Sherpa Sherpa?!

We had a little contest over at my company blog: Product Body + Absolute Soap Blog.  We make a creamy, vanilla, amber shea butter soap and before today it was called Ambre de Nepal.  We thought it was a little too hard to say and remember for our customers.  And it didn't "fit" in with our company.

Because of this, we had a contest to see if our readers would help us re-name the soap.  The person whose name we chose to name the soap, would win a bar of the soap.  Well, my husband and business partner, Brad Schmidt, had way too much fun today coming up with names, and one stuck.

 Sherpa Sherpa

we have a winner!

UPDATE: we have a winner: Heather!!!  Sherpa Sherpa was inspired by Matt Stone and Trey Parker's movie Team America -  "Derka Derka!"

 Now, for those who may not know our humor, you may not figure it out.  You also won't figure it out if you haven't seen a particular movie, so... let's just say our inspiration was in the comedy movie genre.  No more hints!

Go to my biz blog and guess away!  The first person who guesses our inspiration/reference will win a bar of Sherpa Sherpa (amber vanilla shea butter bar).

No one has guessed it yet! ;)

Good luck!

xoxo Joanna

The Morbid The Merrier is Making The World Smell Better

I have been wooed by Lysa Luna's products for well over a year and I am an addict.  Officially.

She is the owner of The Morbid The Merrier and creates some powerful creativity in her packaging, scents, and products.  I had the fortune of receiving a package from her recently which included Odditoria Sugar Polish in "Morton" and I LOVES!  It is almost gone and now I need a bucket of it.  I don't know what sugar she uses but let me tell you that its grain is fine and smooth... I would rename it Sugar Smoothing Scrub, or Sugar Smooth or something.  Of course, if I were really given the assignment to rename it, I would put more thought into it, but you get what I'm saying.  It is soft, luscious and amazing.  No greasy aftermath and totally handmade from scratch.

 Could you just DIE with that label?  I love EVERY label she makes (and she designs them all!)

I also received an amazing selection of perfume samples:

Amiya, Histoire Du Secretaire, IsabellaDhanya, Horseman, Paramour, Histoire Des Amoreaux and Histoire Du Professeur.  All unique, all sensational.  My personal fave is the Natali which is a chocolate, patchouli phenomenom.  Lysa is responsible for me now loving patchouli blends.  (Brad is none so happy, but oh well)


Here a pic of Horseman:

I need

The thing on my next order will be Morton's Lotion.  Yummo!

So onto Lysa's incredible talent beyond bath and body.  She makes jewelry, sculptures, cupcakes and other things and oddities.  I love everything she sells.  Check out THIS necklace that she has for sale, too, on her site:

It has a locket that she fills will the buyer's choice of solid perfume.  And it's only $68.00. 

ONLY, I say.  Work of art.  

In preparation to me writing this blog post, I asked her if she had a coupon code anyone could use if they wanted to buy anything and she is gracefully offering 10% off.

First you have to go through this link: 
themorbidthemerrier.com?code=humbug  It automatically takes off 10% of everything in the order.  Get it while you can!

The Morbid The Merrier is quality, unique and consistent.  And she wraps everything so beautifully.  Every package.

xoxo
Jo

Making Perfumes & The Hurdles

I'm spending my Saturday making perfumes. It takes me a long long time to make these concoctions. I spend hours and then I wear them, change the formula, then wear it again... mostly, they end up down the sink or in the trash. I thought perfumers had it easy, baby. Boy, was I the hell wrong. This takes so much time, it's killing me, especially because I am in the process of making a Valentine's Trio of perfume oils which will all be in the Limited Editions sector of my line.

That aside, it doesn't help when I am on the fence about a scent, so I come out of my studio, wave my arm in front of my husband's face and he says this: "Crikey, woman! It smells like you spilled a dirty bong in a patchouli factory!!"

Yeah, the support is astounding. *

I didn't like it so much anyway... had a gasoline smell I wasn't going for on Valentine's. Burning Bed wasn't my goal. Today.

Whatever.

Back to work, but I was tired. I designed my labels and made one perfume I am really happy with. I'm not going to share with my husband because he won't like it, but I LOVE it.

I washed up with soap, then more soap and finally dishwashing liquid from my upper arms down to my fingertips. I even scrubbed myself with a Dobie pad. If you know what that is, you know I scrubbed up.

I sat here at my desk writing after I worked for a solid Saturday while my husband played Demon's Souls for 6 hours on his PS3. Luckily my children had other things to do today other than smelling me or listening to Brad curse under his breath because once he collects 1200 souls or whatever and he dies, he has to start all over again. Poor puppy...

Later, Brad comes over to my desk to set up my computer so he can share a file or something with his computer and he covers his entire nose and mouth and says: "You must take care of this, I'm going to die." Now he's coughing over there on the other side of the room. I'm going to go take a shower and unless the oils are seeped in (which I think they are), I'll smell like me again.

*you know I love my husband and he is wildly supportive. A little too concerned with scents, though....and Demon Souls

Come On Over For Tea & Cookies

I am telling you that it's getting crazy over here with the scent inations I have been whipping up. As you may know I recently made Poison Apple soap which was my new, fast favorite which beat all the rest, but now two more just pulled up right next to Poison Apple at the starting line with their big hats on. Mmm.

Vanilla Chai Cream, made with olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, coconut milk, shea butter and castor oil. First time I made a coconut milk soap although, I have always wanted to since coconut is my favorite scent, drink, taste everything, doesn't it make total sense for me to use it in everything?!?

My favorite tea is Chai. Actually, I stopped drinking other kinds of tea about 3 months ago because I find them boring now. My friend, Cocobong sent me a lovely Chai tea from Germany and yesterday I bought coconut chai tea online which I can not even tell you how excited I am about THAT! (excited.)

On to the cookies!

I made a soap that smells exactly like these:


No kidding - for real. I'm not saying my fragrance is supposed to smell like this. I am saying IT DOES LIKE THESE COOKIES! This is the first rendition of it. The look will change a bit. But here is the 1st batch:

shea butter soap

These two fragrances, if the fragrances stick and I believe they will, will become part of our permanent catalog. :O)

Cure date: Halloween!

All of the soap photos in this post were taken by my daughter, Nina Schmidt.



*

Brown Sugar Soap Porn

A little brown sugar with your day? If I didn't know better and these were on a plate, I'd eat 'em.

Brown Sugar Buttercream handmade soap by luxury falls
made with brown sugar swirled in the soap and topped with it
(can I drool now?)



Brown Sugar and Spice Vegan Organic Soap by Little Batch
made with brown sugar



Cocoa Brown Sugar by The Jane Co.
made with brown sugar

This has been a Soap Porn Production™

Chocolate Yummy-Delicious Soap Porn

I love chocolate and I love soap. Today I was working with chocolate so it was on my brain aaaaaallllllll day. So of course chocolate soap porn was the topic for the evening :D

Enjoy it as much as I did!

1984 Clove, Chocolate Coffee and Leather by Love and Lyes Soap Co.
"Spicy hints of clove in real black coffee, spilled on a background of rustic leather, topped with a layer of rich, decadent chocolate- just what your fascist government ordered!"
I absolutely LOVE the darkness and density of this fudge-like slab of this soap!

Box of Chocolate Bon Bons by Feto Soap
Six bon bon soaps per box.

Cocoa Buzz by Relic Soap Company
"We cook with a lot of garlic at our house. We love the taste but not necessarily the smell it leaves on our hands. As you may already know, coffee is terrific at neutralizing bad odors. We triple brew espresso (the spoon can nearly stand up!) and toss in a handful or two of the grounds for a deodorizing and scrubby kitchen bar. All good cooks enjoy a garnish.
We were compelled to tops things off with a cocoa absolute drizzle."

Peanut Butter Cup & Organic Chocolate Soap by Little Batch
"There is no added fragrance in this soap... just the mild natural scent of the peanut butter and cocoa."

Natali by The Morbid The Merrier

"Chocolate Orange Cocoa Soap: Sweet, ripe orange marbled with creamy vanilla and a hint of sandalwood,
cloaked in rich black chocolate."

The Morbid The Merrier products will be next up for soap and other sundries being reviewed by me. It may take me a week to get the full review up, but I have quite a few items to finish testing. I will try to fill your days with bubbly porn to keep your eyes filled with joy, love and art in the meantime.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

*

My Dog!

I don't know why I've been keeping this from you. It certainly wasn't intentional, but I fell in love with a scent that I can't get enough of and now I need you to try it and love it and buy it so it never is discontinued. K?

That's my intro. I needed to get that out of the way just in case you weren't understanding how serious I am about this scent. Now, I don't know if YOU will like this scent, but it MOVES me.

Let us start with what and who it is: Moon Dog by Haus of Gloi

I first purchased Britton's Satyr soap, which I loved loved and bought a second one. I then bought a few sugar scrub samples. One in Picaroon, Satyr and Moon Dog. Picaroon was delish, Satyr smelled a bit like an orange creamsicle and was sweet for my taste (different smell in the soap) and Moon Dog which was dreamy.

I then immediately bought Moon Dog soap, used it up, went back to her Etsy shop and bought two more since then and a Moon Dog perfume oil. I have to tell you that I am so over the moon about this scent that I am grateful Britton created perfume oils because I can dab a little oil on my wrist and smell it all day instead of just experiencing it in the shower.

This is how Moon Dog is described:

Solar storms erupt: pure cracked coconut, dry sandalwood heated

with Indonesian nutmeg and a Singapore clove.

I think I smell all of those things... but of course, it's a bit hard to separate those bits when you are floating above the floor. I know I smell the coconut and it's not sticky sweet - it's anchored with spice and there is something in there that I can't quite get that isn't listed and I keep smelling my wrists. This is why my review took so long. Because I was hopeful I could be more descriptive and eloquent in my review.... but not so much.

I'm basically telling you that I love the products I've tried and Moon Dog is loyal and oh so good. Please Britton, keep this one around. For me!

* Yeah, I went ga ga.

A Quick Pimp

I have started selling perfume oils on my Etsy shop.... so you can read about it on my Product Body blog or go straight to my Etsy shop to see.

Pimping my products...? Yeah.

Sharing in my excitment? Absolutely. I've been eeking to do this for a year.

Needing to offer more soap stuff? Yes, but it's Mother's Day so... I have to run out to my family's for a brunch. This is what I offer for today.

Here's a teaser:


xo
Jo

Delicious Give Away

This is a delicious give away that you are going to L-O-V-E. I received a bottle of the new Delicious Art Eau De Parfum Spray (3.4 oz) from DKNY that is sold out everywhere I've looked. True. It's currently unavailable at DKNYfragrances.com and at Sephora.com. I'm sure there are some places you can find it, but they are going like hot cakes. All the rage, folks.

DKNY Delicious Art Eau De Parfum Spray
Retails at $70.00.

The DKNY apple is transformed into its comic counterpart, filled with ben-day dots and thought bubbles. The limited edition bottle is filled with Be Delicious fragrance. Take a juicy bite of a scent that is innocent, sexy, wholesome, provocative.

What a refreshing, sweet innocent scent! Apple-y without being so sweet my teeth ache and smelling like a teenager in Claire's. I am not big on perfume. It's usually too heavy or heady for me and it usually gives me a headache, but this one is easy to wear. The bottle makes me happy, too, every time I look at it.

OK. There are four ways to get an entry into this give away.

1. Leave a comment along with your email address so I can contact you if you win (if you don't want to leave your email then you must check back after I post that you've won or you forfeit your prize and I will pass the winnings to the next person)
   
2. Twitter about this give away with a link to it, then come back and post that you did just that...(leave your link)
3. Blog about this giveaway and come back and post that you did just that...(leave your link)
4. Facebook. Tell all of your friends there, too. Let me know.
   

The winner will be chosen on Friday afternoon, August 21st (3 days!).

1.2.3...go!

***
;) Teresa....

Fruit For The Summer.... Ahhhhhh

I am a citrus girl, but all fruit makes me happy, and so does the Summer. I thought I'd take a moment to find some fruity finds made by some fabulous artisans so we can all get into the mood (except for those of you saying good-bye to the Summer, in which case....um... dare to dream!).


I found these on Etsy:

soaps by funktional - (I love the packaging on these soaps!)

Porn Star In Pink Panties. Best name ever... by Grumpy Girl

Tropical Papaya Mango soap by Spa Therapy



Loofah Soap - Pineapple Coconut (yummmmmmm) by Soap Scentsations

My mouth is actually watering. Time for breakfast.

Yaaaaaa, Baby

I recently discussed bathing with dinner rolls and I have been so into it, I am punchy about the subject. I've made some soap bread or, really, some bread soap. I added loads of rhassoul clay and topped it with colloidal oatmeal powder and cranberry seeds. This is blowing my customers minds - - the fresh baked bread smell.

Brambleberry, you rock! Go get some Fresh Baked Bread here and make sure Anne-Marie does not get rid of it, or I will go nuts with the ten pound ordering. ACK. :)

Also, a big thank you to Amber of Amber's Ambry for the mention on your blog about the dinner muffin soap and Crush On You in Baked Bread I sent you ((blush)). I'm using your picture to share, Amber....very pretty pic:

I see the FO in the picture and I swear that Anne-Marie of Brambleberry is NOT paying me to promote her products. ;)

So should we call the Bread Baking Authority or Hot Grains Anonymous?

Back To Mango Lassi For A Moment

I have ordered the "bulk order" of Mango Lassi from Brambleberry and have contacted the people who showed interest in purchasing some with me. If I haven't emailed you and you DID ask to get in on the buy or you are interested in a pound of Lassi, please email me today or tomorrow at jo(at)productbody(dot)com and I will see if we have room. I think we will.

OK, that's it for now!

Wow, that picture is making me very thirsty and needing some really good Indian food. Can someone send over their chef to whip me up something? ;)

Can I Drink That Mango Lassi Through My Nose, Please?

Before I do my review on the Buttermilk and Honey bar of soap... I am in a dilemma again, so it has to wait another day. It is with a supplier.

This time it is with Brambleberry, not Majestic Mountain Sage (MMS). I had originally tried a great fragrance oil from MMS, but when I went to order it, it was no longer offered. ACK! I called them in a panic because I just had to get it. They said I could buy 10 pounds of it. Woah. Ten pounds is a lot of money and so much fragrance....I really don't put out that amount of product, no matter how fancy you think I am. Do you remember a few months ago when I asked if anyone wanted to join me in ordering 10 pounds of Graham Cracker fragrance? I am in a similar situation, but this time it is with Brambleberry - but now I am in deeper because it's with THREE fragrances. I CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT one, though: my sweet mango lassi. The three fragrances that have been discontinued are:

Mango Lassi, Fresh Baked Bread and Banana

Who didn't buy these, I ask you? What kind of peer pressure can I put on you all??

OK, I really don't want more than one pound of Banana. Honestly, I wanted to play around with it more than put it in my line. I wanted to see if it would be good in fragrance blends. The Mango Lassi, however, is taunting me from the empty bottle I have. Every few days, I sniff the empty botttle and breathe in ever so deeply and wimper quietly while I exhale, "No more Mango L-A-S-S-I-I-I-I......"

It's really so stupid that I can be such a baby.

C'mon, I am a grown woman and I whine every time I open my empty Mango Lassi bottle from Brambleberry and smell the fumes.

So we either all need to write letters to tell them to bring it back and all buy some, which will most likely not work, OR I'd love for some of you to go in on a ten pound batch of Mango Lassi with me in the next month or so. I want it by Valentine's day so I can get my Spring on.

Oh, and Anne Marie?? If you are reading this.... I just want to share: So many people have told me that the fragrances I use / blend are amazing and so unique and pure. Is it even remotely even a tiny eensy bit possible that maybe I have good taste and those three fragrances were just overlooked by some of your customers and should be tried with the masses again?

Just a shot in the dark. ;)

UPDATE: Fresh Baked Bread is still available here.

Coconut Lemongrass?

I am looking for a coconut lemongrass fragrance oil that is superior. I love to eat coconut lemongrass soup so.... any suggestions?

I also continue on my rather expensive and lengthy search for the ultimate coconut scent. Through it all and many many fragrances later, I have not found a coconut I am happy with. I want COCO LOCO coconut. CRAZY creamy coconut... not a hint. A coconut milk my-face-is-IN-a-coconut-and I am sipping a pina colada coconut.

I know, it is the Winter, but I've got the Tropics on the brain. What can I say?

Darn, now I want Thai food. Maybe I should just go get some and rub it all over me and call it a day.

Need A Cohort. Or Two. Or Three.

Calling all soapers.

I need to purchase Graham Cracker fragrance oil before the holiday season and the only way I can is to buy 10 pounds of it 10- 16 oz bottles. MMS wants about $195.00 for 10 bottles. I would like 2 of those pounds, perhaps more. Anyone want to go in on this? It is a wonderful and not too sweet confection scent and soaps beautifully. It smells like a graham cracker. Each bottle would be what it costs me plus shipping from Florida. Email me at jo at productbody dot com if you are interested.

Soap & Fragrance Oil Give-Away

It's time again for a soap and oil give away!

Any comments from anyone IN THIS POST between today and Friday June 6th until midnight will be entered to win the loot.  I will randomly choose a comment to win these fabulous prizes:

Lote Tree Pumpkin Butter Soap (4.5 oz)

Mollycoddle soap:  Hostess creme cupcake

Product Body Labworks: Yuzu soap bar (3 oz) that's me!

Bamboosa bamboo powder & green clay soap (4 oz)

Brambleberry Vanilla Vanilla fragrance oil  (1 oz)

Brambleberry Wasabi fragrance oil (1 oz)

Oregon Trail Soaper Supply Coconut Breeze fragrance oil (2 oz) 

Good luck!

ps:  I have no idea how these fragrance oils perform in soap making, so consult the vendor's websites for information....

I'm Getting Good At Botched Batches!

I made more crappy soap. This time I followed a recipe through MMS and their lye calculator as some of you suggested. Everything was fine until I added the fragrance oil. Instant separation. What?!?? What was happening? I had read about separation and why it occurs when the recipe is unbalanced or cools too quickly. But neither occurred. The soap mix was creamy and at a lovely trace and then, BAM! I added un-Brambleberry, untested fragrances. It was a combo of marshmallow and Honey (type). They must have been the culprit because everything was fine until then. The whole thing separated as if the fragrance oils (FOs) marched in their and broke up the kissing that was going on in the pot.

I was too mad to let it go, so I started to cook it on the stove top. I had it on low and stirred every three or four minutes, but no one was kissing again, it just got worse! They were a hateful bunch. 50% of the information I got on the internet said to throw it out, and the others said to cook the batch, pour it and see what happens. So I cooked the beasts and poured what looked like really nasty vomit into my wooden mold. The smell of the sweet fragrances gave me a whopping headache and filled my house with what smelled like a honey latte from Starbucks.

I have a new appreciation for Anne-Marie and Brambleberry, because now I understand the comments in the fragrance oil's description...such as,"accelerates trace" or "discolors cp soap to a brown"...If I had read more on soapmaking, I wouldn't have trashed all that raw material! I want to know ahead of time that the FO isn't going to turn my creamy yummy soap into a vomitous vat of waste.

I have made 4 batches. 2 flopped. That is 50% success in making soap. (I never said great soap, either, just soap). A footnote on batch #3, Elizabeth of Gracefruit gave me a tip and I turned my bad boy batch into real soap, even though lather is minimal.

A lesson is learned here (my husband's words were trying to penetrate my sad head last night). I should try to see this whole thing as a learning step. Now I know that I should pull a bit out of the original batch to scent it and hope there is no separation, or use the fragrances that have been tested by our vendors to begin with.

I have no photos for you, but hope to find my son's camera before the weekend.

It might be time to get a soap book with tried and true recipes and my own camera.

(sniff)

Love Spell

Anyone have a supplier for Love Spell (type)? Aussie Soap Supplies has it. I just don't want to pay International shipping. I bought some from Flicker's but it isn't on the money.

Any thoughts?