Hello friends! I hope you are well and staying cool. For those of you who live in the west, I hope you are staying cool and for those of you who live in the east, I hope you are staying dry. This summer has been just a tiny bit extra, right? Well, no worries, I'm here to soothe the chaos with soap and some musings on upcoming additions to the store! Let's get right into it, shall we?
From the top, L to R.
Cherry Bomb - Do you like cherry-scented things? Well, if you do then this soap is going to be right up your alley. It's a strong and classic cherry scent! I am in love with it but it is very strong so keep that in mind if you don't like strongly scented soaps.
Leo July 23rd to August 22nd - Hey, Leo, hey! It's that time again! Leo season! Whoop whoop! The best time of the year and time for you to get gussied up and plant your feet firmly on the catwalk for the next month. You get to be the center of attention for a little bit, and you have no problem letting the rest of the zodiac know that you LOVE it! Leos don't play coy, okay. They own their awesomeness, damn it!
You are an optimistic darling but you can be just a tad high-maintenance, and by high-maintenance I mean high-maintenance. Ha! It's okay; that's one of your best qualities. This is one of those things that people love about you. In the same way that there are people who adore cats, there are people who find Leo's charming arrogance to be irresistible. You ARE ruled by the Sun after all. Leos are true leaders and have enough charm that they could lead two groups of mortal enemies to fight the same battle. There isn’t a zodiac sign that Leo can’t charm, but the thing is, do they want to? You won’t find Leos doing something they don’t want to do unless there is a reward waiting for them at the end of all their troubles.
Leo is a fixed fire sign. This means Leos are stubborn, opinionated, and pretty amazing at setting their minds to things and then following through with them. Fixed fire energy is strong, steady, incredibly creative, and mentally stubborn. I have a Leo moon, my husband has a Leo moon, two of my brothers have Leo moons, my daughter and brother have a Leo ascendant, and my sister is a Leo sun sign. We are all a tiny bit dramatic, charming, self-involved (at times), will strip naked and give you all our clothes if it would save you from freezing to death, and are really fun to hang out with. The main difference between a Leo moon person and a Leo sun person is how we express our emotions. Leo moons can be slightly "over the top" when they are happy, upset, or sad, and Leo suns can be slightly "over the top" in a general personality sense. All of us are great to take to parties or out on adventures. We love to have fun and we are good at showing people a good time.
Leos are opinionated; that is just a reality. Good luck getting a Leo to change their mind about any form of opinion they may have. Especially food. They are picky eaters. I have debated this until I am blue in the face. This isn't something that most people assign to this zodiac sign, but it's real. I've never met a Leo who wasn't picky about food. Not one. This can manifest as run-of-the-mill pickiness all the way down the spectrum to outright food snobbery.
I refused to touch certain foods when I was a kid, and my daughter had a whole language centered around foods she didn't like when she was a toddler. To this day she still is super picky about foods that most people love. My sister won't touch condiments and two of my Leo friends have "opinions" about foods they've never even tasted. My Leo moon brother is a chef and fits into that snobbery category I referred to above. I think we should just embrace this in our Leo friends and family. Leos also like to bring you foods that they love. You know how cats will bring you a dead mouse on your doorstep to show you how much they love you? Well, a Leo will set out a silver platter of coveted food with a side of elaborate “oohing and awwing” as it's being served and eaten. You'll eat this meal and feel like you've just been served food in Shangri-La. That, my friend, is the power of Leo.
Leo loves to shine. You won't find a Leo who doesn't stand out in some way. This could be in their physical appearance, their personality (think the gregarious, outgoing, star of the show), their likes and dislikes. In other words, you will always know what Leo's opinions, likes, and dislikes are. Leo moons are a little more subtle in expressing their opinions, but they will expect everything to come to a screeching halt if they are having a strong emotional event. They will tell you their review on how you handled the event with blunt and bold honesty. This will be relayed to you with a slight air of disdain, even if they approve of your reaction. Think back to cats again.
Leo's aren't like Cancers when it comes to expressing themselves. Cancers retreat behind their shell if they are overwhelmed or upset, but Leo's jump on the table, knock things off the edge and then proceed to groom themselves while pretending they don't care if people are looking at them. The catch is, they do care and they have a strong need to be recognized and validated, but they won't want you to act like you know that. Dangle something pretty in front of us and we’ll soon forget that we were upset and will be back to our charming self.
Leo’s don’t usually hold grudges, which is nice. They tend to ignite, but just as fast as they caught fire, they will be cool as a cucumber, ready to be your friend again as if nothing ever happened. This can be confusing or annoying to the earth and water signs since they tend to spend much longer in their various emotional states. Seeing their Leo loved one jump in and out of emotional extremes can be almost too much for them at times. This can ruffle Leo’s fur and make them feel vulnerable (which they detest), but since their natural state of being is in the optimistic realm, they won’t give it too much thought. Leo will decide that if the earth and water signs can’t see their excellence, they’ll just head over to the air and fire sign hangouts. By the time they knock on those doors they’ve already put it all behind them.
Leo's also are sweet and nurturing people. They are loyal and once they decide that you are a member of their pride, you will be loved and embraced no matter what. Leo takes their responsibilities seriously and will be dependable as long as you are one of theirs. Leos will work hard for you up to a point. Are you appreciating Leo while they are working? Good, they'll stay an extra hour after closing without pay just because they like you and want to help you out. Are you ignoring the great job that Leo is doing? Are you assuming that since you are paying them you don't need to let them know you appreciate their expertly done hard work? The famous Leo loyalty has its limits and this is one of them. Leos are generous. They have big caring warm hearts and if you nurture and appreciate that, the Leo in your life will forever reward you with ample love and loyalty. If you take advantage or don’t appreciate this, then Leos won’t stick around. Period.
Leos are the leaders (they probably prefer the term king, just FYI), artists, actors, and motivational speakers of the zodiac. They are much more vulnerable than they let on, so make sure not to take their confident air lightly; tell them you notice when they are being awesome and you will have a friend for life.
This soap is scented with a rich blend of raw honey and orange.
Atomic Orange - This soap popped out of the mold exactly like I was hoping. It smells delicious. Orangey and strong. The embeds were made with my own personal melt and pour recipe that I have been perfecting. This was one of those creations that were just a pleasure from start to finish.
Lemon Lime - This soap is scented with lemon and lime essential oils. It is bright and strong. I added kaolin clay for some slip and lusciousness. This soap is my favorite of all the new soaps this month. It smells awesome!
Berry Pie - Blueberries, huckleberries, and blackberries! I made this soap for my daughter who couldn't get enough of these three berry scents. This soap smells literally good enough to eat. Don't eat it, but definitely smell it over and over again!
Gilded Pear - I've been sitting on a wonderful pear fragrance oil but I was nervous to use it because I was worried it might be tough to work with. I threw caution to the wind and it turned out better than I hoped. It smells just like fresh juicy pears!
Soap sample bundles are restocked! I changed up the packaging and bundling a little bit too. Mostly for my own sanity and to reduce the packaging waste from the other way I was doing it. I decided to group the sample packs into Hi-top soaps and Low-top soaps so I could make them a little more predictable for you all when you are buying them. I was also able to decrease the pricing on these guys a little bit too which I'm happy about. Hi-top bundles have a minimum weight of 8 oz and Low-top bundles have a minimum weight of 7 oz. They all weigh a little more than that though. All of these sample slices are cut from the ends of soap loaves and vary in thickness.
This almost sums up this month's newsletter, but... I have some fun news to share!
I've been working on adding a new product to the shop and I'm almost ready to release it to you all. If all goes well then I'll be able to make my new line of WAX MELTS available in September! Yay!
I wanted to do this months ago but one of the reasons that it's taken me so long to get this underway is because of the issue with packaging. I didn't want to use plastic so I've been testing out different ways to bring you a quality wax melt that will ship safely, store easily once it's in your possession, and be packaged with environmentally friendly packaging. You would be shocked to discover how hard this is for a small business like mine.
What I decided to do was test out various forms of packaging that wouldn't add literal dollars to the price and would allow me to ship the melts to you without them being compromised in the process. I tested a bunch of different things. Glass jars were too expensive and heavy. Tin containers were too expensive unless I bought thousands of them, paper wicked the fragrance out of the wax melts over time... You get the idea.
I ended up finding a company that has 100% food-grade, plant-based, compostable and resealable pouches that are affordable and fit all the things I need for packaging while being 100% plastic-free and much more friendly for the environment.
I am making sure that the labels I use will also be compostable so all you'll have to do when your wax melts are gone is toss the whole pouch, label, and all into the compost bin! Whew!
Stay tuned for these wax melts and have a wonderful July, my friends!
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