Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Travel Hangover

February 14, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Yowzers! I am finally back in the office after six days of travel. This is about 25% of the mail I have to open and review. The pile of boxes on the bottom left really is a stack of mail and boxes piled four-feet high. And in the top left is an in-box piled over two-feet high. Ugh.

It was a productive but hectic travel time with lots of forward progress made on the Otion II. We’ve narrowed down the top three choices. Erik (Otion Store Manager) will be headed to Seattle next week to finalize the new location choice. After that comes the hard part – budgeting, store layout design and signing for bank loans.

In other Otion news, isn’t this gift basket cute? Otion tries hard to be an active part of our local Bellingham community, donating to an average of 5 to 10 events every month. This particular gift basket with a soapmaking bar party gift certificate is for Benefit X. This event raises money for four very worthy local non profits, including the Sean Humphrey House and the Bridgid Collins House.

Jessica, one of our newest Otion Soapsters, made most of the soap, including the multi-colored sunflower, made with the Milky Way Sunflower mold, Cellini Yellow Lip Safe color and Cappuccino Mica.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the Fed Ex Women’s Luncheon at the top (76th floor!) of the Columbia Towers. The food was incredible and the weather cooperated. Check out this view of the Puget Sound. The speaker was Mary LoVerde. She spoke about Work Life Balance, or rather, the myth of work life balance! I took notes to share with you. The main take-aways from her talk were:

1. Life isn’t about getting it all done. It’s impossible to get it all done. Give up on the myth that you can get it all done. You can’t.

Life is about connection and moments. Creating little rituals with your family and friends to make sure that you have connection time is what makes life sweet.

Some ideas she gave for creating connection time were creating a memory jar or interviewing a family member about their memories and experiences.

2. Life is even better when you can connect with your passion. What are you passionate about? Find ways to fit more of that in your life. When Mary was talking about finding your passion, I felt really lucky. I get to work with soap all day – and soap is my favorite hobby!

In addition to what felt like a zillion meetings over the last six days, I also managed to stop at a Trophy Cupcake store in the Wallingford District. Based on the reviews on Yelp, I was exceedingly excited to go to the store. Their displays did not disappoint. The store was bright, friendly and had an open-air cafe design.

I had high hopes. The Red Velvet cupcake called to me. Given my super positive experience with Red Velvet at Cupcake Royale, it seemed a no-brainer to get this life enhancing treat.

The cheerful staff packed my cupcake in a painfully cute to-go box. It had a great little window for presentation and a sturdy insert to ensure cupcake transportation safety.

Alone in my hotel room at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, I hunkered down for my prized dessert. One bite later, my hopes of a tantalizing treat were dashed. The Trophy Cupcake disappointed. It was bland. It was oily. It was in a word, “gross.” It certainly wasn’t worth the 300 plus calories in the cupcake, so with another small nibble to confirm the first impression, I put the cupcake back in the clever carrying case and went to bed with a heavy heart.

The next morning, I saw the cupcake sealed up, lonely, in its case. It looked like it would taste good. So, like a fool, I opened up the box and took a tentative bite of the cupcake. What a horrifying reality; age did not improve this oily brick o’ butter. It was still gross.

Sigh… what’s a girl to do but go get a cupcake that won’t disappoint? I headed to Cupcake Royale for a Deathcake Royale. Today is the last day to get them but if you like chocolate and espresso, these dense morsels of confentionary genius won’t disappoint.

Warning: don’t eat a whole one in a single sitting. They’re meant to be shared. If you overindulge, you’ll go into a caffeinated, sugar induced haze that will leave you crashing (hard!) once the buzz is gone.

As for me, at this moment, I desperately need some more caffeination to help get through the mail and box collision that my desk has been reduced to.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Products used for this soap:

Bramble Berry Clear Melt & Pour Base
Iridescent Sparkle Glitter
Rose Pearl Mica
Lavender Mica with a drop of Non-Bleeding Violet Liquid
Lots of Love Guest Soap Mold

Kumquat & Black Tea Soap

February 13, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you to Dave and Jude from Aussie Soap Supplies for emailing photos of their latest soapy creations.

The Black Tea soaps up like a dream and is very strong in the final product. I especially appreciate that it does not discolor.

Kumquat is a tart fruity scent that slightly puckers the mouth and starts the salivary glands drooling.

The color choices for both of these bars is appealing and appropriate fr the scent. The dual layer is especially intriguing with its thatched surface.

Thanks for sharing!

New Jojoba beads!

February 13, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

First of all, major kudos to Amber for these amazing photos. Don’t these jojoba beads look luscious and intriguing?

At the request of multiple customers, Bramble Berry just added jojoba beads. What are jojoba beads? Liquid jojoba oil is actually a liquid wax. Like many oils, it has different fatty acid profiles that make it the oil (wax) that we all know and love. One of these fatty acid profiles turns into a true hard wax (or a jojoba wax ester) when separated out. Unlike other exfoliants, these beads are a circular shape with soft edges ensuring that no microscopic tears are formed in the skin when exfoliating. Microscopic tears allow for premature wrinkling and also may introduce bacteria into the skin. It’s important to treat your skin right. Are you using the right exfoliants on your face?

The INCI name is Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil plus the color for ingredient labeling. Some ideas for using these cool and colorful additives are: Liquid Suspension Base additive, an alternative to a sugar or salt scrub or just for a little color in a traditional scrub, in cold process soap for an exfoliant, and in melt and pour soap. The melt point is 160 to 170 degrees so the jojoba beads will do well when added at a more cool (read: not steaming) temperature.

The suggested usage rate is 1 – 15% of the product. This roughly equals out too 4 Tablespoons of beads per gallon of suspending liquid soap or 1/4 to 3/4 Tablespoon of beads per pound of cold process or melt and pour soap.

Lessons Learned At Cabela’s

February 12, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Regular readers of the Soap Queen may have caught my paean to Cabela’s, the new 185,000 square foot wonderstore that just opened in Lacey, Washington.

Despite it being opening weekend, I dragged my entire family to the hunting, boating, fishing outdoor mecca. It was everything promised and more. There really is a huge aquarium stocked with trophy sized fish, and dead animals all over the store (including an elephant and a walrus) and lines out the door for their elk burgers in the cafeteria.

Lessons I learned:

1. Know Your Market: I haven’t seen so much camouflage in one place in my entire life. And the camouflage wasn’t on the rack – it was on customers wandering the store. If the customers hadn’t been moving, they would have blended into the background.

Washington state, especially in the Lewis County area, is well known for its hunting and fishing enthusiasts. Cabelas opened close enough to Lewis County and Seattle to draw from both areas.

2. Sell the experience: The average Cabelas customer spends 3.5 hours in the store because it’s such a Disneyland-like extravagance of natural wildlife displays, live fish and examples of merchandise put out to play with. They even have a fake hunting range in the back to try target practices at. Along with their elk burger cafeteria, you could take the entire family and hang out all day. Cabela’s doesn’t share numbers but the assumption is that not only do these customers buy while they are in the store but they are loyal to Cabelas and buy their bigger ticket items ($51,000 boat anyone?) there as well.

3. Partnering is just fine: Driving up to Cabela’s, there are flags thanking different vendors for making Cabela’s what it is. Similar to a small town using light pole flags to draw attention to going’s on in the town, Cabela’s uses them to highlight their trusted important vendors. When we were there, Cabela’s was allowing Gore-Tex, the NRA and wildlife education outfits to have booths and tables in their area. “If it enhances the customer experience,” Cabela’s seems to be saying, “it doesn’t need to be entirely owned by us. Just come in and help our customers have a great experience.” It’s a win-win for the merchant and for Cabela’s. The customer won’t differentiate between a straight Cabela’s experience and a slightly hybrid one – they’ll just talk about what a great time they had.

Ultimately, all the dead animals proved a wee bit overwhelming for me and I left without buying anything but any time I need a great duck blind, hunting rifle and scope – you can bet Cabela’s will be the first place I go.

Geometric Soap Reveal

February 11, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Colors used in this project were Heavy Metal Gold Mica (coming soon to Bramble Berry), Canary Labcolor, Non-Bleeding Violet and Liquid Orange mixed with Heavy Metal Gold for the swirl. Click here for instructions on making this soap.

I fragranced the bar with Rhubarb al Fresco (yum) and it smells fresh, bright and sweet – just like the design.

Overall, the design came out crisp, clean and interesting looking. The heavy gold mica is the perfect foil for the bright and cheery colors of yellow and purple, giving the look a little edge.

My younger brother, Erik also is quite a soapmaster. Since he teaches classes at Otion, he’s a tough judge. He did the “Will this break in the shower” test to ensure that the layers were sticking.

I held my breath.

They stuck. Phew. Every time I do a soap that doesn’t turn out just perfect, he teases me mercilessly. The BB staff think those exchanges are hilarious.

Calling all Portland Soapers

February 11, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

– Portland Soaping Lunch –

Let’s get together and chat soap, laugh about our successes (and failures) and swap goodies!

On Saturday the 23rd at Besaw’s: http://www.besaws.com/
for lunch (noon).

I’ll be delivering orders (no shipping!) if anyone wants something delivered. I can’t fit too many in the car so you’ll want to get your orders in early. We’ll have schwag bags with the latest and greatest stuff from Bramble Berry AND prizes for the BEST soap and the WORST soap. So bring your checkbook for lunch, and your best soap and ugliest failure and there will be impressive prizes (hint: we’re thinking maybe a Sunnybrook mold for one of the prizes).

We’ve also inviting Catherine Failor from Milky Way and Rebecca Harder, the manufacturer of the Sunnybrook Soap Mold is confirmed to attend.

There are 15 confirmed ‘Dishers (thread is here). If you’d like to come and chat soap for a few hours, we’d love to meet you.

RSVP on this thread and if you want an order delivered, email your orders directly to me at brambleceo at qwest dot net by Tuesday the 19th.

Soapy Geometry

February 11, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

At dinner the other night, my brother and husband got to talking about cool soap ideas. Since Erik works at Otion and my poor husband has lost his kitchen to soap, they’re both pretty savvy about soapmaking. Somehow, they started talking about how cool it would be to have a geometric soap with manly hard angles, rather than the floofy loopy stuff I’ve been doing of late. So, I set out to make them what they wanted.

Well, sort of … the batch is scented with Rhubarb al Fresco (discontinued) rather than something that screamed, “Man! Man! Man!” but really, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Using the custom loaf mold that Bramble Berry has been testing (this is batch #7), the mold is propped up using (what else?) a bar of soap!

Then, I poured a slab of soap, being careful not to tipple topple the entire project.

After approximately 20 minutes, when the first layer was solid enough to hold another slab of soap but also stay put when slanted the opposite direction, I poured the second layer of soap. This project is done with our new Bulk Base and it soaps like a dream. It’s chock full of liquid glycerin so it cuts easily and melts down smoothly.

This is the view from the top. The Heavy Metal Gold Mica glistens nicely in contrast to the Canary LabColor soap.

The top layer uses a contrasting purple color — Bramble Berry’s non-bleeding Liquid Violet.

I’ll post the Reveal Photos are later today or tomorrow.

Best Small Biz Marketing Secrets

February 10, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

What a great post! Thank you to Escape from Cubicle Nation for pointing this valuable resource out.

Of all the advice, I’m drawn to Michael Port’s thoughts on trust:

“All sales start with a simple conversation. It may be a conversation between you and a potential client or customer, between one of your clients and a potential referral, or between one of your colleagues and a potential referral. An effective sales cycle is based on turning these simple conversations into relationships of trust with your potential clients over time. We know that people buy from those they like and trust. But as Sir Winston Churchill once said, ‘It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.’”

Click here to read the rest of SBA’s best tips on marketing for small business.

Tomato Leaf Blends

February 10, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I designed some fun Tomato Leaf Fragrance blends last month that I thought I’d share. After all you never know when you will tire of a fragrance and need to create something new fresh and different with it.

1 part Cucumber Melon Cybilla
1 part Tomato Leaf

1 part Mango! Mango!
1 part Tomato Leaf

1 part Tomato Leaf
1/2 part English Rose
1 part Gardenia, Cybilla

1 part Cranberry Realistic
3 parts Tomato Leaf
(this one smells so much better after it ages and airs)

I know one of them is good because one of Bramble Berry’s customers sold out of it. Check out his rave review below. If you have a great Tomato Leaf blend to share, I’d love to hear about it.

Well I have to give praise to Anne Marie on the blend of English Rose, Gardenia and Tomato leaf. I made a sample batch for test and gave one bath bar to a co-worker for her birthday. The response from the entire working area was overwhelming. In two days I sold 15 orders of this great blend and now has become my best seller for my Female clients. I can not keep up with the demand for my product just from word of mouth. Thanks keep those great blending ideas coming! Sincerely Denny Creative Designs in Shaving and Soaps.

Red Velvet, Again

February 9, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

It’s a Red Velvet Day redux, only this time, instead of Red Velvet LabColors… it’s a Cupcake Royale Red Velvet cupcake. I’m happily hunkered down at Cupcake Royale in Ballard (a cute suburb of Seattle) writing this post. See the laptop on the right in the photo?

Red Velvet Cupcakes are my favorite cupcake at Cupcake Royale. Judging for the line out the door (I’m not kiddng; there are 19 people currently in line here), I’m not the only one that has a serious crush on their cupcakes and coffee. Then again, sugar and caffeine are two of the most addictive substances known to man so maybe I shouldn’t be so amazed at the line out the door.

I’m in Seattle for the next 6 or so days on a massive business whirlwind scouting/meeting trip. Last night, my dear husband and I had the best time over at Nicole Donnelly’s house. Nicole is a super rad chick (that’s her in the pink dress by me) that founded BabyLegs just 3 years ago. In her short time in business, her leg warmers for babies have taken the baby fashion world by storm and now her company grosses several million dollars and is sold in over 30 countries. And, in the sincerest form of flattery, multi-billion-dollar conglomerates have started knocking her designs off. I guess you know you’ve arrived then!

Here is half of the dinner party, goofing around, all wearing Baby Legs as arm bands. Nicole assures me it’s the hot new thing so I’ve been wearing mine proudly all day, feeling every second my thirty year old, non-hipster age.

You wouldn’t guess it by the goofy picture but all the people in the photo run their own businesses, all grossing in the 7 figure range. The guy on the far left is Christian and he founded SilverCup Coffee Company nine years ago. They roast their own coffee beans and sell to independent stands all over the nation. The young guy on the far right? That’s Russell and he runs multiple sleep clinic locations that diagnose over 88 different sleeping disorders. It was an impressive, energizing group. We felt privileged to be invited.

Yes, I am wearing BabyLegs on my leg as a trial. You’re right, it’s not my best look.

Hubby and I slept over in Seattle and spent the morning walking Seattle. We wandered to Pike Street where I promptly over indulged in cheese at Beechers; $16 worth of Tumalo Goat Cheese and Flagship Reserve. I plan to eat it all. And then, when the guilt sets in, I’ll make some insane running goal to work it off and force you to watch it all transpire on my Nike running log. Just warning you….For now, we’re safe. I’m too hopped up on sugar and caffeine to think very clearly about consequences for my poor dietary choices today. Because 9 ounces of cheese wasn’t enough of a fat indulgence for breakfast, I also got the World’s Best Macaroni and Cheese and ate it for breakfast. I know its the World’s Best because it won an award saying it was. Given that it’s 98% fat and 2% carbs (there’s like two noodles thrown in for good measure in between all the glopping layers of creamy, hot cheese), I’m suspicious that this was like eating a pure stick of butter for all the nutritional good it did. But, like many things that will eventually kill you, it was good.

And phew, that brings us full circle to Cupcake Royale. I’m here, walking Ballard (maybe that will help the healing start from the fatty breakfast?) looking for Otion Store Two vacancies and eyeballing the passerby to see if they are soap-worthy. I’m going for a sharp, attentive look as opposed to a creepy beady-eyed stare. Judging by the amount of people that seem to cross the street when they see me coming, I’m guessing that I’m projecting the latter.

Red Velvet Test Batch

February 8, 2008 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

We recently had a Bramble Berry customer that had a bit of trouble with the Red Velvet LabColor not turning out to be the color she wanted. We made her proprietary recipe and came out with a really bright, snappy color. I’m wondering if it’s a usage rate issue? There’s always a possibility of operator error on our part with a mislabeled bottle too.

The soap on the right used 6 drops of undiluted Red Velvet LabColor in 2 pounds of soap. It also went through a full gel phase which helps the brightness of the color really stick out.

Here’s an example of the Wineberry Mist LabColor with a high and a low usage rate. Notice the difference in shade and hue just by varying the usage rate a bit. The fragrance that we used accelerated trace a lot so it was tricky to smoosh this one fully down in the mold. The darker color used 276 grams of diluted Wineberry Mist in 6.5 lbs of soap.

Sunflower Calendula Soap

February 8, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

sunflower calendula soap

Look how vibrant and colorful these Sunflower Calendula Soaps are. They were made by the talented Anke in Berlin, Germany. Anke runs a cute blog about her life and creativity. She is an avid scrap booker and jewelry maker as well.

The soap is also an excuse for me to segue into a lovely shot of the flowers my kind and thoughtful husband brought me yesterday. Aren’t they cheerful? The Sunflowers especially are bright and happy for a dreary Washington day.

Inspiring Quote

February 8, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

This quote inspired me this morning. I’m sharing it with you, hoping that it makes you think as well.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. — Erich Fromm