This week has been spent most of the day in a soapy haze -- I spent Tuesday not just writing down the names of the soap fragrances I have, but actually putting them into a spreadsheet and making some notes so I could sort things. I really want to bring in a few more fragrances (Fig and Plum, anyone?) but am completely maxed out on fragrance storage space. So I wanted to take a hard look at what I offer and see if there are some things I could phase out. Here are some numbers for those curious --
Total fragrances on my shelves: 130
Number of those used as mixers to blend: 17
Number of fragrances used for full-sized bars: 45
Number of fragrances I have that are not being used for anything (not counting samples from suppliers): 9
Number of fragrances I love but that particular supplier has stopped making: 3
Number of fragrances I have a good stock of but have never used: 4
Number of holiday-specific fragrances: 19
Number of fragrances that are used in both full-sized and guest-sized bars that could probably be narrowed down to one or the other: 10
Number of fragrances that are used in full-sized bars but could probably just be phased out: 6
Wednesday and Thursday I poured over notes, fragrances, sales history, and back to notes again, and now I have the first list of fragrances that are on their way out. Many of these are either custom blends I put together for a special order and then they never got used, or I used them in the beginning and they weren't very popular. I've already poured them out, so there's not a chance to get these (trust me, nobody wanted them anyway!) --
Apple Rose
Basmati Rice
Blackberry Cedar
Cinnamon Toast
Lime Sugar
Maple Walnut Fudge
Vanilla Maple Pecan
Here are some blends I did for the Honey set, which has not been as popular as I'd hoped, and will not be made again once sold out. These following fragrances have been pitched, but are still available in the Honey set (until that sells out) --
Chocolate Honey
Honey Ale
Honey Cinnamon
Honey Lavender
My supplier has discontinued this one, so I won't be able to make any more (a few bars are still left in the "Miscellaneous Marked-Down Soap" listing -
Earth Musk
-- I think I've found a nice replacement in the new fragrance Mandarin Myrrh, currently only available in the Paw Prints set. Expect to see MM take the place of EM in future sets.