To preserve or not to preserve... THAT is the question.

Today, there are many concerns about preservatives and other additives and their effects on our sensitivities, allergies and/or if they are carcinogenic. And as the season changes from summer into fall, the cooler weather contributes to the skin's dryness. So I will be ramping up production of my lotions and balms. So I thought I would give my perspective on the use of preservatives.

Since I have eczema I prefer to use products that only have ingredients that are derived from nature. But for the public, I reluctantly use a paraben-free preservative in my lotions to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. I feel that it is the proper thing to do for the safety of my customers. Since I haven't found proven data on how effective natural preservatives are, I choose not to use them.

In my research, I have concluded that I only need to use them in products that contain water. So the only product that contains a preservative is my lotion. I make my lotion under sterile conditions and I also a paraben-free preservative to prevent harmful bacteria growth and to extend the shelf life. I only use the recommended amount (0.1-0.5% by weight) and I list all of the ingredients on the label.

I believe that honesty is the best policy when running a business and wanted to be transparent about this issue so that my consumers can make informed decision about my products. As I said early, lotions are the only product at this time that contains a preservative. So my soaps, butters, lipbalms, bath fizzies, etc. are free of preservatives!

Where do you stand on the issue of preservatives in cosmetics?

SMOODZDEE TUESDEE!!!

Tweet me your smooth mood!!!

Twitter: @smoodzsme

Instagram: @smileyface1971

In a tweet or IG , photo or video!! 

Show us how you get into your smooth mood (keep it PG)  

ex. Reading, Mani or pedi, aromatherapy , candles, spa, or whatever!!

Share how you relieve stress , decompress and/or relax in a tweet or IG!  Ok, I'll go first!!

At the beach with my nephew (& son who took the picture) making sandcastles! 

Closed my physical shop

Wow!! It's been some time since my last post and there has been a huge development since then.

Ok, I will fill you in...

As of February 28, I closed my shop on Main Street in Laurel, MD. :( Having my shop was an eye opening experience. I enjoyed most of the time I spent here an will miss everyone I met. Many factors led me to that decision that I had been contemplating for a few months. Lack of traffic and a budget for marketing were the main reasons. I've learned that it is a requirement to be better prepared overall.

I would like to add that I am NOT going out of business. I am going back to focusing on my online websites. For those that are skeptical about shopping online, I would like to point out a few things that may put you at ease:
* my sites are secure (I use godaddy to protect Smoodz.com)
* shipping is reasonable ($5 for orders under $25 and FREE for orders $25 and over)
And,
*if you are local, just send me an email and we can work out payment and delivery!

Thank you to all that showed your support!!! I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Please follow me on facebook and twitter @smoodzsme so we can keep in touch. And my sites are

www.smoodz.com
And
www.etsy.com/smoodz

Smooches!!


www.smoodz.com
Twitter and Facebook
@smoodzsme

Make your next bath a spa experience!!

When was the last time you took a bath? No, I mean instead of a shower. During your work week, you wake up late, quickly shower, and go on about your stressful daily activities. But when do you take time for yourself?

Taking baths are beneficial to your physical and mental health...and your budget!! Had a long day or week? Why go to one of those expensive day spas when you can wind down with a nice, warm, soothing bath in the comfort of your own home. Studies have shown that taking a bath lowers the blood pressure and releases toxins. While you're in there you can release stress, reflect and possibly clear your mind to focus on things to come. You can add a  bath bomb to soften your water, moisturize you skin and uplift your mood. Baths also promote a good night's sleep so that you can recharge and better manage your upcoming day.

If the kids are at Grandma's and hubby is out for poker night,
Here's a recipe for your at-home spa time:

• Draw warm bath. (Not too hot though, super hot water can raise the blood pressure and defeat the purpose)
• Light a scented soy candle
• Turn on your favorite music
• Drop in  an inexpensive scented bath bomb
• Get in and soak!!

Soooo.....what are you waiting for??

Vision Board Update/Shop update

In a previous post, I talked about my vision board. And at the top of the list was "own my own shop". It just kinda dawned on me, recently, that a few months later, I accomplished that goal and have opened my own shop. So CHECK! I can move on to the next item. haha. With that said, I am really struggling to keep the shop open because there is not a lot of foot traffic in the area. It is getting harder to pay the rent and I would like to make more products but I am not making enough in sales to generate revenue for supplies. -_-

I have been researching marketing strategies and plan to implement some of them in the near future. Hopefully, something will catch the eye of my target market and get them to come in here soon. Because I am also toying with the idea of closing before I sink too far into debt. :(

Anyways, I am trying to stay positive and generate ideas that will help my business. But, hey!!! At least I checked off a goal. I really feel like I'm giving it my best effort and if this one closes, I will definitely be putting "open my own shop" back on my vision board. I will not give up. Just re-evaluate and try again.

I opened a small shop!

Yes! About 6 weeks ago, I began renting a small space inside of a mini-mall, where a variety of vendor show and sell their wares. I was (and still am) a bit nervous about doing it, primarily because I have had much success in the past. So, I chose the least expensive space. It was toward the back of the mall and most people come in and go straight upstairs to the thrift shop.

But I am becoming more positive as the weeks go by since I have been able to make enough sales to enable me to continue renting. And today I moved to a space that is a lot more visible. The rent is a little more but I think it will be worth it.

It also turns out to be a little bit bigger so I will have to get to work making more products to fill it up. Anyways, I have a lot more traffic now. Ok! Gotta go! I have a customer......!

Bath fizzie bomb experiment

About a week ago, I attempted to make a batch of bath fizzies. I have been thinking of adding them to my product line for some time now. Well, they didn't turn out very well visually. I think I added too much witch hazel since the reaction started and cause my rounded bombs to look like blobs. :(

I let some of them cure anyways. I added one to my bath today and it was more than I expected. I was just hoping that it would be fizzy and fragrant. It was that and it also made my skin feel silky smooth.

I guess I added the perfect amount of skin-loving oils. The next experimental batch, I'm planning to leave out the witch hazel altogether. I'll let you know how it goes!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

What's on your vision board?

Recently, my sister began encouraging me to create a vision board. What's a vision board? As I understand it, it's kinda like a bucket list, where you create a poster with all of your goals and things you envision doing during your lifetime. Well, I haven't really decided where to start with my board but I do have a long list of thing I'd like to put on it. And the list keeps growing.

So here are some of the things on my list:

• Own my own shop
• Obtain my BS in Chemistry
• Visit Paris
• ...and Amsterdam
• OH! and VEGAS!!

....just to name a few.

I currently have a lot of clutter and do not wish to add to it and I'm afraid I won't keep up with this apparent fad. So I am reluctant to do a physical board. I'm thinking of creating a separate blog, or maybe use this blog (periodically), or maybe make it a part of my facebook page or my fan page. Yeah, since I am looking for ways to engage my followers without always talking about buying my stuff, I can create my vision board on my fan page.

So if you read this go to my page to see my vision board. And tell me what you think. Or even better, you could check on me to see if it's started or updated.

   

My first video

Welp I've created a video! I didn't know what to do so I decided to take video at my last festival. If anything, it will help me critique my booth. I already have so many ideas. I also wanted to do this to get some practice so that future videos will be better. And to showcase some of my items. This may be overkill since I posted on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. But hey! I have to cover all bases right! I don't get that many views on either so no big deal. Anyways, you should be able to find everything on my site or etsy. Except the headbands and tealights. If you are interested in those feel free to email me at diane@smoodz.com. TTYL.

My rant about the term Pure African Shea Butter

My mom told a woman that I offer shea butter and she subsequently asked me, "Where do you get YOUR shea butter from?" I responded confidently, "l order it online." She replied, smugly, "Oh! My friend gets THEIRS from AFRICA." Like that makes it more special. She proceeded to describe to me this seemingly huge amount (probably around 2lbs.) that she gets for $10! Hard for me to believe, but ok.

I tried to get over it but the more I think about it the more I become concerned that people are saying their shea butter is from Africa just as a selling point. It's all from Africa!

I believe that it is redundant to say 'african shea butter' since the karite tree that it comes from is indigenous to Africa. And to my knowledge there is no where else to get it. Furthermore, they say it's from Africa as if they know the person that got off the plane with it. Or their family lives there, harvests and ships it to them directly. If that's true I'd like to meet them so that I can order from them too!

Maybe I'm disturbed because these people can sell theirs and I can't sell mine because I am truthful about my products.

I apologize for this rant. I think I feel better now. Thanks.

"About Me"

Sensitive skin? Me too. I have eczema and can't use any scented commercial products. But I like the feeling of smelling nice and not just clean. I would go into stores looking for something I could use to no avail. I was really disappointed when I went a popular bath shop (that advertises "natural" products) and found I could not use these products either.
That's why I started making my own bath and body products. At that time I was making silk floral designs so while searching for floral supplies, I found a website that offered ingredients and other supplies for soap making. I thought, " maybe I could make something I could use" and so I did. At first, friends and family seemed very supportive. But then they started requesting the things that they like.d Since I wanted to please them (and make money) I tried to make the things they wanted.
Over the years it became overwhelming and too costly to make what each person desired. And it has been very hard to market to everyone because I'm a one woman show. I have small batches of this and that laying around plus many failed experiments and bad ideas. Needless to say I haven't been making money. It has been very discouraging.
So now I've decided to regroup and focus on something specific. I am going to stick to the natural line since it is the reason I started soapmaking. Natural bath & body products are the only ones I can use. I believe in them and plan to market to those with sensitive skin and/or eczema like me. I think this focus will be better for me and my business in the long run.

I made a batch of coffee soap. I can't wait til it's finished.

I made a small (4lb.) batch of coffee soap. I used my normal soap recipe but instead of water I used coffee. I read that it would smell bad when the lye is added and Ew!!! They were right but they said it wouldn't make the soap smell bad and so far I think they are right. I will see when I cut it. I only had a little coffee EO and I don't think it was enough to make the soap smell like coffee. I have had too many excuses for not getting things done, I just didn't want to wait any longer. Maybe the coffee, grinds and bean will enhance the scent throw. Also, I used coffee to make the whole batch of soap, hoping I would be able to lighten some of the soap, with colorant, enough to look like whipped topping. Well it is more like caramel-colored whipped topping, still looks yummy but not what I wanted. Next time I will make the whipped topping a separate batch with water and no coffee..

So why make a coffee soap, you say? Well I like to drink coffee (and love Starbucks) and thought it would be fun to make a soap made from coffee. I heard that coffee soap removes kitchen smells like onions and garlic from you hands. And for marketing purposes I looked up benefits of coffee on skin. I found that coffee is very beneficial to the skin. Supposedly, it is an antioxidant and has firming and tightening properties making it great for eczema and anti-aging. I put coffee grinds in for exfoliation and every ingredient is natural and vegan friendly.

I guess I will find out if these claims are true because as soon as it's done, I am using the first bar. I am currently out of some of my ingredients but as soon as I am able to place an order for supplies ( and when I get them), my next batch will be oatmeal, milk and honey. Another challenge I have been avoiding is the milk soap. But I am gonna try it with coconut milk instead of goat's milk, pretty much just to be different. I'll let you know how that goes.

Here they are after I cut them. Mmmm...Yummy!

Ingredients: Saponified Shea butter, Mango butter, Olive Oil, Palm Kernal Oil, Coffee essential oil, Coffee grounds, Coffee Beans. Oh and Coffee!

Fun, new soap name! CinnaChouli becomes Smoove Groove

I have been doing some thinking and decided that I need to give some my scents more original, fun type names. And that this might help my efforts to promote my products. The first scent I chose to rename is CinnaChouli. It is chosen because it is the first blend I created on my own. (by accident) The new name is Smoove Groove. I picked this name because it fits in with my business name and also patchouli is considered a "hippie" scent. So I thought of this groovy name. Personally, I love it!! I asked my sister and some of my co-workers (at my day job) and they all like it too. 


You can get yours from my site or from etsy!

Smoove Groove - Cinnamon and Patchouli Shea Butter Soap

Spicy meets earthy in this groovy blend of cinnamon and patchouli essential oils, accented with subtle notes of citrus and peppermint. All natural and vegan.

Ingredients: Saponified Shea butter, Mango butter, Olive Oil, Palm Kernal Oil, Patchouli, Cinnamon, Peppermint, Orange, Grapefruit, and Lemon essential oils