My Bodycare business stuff (VERY image heavy!)

Alkaid

I realise that by posting this stuff, it will be a dead giveaway to those that play Lusternia as to who I am, but I like sharing this stuff anyway (I'm betting a number of lusternians here have already got a good idea of who I am)

Anywho, as a side job to my full time study, I run a bodycare/lifestyle goods business, making handmade soaps, candles, lipbalms, etc etc etc.  I take them to the local weekend markets, selling them there while also having an online shop, though the online aspect is not as successful due to the absolutely horrific shipping costs (for roughly 1 kilo worth of products - about $60 worth, you are looking at an extra $40 in shipping from NZ to the USA, 6-10 day shipping time.)  But, I digress.

I'm in the mood to show off some of the things I make, so here we go!  Please excuse the poor quality of some of the photos.

Goats milk soap (these particular ones are vanilla scented)

Handmade tea lights ^_^

Handmade Scented Wax Melts (again these are Vanilla scented)

Reed Diffusers

200gm coloured and scented Organic Soy Wax candles

"Clamshell" Scented Wax Melts

It's the Chaos emeralds!  No wait, it's just my gemstone soaps >_>

Chocolate Lip Balm - Looks good enough to eat (and you actually COULD eat it technically, since all it contains is Beeswax, Coconut Oil and REAL milk chocolate...)

Last but not least, for now, my coloured, scented "Element" soaps.

Wysteria

Sold on the Chaos Emeralds. Does it come with Knuckles?

Alkaid

Sadly no. =p   The gemstone soaps are actually fairly popular, they are perfect for overnight travel due to their small size, or they can be put into a small organza (cloth) bag to add a little extra scent to ones clothing

Wysteria

Aww haha. Yea I have organic soaps in my drawers to scent them as well. I'm prones to rashes from petrochemicals, sls, ses and parrafin based chems, so I'm always on the lookout for natural goods. These are awesome!

Alkaid

Drop me a message if you ever decide you need to stock up, I'm always happy to do a good rate for fellow IRE gamers   (and that goes for ANYONE that is interested - fair warning though, shipping from NZ to the USA is pretty horrid - for 1kg of products, you are looking at around NZ$40 in shipping costs)

That being said, the soap base I use for the gemstone soaps contains: 

Organic coconut oil

Organic palm oil from sustainable sources

Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin)

Purified water

Sodium hydroxide (saponifying agent)

Sorbitol (moisturiser)

Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier)

Soy bean protein (conditioner)

Wysteria

I'm across the ditch haha. NZ Post will be fine frankly since it's just as bad as Aus Post. Sounds good, I'll hit you up when I get time

Skye

I love goat's milk soap. They're amazing for when you have rashes or hives. I prefer liquid soaps though.

Alkaid

Skye said:

I love goat's milk soap. They're amazing for when you have rashes or hives. I prefer liquid soaps though.

I plan to offer liquid soaps eventually, but my business is still in moderately early stages.  The biggest concern in my mind is the fact that I simply can not match the kind of prices seen at the supermarkets (and some of the stuff there can be pretty good quality)  because of the bulk amounts they produce the stuff in, so for the time being I'm sticking to things that I know sell well, until I have enough capital to be able to afford to make more expensive products in large enough quantities to be able to pass the savings on to the customer.

On a slightly related note, I find it a little perplexing that customers will pay $4 for a bar of soap, but will not pay the same amount for the same volume of liquid soap... especially when you consider that the liquid soap is more expensive to produce due to the additional packaging. x_x

Berenene

They do look pretty cool. I'm a little taken by the elemental soaps and the gemstones.

Achimrst

I want to know what the elemental soaps smell like.

Alkaid

I have a very large range of scents available, the most popular ones are vanilla and pineapple/mango

Draekar

PM me the online shop address (too lazy to sort google searches)

I live in NZ so am sure shipping is no problem.

Alkaid

If anyone wants to check out some of the other things I have available, my shop is located at http://montwick.com/shop - if you are after something in particular that I don't have listed on the shop, message me, I am quite happy to do custom orders