Sellers - unusual scents or typical scents?

[dixiedragon]

To me, logically a small crafter would do better with more unusual scents - the world is full of peppermint, lavender and vanilla. But I've never seen, for example, orange cardamom coconut lotion or soap available from anyone. (FO from WSP - I LOVE It!) Lush's scents also tend to be unusual - Yuzu & Cocoa, Rose Jam, Lullaby (lavender and tonka bean). Thoughts and experiences?

 

[soapmaker]

I do both traditional and unusual. Vanilla will never get outdated!

 

[dixiedragon]

I like vanilla, and Burt's Bees makes a nice vanilla lip balm. So I wouldn't buy a vanilla lip balm from a small crafter. Of course, I always haves 3-4 tubes in my purse, lol. But if I see an usual flavor, I'll usually get a tube. Vanilla lotion I might buy, since I think Bath and Bodyworks lotion is awful and the quality store-bought lotions don't come in a huge range of scents. Last Valentines day Trader Joe's came out with a DIVINE rose scented lotion. I bought 2 tubes (3 oz each).

 

[shunt2011]

I make both typical and unusual scents. I like to switch it up. I make a Vanilla Mint lip balm and other different flavor/scents that aren't typical. I've recently purchased more unusual scents (for me) to try out, if I ever get to making soap again....

 

[cerelife]

Honestly, I don't do very many traditional scents. I have a Rosemary Peppermint and an OMH (using the blend Irish Lass so kindly shared and it is fantastic!!), and I have lavender in the form of BB's Black Amber and Lavender. The only Vanilla that I make is BB's Vanilla Vanilla which is sadly no longer available, but I still have a couple of pounds of it.
One of the main reasons why I started making soap was because nobody seemed to have fun and unusual scents. And of course soap is a gateway addiction, so I branched off into lotions, lip balms, etc.
I do try to tailor my soaps to the location of the festival I'm attending. For instance my Zydeco (Jalapeno Salsa), Rougarou (Woods and Bitter Coffee), Cajun Sunshine (Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper), and Yakamein (Ramen Noodle) soaps usually sell out in Louisiana, but no where else! In Georgia I sell a lot of Peach Puree soap, Chocolate Gravy soap, and Muscadine soap.
As for lotions - my Thai Sticky Rice (from MM) sells well everywhere, as does my La Dolce Vita (Raspberry Truffle), but my best seller in lotion is Limoncello.
My best selling lip balms are Rose Petal, Orange Truffle, Passionfruit Rose, Peanut Butter Cup, Lemon Chiffon, and Tupelo Honey. I recently made a Fried Chicken lip balm and a Cornbread lip balm just to see if I could. They turned out very true to life scent-wise, but I was hesitant to display them at the festival I attended a couple of weeks ago. I mean, I thought they were hilarious, but they were such weirdo/borderline disgusting flavors for lip balm that I wasn't sure how customers would react. So whenever I had a customer who was excited about my unusual flavors I would mention them and let them smell a tester. The women were kind of grossed out, but the guys loved them!! And yeah, I sold out of both!

 

[MarnieSoapien]

There's a soap company that I stumbled on one day called Outlaw Soaps that has a lot of what I would consider unusual fragrances (campfire, wet earth, gunpowder). I'd love to give them a sniff!

 

[lucycat]

Like others I do both traditional and non-traditional. The user who always uses my soap has favorites but also a desire to try something new. So, traditional works for a lot of the soap but not all. I sell at craft fairs and I also feel a need to have more unique fragrances (and or names) to differentiate my soap from another soap vendors at the fair.

 

[Dahila]

My daughter loves Vanilla, I make lotion for her and my granddaughter scented with it, and the rest (650g a batch) sells well

 

[KiwiMoose]

I find that anything will sell (soap-wise) as long as the scent is STRONG. They literally go along and sniff, sniff, sniff until they get a nice strong smell and then they buy it. I had a customer once who was sniffing a few - fig and rhubarb, black raspberry& vanilla, etc, and then she asked "Have you got any that just smell like soap?" I let her sniff the more floral scents, like jasmine, and an ylang ylang mix, and a rose/sweet pea mix and they were all good to her - they smelt like 'soap'. In other words she wanted floral and not fruity??

 

[sirtim100]

To me, logically a small crafter would do better with more unusual scents - the world is full of peppermint, lavender and vanilla. But I've never seen, for example, orange cardamom coconut lotion or soap available from anyone. (FO from WSP - I LOVE It!) Lush's scents also tend to be unusual - Yuzu & Cocoa, Rose Jam, Lullaby (lavender and tonka bean). Thoughts and experiences?

Couldn't agree more. My great ambition is to move in that direction once I get a bit more experience with the basics. Now I'm on the lavender/peppermint/orange trip, and sometimes, when I'm feeling wildly anarchic and ground-breaking, a touch of patchouli. But I really want to do some interesting combinations in shaving soaps. A firm called St James of London does some nice mixes for a clientele that's notoriously conservative, and that's where I'd like to go...

 

[KiwiMoose]

Like others I do both traditional and non-traditional. The user who always uses my soap has favorites but also a desire to try something new. So, traditional works for a lot of the soap but not all. I sell at craft fairs and I also feel a need to have more unique fragrances (and or names) to differentiate my soap from another soap vendors at the fair.

Yes - but I refuse to call my soap 'Monkey Farts' - I don't like that at all. Call me old-fashioned

 

[msunnerstood]

I mix FO's to come up with unique combinations and record what percentages I used

 

[Dahila]

Yes - but I refuse to call my soap 'Monkey Farts' - I don't like that at all. Call me old-fashioned

Help me out with name, Very popular in bb but i do not like the name at all

 

[Megan]

I do a lot of scent blending, especially with lip balms, I like to have unique scents that you would have a hard time finding somewhere else. I don't do a lot of "traditional" fragrances either....but sometimes I wonder if I should just to have for the traditionalists.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Help me out with name, Very popular in bb but i do not like the name at all

Tropical Fruits? Tropical Explosion? Tropic Breeze?

 

[Dahila]

Tropical Fruits? Tropical Explosion? Tropic Breeze?

Tropical explosion I already have on my note, I love tropic breeze, Thank you so much <3

 

[KiwiMoose]

To me, logically a small crafter would do better with more unusual scents - the world is full of peppermint, lavender and vanilla. But I've never seen, for example, orange cardamom coconut lotion or soap available from anyone. (FO from WSP - I LOVE It!) Lush's scents also tend to be unusual - Yuzu & Cocoa, Rose Jam, Lullaby (lavender and tonka bean). Thoughts and experiences?

I've made an orange cardamom soap before - but with coconut, wow that sounds nice! The cardamom I used was an EO of not very good quality and the FO was zesty orange - also not a good quality. I might need to revisit that one and make up a nicer blend. I made Lavender and Licorice soap (3 parts lavender to 1 part Aniseed) - thanks to @MGM I think for the suggestion? As someone who does not like lavender, I was surprised that I actually like the combination.