Part of being in business is learning to roll with the punches….in other words….not panic!

We have a handful of reputable fragrance oil suppliers that we generally order from. I know these suppliers offer high-quality fragrances along with great customer service so I never have to worry about whether we are going to get our order on time or if we are going to get a sub-standard product.

Last year I found yet another fragrance oil supplier so I ordered a few new ones. Some we now offer in our products and some I have not yet had the time to test.

Last week we received notice that this particular supplier was going out of business at the end of this year (*panic*).

I quickly evaluated what fragrance oils we get from them and ordered as much as I thought we would need..hoping that by January 2011 someone would be taking over this company and offer the very same fragrances.

Their site is now shut down while they process current orders. Even though I ordered and paid last week I have no idea if the fragrances we ordered are in stock and will be shipped or if they are out of stock and we are sol.

I’m not panicking yet.

There really is only ONE fragrance that they offer that I have not seen elsewhere. Everything else I should be able to source elsewhere.

So right now we are on a wait-and-see status to see what comes and what is out of stock.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that at least this one particular fragrance (which is not our website yet!) is still available otherwise this soap will be offered in a very, very limited supply!

Will keep you posted!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Yea, Ok….
So it’s not like we REALLY need another ‘collection’ right?

But how fun is this!!!!!

Beverage-type scented soap!

HA!
(I admit I couldn’t resist this scent line and believe it or not I have two more scent lines in mind!)

First up in our new Spirits Collection….

Cola Float!

Can’t really say much more than that!

A carbonated cola (think Coke) scented soap.
You can actually smell the carbonation!

We are in the testing phase for the Gin Martini and the Southern Comfort all of which are nose-tingling!

Cola Float Soap

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Soap making involves (in basic terms) mixing oils/fats with an alkali (sodium hydroxide – otherwise known as lye) resulting in a saponification process that turns the above mixture into a nice, hard bar of soap.

Fragrance oils, essential oils as well as colorant (natural & synthetic) can be added for eye and nose appeal.

During the first 24 hours the raw soap will heat up..just how hot will depend on whether fragrance oils or essential oils are used. It has been my experience that fragrance oils heat up much quicker and hotter than fragrance oils.

Sometimes the entire soap block will heat up completely and other times the heat does not quite reach to the outer edges of the soap.

This heating is also known as gelling….
Sometimes you get a good gel….
And sometimes you don’t!

You can mix the ingredients at a low temperature and then not insulate the molds resulting in not gelling at all.

Or you can force the gel by putting your filled soap mold in an oven at a low temperature.

We chose to do what comes naturally to the soap in any specific scent. Most of the time our batches gel completely but other times (again depending on the fragrance used) we will have a partial gel.

Gelling or not gelling does not effect the soap in any way, shape or form other than what it looks like. It is still soap and performs like soap!

Below you will see two different soaps both of which have a partial gel. The lighter area in the corners did not gel.

Gel Vs Ungel

Gel Vs Ungel Soap

Again, whether the soap gels or not has no effect on the smell or performance of the soap!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

We are in the process of revamping our Sandalwood Vanilla, Crystal Blue and Wild Mint & Ivy soap in our Beaded Soap Collection.

The Sandalwood Vanilla now has a white layer on top (titanium dioxide) and the base layer was left to brown naturally (due to the vanilla content in the fragrance oil).

I think you will agree it makes for a more eye-appealing presentation than just plain brown!

The these three soaps were made to go together as a set. All three are unisex and appeal to both men and women. I adore all three!

We are currently working on the Crystal Blue and Wild Mint & Ivy soap revamp and these should be available by mid May. The old style is still in stock!

Sandalwood Vanilla Soap

Old Style Sandalwood Vanilla Soap

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

As you know most of the time our soap logs are made upon order. There is a 3-4 week lead time to allow for proper curing.

Soap logs are manufactured in a block mold which yields three soap logs. Customers will often order just one log which leaves two logs ready to go.

Just in time for summer….

We will have two Hawaiian White Ginger Soap Logs ready with a ship date of May 12, 2010!

Order yours now and we will ship it promptly on May 12th!

Hawaiian White Ginger…also known as ‘awapuhi’.
The Hawaiian Ginger plant grows wild over the island and has a sweet, floral scent. This scent captures the allure of this tropical plant almost to perfection.

Ingredients:
Saponified oils of soybean, coconut, shea butter, rice bran oil, castor oil, tussah noil silk, fragrance.

Hawaiian White Ginger Soap Logs

(bad picture I know!)

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

I love luxury, unique products and it makes it even better when the product is made from fair trade ingredients.

However, sometimes cost can be an issue!

For several years now we have offered our Umoja product line which includes soap and whipped body cream.

These products are made with fair trade virgin coconut oil, unrefined shea butter and kpangnan. They are also naturally scented with essential oil blends.

Over the years the cost of the above raw ingredients have increased dramatically resulting in us having to raise our prices. This increase in price has knocked this particular product line into the stratosphere as far as pricing goes.

So while using fair trade ingredients might be well and good it does not benefit anyone if the end price is so high that many people will opt for a lower priced item.

We have made the financial decision to revamp our Umoja product line replacing all fair trade ingredients with the food grade ingredients used in all of our other products. This will bring the end price down very close to what our other soap and creams cost with the exception of the Imara set. Imara is made with a complex blend of essential oils and tends to run slightly higher in cost than fragrance oils but we should be able to bring the price down so it’s affordable!

All of the Umoja products will continue to be scented naturally with essential oil blends!

I love this collection (Imara being my fav!) and look forward to being able to lower our costs so you can enjoy them without having to take out a second mortgage!

We hope to have the new pricing in effect in the next few weeks.

Imara Collection

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Now Taking Spring Pre-Orders!

We are in the process of manufacturing our spring soap line which include the following scents:

Asiatic Lily & Cantaloupe
Blue Lotus
Ume Blossom

The above scents are available in both the 4.5 oz. bars and the 2+ lbs. soap logs.

To order the soap logs please visit our Season/Spring Category.

All spring soap manufactured now will be available in 3-4 weeks. To guarantee availability without the wait it is highly suggested that you order now!

Wholesale Accounts

Please log into your wholesale account to pre-order the above soap!

Asiatic Lily & Cantaloupe

Blue Lotus

Ume Blossom

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Need a quickie gift?
How about a stocking stuffer?

Check out our Snowman Soap Gift Bags!

Each gift bag includes 3 – 2.5 oz. bars of soap in the following scents:

Apple Spice
Autumn Winds
Pumpkin Spice

We have a limited amount of snowman bags so order yours today!
(snowman color will be our choice)

Now….
How Easy Was That?

Snowman Soap Gift Bags

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

A couple of years ago (sure doesn’t seem that long ago!!) we had most of our product labels revamped to what you see today.

I was extremely happy with most of the labels but I felt that the Season’s Greetings and Fall Harvest labels did not reflect on what I originally had in mind.

I finally have had time to revamp the Season’s Greetings labels AND add two new scents!

The new labels reflect the holiday theme in a colorful softness and in testing out the two labels (old vs. new) the new won hands down.

The Season’s Greetings collection includes soap and lotion in the following scents:

Cranberry Fig – This is a true holiday blend of cranberry, orange, fig, grapefruit with the slightest hint of pine.

Holiday Candy – Refreshing peppermint mellowed with creamy vanilla!

Oh Christmas Tree (used to be Northwoods Christmas) – A fresh, balsam pine with the hint of cranberry.

Silent Night (new this year!) – A glorious fragrance that is difficult to describe…Fresh and slightly floral with notes of rose, muget and musk (synthetic).

Three Wise Men (new this year!) – Frankincense & Myrrh…Exotic and slightly oriental…worthy of a king’s ransom!

You will have to excuse the unprofessional pictures! For some reason I just can’t quite get the photography right. For those products that do not have pictures it means I messed up big time and am having to redo them.

Cranberry Fig Lotion

Silent Night Soap

Three Wise Men Soap

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

We have a very small supply of Lemon Verbena Sugar Scrubs now available!

This particular scrub was developed for a specific salon as a cuticle/hand/feet scrub. We have a bit left over and are now putting the rest up for sale.

Lemon Verbena Sugar Scrub comes in a smaller 6 oz. jar (vs. our normal 16 oz. jars!) for a retail price of $12.50 each.

Once this item is sold out there will be no more!

Now Available In Limited Quantity

This fragrance is NOT a pucker-your-lips lemon but instead is a complex blend of Italian Bergamot, Lemon Verbena, Primrose and Violet with a dry-down of Amber and White Musk.

We have developed a unique and innovative way to exfoliate, soften and scent your body all at the same time!

Country Meadow sugar scrubs are an emulsified scrub that turns into a light lotion when used with water. These are NOT your typical liquid oil/sugar scrubs that make a mess when used.

Solid in consistency our sugar scrubs are rich in shea butter, cocoa butter and nourishing oils that help exfoliate dead surface skin…an important part in keeping your skin soft and healthy.

(Cane Sugar, Crushed Rice, Soybean Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Shea Butter, Emulsifying Wax NF, Vegetable Stearic Acid, Cocoa Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Polysorbate 80, Fragrance, Benzylalcohol Dehydroacetic Acid, Lemon Peel)

Please Note:
If you are a salon, spa or any other retail establishment and would like help in designing your very own signature scrub (or any other product!) please contact us as sales(at)countrymeadowltd(dot)com.

(the lemon verbena scrub was not a signature/exclusive product so we are able to sell the excess)

Lemon Verbena Sugar Scrub

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com