Vendor Spotlight: Rustic Escentuals

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Happy Friday Tracers! This week’s #HSCGVendorSpotlight goes to our lovely friends at Rustic Escentuals in Roebuck, South Carolina! Having started out in 1999 with founder and owner Amy Pascoe filling orders in the middle of her laundry room, it’s quite impressive that now Rustic Escentuals has grown into a widely popular specialty warehouse that acts as a “one-stop-shop” for the industry! … Read More

Vendor Spotlight: Mission Peak Soap & Supplies

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Happy Friday peeps – you made it through another week! And yes, it’s that time of the week again – We’re excited to let you know that this week’s #HSCGVendorSpotlight is going to Mission Peak Soap & Supplies! How beautiful are those castille soaps in the background image? (They let me in on the fact that they made them with … Read More

5 Business Lessons to Learn From Taylor Swift

Executive DirectorBusiness & FinanceLeave a Comment

  Whether you’re totally fed up with seeing her face and hearing her music everywhere, or are a diehard fan, you can’t deny that T.Swift is a marketing genius. You may not think that, as a professional entertainer, her tactics bear any relevance in your own life and business, but you’d be wrong. Being a big-time celebrity today doesn’t just … Read More

Another year, another staff member: Meet Sara!

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Welcoming Sara: The newest addition to the HSCG Staff!

It’s been just over a year since I was added to the HSCG team and Lani was promoted to be the Member Services Director, and now we’re excited to announce that we have expanded again!   Meet Sara -our newest addition to the HSCG staff! If you have called the office recently, you may have already had the pleasure of speaking … Read More

FDA Responds to PO Box Petition

Executive DirectorIndustry Advocacy & News19 Comments

In August of 2012, the HSCG wrote a Citizen Petition to the FDA – Department of Health & Human Services, regarding the use of a PO Box in the place of a street address on a cosmetic label.  We did this mainly for the safety of the small businesses that make up the handcrafted soap and cosmetic industry as many … Read More

Member Benefits: Use ‘em, Don’t Lose ‘em

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Are you getting the most out of your membership? Sure, we advocate for the entire handcrafted soap and cosmetic industry and we offer some pretty killer insurance to professional US and Canadian members as well as a not-to-be-missed yearly conference. But if you’re just here for the conferences or the insurance, you’re missing out on so much more. As we … Read More

2013 Conference Speaker Sneak Peek

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Are you joining us in Raleigh next May for the 16th annual HSMG Annual Conference? Let us tempt you with a sneak peek at some of the amazing speakers you will see at the 2013 conference: Discover the joys of working with pourable silicon to make your own, custom molds with Amanda Griffin of Lovin Soap in her session: Make … Read More

This Guild is YOU

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The Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild is a trade association, but have you ever wondered exactly what it means to be part of the Guild?  We thought Executive Director Leigh O’Donnell gave a pretty amazing definition in her final President’s Report at the 2012 HSMG Annual Meeting. Photo by Flickr member anyjazz65. Used under a Creative Commons License. Here’s how Leigh explained … Read More

Show me the Bubbles!

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Have you ever heard of HSMG’s Golden Soap bubbles?  No, this is neither the latest soapmaking technique nor a batch gone horribly wrong, but the Guild’s referral program. Simply put, if you refer a soapmaker who becomes a member of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, you’ll receive Golden Soap Bubbles.  And what, you may ask, do you do with Golden Soap … Read More