I am finally done with the orders from my last sale (just have one more to ship out tomorrow). Every order that was shipped after my stated shipping times in my policy section received a free gift since I took a while to ship (and also to give refunds).
I am now working on orders placed afterwards, but those are being shipped faster, so I am almost back to shipping within a few days again. If you place an order before I go on break at the end of the month, it will ship out within a couple business days (since this past couple weeks I’ve restocked and made new batches of over half my products, so most things are almost ready to ship (just need to be labeled and electrical tape/shrink wrapped, boxed, etc)). I am doing refunds this weekend too so I am slowly getting all caught up. (I appreciate that all my customers have been understanding at my slowness due to my health/energy issues; thank you for being wonderful and very patient with me. I am trying to organize better and do things more efficiently, so hopefully next year will run more smoothly).
The new batch of grande (full) size bars of Alata Samina African black soap are a little bigger than usual, at least 3.3 ounces (though several bars weigh even more) instead of the regular 3 ounce size (so some people in the black friday/cyber monday sale got the ones from the previous batch but a couple lucky people got the ones from this batch which are bigger). I did not charge extra for sending out the larger bars but have just now readjusted the price on the website (it is still the same price per ounce, the price has not risen per ounce, but the price is a little higher because the bar is bigger). A couple customers ordered alata samina today before I changed my website, so I will honor the old price for them too 🙂
This batch of the grande size of the Alata Samina is darker than the previous batch (according to my vendor, it is made with the same ingredients but with African black soap there are color variations. I think that it is due to how the ashes are burned to make the natural alkali). It is the same color as the xiao sized bars (a new batch of that one was made a little while ago). So I need to redo the pictures for that on the website (I hope to revamp all my pictures and work on the website some more later this month) since they no longer look quite like blondies when I rebatch them to form them into bars (though is the same great soap!).
The new batch of the grande (full size) New Day aromatherapy soap also weighs more, about 3.8 ounces! so I have readjusted the prices on the website for them too. I am using the same molds, it depends on how I pack the rebatched soap into them. Sometimes I can get a lot in there, sometimes not so much. People who bought the grande size during the sale got this larger new batch at the sale price for 3 ounces, so got a very good deal, since I did not charge more for sending larger bars. It is still the same price per ounce (so I did not increase the price per ounce, but the price is higher because the bars are much bigger).
I am thinking about buying some new bigger molds at the end of the month or next month (depending on my budget) since a customer asked for bigger soaps. I love the scent of the new batch of the grande New Day soap–I just bought a new lavender essential oil–which is fabulous–and used a different ylang ylang, so it is a little more floral and sweeter than the last batch, but still has a strong citrusy/orange scent. Added a touch more essential oil too, to make sure the scent sticks (orange/citrus scents are hard to keep in soaps since they are notorious faders). It smells amazing. There are still several bars left of the xiao (small) sizes of the first batch (which also smells good). More aromatherapy bars are coming out soon, so are more mineral makeup colors, and I hope a couple other goodies.
For the two new masks and scrubs (Cinderella mask and Morning mask and scrub), I changed the jars for the grande/full sizes. When I was packaging them, I didn’t like the plastic jars I was using since I was filling them to the absolute top which created a mess and it was hard filling it to the weight I wanted (which was 1.8 ounces. Some of them filled a bit less, depending on how fluffy the dry mask was). So I switched to bigger containers (the same ones I use for the grande/full size Coconut Dreams and Uganda Buttercreme, which are blue PET #1 plastic). These hold about 2.4 ounces of the masks and scrubs (note: they hold more of the Coconut Dreams and Uganda Buttercreme–4 oz of Coconut Dreams and Uganda Buttercreme), so the container is HUGE and holds about 0.6 ounce more than the original jar. I like using this jar since I have left a little room at the top, so less messy for me and also my customers (so they won’t spill any of the powdered mask when uncap it and they scoop it out).
I have shipped those who ordered the grande 1.8 ounce size of Cinderella mask and Morning mask and scrub during the last couple weeks the larger 2.4 ounce size (at the 1.8 ounce price or the 1.8 ounce sale price, depending on when they bought it), so those people are very lucky. 🙂 I just changed the prices online to reflect the much larger size (I have not increased the price per ounce, it is the same price per ounce). The petite (sample) sizes are the same size (0.4 ounces; the tiny jars are so cute!)