I make high end sh!t. End of post. Sigh, kidding, but not really. I suppose I should climb upon my soapbox and try not to sound like I'm giving a lecture.
Let's talk about money. Eww, right? I certainly hate talking about it, dealing with it, taking (earning) it from people, and giving it away. But money is a fact of life. And when we spend our hard earned dollars, we want to feel like we've gotten what we pay for.
If you've purchased my candles, I hope you can tell the difference between my higher end candles and the other cheap garbage that you can buy on sale at a local retailer (one that rhymes with Small-Fart, for example). If you cannot tell the difference, we may have a problem! My candles are made with organic, natural, and ethically sourced ingredients that don't contain all of the headache and cancer causing garbage that is dumped into most candles. I don't use any wax containing paraffin and I don't use harmful fragrances. I scent my candles with a combination of essential oils and clean fragrances that are 100% phthalate-free. I only purchase clean fragrances that do not contain any carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins, organ toxins, and acute toxins. My fragrance supplier adheres strictly to the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) standards for safety and purity. This is an area I will never compromise on, no matter how high my costs become.
Speaking of high costs...the materials I use to make my candles have skyrocketed in price. My organic beeswax has more than doubled in price, and the other natural waxes (soy, palm, and coconut) have also jumped significantly. Again, I only buy ethically sourced materials and so this is another area that I do not want to compromise on.
My aromatherapy products are all made with top notch ingredients, also. They need to be- they are going on your body! The lotions, creams, salves, and oils are all made with organic and ethically sourced ingredients. Sure, you can get a cheap hand cream at Small-Fart for $5 but it comes with a boatload of chemicals that will get absorbed into your bloodstream. The products I make contain nourishing plant materials that our bodies cry out for. Since switching to all natural products, my body has thanked me and yours will too. I no longer get headaches from all of the synthetic fragrances that were loaded into my perfumes, lotions, and body sprays. My skin is healthy, my scaly alligator heels have disappeared, I no longer have itchy dry patches on my elbows, and I'm no longer smearing harmful chemicals into my armpits.
Simply put, my price reflects the quality of materials that I use. I am a one-person operation, not a giant corporation, and I won't succumb to greed by using garbage materials just to make a big profit. I can't. That's just not who I am. I am trying to find less expensive vessels for a less expensive line, and I make my own labels, but those are just about the only areas I will compromise on.
So, if you think my products are too expensive for you, no hard feelings. Don't buy them. Just don't think you're going to get high quality products like mine at Small-Fart.