Double Item Sale! Sugarfoot and Cream......

Yeah. 20% off Sugarfoot and Cream going on now through June 29th. The sale was sent out in the newsletter to our customers, but we've decided that times are tough for everyone and we all deserve a sale, don't we??

:O)


Go check out the online version of our newsletter and get the sale code.

Toffee Soap

A couple of months ago I made soap with my daughter present in the shop. She didn't actually help me make the soap, but she designed the soap, scented it and topped it with sugar and chocolate soap shavings after the pour. She did a great job, I must say. We didn't name it until the soap was fully cured, because the scent fully morphed and now it smells mostly like toffee. It looks like fudge or pie....definitely edible. We made two loaves and Nina gets a lot of compliments on the bars. People come in all the time, take one look at the curing case and wonder if they've stepped into a fudge shop.

Hehe.

If you are interested in getting a Toffee soap, you can find them at our Etsy shop here. The main Etsy shop link is here if you want to check out our other Etsy offerings.

***

Bubble Rubble... In Sexy?

Oh yeah, in green, and the pink is Gardenia. Just sayin'.

Shop for it....

And The Winner Is.....

Random.Org generated a random number, so with all of the comments tallied in, then all of the posts that people wrote, which earned them extra points, and then all of the referrals and extra points earned there, the winner came out to be...... tinagirl.

tinagirl, congratulations!! Get in touch with me by email, so you can get your $25 in
Product Body Cash! jo(at)productbody(dot)com

Thank you all for playing. Maybe next time, we'll do a scavenger hunt ;)

Product Body Cash Give-Away

We are giving away $25.00 in Product Body spending money. It's true. We will put money into your Product Body account (you don't have to have one set up yet) for you to use towards any Product Body online purchase. It's used like a gift certificate/cash and never expires. Fun, yeah? Here are the ways that you can earn entries:

1. Go to the Product Body website and look around...find a product you'd like to try in the scent you'd like to try it in and return here and leave a comment with your answer. You may leave a total of three of these (we know how hard it is to choose only one Product Body product).

2. You can also send your friends to do the same thing, BUT they have to mention in their comment that you sent them. You'll get an extra entry automatically for each person you send.

3. If you have your own blog and you post this give-away on your blog, you get TWO automatic entries! (let us know so we can add entries to your name)

Contest ends on JUNE 17th. So have fun browsing and good luck!

Inexpensive Pocketbook Item

For only $6.50, you can get a Product Travels Creme Fresh (pictured above) and it's not such a big investment. Isn't it cute? Look! Those are my keys, my green leather purse and my green sunglasses, all sitting on my brown leather wallet. My husband and I do all of our set design, so everything that is set up is taken from one of us, unless there is a prop-less set, of course.

The Creme Fresh is nourishing and more than 99% natural. Get some. Get smooth. I find that my hands get dry looking at the most inopportune times, like when I'm about to meet someone I don't want to have dry looking hands! Yeah, especially me, the one who makes creams. A horror!

It's like a make-up artist walking around with no make-up.
A shoe maker with holey shoes.
A boat maker who lives in the Colorado mountains.

Oh, you get what I'm saying. Don't make me come back there.

Update on Ingredients - ORGANIC!

Product Body is now using organic high oleic sunflower oil across the board replacing all high oleic sunflower oil that we have been using prior. This change began in April and the website shall reflect this as soon as we can update this. We are also now using organic palm oil that is also farmed using sustainable farming practices.

We try to use natural and organic ingredients when it is feasible, but we also try to maintain fresh, quality products at a reasonable price. I read an interesting article today "Being Organic Or Natural Won't Necessarily Make A Product Green". You may be interested in it. Sometimes natural practices without thought can create an even bigger problem.

As product manufacturers, we need to look at the larger picture.

This organic news is good news. The palm oil especially. You can read a bit about the Orangutan species and why buying sustainable palm oil is important over on my soap blog here and here.

Thought Provoking Quote

Never mistake motion for action.

~Ernest Hemingway

Want To Lose Some Poundage?

flaxseed

A generic letter from my doctor:

There are seven simple foods for you to keep in mind that

can help you with controlling your weight:

(1) salmon,
(2) walnuts,
(3) hot sauce with capsaicin,
(4) water with lemon,
(5) ground flaxseed,
(6) cinnamon, and
(7) granola bars with high fiber and low sugar.

All of these are good items to consider when you want a

snack or when you want to help control that feeling of

hunger so that you can maintain control over your weight.

To Your Good Health,

Dr. Paul Winner

That's if anyone is looking to lose some pounds, or get healthy!!

NEW! TSA Approved Travel Set!

Are you so tired of squirting your stuff into tiny jars or mini tupperware so you can travel? Well cut it out and look no further! It is so true and it is awesome - in our newest scent, Beach House. Get them here. Also, you can get all the Product Travel items individually at the Product Body site....

Shop on Candid Camera

Thought I'd show part of my workspace.

I have 5 different work stations in this little area. You can see a little of this here, a bit of that there... Oh yes, this is a cruddy mess. After a full day of formulating, making and pouring soap and before clean-up. I DO clean up after every project, but I did have a few going at the same time, so it got crazy AND it was the end of the day.

From the work table in the formulary looking into the retail portion and out the door... (underexposed, sorry).

Mother's Day Approaches

If you are local, please stop in for some very cute Mother's Day packages I've put together ranging from $15-$89. Some are in plant pots, tea pots, baskets, etc. So, so cute! We decided this year NOT to do a Mother's Day offering online due to a busy wholesale schedule here (we just don't have the staff this minute), but we did send out an incredible Tips and Treats newsletter celebrating our wedding anniversary.

We gave 20% off of Coconut Milk Bath Soak and when the customer buys a non-sale item and wishes us a happy anniversary in the comments section at check out, we'd send them $13 gift certificate into their account. That is one dollar for every year. Yeah, it's like cash and it never expires.

So if you are on our newsletter list and you happen to miss that email - - check you SPAM filter.

Am I A Control Freak?

It's hard to be lying in bed all sweaty and achy while my husband mans the shop and puts together the orders I almost completed on Saturday. I know he's competent. I am just so used to me doing it all myself that when I am not there, I feel like I have no control. And I don't. So this whole idea of control is really a bigger issue.

Since I'm already in a lying down position, there's no need to sit down to think about control. I'm here, in the most relaxed and exposed position known to man. On my back. Like a turtle. So I'm thinking, "Am I into control? Do I need to have things go the way I want them to go? Do I need to maneuver situations in order to guide things to my desired outcome?"




My answer is no. I am just not one of those people. I mean, I'm not someone to be walked all over or just shrug my shoulders at any idea. I am not a slug with a lack of input. I just don't carry agendas that are inflexible.

So why is it that when I am not at work, and others are doing my job, do I feel a bit worried, like somehow it might not be done right? Again, super competent husband doing really easy packaging and labeling work.... I suppose if we had a bigger staff and we had individuals doing specific jobs, I could let go of the control.

Ok, I am achy now and my little moment of stress should have been a moment of Zen. My oatmeal and water must settle and now I need to nap.

I hate fever aches. :(

***

A Macro Detail

Shop's Curtain

Sometimes it's just good to stop. Look closely at where you are EXACTLY and see the beauty in the regular, ordinary things you see day in, day out.

Pretty In Pink Or Just Overkill

I've been on a cupcake bath bomb kick like a LOT of people. I'm still working on getting my peaks (frosting) much higher. I have to tell you, when I leave out the bubble bath portion, I can get them much taller, so i think I'll stick with the original formula I started with.

Thought I'd hit you with el carnival cuppy cake! If you are in the neighborhood, I have 4 individual ones and a 4 pack wrapped up in a cupcake box tied with a pretty ribbon all ready for a party!

Now, I am ready for a real cupcake. DD, my cupcake friend who has a cupcake shop around the corner, I need a red velvet with cream cheese frosting - aaaaaaahhhhhhththththh!

Chez Salt - What It's Good For....

If you get waxed at all, on your legs or your bikini area especially now with the Summer coming, you may want to start using a salt scrub to avoid ingrown hairs. Because...ow, those are no fun, and they are ugly. Yup - it's really true. And if you don't believe me, ask a spa manager, although, they'll try to sell you the salt scrub they carry in their spa.

Because I own Product Body, I'll suggest our salt scrub with soothing shea butter, Chez Salt. I made some FRESH this morning in juicy pink grapefruit. Just for your poor freshly ripped off skin that now feels like baby's skin.
:)

That's my skin tip for the day.

A Few New Things

We have been so busy in the lab whipping up goodies. My daughter was on Spring break last week and decided instead of vacationing, she wanted to come to work with me every day. She helped make bath bombs, clean up, wrapped and cut soap. She even designed and came up with a fragrance for her Toffee soap which I will post here next week. The soaps we made aren't shown in this post because they aren't cured, but they will be. They include Toffee, Clean Sweet and Ginger + Amber with Star Anise. They all came out very nice. Most of these can be found in the Product Labs Etsy shop by the end of this weekend.

Hot Process Yuzu Maui (with cp yuzu bits)

Sweet Lemon Pie Bath Bombs with calendula petals made and decorated by Nina, my daughter

Hefty half circle bath bombs in Passionfruit Guava (over 5 oz)--- sha shaaaaaa!

All natural lavender soap with rose clay and lavender buds

Bath bomb cupcake

Hot process soap:: Citrus Circus Squares
(tangerine, orange valencia, yuzu, grapefruit, ruby red grapefruit + lemon)

Have a great weekend and happy soaping, slathering or scrubbing! Also, if you are not following me on Twitter, get to it to get the April coupon for Crush On You!!

Dumping

It's like the old days when I first started concocting formulations. I did the research, created a "masterpiece", then dumped it in the trash bin. This was a good summary of the many batches of body goo I made for myself. Luckily, I didn't give up, yeah?

It felt like a little of that beginner's unluck muse was on my shoulder watching me on Friday and Saturday because I tried to make a huge batch of bubble bath cupcake frosting for my bath bomb cupcakes for the shop and I failed miserably. I don't know what happened except that I think I completely misread the recipe and added way too much water, then compensated with all the other ingredients, which never worked and just wasted ingredients..... all I can say is... I threw out over a gallon of frosting. That was a killer because I was all ready to have the prettiest cupcakes on the planet. (well, in Jupiter anyway, which is a planet but not on this planet.)

Then on Saturday, I went back to my original bubble bath royal icing recipe and it came out beautifully. It was a recipe for four cupcakes. When I was done and cleaned up the blender, I had my daughter (who was on Spring break and needing to make these cuppycakes with me) triple the recipe so we coud finish icing the rest of the bombs, I was mixing and mixing.....and what....was.....happening......the icing was.....all........ wrong. Oh mother of GAWD. Now what!?

I reviewed her math after the mixing had been done and realized she quadrupled one of the ingredients. Scrambling around and compensating for the mistake, mixing in more of the ingredients that hadn't been properly added, the darn icing just never got to where it was meant to be. It was thick and foamy looking, not silky and sticky looking the way it's supposed to look.

Hence, more dumping and more wasting.

I hate wasting.

Honestly, I have been quite preoccupied with a couple of medical issues, but now, hopefully that is behind me. So, with this coming week of recovery, I shall dream big and think positive with big fluffy peaks and those cupcakes will be grand.

YES!

(hey thinking positively can't hurt)

Lemon Bomb Is Green & For The Belly

We are in the current issue of Pregnancy & Newborn magazine :: The GREEN Issue!


Lemon Bomb for bellies (and super dry skin, too) ... When we get the magazine, we'll scan it for you all to see and post it up, but I couldn't keep it to myself. You know how I get with the press. Gitty is how I get!

xx Joanna

Crush On You Is Officially #1

Crush On You has topped the charts at Product Body. It is our top seller, it is the top discusser, the top raver, it's all anyone ever talks about these days. In fact, I am making it everyday just keeping up with the demand of the master exfoliators out there. (You know who you are ;P)

I originally made Crush for the body, but found myself using the scrub mostly for my hands at the kitchen sink because we are tuna fish eaters and garlic lovers here and that Crush On You takes odors right off the hands. Oil, too. Since I make the stuff, I have a tub of it at every sink in the house. I also love using it as a pre-shave for my legs. I love the roughness of a scrub on my lower legs especially. The rougher the better ...they are in a constant state of inner itch, so the scrub just eases the tension (hard to explain, so I'll just drop it so I don't bore you all).

Since Crush On You was born a few years ago, it's been just a body scrub, or so I thought. This year, my cousin tells me she's been using it on her face and has been for months. People at work keep stopping her and asking her where she's getting her "work" done. "Are you going to a dermatologist or getting plastic surgery or botox, or what!? I need their phone number!"

Get outta here!

She says to me, "No, Jo. Really." Then she tells me her son (who is also my Godson and 16 years old) has been using the Crush On You and his acne cleared up since he started using it. WHAT!? Get out. Okay, now, looking younger and beng acne free? Give me a piece of that Kit Kat bar! So guess what? I started using Crush On You as a facial scrub every night before bed for about 2 months, and my skin is way softer, looks smoother and my pimples are at bay. Hormonal acne can't be treated... those come from within, but the excess ones? They are gone!

SO if you have a Crush On You in your possession, try it on your face for a few days and see how you feel and look. Then write me an email if you have any feedback for me. I want to hear what YOU have to say.

I do.