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Happy New Year Opulent Fans!!!
I am so excited about things to come this year for the company. I “think” I’ve finally figured out what IS going to make Opulent Blends a successful small business (fingers crossed) and what isn’t. Now, the tough part….EXECUTION! I don’t really want to focus on all that in this blog though. I’m eager to share with you what we’re working on.
First up, new hair care scents are FINALLY HERE! We will be adding Citrus Explosion and Refreshing Mint to our hair care line later this month. With these two additional scents comes NEW PACKAGING….YAY!!! Now, this was a big dilemma for us. The new 8 oz. bottles look smaller compared to the 8 oz. tubes. So much so, that we heavily debated the notion of increasing our bottle size to 12 oz. However, if we went that route, we would also have to increase the price. I really like that we are able to provide an AMAZING set of natural hair care for under $25. Because of that reason alone, we chose to stick with the 8 oz. bottles. If you have an opinion on this matter, we’d love to hear it. Would you prefer to pay more for a larger quantity or do you prefer to stick to the price point we are at currently. Also, until we know whether these scents will be warmly welcomed, they will NOT be available in the larger 32 oz. bottles.
Time to reevaluate! I’m thrilled to share that Marc is back in the shop. Actually, it’s more like he’s taken over my laundry room as he did in 2015 ;). I’m sure this won’t be permanent (his ADD only allows his attention to stay focused on something for so long, haha), but I am eager to accept his creative mind channeling in on Opulent for a moment. While we would never invest in a product we weren’t proud of, there are a few that he thinks can be improved.
Marc is currently reevaluating our body wash and dish soap and the possibility of reformulating them. These happen to by my least favorite products. Well, since switching to bar soap, I don’t use body wash so it already has an unfair disadvantage. He has tinkered with cream soaps in the past and is considering changing our body wash into a creamy base. Imagine it as a body wash that is somewhere in between its current crystal clear state and our creamy bar soaps. Why didn’t we do this in the first place? The cream soaps he’s created are trickier to work with and more labor intensive.
Dish soap. I don’t have a problem with our dish soap. I have a problem with dishes, period. I just HATE doing them and no product Marc creates is going to change that. Now, the funny thing is that he LOVES our dish soap so much that he actually enjoys doing the dishes. So, I ask myself, “Why am “I” ever stuck doing the dishes”??? I will admit, he has been helping out in the kitchen lately, especially with the dishes. After 15 years of marriage, it’s those little things (signs of appreciation) that just make my heart swell (visual aid: think of the Grinch when his heart increases in size THREE TIMES).
I am sure you are all asking, “Why don’t your kids do the dishes?” They do, but you have to pick your battles, my friends. What do I despise more than DOING the dishes? Getting a dish from the cupboard that is not necessarily clean. It genuinely creeps me out and sends my OCD nature into overdrive, which leads to frustration, followed by resentment towards them for being lazy teenagers. Simply put: not good, for me…or the family, in general. I’d rather assign them to things like vacuum, trash and litter box duty.
Well, it seems I have gotten away from the actual subject of the intention to possibly improve our dish soap. This idea stems from a recent review by a new retail partner, Wild Cherry Spoon Co. It was really well done and genuine. You can check it out here: https://wildcherryspoonco.com/blogs/wild-kitchen/5-things-we-learned-testing-natural-dish-soap?fbclid=IwAR1oXhpy_WglKUM6tlO0skdiZFBeAqJfZKhTr1UPnibtDDAyCHF6ihlQwXA The two main areas he will be focusing on during his reformulation are viscosity and BUBBLES. I happen to like its current consistency. A little goes a long way AND I use it in our dish washer. I LOVE that I can use ONE PRODUCT for washing dishes by hand and running the dish washer. Getting more bubbles will be the trickier task. We are limited by few options for natural ingredients with a low rating on the EWG scale.
Let’s formulate! I get all giddy when Marc gets “in the kitchen”, especially when he’s working on something for “me”, tee hee. I have oddly (only odd because why haven’t I before now) gotten into candles this last month. I don’t know what initially drew me to them (though my mom did get me a handmade one for my birthday, now that I think about it), but my new habit of burning candles in our living room has made Marc eager to create candles for me, and possibly our fans (if he is successful). I can’t wait to burn our first lemongrass and/or lavender spearmint candle!
Marc has also been producing small batches of shave soap for over a year. He’s been using our male friends as testers. Upon receiving constant positive feedback AND repeat requests for more, he’s decided to add it to our line. Adding a new product is a lengthy process. Here are just a few of the many tasks that can be time consuming and tedious: label design, packaging decisions, perfecting larger batches. I don’t expect this to be out until the middle of 2019. I am also trying to talk him into a woman’s version. I think he’s forgotten how often women have to shave too. That is partly my fault. I had laser hair removal done about ten years ago so I can go months and months without shaving.
Lastly, I am sorry to say that the latest restock of foam soap will be our last. We have decided that this special edition product is just not a good fit for our company. Simply put, the cost just doesn’t work in our favor and I can’t imagine charging more for it. I also don’t like that I am not able to highlight/discount the foam soap due to this reason. Disappointed??? I am toying with the idea of making it as a refill option only. Possibly selling it in our 32 oz. containers. With this option, dispensers would be the responsibility of the customer to source. Thoughts?
Funny, whenever I go to blog, I sit here half lost, having little idea of what to say and how to say it. But, once I get writing, it appears I can’t stop. I had no intention of this being so lengthy. Oooops. With that, I will leave you to enjoy your day. Hopefully, you are leaving with some excitement for the things to come from Opulent Blends this year. Happy New Year!!!
