Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Litigious Society

September 26, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I recently received this question from Karen. The question is a serious one involving business and liability insurance. My response to her is below the question.

hi! say i want to make a real strawberries and cream soap(actually i did in Mexico where there are few rules and regulations for soap making;it was a delicious, yummy, creamy bar and no one had any trouble with it- i made a sign saying real strawberries and real cream were in each bar) here in the states and i put all my ingredients on the label. the person breaks out with a rash due to an allergy to strawberries. if i put all the ingredients on the tag,why then, liability insurance? wouldn’t that be up to person to read the label or maybe they didn’t know they were allergic up to that point? i realize insurance is important but isn’t it part of the responsibility of the customer to read the label first? my question may sound silly but just how valuable is liability insurance?? thanks, Karen

Thanks for your note.

If a person breaks out in a rash due to an allergy to strawberries, you could be liable. If a person breaks out in a rash due an allergy to soap, you could be liable. Even if they KNOW that they are allergic and still use the product, you could be liable.

The realities of this happening are slight as most people need to ingest strawberries in order to get an allergic reaction to them. In the 10 years that I’ve been selling to over 29,000 customers, I’ve never heard of anyone being sued *but* that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t and won’t happen.

Our society can be quite litigious when it wants to be. That is why basically all food now says “Processed in a facility that processes nuts” whether it has been or not because the general public has proven itself to be not responsible for reading ingredients labels.

In theory, if common sense law ruled the world, yes, the customer would be responsible for their own actions but when you read about buglers suing home owners for injuries sustained during the burglary, you know that the legal system has gone a bit amuck! =)

The best way to protect yourself against frivolous claims is to make good, safe products and to get product liability insurance. Two places to buy insurance specifically designed for soap and candle makers are: Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild www.soapguild.org has insurance for about $450 per year. Indie Beauty Network also has insurance for $395 per year through a broker. Click here to find out more details about IBN’s insurance.

Really? You want to hear about Moi!?!

September 26, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Love to Know Crafts recently did an interview with me. The interview is on their site now. You can go read it here.

Reader’s Digest, the October Issue, has a very nice little article about Bramble Berry and the importance of following your dreams and passions. It’s on newsstands now. The article is on page 88. This company purports to give you a free online copy of the magazine, though you do have to sign up for it. You can find the Reader’s Digest website here. The article that we’re in is called “Yes, I Can” and it is not up on the Reader’s Digest page so if you want to read it, head out and buy your $2.99 copy.

Thanks for all the free press. We are definitely feeling the love here at Bramble Berry. As my friend Heather Othmer says, “It’s a love sweep!”

Yes, I agree. Packing Peanuts, not so good

September 25, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News, Business Musings

I got this note a while back from Kelly S. in NYC.

I was a bit bummed to see that you ship using Styrofoam peanuts especially after reading your Social Responsibility commitment. Is there any way you can use a different packing method?

First of all, I really appreciate Kelly for writing. So many customers would have just gone, “Hey, what gives? Bramble Berry says they strive to be environmentally friendly but then they send me these hideous, terrible-for-the-environment-green-packing-pellets-of-Mother-
Earth-death,” rolled their eyes and moved on. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell you why we use those little hideous green puff balls to get your package to you safely.

First things first, we get it. We don’t like those little green ecologically damaging messy ball of air more than you do. In fact, given that they litter our office, cost us a minor fortune and take up a bunch of storage space, I’m willing to bet we like them even less than you do.

But, we haven’t yet found anything better to ensure your package gets to you safely. We have tried what feels like everything – from the air packets (disaster disaster disaster), to the bio-degradeable peanuts (one broken bottle and they totally disintegrate, ruining the entire package), to paper (heavy, expensive, and doesn’t provide great cushion when wet) to strange, crinkly, weird , cut up randomly odd paper strip thigies with foam inside them (didn’t work) and a couple more that I’m not remembering. Oh yes, and the cut up cardboard strips that cost a fortune, were heavy and left the package-reciver with 5 pounds of cut up cardboard strips. That was not a popular experiment.

So, we do our best. We recycle. We give back to charitable causes. We’re energy neutral. We buy solar and wind power. We donate our time to non-profits. And we try not to waste anything in our office. And, I compost at home (do I get extra bonus points for that?). But, when it comes to getting your packages to you safely, in the lightest weight shipping box we can, for the best price… Green packing peanuts can’t really be beat.

If you have a better option or are using something different at your company, please write me. I really want to learn about it and try it in our company. Anything to help save the planet, one box at a time.

Adulterated Olive Oil

September 25, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

The New Yorker has an informative article about adulterated olive oil. If you make soap, getting a mislabeled oil could cause your recipe to be significantly lye heavy or short. Click here to read the article.

An excerpt from the article:

In 1997 and 1998, olive oil was the most adulterated agricultural product in the European Union, prompting the E.U.’s anti-fraud office to establish an olive-oil task force. (“Profits were comparable to cocaine trafficking, with none of the risks,” one investigator told me.)

… fraud remains a major international problem: olive oil is far more valuable than most other vegetable oils, but it is costly and time-consuming to produce—and surprisingly easy to doctor.

Choco Choco House

September 24, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you to Deb G for sending me this link to Choco Choco House in MA. Oh how I wish I was visiting MA, at least for a time long enough to jet over to their shops, inhale a cupcake and take a pack of the handbags to go.

Aliya’s real claim to fame is her chocolate handbags. The handbags are so cute that they were even sold at the Museum of Natural History during their chocolate exhibition.

They ship mail order ever Wednesday if you simply must get your own chocolate handbag to munch on.

Birthday Empowerment

September 24, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

A few weeks ago, my dear friend Amy (that’s her, 2nd from the right in the red top) turned… Well, she had a special birthday. Rather than the traditional party, Amy planned an entire weekend around strong women. She designed a trust walk around a local lake, an evening of sharing (complete with tears and personal revelations) and a assigned a morning activity around balance and strengths. Each person who attended had a part to play and a leadership role to fulfill.

We all went to Vancouver (Canada) for Thai Food, raucous laugher and strong bonding. The gals were kind enough to let me stop by Open Sundaes, one of my fave bath and body producers. Check out their web site here.

My assignment was the Balance Activity. I led the women through an exercise similar to what my friend Lynn Guiliani from Progressions Coaching guides busy executives through. In summary, the exercise had each participant go through their goals in life and compare those goals to how they are living their life currently. Where there were deficiencies, an achievable plan was designed to help everyone easily meet their goals in small, bite-sized goals.

“Small” means manageable. The goals are not superwoman goals. They are easy steps to work towards achieving whatever is important in our lives. For example, one of my goals was to meditate for 15 minutes, just 3 times a week. It’s a tiny goal on the face of it but will get me closer to my larger goals.

It wasn’t all work though! Here we are, goofing around in the middle of the street, in Vancouver BC after walking, shopping and cupcake eating.

Thank Amy for designing such a great birthday weekend!

Gorgeous Soap

September 21, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Look at this beautiful soap made by Mark at Otion the Soap Bar here in Bellingham.It was made using one of Bramble Berry’s newest molds – the white tailed deer.
And the paper in the background is from one of my favorite scrap book paper makers The Paper Element

Do my lips look plump?

September 20, 2007 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

This product says that it will:

Restore lip fullness and volume within minutes. It also claims to offer long-lasting anti-aging benefits.

Really? Give me some of that! Anti-aging and fullness, all in a wand sounds like something I want.

I applied the two part system today. The tubes are a metallic silver and look very futuristic. Two steps seems extreme for beauty but I’m willing to be inconvenienced for a “more youthful look.”

The Step One feels like a nice smooth milky balm. There are a lot of interesting ingredients in the product not the least of which includes Human Fibroblasts and Marine Filling Spheres.

Step Two is a clear soybean based gloss. It contains niacin which is mildly irritating to the lips, encouraging them to plump up. It also tastes somewhat sweet.

My lips look quite flushed and plump 15 minutes after applying. For $50, it’s an expensive lip gloss but check with me in 4 weeks. If I really do get a reduction in skin folds and increase my pouty lip volume, $50 would seem more reasonable.

Self Check Out

September 19, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I generally shy away from the self-service check out counters at the grocery store. I am slow at checking myself out and often have produce. Produce foils me at self-service check out. Plus, there’s something about the self-checkout that I resist. I psychologically feel cheated if I have to do more of the work myself, with the check out. I rather like watching the checkers quickly swiffing my groceries across the barcode scanner. Their efficiency is impressive.

Apparently, I should rethink my position on self service check out. According to the E-Week, self-checkout has caused impulse sales to plunge (yes, plunge!) 43 percent for snacks.

Self-Service Checkout as a diet tool? I’ll add that to my mental diet-tip arsenal.

Blingin’ Peanut Necklace

September 19, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Yes, I know there is no significance in wearing a peanut around your neck. But, it’s kind of cool!

It’s $28 and you can check it out for yourself here.

A little about the artist from her site:

stitchpixie is a Canadian artist based out of Vancouver, BC. Well before she was a teenager, she picked up drawing, dance, photography, and writing. A teacher once told her, “Don’t make your passion your career – it’ll suck the fun out of it.” So it only makes sense that she’s a full-time pharmacist, all the while crafting and mailing out orders in her free time.

Hand Soap, literally

September 18, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Really cool? Or, really creepy?

Mi Spa Products

September 18, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

The founder of Mi is named “Mimie.” I immediately figured that “Mi” was short for Mimie. Yeah, not so much. You know what they say about assuming… It turns out that “Mi” means “Rice” in Chinese. Thus, many of the recipes incorporate Rice Bran Oil. Mi is all about simple beauty and personal balance.

Read more about Mi and the Visionary behind the brand here.

Her photography is beautiful and the graphic design is very nicely done.

Hassle Me!

September 18, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

How cool is this service? A service that literally nags you. Hassle Me is a UK based company that sends you an email every few days to bug you to do something. I’ve got the service being set up to hassle me to write thank-you notes for stores that are evaluating one of our new lines. Every three days, I get a sweet email telling me to write those notes. It’s a good reminder.

Paula from PJ’s Soaps

September 17, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Paula from PJ’s Soaps took 1st place for “Best Soap” at the ISOCAN convention in Chicago. Paula is a longtime Bramble Berry customer and has sent us many little care packages over the years. Her creations stand out. Paula’s niche is her attention to detail. Look at how many colors are in her bars – that’s patience. The Brambleberrians are thrilled that her artistry with melt and pour has been officially recognized. Go Paula! Here’s a big shout-out to soapmaking artistry and beauty.

PS – You can buy the Bass and Cameo and Geisha molds at Brambleberry.com