Lip Balm: it's always the quiet ones.
It's a funny thing, but we almost never talk about our lip balm, even though it's very popular... even at festivals and things, when people usually ask tons of questions and want to talk all about the different kinds of soap. They walk up to the lip balm, try the tester, stare at the different kinds for a minute, then buy half a dozen and walk away. It's crazy. But when I asked my customers who I know personally, they told me why. It's a combination of flavor, texture, and effectiveness, and really, once you try it, it doesn't need a whole lot of discussion or explanation. It occurs to me, though, that the habit of not talking about it at sales events doesn't help those of you shopping online, since you haven't had the benefit of trying it in person to see how yummy it is. To quote one of our very first customers, "You know how most lip balm smells really good but sort of just tastes waxy blah? Not this stuff. It actually tastes like it smells. It's glorious. I have some sort of tangerine citrus punch and I love it."
And it works! I find that I don't need to explain to people what makes it so good when they've just tried it for themselves. Sure, I use great vegan ingredients, shea butter and coconut oil and Vitamin E and a few others, with raw honey and a beeswax base, but the results speak for themselves. People come up to us months later and tell me how much they love it, how they threw away all their other lip balm and just drool over my Etsy shop, waiting for new flavors. They use it on cuticles, elbows, heels. I even had a pregnant mama tell me how she used it on her stomach to help with stretch marks!
It is a constant source of amazement to me that using the crafting equivalent of the golden rule is such a surprise to people. Instead of doing unto others as I'd like others to do unto me, I just make products with ingredients and methods that make them appealing to myself. Tastes good, smells good, feels good- check. Food-grade, lip-safe, non-animal ingredients- check. Cute reusable container- check. It seems simple to me, but I think I will never get over being thrilled that everyone else loves what I make as much as I do.
It's a funny thing, but we almost never talk about our lip balm, even though it's very popular... even at festivals and things, when people usually ask tons of questions and want to talk all about the different kinds of soap. They walk up to the lip balm, try the tester, stare at the different kinds for a minute, then buy half a dozen and walk away. It's crazy. But when I asked my customers who I know personally, they told me why. It's a combination of flavor, texture, and effectiveness, and really, once you try it, it doesn't need a whole lot of discussion or explanation. It occurs to me, though, that the habit of not talking about it at sales events doesn't help those of you shopping online, since you haven't had the benefit of trying it in person to see how yummy it is. To quote one of our very first customers, "You know how most lip balm smells really good but sort of just tastes waxy blah? Not this stuff. It actually tastes like it smells. It's glorious. I have some sort of tangerine citrus punch and I love it."
And it works! I find that I don't need to explain to people what makes it so good when they've just tried it for themselves. Sure, I use great vegan ingredients, shea butter and coconut oil and Vitamin E and a few others, with raw honey and a beeswax base, but the results speak for themselves. People come up to us months later and tell me how much they love it, how they threw away all their other lip balm and just drool over my Etsy shop, waiting for new flavors. They use it on cuticles, elbows, heels. I even had a pregnant mama tell me how she used it on her stomach to help with stretch marks!
It is a constant source of amazement to me that using the crafting equivalent of the golden rule is such a surprise to people. Instead of doing unto others as I'd like others to do unto me, I just make products with ingredients and methods that make them appealing to myself. Tastes good, smells good, feels good- check. Food-grade, lip-safe, non-animal ingredients- check. Cute reusable container- check. It seems simple to me, but I think I will never get over being thrilled that everyone else loves what I make as much as I do.
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