It’s probably about time I updated this thing considering I’ve released two new collections since the last business-related update, huh? I suppose there’s not much point in “introducing” the Legends Collection, which has been around for months, but I can tell you about last week’s latest (and greatest?) release: Intertubes!
Intertubes are basically a combination of all of my favorite things about lip products. They’re moisturizing, non-sticky, long-lasting, slightly glossy, flavored, colored (usually), and nerdy. They come in those adorable little oval tubes and the labels are waterproof. They’re also vegan – no carmine and no beeswax. However, there the similarities end: some of them stain for all-day color and some of them don’t. Some are opaque and some are sheer. Some have long cats* and some do not. Therefore, for the sake of accurate consistency in all listings, I decided to call them Tubes of Win.
The vegan-ness actually presented me with an interesting dilemma during the formulation process. Even though my products are vegan, I myself am not, and I happen to absolutely love the feel of beeswax in lip balms. Most of the vegan lip products I’ve tried which use candelilla or carnauba wax are too hard for me, and apply too thin and oily-feeling. I decided to go with candelilla wax for my Intertubes, since it has a lower melting point than carnauba wax and was therefore, I figured, slightly more similar to beeswax. I then used the wax in different proportions with shea butter and jojoba oil until something fantastic happened: I found a recipe that feels very similar to a beeswax-based balm. Achievement unlocked!
(Please note that all claims made in the previous paragraph about the nature of various waxes are based only on my personal experience. I’ve liked the feel of almost every balm I’ve tried which contains beeswax, and have been iffy on every balm I’ve tried where candelilla or carnauba wax is used and beeswax is not. OBSERVATIONAL SCIENCE.)
So, those are the Intertubes! Now on to the next thing I wanted to post about…
People have been increasingly concerned lately that naming my products after Nintendo’s characters is a violation of their trademarks. There are a number of reasons I’m unconcerned about being sued by Nintendo, but I also don’t want to make anyone nervous or upset for any reason, and making the names more subtle does appeal to me on a few different levels anyway. So, I’m going to be working on renaming most of my Super Effective and Legends collections over the next few months whenever I have time (ha). When I start changing the names over, I’ll post a list of what everything has been renamed so that you’ll be able to locate your old favorites easily. If this makes you sad and you favor the old names, you can… I don’t know, send me a conversation when you order and ask for yours to be labeled as they were originally. Sure.
Oh, and one last thing! My turnaround time at the moment is up to 7 business days, which is kind of long but still (I think?) within the boundaries of a “reasonable” turnaround time for an independently operated, handmade business. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from customers after 6-8 days of their order as to where their packages are, and a lot of these inquiries come one or two days after I’ve already shipped their package out. I always send a conversation via Etsy on the evening that an order is placed to let you know when I’ll have it out and, if you live in the US, I’ll give you a tracking number as well. Sometimes Etsy doesn’t send email notifications to let you know that you have a conversation, so please check that out before asking me about your package – thank you!
*actually, only one has a long cat.
shiro 