I have four new bar soap formulas ready in time for the holidays, which are described below.

But first, a new coupon! The first ten customers to order anything from the Baths & Soaps collection (which also contains baths, bath crystals, liquid soaps, etc) can apply the coupon code freesoap which will take $4.50 off the price of the order. That’s the cost of a small bar of soap, so it amounts to a free bar of soap (but you don’t have to order soap to use it – you can order anything in the category). The coupon code is programmed to allow ten uses, so it doesn’t expire on a certain date or anything – it just depends on how long it takes customers to use up the ten available coupons. See the end of the post for instructions on using coupons.

Cedar & Cardamom Bar Soap

It’s hard to make a John the Conqueror formula because John the Conqueror root itself doesn’t come in an essential oil and it can’t really be sprinkled on a bar of soap or candle because it’s a very hard root rather than a green herb. So rootworkers do various things like steep the powdered herb in oil and use other essential oils to scent the formula. So this bar is designed to basically be a John the Conqueror soap, but it has other ingredients too, including (per the title) cedar and cardamom.

So this formula is used for the same situations you’d use John the Conqueror in, and its additional ingredients are traditionally valued for personal power, mastery, physical strength and health, benevolent power, control, luck, and sex appeal. Warm cedar and the spice of cardamom are sweetened with a swirl of tobacco and a hint of caramel, rounding out a base of woodsy vetiver.

Mint & Cocoa Bar Soap

These bars smell like a cup of a mint hot chocolate, but they aren’t just for scent. Cocoa is used in spiritual formulas to help improve mood and concentration, ward off depression, and balance out emotions. Mint is traditionally considered purifying and protective and helps take off crossed conditions. Real cocoa powder colors the bars and milk powder adds skin softening properties.

Oakmoss & Bergamot Bar Soap

A local customer recently smelled her way through my soap inventory and formulas-in-progress and said this one should be next, because she needed something more masculine-smelling for her father for Christmas. So here we are –  a formula that mingles Success and Commanding/Mastery elements in a base that even the most floral-averse can’t complain about. Warm cedar and vetiver smooth out tangy bergamot and mandarin orange, while oakmoss and just a hint of clove provide the rich basenotes of this handcrafted soap.

Orange & Vanilla Bar Soap

This formula is courtesy of my daughter, who isn’t terribly interested in the spiritual properties of most of my formulas but is instead always trying to get me to make things that smell like mocha or ice cream. These bars are an updated, fun version of a multi-purpose Attraction formula used to draw luck, love, and money. Warm orange and sweet vanilla combine with appropriate botanicals and fine-grain, exfoliating sugar to create a bar of soap that smells just like an Orange Dreamsicle!

“For direct payment gateways [this means if you use a credit card to pay through shopify payments], the discount code can be entered on page 2 of the checkout process when the customer has the opportunity to select a shipping method and enter in credit card information.” [I have been told that Shopify is not going to continue letting me use them as a payment processor because of the type of products/services at my shop – they don’t handle “spiritual/psychic” stuff, they say – but I’m not sure when this will take effect. Be aware, though, that you can use Paypal as a processor even without an account, and you can use any major credit card when checking out through Paypal, so you can still use your credit card even if the Shopify checkout is disabled.]

“PayPal Express, being an offsite payment gateway, works a bit differently. This is the PayPal Express Checkout’s workflow: when checking out, your customer goes to paypal.com right away, where PayPal collects his shipping and billing addresses. After that, the customer returns to Shopify where he picks a shipping rate, types in a discount code (if you have discount codes that are ‘active’), the price is updated accordingly and, on that same page, your customer gets to finalize his transaction.”

– from the Shopify user guide