Earth Alkemie will be closed Thanksgiving Day; the shopping cart will remain open but I will not be working on Thursday :). I’ll be visiting my family for most of this week, so will be working reduced hours this week.
Hope you have a Happy Holiday! Keep checking this blog for updates (hint, hint ;P)
Cheers,
Li
Northern Ghana African black soap is now available on the website. This soap replaces ‘Ghana’ soap. It is made by the same place, with the same ingredients, except the shea butter has been removed (the shea butter was the last ingredient). I love the new fomulation (I use this soap in my aromatherapy soap called New Day).
I noticed some of my last updates (that I did a while back) for some reason did not upload (and also did not save properly) so I had to redo the web pages. This includes the ingredients page (so the ingredients page now has all of the ingredients from the three new products I released last month). I am working on the others that also did not load properly.
Earth Alkemie will be closed from December 21st until January 1st. The cart will remain open but I’ll be on holiday break. I will ship all orders made prior to December 21st before I go on break, but those made after the 21st will ship when I reopen (check this blog or the forum during that time though. Hint, hint 🙂 ).
There will be holiday gift bags and also new products released VERY soon. Keep checking this blog for upcoming sales and specials too (like the holiday gift bags, which will be offered at special discounted prices).
Holiday shipping schedule:
I will try my best to ship all orders as fast as I can, but to ensure delivery before Christmas, Yule, or Hanukkah, please order by the dates listed, and also choose priority mail shipping. Thank you! 🙂
For Christmas (December 25th), please order by December 16th.
For Yule (December 21st), please order by December 12th.
For Hanukkah (which starts December 1st this year), please order by November 23nd.
Happy holidays! 🙂
(From a post from my forum, slightly edited and expanded).
I am temporarily pulling Warrior cleanser off the site, until I am finished testing the new bottles, and make a new batch. I was going to put the ones with pumps on super clearance (since I thought the pumps worked, they just shoot out the cleanser too forcefully) but since one customer informed me that her pump isn’t even working, I am not going to take the chance that more pumps have issues. (I guess I now have plenty of soap for personal use 😉 ).
Though only two people have contacted me about the pump, I am just going to assume all the pump bottles (with Warrior) either shoot out the cleanser too much, or aren’t working. I have decided to refund everyone who has bought it so far the full cost of Warrior cleanser (which was $8.07 or $9.50 depending on when they bought it) for the issues or potential issues. I hope everyone who bought it accepts my sincere apologies for the packaging (I am glad people love the cleanser but I feel really bad for the issues with the bottles since I thought it was a nice bottle to use). I am working on shipping refunds now too, as I am still behind on those, and hope to finish all refunds within the next week or two.
I just received some bottles to test a few days ago (I had to order from a different company–who is further away and who shipped ground–than my favorite supplier, since my favorite supplier did not have all the styles and sizes I wanted to try in blue plastic). I have gotten disc top and also another top (the kind with a stick/spout you pull up to pour the cleanser out) and also trying a couple different pumps too (I won’t be using pumps for Warrior but got them to test other products with) in 1 oz size, and two different 4 oz bottles. Hopefully one of the tops (the disc or the ‘spout’ one) will work better.
Please let me know what you think about the pump bottles for Warrior (post on the forum or email me at Li@earthalkemie.com ). Thank you.
If you ordered Warrior (before today) and don’t like the current pump bottle I will send you one free plain, empty plastic bottle (I only have 1 oz or 4 oz or 4.5 oz though, the same ones I use for the toners. I don’t have any in 2 oz size though). Just let me know, and I will send you one.
Hi everyone
Shipping update:
I am currently taking up to 7 to 8 business days (week days, not including weekends) to ship orders, though some orders will take less time to ship. I ran out of several products so had to package or craft more (I had to craft and/or package products for several of the early orders, which has delayed shipping overall. However, once I complete those orders (and finish packaging or making new batches), the latter orders should be shipped a little faster). I am so sorry for the delay; I still sometimes take up to 7 business days but had managed to get my shipping times down to 2 to 4 days for most orders, but right now I am taking a little longer with some orders again. (Any order that takes 8 business days is getting something a little extra in their package 🙂 since it is stated I ship within seven business days in my policies section).
I hope to finish shipping all orders from the sale within a few days. During sales I usually get a few more orders than regular days, so it usually takes me a little longer to process orders than usual. Thank you for understanding!
ANB (all natural beauty) holiday samplerI just wanted to announce that Earth Alkemie is participating in anb mall’s holiday sampler, so keep an eye out for that! (ANB’s holiday sampler is a sampler bag from many different anb vendors. Some of the items in the sampler are sample size, while some–like Earth Alkemie’s product–is full size). I packaged the products for that and shipped it to my friend Sharon (anb websites owner) earlier this week, so I am excited! The product is lovely, and also the coupon included is even better! 🙂 I will post more about it, when the sampler actually comes out on Sharon’s site.
A couple notes on products:
Most of the grande New Day soaps in the current batch weight slightly more than 3 ounces. Yay! 🙂
I was packing an order with Everlast last week and discovered that last month I had packaged a few grande size Everlast in 1 oz bottles instead of 1/2 ounce bottles (I grabbed the wrong bottle size while I was packaging, I was filling mostly 5 ml bottles and but filled a few of the grande size and grabbed the wrong size). So I think maybe three? orders last month with the grande size Everlast elixir went out with the wrong, bigger bottle (lucky them! I hope they enjoy the extra big bottle!). Just wanted to mention this, in case someone got one of the bigger ones and then reorders and then sees the bottle is smaller than the last time they got it.
Cheers,
Li
I posted this on my forum but forgot to post it here too.
Ghana soap is out of stock and it is no longer available (it was an ephemeral/limited edition item since the company just changed its formula).
It is being replaced by a soap made by the same company, and almost all of the same ingredients, except it no longer is made with shea butter (which was the last ingredient. Shea butter only partially saponifies in soap, so part of the butter changes into soap and part of it remains as the fat).
I actually like the new version of the soap better, and that is the soap I use as the base in the New Day aromatherapy soap (I add shea butter and also coconut milk to the soap, so it is very emollient and creates a creamy lather).
I am calling the new african black soap ‘Northern Ghana’ and will put it on the site once I rebatch some and form into bars 🙂 It is a great soap and I will be making more aromatherapy bar soaps with it!
Earth Alkemie’s new products are finally up and it’s also time for the last mini sale! I am so sorry that the sale was later than anticipated (I was delayed due to health issues, and also I had ingredient issues so some of my supplies came late and in addition I decided to release different products than I was going to release, so had to redo the labels, website, etc. Still releasing the same types of products–soap, toner, cleanser–, but just different ones than I originally thought since a couple ingredients are no longer available or very hard to obtain).
There are three new products.
The first new product is an aromatherapy bar soap called New Day. I have taken an african black soap and have added lots of creamy coconut milk and rich shea butter. I then scented it with an amazing sunny floral earthy blend of orange, ylang ylang, lavender, and patchouli (it smells wonderful!). This soap is perfect for blemished skin (whether it is oily or mildly dehydrated/dry skin). I have been using it as a facial soap as well as a hand/body soap.
I have also crafted a lovely aromatherapy liquid cleanser. Warrior Aromatherapy Liquid Cleanser is soap based, and made with many herbs that are beneficial for blemished skin, including rosemary, dandelion, and licorice. It is super gentle, and perfect for oily, combo, and normal skin, but mildly dehydrated skin will also love it. This cleanser smells divine! I have scented it with a blend of several essential oils including rosemary, ylang ylang, and bergamot. I love this cleanser, and have been using it before and during my moon days to help keep my skin clear!
The last new product is Purity Toner. I crafted this for oily and blemished skin types. It contains certified organic rosemary, and ethically wild harvested witch hazel and lavender hydrosols, as well as leucidal (eco cert preservative). Rosemary hydrosol is thought to be beneficial for blemished skin, and aromatherapist S. Catty mentions that witch hazel hydrosol is high in antioxidants. I find lavender to be very balancing (whether skin is too dry or too oily) and helpful for blemished skin too. I love using leucidal since it is a super gentle preservative. I think most skin types can use it, unless a person has severely dehydrated/dry skin. My skin is balanced but can get dehydrated and I find Purity Toner very hydrating. I use witch hazel distillate/hydrosol and not the extract (witch hazel extract is usually made with the distillate and alcohol), so this formulation is really gentle. Great for aging skin too! Alcohol free.
Please note: though I usually recommend refrigerating products when not in use, I don’t recommend refrigerating Purity toner. Store at room temperature (in a place that isn’t too cool or too warm. Do not store in the bathroom).
Originally, I was just going to have just a few old items on sale, and wasn’t going to put the new products on sale, but I changed my mind and put the new items on sale 🙂 instead of a couple older ones (some items will go on sale throughout the holiday season). ALL of the new products are on sale for 15% off of the regular product price. 🙂
The grande size of Butterfly Terra Elixir is also on sale, for 20% off of its regular price (Butterfly was the customer pick for the last mini-sale).
I was only going to have a sale for 2-3 days (like the other mini-sales) but decided to run the sale for a whole week, to thank my customers for waiting so long for the new products and the sale 🙂
So the sale will run from now (Friday October 8, 2010) until Thursday October 14, 2010 11:59 pm EST. No need to use a coupon, the sale prices are already on the website.
Edited to add: the current gift sets will only be available until the end of the sale (since they have been available for a while). I will be adding new ones in the future.
I remember where I was Sept 11th; I was working/interning for National Park Foundation at the time (which is in Washington D.C.).
We saw it on television at work, and it just didn’t really click in my head at the time what happened–I was in semi-shock. (NPF was in North West part of D.C. back then).
My company let everyone off, and we all tried to scramble to get home.
For a couple hours I thought I could not get out of the city, and get home (I live in Northern VA) because I had heard on the news that they had block the main highways out of the city. Luckily after a while it was reported that the roads were not blocked or unblocked so I was able to get home.
It wasn’t until I got home and watched the news more that I got over my initial shock and finally understood. I remember crying when I saw people in the smashed buildings jumping out of the windows of the towers, and hearing more about the pentagon, and then the crash of last plane in PA.
My sister at the time lived in NYC–you could imagine what she must have went through. Traffic was blocked for days, some people walked miles to get home.
I knew two people from my undergrad college that worked in the world trade center. One of them was sick so didn’t go to work that day. The other one was running late since she had stopped to get coffee.
I remember in the weeks afterwards, military with huge guns on some of the street corners of D.C. just standing guard. I thank those soldiers for their presence in the aftermath. Their presence made me feel safer.
Through all the pain, I remember the good things too. How we all got together and stood as a people.
I was in Chicago recently for my grandfather’s funeral, and on one of the days there my aunt and uncle showed us around their area. There was a sept 11th memorial. There was a flame burning, a flame as a reminder to remember those events.
Many swore on that day to never forget. Please take a moment with me to pray to all those that we lost.
Hi everyone
(this is also posted on the forum)
I briefly mentioned about my articles in another post, but all of my articles on all natural beauty website are now up! 🙂
Many of you may be familiar with the anb websites (all natural beauty website, anb portal, and anb mall). They are owned by my friend Sharon (who is awesome and just as obsessed with all natural skin care like I am
🙂 ). I’ve contributed articles and recipes on all natural beauty website and anb portal for many years, and have been writing the Eco Living articles on anb mall for a couple years.
Earth Alkemie is also an anb partner on ALL three sites, attesting to the naturalness of my products (anb mall showcases vendors whose lines range from all natural to natural based–meaning mostly natural with a few benign synthetics or lab actives. But the partners on the all natural beauty website and anb portal are all natural/100% natural cosmetics).
This month my friend Sharon decided to focus on Earth Alkemie, yay! 🙂 Thank you Sharon! On the all natural beauty website and anb portal, there is a manufacturer/personality spotlight on my background. In the manufacturer/personality spotlight I’ve included a lot of great links and resources for all natural beauty enthusiasts!
http://www.allnaturalbeauty.us/current_manufacturer_spotlight.htm
http://www.anbportal.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=696&z=19
Sharon has also written a wonderful spotlight on two of my products: Ariel multipurpose mineral makeup powder (from the Northernlights collection) and also one of my new vegan, eco-friendly mineral makeup brushes: the eye shadow shading brush. Ariel is one of my favorite colors I have created (so many dimensions: green, blue, turquoise, sparkly), and I love the eye shadow shading brush which is the one I use the most! I am glad she loves Ariel and the eyeshadow brush as much as I do!
http://www.allnaturalbeauty.us/current_product_spotlight.htm
http://www.anbportal.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=697&z=18
links to products: http://www.earthalkemie.com/mmunorthernlights.html
http://www.earthalkemie.com/brushes.html
I have also written a special article on ‘ways to use herbs in cosmetics’: there are many forms of herbs
http://www.allnaturalbeauty.us/current_ani_article.htm
http://www.anbportal.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=698&z=1
I recommend subscribing to all natural beauty’s e-news, which is released monthly. Lots of vendors and herbalists contribute articles and specials monthly.
Click on the link on anb portal to sign up:http://www.anbportal.com/
Link to the current e-news
http://e-news.ws/
And also on anb mall, my new Eco Living article is also up!
http://www.allnaturalbeauty.com/articles/eco-living
Last but not list, hint hint, check out the specials section on the all natural beauty websites or the anb mall. ;P (I may not always mention the anb specials I put up; definitely recommending checking out the specials section on both sites every month!).
Please check out all my articles and spotlights on the anb websites!
Cheers,
Li