ADVENTURES OF THE COOKIE QUEEN

My love for the canvas accent band brought me straight to the soap shrine. While contemplating what other product might be worthy of the band, the idea of a bar of soap popped into my mind and never left. Interestingly, the evolution of Dolce Mia’s new personal care line began with the packaging.  A reversal of how it typically happens. It was just that I had such great, proven vintage themes to work with…pin up, western, Hawaiian.  Mixing pattern with design accent…hula and bamboo, stamped leather and cowgirl.

I spent the summer developing the product, the soap itself: the formulas, enriching additives, bar shape, bottle shape, colors, scents.  I was determined to stick to a philosophy: naturally derived ingredients, locally made with local ingredients when possible, no detergents, no animal testing, lots of lather, high glycerine, creamy and moisturizing.

It took months to formulate and finalize the inside, the product, so that it matched the quality of the outside, the high end, super stylish packaging.   By September, we had soap that was exactly what we wanted -a luxurious, natural liquid and bar soap available in 8 fantastic scents.

It’s all about the band for me. I began using the bands last Spring on our invitations and thank you cards as an accent - a visual seduction for the consumer - and realized that they are powerful and great looking. We use our giclee printer to print a unique design on artist quality canvas and then hand cut and wrap the band around the stationery box. It added design punch, sales went up and feedback confirmed that the band was here to stay.

“What else can I band?” was my next question and that is how I decided on a whole new product category - soap.