Happy Thanksgiving!

Wanted to give my wishes for a great holiday weekend. We aren’t celebrating until Friday when my brother and his family can come up, but I’m looking forward to that. The photo above shows one of my Japanese maples in fall color last year (this year wasn’t as bright for some reason).

It should be a busy weekend, visiting with family, keeping up with orders, and working on the launch of the vintage-inspired scent. I’m testing the first little scaled up batch and making sure it is where I want it before making more.

I’ve been asked when the amber lotion and amber shea cream will be available. I had to set that formula aside for now to finish the vintage-inspired scent, but I’ll get back to the amber. I ran into trouble because the amber scent mix is dark brown and that’s not an attractive color to use in lotion. I need to see if I can make some substitutions to lighten it. Vanillin is well known for discoloring soap and lotion to a brown color over time, but there are some other vanilla scented ingredients that don’t discolor. The labdanum and tolu are brown too though, so I need to play with it more. This turned out to be a more complex product to develop than I’d anticipated.

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope your weekend is a wonderful one with family and friends.