Madras and Cream & Sugar Scrub

Okay, two developments regarding the scent - Madras, and the product - Cream & Sugar Scrub.

Madras
It turns out that my supplier has discontinued one of the main fragrances for this blend. I didn't know about it until I had to re-order. Imagine my dismay when I only had about 2 inches left of the FO and then no more! I begged and pleaded and promised my first-born son, but he would not budge - the heartless, capitalist robot that he is. I keeed people! He's actually a stand-up person who runs a small reputable fragrance and flavour business about an hour away from me in NJ. The reason he said, was that the oil wasn't selling well. In fact, it really wasn't selling at all!!! And you now what? I can understand why. Alone, the FO - which was the cranberry component of the blend - smells like the product of a flatulent donkey. Really, folks it was that bad. But as is my practice with all my first sniff disasters, I let it sit in an open amber bottle for a bit to see if the fragrance would morph to something better.

Sure enough it did and although I still wouldn't use it alone, the fragrance took on a mellow-sweet character, quite unlike a tart cranberry actually. Which is really what inspired me to create the sniff of the famous cocktail Madras. Using straight-up cranberry and orange juice in a fragrance blend would have created way too many sharp edges for anyone's liking. But this particular cranberry was smooth and sweet enough to make the citrus notes less sharp and biting.

Anyway, so until I can either find another supplier with this particular FO, I've resorted trying to make an accord to dupe the cranberry component. I'm not having much luck folks and it's been day 5 of my quest. Yesterday, I came up with an accord that I found came pretty close so this is what I'm using for now. Thankfully, the orders for Madras-scented goodies have dwindled, which will give me time to test out this blend and make a final determination as to whether to keep or toss the reformulated version of Madras. For now, orders from 1714 onwards will receive the reformulated Madras scent. I am sending this out to a few customers to test, but one in particular (KATHY!!!) who is THE Madras Queen! Like in gladiator days, we'll wait with baited breath as Kathy sniffs the reformulated version and then sticks her thumb either up or down. The reformulated version is not an exact dupe of the original blend. The cranberry note is a little sharper, and the blend is a little sweeter, but for those who know what the cocktail smells like, this may actually hearken closer to the real deal.

I'll let you know what Kathy says as soon as I hear from her. Till then, I'm keeping this reformulated version and again, keep in mind that if your order number is 1714 or higher, you will receive the new version of this blend.

Cream & Sugar Scrub
With the warmer weather fast approaching, I challenge tested this scrub to see how it would react to sitting in the hot sun for a few hours. Just as I had suspected, the cream base of the scrub gets soft and melty. Sometimes, it's even past the soft point and gets downright oily. Should this happen, simply pop the scrub int he refrigerator and allow it to cool and harden for about 15 minutes. Stir it once before you put it in the fridge, then one more time after you take it out and it should be fine.

As long as this scrub is kept in a cool and dry place, you shouldn't have to keep doing this prior to each use. Just please be careful opening the jars when you receive your package, especially if it's been sitting out in the sun for quite some time.

For those who live in warmer climes, please drop me a line and tell me how this scrub held up in transit if you've ordered it recently.

That's about it in terms of an update. I'm back to filling orders and working as fast as I can to catch up. I'm sad that I am not able to offer the Summer Box Sampler I had originally planned to sell around this time. Between the number of orders we have yet to fill and the setback in TAT as a result of my illness, it just wouldn't be in either one of our best interests to encourage another huge uptick in sale orders.

More to come in the next entry, but I think I've kept you out of trouble long enough with this post. Now go and wreak some fragrant havoc!