THE SHAPES AND COLORS OF THE PANDEMIC
The pandemic disrupted a lot of things, including shipping, and the sources from which I get materials for perfume making. Because of delays, I’ve run out of things, and because of unavailabilty of items that I routinely use, I’ve had to improvise.
The first improvisation occurred when our bottle printer moved to a new location, was shut down for some time, and we ran out of printed bottles for the 30 ml size of some popular fragrances. To keep up with orders, we started putting new labels over the name on existing bottles, and quickly realized that using generic bottles for the 30 ml size, as we had been doing for the 100 ml bottles, would save space that would otherwise be used to store boxes of bottles for less popular fragrances. By customizing all of the bottles, we wouldn’t have to guess about demand and potentially keep things sitting around that we didn’t use. We have added the classic picture labels to the back of the 30 ml bottles, so now the appearance of the two sizes matches perfectly. Discontinuing the old flat, rectangular bottles also saves storage space, eliminates the need for more than two types of sprayers, and helps conserve space on our stock shelves. When I have time (good luck with that!), I will post new photos of all of the bottles in all sizes on the website. We are currently using up the old stock, but pretty soon everything will be standardized.
The second surprise came when the clear vials we use for samples became unavailable. The supplier said that they were being used for Covid vaccine, but that doesn’t seem probable. I think it’s more likely that the clear glass was all being used to make a different size and shape of vials for vaccine. Whatever the real story, we could only get amber glass vials with black tops, so we are using those until the clear glass becomes available again. I like the clear glass because the juice inside is visible, but I may stick with the black tops.
Several materials that I use in perfumes have also become unavailable, so as I use up the last of the supply on hand, I’m working on coming up with acceptable substitutes. This is considerably more frustrating than any changes in packaging, but in the end, everything should work out.
During the pandemic, I’ve been wanting more than ever to downsize my chaotic stash of fragrance samples, decants, mini-bottles, and even some full size bottles. To help with that process, I’m offering another batch of surprise packages to five readers of this post. Each package will include a mix of things, probably some junk, but also some potentially valuable items. Of course, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, so I don’t really know which is which in your eyes, so it will all be there to sift through. Just leave a comment saying that you would like to be included in the drawing, which will happen after we return to Seattle on the 26th. Unfortunately, at present I can only offer shipping within the US.
[The gratuitous but seasonally-appropriate photos are mine, one of the peonies that got beaten down by the rain, and one of a small fraction of the amazing crop of strawberries from our garden]