Greetings, friends.
This is my 3rd anniversary gratitude post. Also I have some important changes and updates to announce so read all the way through if you don't want to miss big news!
Twinkle Apothecary went live on October 25th, 2015. The past three years have been the most expansive, scariest, challenging, funnest, hardest, most creative, and most content years of my life. I've worked harder than I even thought was humanly possible. I've created (and produced AND RESTOCKED) more than I thought I was ever capable of. I've acquired a million new skills. I think I've even proven myself to be a smart, successful, creative business person. An artist even, perhaps?
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with stress. Sometimes I wonder what the heck I'm doing. Sometimes I feel like I'm loosing my marbles. Sometimes I need to turn off my phone and take a break.
But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have to pinch myself. I can't believe this is my life. I am living my dream. I get up every morning and take the ideas in my head-slash-heart and make them real. And I am supported in this by an amazing group of people from all over the planet, not to mention my hometown. Wow.
I feel incredibly lucky.
In case I don't say this enough, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for supporting my business.
I can't wait to see what the next year brings. I have a million more perfumes to make and ideas to share. I'm always trying to improve and find ways to do what I do best even better, and with that in mind, I have a few exciting updates and changes to share with you!
1. I have made a big decision.
to discontinue my signature fragrance body care items.
(Don't panic the perfumes themselves aren't going anywhere)
As you might have already noticed, I have marked down all of my signature fragrance deodorants, dry shampoos, body + foot powders, body + bath oils, and salt soaks. I won't be making any more of them, so once they're gone, they're gone forever!
(Heads up they are going fast!)
There is one exception - if you are a retailer who carries these products you will still be able to special order them wholesale with a minimum that we can discuss on a case by case basis, I just won't be stocking them on my shelves or listing them online any longer.
Why am I getting rid of them?
There are a lot of reasons, but the biggest one is that they are some of my slowest selling products and they're taking up a lot of shelf space in my shop that I could use for other products that people buy more often.
When I originally started Twinkle Apothecary, my vision was for it to be a body care company. I thought that the idea of matching your perfume to your deodorant, dry shampoo, moisturizer, etc., was so unique and fun (and I still do!) but, it turns out that people don't really shop for body care that way... LOL
I rarely see anyone match their perfume to their deodorant, actually! It all sells, just not together. And with 14 different fragrances, it's becoming more and more difficult to keep everything in stock at the same time. Some of my fragrances sell very quickly, and others (aka my favorite ones/the ones I think are actually my best work 😂) barely turn over the course of a year. I didn't want to have to discontinue some of my favorite scents over the best sellers, so I am discontinuing everything and have come up with a new and improved plan for my body care items!
Going forward, the deodorant, body powder, dry shampoo, body oil, and salt soaks will be offered in my 4 most popular single note fragrances, which will compliment your favorite fragrance, rather than match it.
I will be starting with lavender, patchouli, pink grapefruit, and ylang ylang, like my single note deodorants. Depending on how that goes, I may add more scents, but I really want to keep it simple, because I often get feedback that people are "overwhelmed" by all of the different options. If you're overwhelmed by anything in my shop, I want it to be because you can't decide which perfume to buy first, not because you can't pick out a deodorant...
Side note - if this is disappointing or upsetting to you in any way, know that I am very sorry for your loss, but say it with me like I'm Tom Hanks and you're Meg Ryan:
📣 It's not personal, it's business. 📣
Sometimes in order to grow you have to make difficult/big decisions, and I am confident that what is coming next will be even better for everyone. After 3 years, I think I have a pretty good idea about what I'm doing here, so trust me, ok? OK. 😉
Also I can't even begin to tell you how great it felt to erase all of the things off of my "to make" list today. Of course now I have to make all of the single note scents but that's much more manageable! Yay for freeing up time and money!
2. In-store refills are coming!
With all of the shelf space I'll save by no longer stocking 14 different fragrances of body care items, I will be able to offer DIY refills of almost every single product that I make in my OKC shop. This is something I get requests for daily (hourly?) and I've been promising that I was working out how to do it, so here we are!
Give me a little bit of time to sell through my current inventory, make my new products, and get it all set up, but I promise it's coming ASAP. Let's say... January?! Possibly sooner depending on how quickly you clear my shelves!
I'm planning to offer in-store refills of all my skincare, perfume, and body care items. It's going to be glorious.
Unfortunately, I haven't figured out refills for web orders. I'm not sure that shipping empty bottles back and forth is more eco-friendly than just tossing them in the recycling bin, but I will still offer refill pouches for my dry products like I do now!
3. Just kidding, I think that's enough for now.
Pretty major, right?
The next year is looking pretty mean and green if you ask me. I'm most looking forward to coming up with the funnest beauty boxes, creating more unique perfume junkie scents, more color cosmetics, more asterisk collection editions, and who even knows what else... apparently I can do anything.
Seriously... dream life.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Your support is everything to me. I wouldn't be able to do this without you!
Cheers to the 3rd year of Twinkle!
Oh, and stay tuned to your inbox and social media for the details on my anniversary sale coming later this week so you can stock up on all the things in addition to what's left of the original body care items by Thursday... my little thank-you gift to you all!
-XO-
