Archive for category Miscellaneous

I’m so happy everyone is enjoying the summer release! Restocks and new items will be available Friday, June 17^th at 10:00 PM EST. Many of you will be excited to know I will be restocking Caribbean Coconut foaming body scrubs and body mists. I also have five new scents available in the foaming body scrubs only – these are very limited:

Arctic
Sophisticated and sultry, yet altogether refreshing… smoky black tea leaves brightened with soft notes of fresh citrus and spiked with cool, refreshing mint.

Jubilee
Celebrate with a crisp and clean scent to invigorate your senses! A fresh concoction of juicy green apples… not too sweet, not too tart… harmoniously blended with herbaceous French lavender.

Provence
Intensely fresh and green… truly a spa scent. Freshly-picked leafy garden herbs, cool mountain spring water, and a hint of crisp, white floral notes.

Laguna
Reminiscent of crystal blue waters, white sand, and waves crashing at the shore. Aromatic cyclamen, water lily, and muguet blossoms floating on sea foam greens and salty air anchored by warm, sun-bleached driftwood.

Ginger Gelato
Crunchy crystals of cane sugar enveloping hot ginger over a heart of sweet vanilla cream swirled in golden amber and tolu balsam with a pinch of Italian lemon and anisette.

The long awaited summer release is scheduled for June 4th. My goal was to impart a complete tropical spa experience. Six exotic scents available in a Mediterranean sea salt soap, foaming body scrub, perfume oil, and a light, moisturizing body gloss.

If you would like to try out the scents before the release, they are now available in the Soap Sampler and Perfume Oil Sampler. I also created two foaming body scrubs in Caribbean Coconut and Tahitian Vanilla… these are located in the Limited Edition section.

Bali Ha’i
A tempting blend of sweet flowers and creamy, exotic drinks… juicy tropical fruits and island blossoms drenched in coconut milk and vanilla cream with a touch of praline.

Castaway
Lost in paradise… creamy coconut milk and ripe banana amidst a light breezy veil of island orchids awash in the salty, summer essence of sand and sea.

Mango Tea
Drink in the aroma and the atmosphere of the islands. Sweet, juicy mango fruit immersed in iced sweet tea softened with a touch of sultry vanilla bean and creamy white musk.

Pineapple Milk
Evocative of gentle south sea breezes, swaying palm trees, and flowing grass skirts. A perfect blend of fresh, tangy pineapple enveloped in rich and creamy milk sweetened with raw sugarcane.

Tropicana
Delight in the spirit of the tropics… exotic plumeria blossoms infused with sweet orange and juicy red ohelo berries underscored by a white floral bouquet of gardenia, honeysuckle and jasmine with a whisper of soft vanilla and musk.

Waikiki
Surf’s Up! Sparkling island lime and freshly cracked coconut drenched in summer sunshine and splashed with salty ocean spray.

Achieving a nice coconut scent in cold process soap is a challenge. There is something about coconut fragrance that does not play nice with the soaping process. Some of the most beautiful coconut scents morph into something horrible. Most of the time, it’s the very distinctive scent of Play-Doh… or worse!  

I finally broke down and made small test batches of the fifteen most promising coconut fragrances. After a month of cure time, I found that twelve of the fifteen failed miserably. The remaining three performed quite well, and one of them was a very nice surprise!

I have been using them to create the various scent blends I have put together for summer… very tropical! An exciting lineup is planned, and I will hopefully have a formal summer update in about a week.

All catalog cold process soaps will be listed on March 5th. Starting tonight, restocks of body whips, sugar polishes, and perfume oils (in that order) will begin and continue throughout this week. The soap sampler will also appear, as well as a new perfume sampler. New cream soaps will be listed as they are created and may not be available until next week.

I’ve decided to reserve blog posts for larger topics and announcements, such as new product development and seasonal releases.

Instead, I will use Facebook more frequently to announce shorter “breaking news” that really does not warrant an entire blog post, such as stock updates. This blog may eventually disappear to make a transition to my own website and a new accompanying blog.

Long awaited catalog restocks and new items will be available the last week of February. I will re-open my Artfire Studio this Friday, January 28th with existing stock. My Etsy Shop still needs a little spring cleaning and updating, so it will remain closed for about another week.

It has been a slow process… after a little rest, I re-arranged my entire studio to make things a little more efficient. Then, I tweaked my formulas a bit and narrowed down my scent catalog located at the top of the page.

If some of your favorites are missing, they may be available again as seasonal or “soap of the month” limited editions. I plan on doing Ambrosia, Dreamcatcher, and Bamboo Pear for spring. Also, a “cure date” page is in the works so you can easily check to see when a particular soap will be available again.

Alchemic Muse will re-open December 26^th at 12:00 Noon EST with a sale! All items will be marked down with the following discounts:

Cold Process Soap 15%
Cream Soap (Large) 25%
Cream Soap Mini 15%
Sugar Polish 15%
Body Whip 15%
Perfume Oil 25%
Sublime Skincare 25%

The shop will close again for all of January and possibly part of February to restock and work on new products for 2011.

The shop will close on December 20th  for the holidays. Depending on how much stock is remaining, I may re-open on December 26th through December 31st, but will close again on January 1st for a two to three week vacation.

The “Soap Sampler” is updated to include all of the mini soaps that will be available through the end of the year. The last batches of limited edition soaps will be available on Friday – Baby Rose, Pineapple Brulee, Cocoa Bee, Sea Moss, Black Pearl, and Deadwood.

The last of the new cream soap scents will be listed early December – Muscovado, Andalusia, and Apricot Cannoli. Limited edition cream soaps will be available in the 8 oz size as well. I may also have a few new and restock sugar polishes and body whips.

A note on packaging… many soaps, polishes and whips still have old labels and caps. I have switched from the silver metal caps to smooth black plastic caps. I think the look really sharp with the new label design.

Happy Holidays!