Finding my footing and making some decisions....

This post was a long time in the making. Seriously, I stopped and restarted this thing at least seven times.

Lately, I've been feeling a bit lost...sort of off balance. I've been trying to find my footing for quite some time. It seems that Wylde Ivy took off without me and I'm just constantly running to keep up. It is time for me to finally make some decisions.

Ok, I don't want to scare anyone. Don't worry, Wylde Ivy isn't going anywhere! I love Wylde Ivy. I love my job. I love all of you. I love all of my little scent creations. I just feel like it is time to regroup a little. There has been this little nagging thing inside of me that has been growing bigger and louder lately and I think it is pushing me to shake things up a little bit.

I tend to loose my focus easily, especially when I am busy. I sit and look at the business and wonder how it all happened. My line got too big too fast (even though I did cut it drastically after I returned from my maternity leave). Somehow things are getting a little out of my control again.

First order of business is to downsize my scent offering a bit more. I feel overwhelmed, honestly. Keeping track of everything that needs to be instock, all those bottle staring down at me from the shelves...it is intimidating. I hate cutting scents. I am way to over analytical when it comes to decision making for starters. I also have this huge fear of cutting someone's beloved scent. It is time though. It is necessary.

I am very proud to use small businesses for most of my supplies. I'm happy to support fellow sole proprietorship businesses, family owned operations, and just love the ideals of small business workings. This had one very clear disadvantage however. Over the last few years I have lost quite a few of my suppliers when they closed or cut products from their offerings. In my scent library right now, I have at least a dozen scents (probably more) that have numbered days as I can no longer get a scent note that I used in the blend. This has stressed me out more then you can imagine. I pined over it, worried about it. Then one day I realized how much I love creating.

When I worked on Indigo Moon for the first ever customer commissioned scent, I was so happy. I live for creating scents. I love the creativity, the challenge, the whole process really. There are quite a few scents in my currant catalog that have been with me from the very start. I think it is time to let some of the old Wylde Ivy go so that I can be free to move on. Change is good. I have to keep telling myself that. I have always had both a love and a fear of change.

I want Wylde Ivy to be fresh and new. I love creating collections like my Water Collection from this past spring or my Monsters in Love collection from last Halloween. The It's my Party perfumes were particularly fun to create.

If I am removing a scent that you simply can't live without (don't worry, I've been there myself many times) don't panic just yet. When I cut a scent, I still keep the formula. I have many, many scents from Wylde Ivy past. I just lock them away in their own room so I don't have to feel them looking at me. If the components of the blend are available to me (sadly more and more are not), I can make it for you. All you have to do is ask.

So, I am adding more scents to the cut list. Other scents will be added to a seasonal rotation list. I have a few scents that I know I want to bring back next spring and I have indicated them. There are others that I'm thinking about but I don't want to commit just yet. I want to keep my options open. These scent will be available on my website as usual until through October 31st. After that date, they will be removed and will only be available by special request as long as my supply lasts.

African Vanilla Bean
Azure
Bamboo Leaves
Banana Cake
Blackberry Cotton Candy
Black Raspberry Crush
Black Tea Jasmine
Creamy Coconut (seasonal)
Crush
Crystal Amber
Dragonfly Blue
Dreaming of Violets
Floating Lily
Forgotten Rose
Island Beauty (seasonal)
Juicy
Lemon-tine
Love Puff
Love for Fluff
Muse
Pale Vanilla
Petals
PomAcai
Queen Bee
She Sells Sea Shells (seasonal)
Sweet Cairo
Sweet Cream
Sweet Earth
Sweet Haze
Sweetgrass
Tahitian Vanilla Cream
Teak
Wood Nymph

Also, the Body Mist will also be going away (on the 31st as well) for the winter so I can bring back the Solid Scrub Bars....yay!

So now I can breathe a little easier and get back to doing what I love to do...create!