We are working with Pabst Blue Ribbon and Urban Outfitters to bring our beer soap to your local Urban Outfitters store. When Urban Outfitters first contacted us to work with them, they said they wanted to use Pabst beer (since they are already co-branding with Pabst for other projects) and that they wanted the soap to smell exactly like beer.  We knew that would be a challenge!  But we love challenges!

We spent a few weeks trying to get the perfect scent combination, and finally, we hit the nail on the head.  This bar smells exactly like malt liquor, hops, fruits and spices.

We also designed an awesome stamp for Pabst!  Pabst let us into their uber super secret vault of old vintage images and told us to pick the best image we felt would look great for packaging. You can see an example below.

This collaboration is still being worked out so we are hoping to see the soap in stores hopefully by Summer of 2012!

Taking pictures always cheers me up. I changed the shape and packaging of the ZAJA soap line. They are now 2.5″ x 2.5″ by 1.5″ and weigh about 5.5 oz each. Plus they come in this cute hand punched box and are no longer shrink wrapped in plastic, a bit more eco-friendly.  This is an order that I just completed for Jammed Lovely in Canada.  Please let me know what you think:

A quick shot at the solid perfumes I was making earlier, I know Amina will appreciate this one:

The holidays are quickly approaching and I am starting to feel the pinch.  Wholesale orders and inquiries are coming out of the woodwork and its been busy!  Last night I was up till 3 am writing out a new mini business plan, trying to figure out the things that I could do differently this upcoming year.  From the beginning my business has always been about cold processed soap.  Yet with each day that passes, I see a lot of melt and pour soap sellers selling pages and pages of soap, while cold processed soap makers might make a page in sales, if that. So what’s the secret?  Is it because melt and pour is so quick and easy and therefore melt and pourers can crank out more soap batches a day and put them right online within hours of making?

Or is it the versatility in colors and shapes and sizes?  Quite frankly I prefer my soaps to be a bit more uniform in shape.  I feel it looks more professional. I like to take cues from big names like The Body Shop, Lush, Bath and Body Works, L’Occitane, Fresh, and what I see if a consistency in shape and size. Not 1 square bar here, rectangle bar there, wedge here, triangle there, uneven cut here.  That drives me nuts, lol. I would like to see my items on a major store shelf one day and having 8 differently shaped soap bars is not going to cut it.

There have been many times that I have been tempted to add a melt and pour soap line, but I always abandon the idea.  I research a good natural base, and just as I am about to click on submit order, I close the browser.  Reason being that I really like knowing what I put in my soap, and the only way for me to be able to do that is if I make it myself from scratch.  And I thought that buyers like that, versus buying something made from a base.  But I don’t know, some of the top sellers on Etsy are the melt and pour guys.  So it seems most buyers do not care much, as long as its pretty and they smell good.

I bought a book on transparent soap making a few months ago, and have dabbled with a few recipes.  The book is be Catherine Failor and it has taught me a lot about making my own transparent soap. So maybe I can ap into that clear soap market after all, without having to abandon my preferences of being able to make things myself from scratch.  And if it is deemed too dificult, well, perhaps there is a good melt and pour base out there with my name on it that I will be able to tweek and mold to fit my needs.