The Secret of My Success

Everyone has a base point, or a secret, that they start out with that ends up making a fantastic product. It might be a piece of wood, or a skein of yarn... mine is five basic ingredients measured, melted, hardened, and mixed.

So, for all of you who've enjoyed my lip scrubs, or those of you just curious, here it is in its natural state before flavor and colors are added.

"Master Mix" (19/365)

Not much to look at, huh?  But it makes such a wonderful product.  I'm very proud of how I, a non-chemist kinda person, was able to think up this recipe.  I make up a huge batch and store it in a plastic container, and take out four ounces at a time to make into things like Pink Icing, Choc•O•Rama, or Margarita.  Making such a huge master batch is such a timesaver, as I run out of a few flavors each week.

What helps your business run smoothly, or smoother?  And is there one special thing that all your creations grow from?

Lip Scrubs A Go-Go

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath about how I store my lip scrubs, here you go:

"Crowd" (10/365)

That's pretty much it: in a cardboard box. And now the box is full, so I have to start a new box.  Lots of pretty colors, huh?

And there are four new flavors of lip scrubs in my shop this week, which now has over 100 products.  100!!

"Apple Pie"

"Blue Raspberry"

The next two are already at Lalalita Body Co:

"Margarita"

"Root Beer" (my favorite soda)

After these are set up in my shop, I'll be introducing their matching lip balms.  And then it'll be a little while before I introduce any new flavors (unless I do the mad scientist thing again and make my own), because I promised myself that I'd dial back my addiction to buying scents/flavors and only do it once a month.  Well... we'll see how that works out. ;)

Yum Yum Cupcake!

I have a confession: I have a new addiction. It's sitting here and searching, searching for new flavors to create with. I have a growing collection of flavor oils on a shelf here in my workroom, and it just doesn't. seem. big. enough.

I order new lip tubes, or shea butter, or emulsifying wax, and I can't help but add a flavor oil or two to my shopping cart. "Oh, just one or two more," I think. When UPS delivers my order, I'm like a kid on Christmas, opening my box and opening the bottle(s), seeing if the scent is as good as I'd hoped it would be (and they usually are).

Hell, it could be worse.

The flavor oils I've ordered lately have been spectacular, some of my favorite.  Some of these are already in my shop, like "Yum Yum Cupcake" lip scrub:

"Fruit Punch" hasn't been released yet, but it's great: smells just like Hawaiian Punch:

"Strawberry Cheesecake" is already out in a lip scrub, but the matching lip balm will be out soon:

I'm also rolling out Bananarama, and Coconut Milk & Peaches.

After these debut at Lalalita Body Co, I'll be taking the time to mix some scents and come up with some new flavors.  Ha, it'll be like shopping at my own worktable.  Stay tuned!

Thank You!

Lalalita Body Co just passed 100 sales! Thank you SO MUCH to all my customers who gave me a chance, especially since you can't smell or feel anything through your computer screen. I had one sale the first seven weeks, and admittedly, I was down, even though I logically knew that it takes a while to catch on.  That it finally did and keeps on a'rollin' has made me very grateful, thankful, and busy, heh.

Thanks for allowing me to keep smelling good stuff and making new things. :)

New at Lalalita!

Allow me to introduce four new flavors of "Lick My Lips" lip scrubs:

Choc•O•Rama-- fudgy, chocolate chunks, and chocolate cake batter

Grand Marnier Slush-- cognac and apricot

Lemon•Lime Soda-- fizzy lemon-lime soda, like Sprite or 7Up

Peanut Butter-- as delicious as it sounds

All are available in the "Lip Scrubs" section at Lalalita Body Co (Peanut Butter will be available at noon today!). 

Perfume Sticks!

Perfume sticks are now appearing at Lalalita Body Co!

What are perfume sticks?  They're compact (lip balm-sized containers), and made from a combination of natural waxes and oils.  As with everything else at Lalalita, they're paraben- and phthalate-free, with skin-safe flavor oils, and no ingredients have been tested on animals.  Which is good, because Pippi doesn't like to wear perfume. ;)

Below are a couple of "Ooo, I Smell Good!" perfume sticks already at Lalalita: "I Love You", which is a Love Spell-type fragrance, and "Suntan Oil", which smells so much like a leading-brand suntan oil.

Other scents that will be coming in the next few weeks include Little Black Dress, He's So Sexy, Glazed Donut, Basket of Berries (pearberry-type), Margarita, Monkey Farts, Peanut Butter & Bananas, Coconut Cream Easter Egg, and so many more!  Please stop by the shop daily to see what new fragrance is in store. :)

New at Lalalita - Lip Balms!

I've had a love affair with lip balms for a loooong time. I'm one of those people who's said, "I'm addicted to lip balms." I totally am. LOVE finding good ones. I get distressed when I can't find my Favorite O' the Moment in the recesses of my purse. I sure don't like discovering that I've wasted my money on one that doesn't work, or tastes too waxy.

A few weeks ago, I started working on lip balms here in the "Lalalita Lab". I'm happy to say I am in LOVE with the way this lip balm feels. Not too greasy or oily; not too heavy, but not so light that you can't feel its on your lips. And it really works itself in there and makes your lips feel soft and moisturized. With a combination of oils and wax, how could it not?

Right now, at the Lalalita Body Co Etsy shop, two "Lick My Lips" lip balms are currently for sale: Cotton Candy, and Pink Icing, which is my biggest seller in lip scrubs.  In the coming weeks, more scents will be released, like Peanut Butter Cup, Cherry Limeade, Marshmallow, Double Mint, and Red Velvet Cake.  As with my other products, the lip balms are paraben- and phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, smell great, and they're lightly sweetened.  And have I mentioned that they make great, affordable stocking stuffers? ;)

Stay tuned!

What Do You Smell Like?

This week marked the start of the release of Lalalita Body Co's winter scents. Already released is "A Wonderful Gingerbread Cookie", and today begins the launch of "A Spiced Cranberry Story". Both are great, bold scents that I love, and would choose myself to wear in colder months. Almost like styles of clothing, changing from shorts to pants, short sleeves to sweaters, my tastes in scents vary with the seasons. In the spring and summer, I wear more tropical, light scents like coconut and fruit, or satsuma. As soon as the third week of September rolls around, however, I get out the cinnamon. The pumpkin. The fudge brownie (scents, of course. I don't rub a pumpkin on my wrists! ;)). And that's the way I roll, until spring rolls around again and the short sleeves come out.

Do you do the same thing? What are your favorite scents for the warmer months? What about when the air has a crisp snap to it, or snowflakes are swirling around your head? Or are you a one-scent kind of person year-round?

Make it Pretty!

Do you like pretty things? That's sort of a "well, DUH!" question, isn't it? I like to make orders a little "prettier" than they already are when I ship them off. With dolls, it's a bit of wrapping in colored tissue paper, and a name tag, usually. With my Lalalita products, it's also tissue paper, and raffia.

Here are sugar scrubs, awaiting shipment last week. Instead of shrink bands, I use colorful deco tape to seal my jars and bottles.

And Pink Icing lip scrub that went out yesterday. Kind of reminds me of an oversized Tootsie Roll ;):

I feel that "decorating" my products for shipping adds just a little more to what is hopefully a pleasurable customer experience. Do you do anything special for shipping?

Friday Wrapup

Welcome to the first Friday Wrap-Up! In order to make this blog a little less, uh, dry and boring (har), it's going to be a bit more personalized. Fun. Hopefully, interesting. Here's my past week, at a glance.

Lalalita Body Co had four sales in the past week!  Four!  Hallelujah and all that goodness!  Here are the Pretty in Pink Lemonade and Hush... Hush, Sweet Pumpkin Pie sugar scrubs, sealed and prettified and ready to ship off this morning.

I have a Pinterest board entitled "Foods I'd Like to Try".  I've had it up for, oh, about as long as I've been on Pinterest; pinning away, but trying nothing.  Yesterday, I made Butter Dip Biscuits.  Believe you me, these will be a very rare treat, as they're baked IN an entire stick of butter (watch out, Paula Deen!), but they did turn out deliciously.  You can find the recipe here: Butter Dip Biscuits

We're pinching pennies so we'll have plenty to spend on our anniversary vacation next month, but Saturday we threw pennies to the wind and went out to lunch.  After we were seated, I spotted the painting above Mr. Calm's head, and couldn't resist asking him to pose.  Hee!

A week ago, my wonderful friend Carla and I met for coffee, and she surprised me with some birthday presents.  These skeleton lights are, to use an overused, old term, da bomb!  I love them!  You can tell that they're hanging on my mantel at home; you can't tell that within fifteen minutes of getting home, I hung them up.

Lastly, I don't make much art anymore, but I finished one piece this week to take to the gallery I've been showing at since 2007.  Allow me to introduce you to "Doll of the Dead".  She may be a little startling to look at, but she is sweet and kind and likes Pan de Muerto.

Until next week!  Have a great weekend!