Day: September 4, 2010

I am having another mini-sale 🙂

Both the xiao and grande sizes of Karite soap are 20% off!

The grande size of Everlast Elixir is 20% off!

Also one of my most popular items, Balance Toner is also on sale! The grande (full) size of Balance Toner is also 20% off!

The sale will run from now until Tuesday September 7, 2010 11:59 EST.

Edited to add: No need to use a coupon. The sale prices are already listed on the website. Have a nice holiday weekend!

Edited: please see the post below for changes in the price of Balance after the sale.

Also wrote a post on some of the properties of Balance and Karite two posts below.

After the (mini-back to school #2) sale, I will put putting my new toner on the website, and will be changing the regular pricing of Balance Toner.

When I first offered Balance (when I opened my business earlier this year in Feb), it was in an amber glass mister. I had to switch the bottles after a month or so since a couple people reported leakage. So I switched to plastic, with the option of an empty blue glass mister. I changed the prices then since blue glass costs a little more than amber. At the same time, the vendor I was buying the lavender hydrosol stopped carrying it (so I had to buy it from a different vendor which charges more than my original vendor did), my ylang ylang vendor stopped carrying it (it is a rare ingredient, so I started to buy it from other vendors too, which also cost more). In addition I also forgot to incorporate a few costs when figuring out the prices.

I didn’t want to raise prices that drastically (in March) so I absorbed some of the increases in costs but could not absorb them all. It was very confusing figuring out the prices, here’s what I did to figure out the prices in March:

Plastic cost less than glass, but the option with the plastic I kept the price the same as the original amber glass price ($4.25 and $15.00), to cover the rise in the cost of ingredients, and some of the costs I forgot to calculate in the price.

For the cost of the blue glass option: I priced this option only 50-70 cents more than the plastic option. Blue glass misters do not cost 50-70 cents, they cost somewhere between $1.25-1.50 each, depending on the size and also shipping (I currently buy only a single case at a time so do not get the same deals as companies buying in large amounts. This price includes the cost of shipping the bottle to me). The additional 50-70 cents only reflects the cost of the plastic bottle, plus the amount the blue glass cost over the amber glass (so the majority of the cost of the glass bottle is in the base price, and only part of the cost is reflected in the additional costs). The blue glass option does not include the costs in the rise in ingredients, since I absorbed that cost.

I am going to put my new toner on the site (after the sale), and have (properly) figured out the costs of my new toner. I thought that customers would be confused if they saw the cost of the blue glass option was $1.25-1.50 more than the plastic option (which is the true cost of a blue glass mister) for my new toner, and (appears to be) only 50-70 cents more for Balance.

So I have figured out the costs for Balance again so Balance will undergo a price change. Within the last few weeks, I have found a new source of lavender hydrosol, so the cost (though not as low as the original source of lavender) is lower than my current source, so I have considered that too. So I have calculated the price properly for Balance. The cost for the plastic option will go a little down (yay! 🙂 ), and the price of the blue glass option will be $1.25 to 1.50 more than the plastic only option. I am making this change in price so the pricing will not be as confusing as it was, and so the prices of Balance and my new toner are calculated the same way. Please note, although it may look like I have increased prices for blue glass mister, I have not increased prices for the blue glass mister option. I have always charged only the wholesale cost (what I paid) for the bottle in pricing (which is about $1.25 or 1.50–which includes how much it cost to ship it to me. I am not sure if I added shipping to the cost of the bottle in March but I have added it now): the cost of glass was just split before between the base price and part of the additional 50-70 cent.

I really hope this post makes sense since pricing was confusing for Balance but I have fixed it. I am sorry for all the changes/revisions in pricing for Balance; thank you to all my customers for your understanding of this new business owner (I am still learning the ropes of business in many ways!)

**please see post below for the properties of Balance (and also Karite soap)

Since a few products are on sale right now (until Sept 7 2010), I thought I’d write a little more about them.

I’ve previously blogged about the properties of Everlast Elixir here. My facial skin really loves this combination of oils, and Everlast is great around the eye area too (it has some of the best ingredients for that!).

One of my most popular products is Balance Toner. It is made with only hydrosols and an eco-cert preservative, and unlike many other toners on the market made with hydrosols, it is not diluted with additional water (so you are getting pure, undiluted hydrosols). I named it ‘Balance’ because other aromatherapists believe that many of these hydrosols have a balancing effect on sebum, whether the skin is too dry or too oily. Several of the hydrosols are also thought to be helpful in improving the appearance of blemishes, such as lavender hydrosol. (When I had acne about nine years ago I did not get clear my skin by using harsh or stronger synthetic treatments, lab derived acids, or lab derived ingredients like retin A and mandelic acid, etc. I used a much more gentle approach by using all natural products, including many of the hydrosols used in Balance).

Balance is also soothing on the skin, many of the hydrosols are well known and well studied for their soothing properties, including super gentle chamomile hydrosol. Like many of my products, Balance Toner has many uses: use it to tone, hydrate throughout the day, set mineral makeup, use it to help improve skin clarity, mist it on blemished skin, and use it to soothe the skin (perfect on sun burned or irritated skin).

Karite african black soap is usually not plugged very much on my forum but it is a great soap! It is super gentle, and cleans without over drying. All of my african black soaps are different from each other. I named this one Karite because karite is another name for shea butter!

I love african black soap because it is soap made the old fashioned way, using plant ash as the alkali. The ingredients used to make this soap are: shea butter and plant ash! That’s it. Because the only fat used in this is shea butter, this soap is super gentle (not all of shea butter converts into soap, so this soap is superfatted). In addition, the natural glycerine is not removed too. (most commercial companies’ ‘soaps’ are really not real soaps but syn-det bars, which are made with synthetic detergents, or blends of detergents and real soap. And the few commercial companies that make real soap usually do not super fat their soaps enough, and also remove the glycerine to make money).

Karite is a little different than the other african black soaps I carry in that it comes in pieces/chunks rather than a bar (I form the other soaps into bars but couldn’t with this one). When the soap gets wet, it creates a very silky emollient cleanser–pure heaven. It doesn’t lather as much as my other soaps but it gets the skin clean, while leaving it super soft. To use the soap: just wet a few small pieces (they will stick together when wet). After use let it dry in a well draining dish drain.

Karite is an awesome soap, but it is an ephemeral product (limited edition product) because my supplier only has a limited amount of it (so once it is gone, it is gone).