Friends of Auric Blends

Auric Blends Naturals: The Evolution of Perfume

2007-07-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret to anyone nowadays that there’s a huge growing demand for all-natural products in the chain drug, grocery, and mass markets. For the most part all of the major players in the retail landscape either already have, or are developing natural sets and programs within their stores. It’s not uncommon to visit a major retail outlet and find a whole section in the personal care/HBA department devoted to all-natural products.

The personal care/HBA category has been deluged with natural product offerings over the past 5-7 years, with the exception of one sub-category, perfume. Most of the major perfumes sold in today’s retail chains are still comprised of synthetic ingredients and carried in a base of alcohol. The main reason natural perfumery is playing catch-up is due to the fact that natural perfumers are still working to build a comprehensive library of all-natural resources that can compete with traditional perfumers, who can create just about any fragrance known to exist via synthetic means. There are a few companies that have released what they are calling “natural perfumes” but really these offerings amount to no more than simple essential oil blends that are better suited for use in an aromatherapy diffuser rather than as a personal fragrance. Natural perfumers are just now reaching a point where enough materials are available to start creating some really wonderful and complex perfumes.

Auric Blends has created Auric Blends Naturals™ out of a desire to transcend traditional perfumery. The line includes 4 diverse fragrances comprised of 100% all-natural ingredients. We've developed these natural perfumes using rare florals, sweet fruits, clean citrus and natural refined woods to bring our customers unique blends that are sophisticated and evocative.

If you're an Auric Blends sales rep, retailer or distributor you'll be receiving information about this new line within the coming weeks. We hope all of you are as excited as we are about this new direction Auric Blends is taking.

Egyptian Goddess 1.7 oz. Ready To Ship

2006-09-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

OK everyone, they're here! I'm extremely happy to announce that our special 1.7 oz. bottle of Egyptian Goddess perfume oil is ready to ship. We've had an incredible response to this product release and pre-sold an insane number of bottles. We'll continue producing as many of these as we can through the holiday season, but you should order early to make sure the Egyptian Goddess fans in your store get a chance to get in on the fun.

As we say at Auric Blends, "Experience the Mystery!"

New Egyptian Goddess POP Sure To Be a Hit This Holiday Season

2006-09-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

As noted in my last post, Auric Blends recently announced the upcoming initial ship date of its highly anticipated release of Egyptian Goddess perfume in a special limited edition 1.7 oz. bottle. I'm posting today to make sure all of our retailers know that the 1.7 oz. Egyptian Goddess comes housed in a beautiful little six-pak POP shipper display.

This POP is designed to show the product and help further our Egyptian Goddess branding cause. The dimensions on the display are: 10"H X 8"W X 6.5"D. We're sure this new display will be a big hit with our retailers this holiday season, so make sure to order your's early to guarantee your customers can "Give the Gift of the Goddess."

Auric Blends Announces Launch Date for 1.7 oz. Egyptian Goddess Perfume

2006-09-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is truly exciting! All of us at Auric Blends are extremely happy to announce that the Holiday Edition 1.7 Egyptian Goddess perfume will be ready to ship on October 1, 2007. The reason for all the excitement is because our customers have been begging us for years to make our Egyptian Goddess perfume oil available in a larger bottle. Well, here it is folks!

We highly recommend placing orders as early as possible for this product due to the fact that we're only producing enough to carry us through the holidays. After Dec. 31 the plan is that this product will no longer be available.

The 1.7 oz. bottle features a sleek design, brushed aluminum cap, and the new Egyptian Goddess logo (which was unveiled last year on our Egyptian Goddess Candle and Soap).

Additional information regarding this promotion will be sent to all Auric Blends reps and retailers within the next 2-3 weeks. We also have a few other surprises around this promotion that we'll be rolling out closer to the holiday season, so stay tuned!

Egyptian Goddess Scores Big at Longs Drugs

2006-05-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

Auric Blends has been doing business with the Longs Drugs chain of stores for over 7 years now, so it was with great pleasure that we recently attended and exhibited at their annual Christmas buying show for stores in Northern California. Having sold Auric Blends for many years, the buyers at Longs are no stranger to our world famous Egyptian Goddess perfume oil, and they responded at the show as 74 stores decided to bring in our new Egyptian Goddess Candle and Soap combo display! I have no doubt that before year's end most of the other Long's stores will have this display in stock.

The other great thing about this event is that it was only for Longs Drugs in Northern Californa. At the end of May Auric Blends will be attending and exhibiting at the Southern California version of this show, and obviously we can't wait to get there to show them the power of the Goddess.

Surya Tattoo Display is Right on Time for Spring/Summer

2006-04-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

We started selling Surya Tattoos last Fall amid little fanfare and a small spot in our new catalog. We didn't sell them that aggressively because the Fall/Winter season isn't exactly the hottest time of the year to sell body art and temporary tattoos. That being said, we were extremely impresssed with the initial response to this product when our catalog mailing dropped in October. Sales of Surya Tattoos were steady and brisk, and now that Spring has arrived and folks are showing a little more skin, we're seeing a surge in demand for this product.

Surya Tattoo is the only temporary tattoo made solely with plants, without any synthetic substances or henna in its formulation. The bluish black color exclusive to Surya makes the tattoo look totally real! The other great thing about this product is that the tattoo is applied through a quick and easy stenciling process that anyone can do without assistance.

The display unit holds 5 each of the four different styles and sits nicely on a counter top. We also have strip clips available for this product if anyone needs, or can use them. We expect demand for this product to continue to increase as Spring and Summer swing into full gear, so encourage your customers to order early.

Egyptian Goddess Combo Display Is Ready To Ship

2006-04-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

As most folks know, we debuted the Egyptian Goddess Combo Display at the recent Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California. We were extremely pleased with the response the display received at the show and I'm happy to say that we have them in stock now and they're ready to ship.

This new display is a little different from most of our existing ones because we opted to go with a lighter colored wood. We did this because we noticed many of our retailers have moved to using lighter colored wood to accent the shelving fixtures in their natural products department. The combo rack holds six Egyptian Goddess Candles and 10 bars of Egyptian Goddess Soap. This unit will work on a countertop and its profile is low enough to fit within most planogram-type shelving systems.

If you're an Auric Blends sales rep you'll be receiving wholesale pricing and program specs via email. Please let us know what you think of this exciting new addition to our product line!

Auric Blends Wows Attendees at Largest Natural Products Expo Ever

2006-04-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm late with this post, because I'm still completely swamped with follow-up work from the recent Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California March 24-26th, but I want to post a brief report to let everyone know about this incredible show.

It was great to be at the show. The Auric Blends booth was busy the entire show every day from opening to close! We debuted the new Egyptian Goddess Combo Display (soap and candles), as well as our new line of packaged incense. We met tons of existing customers and made lots of contacts with new stores interested in carrying Auric Blends top selling line of lifestyle and personal care products. We also made several contacts (through a program run by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce) with international distributors and I won't be surprised if, in the near future, Auric Blends' products start appearing in stores in other countries such as Canada, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Just like last year, we provided free henna tattooing by master artist Wendy Tylka in our booth all day Saturday. Our booth was packed all day and we generated quite a buzz that many of us have come to know as the "beehive" effect. We had a swarm of buyers buzzing around the booth all day.

We also learned recently that this year's Expo West show was the largest ever with regard to attendees. That was no surprise as we felt the crush of overflowing crowds all weekend. We love this industry and it looks like its headed for another huge surge forward as mainstream America continues to jump on the natural product bandwagon. Yeah!!!!

Auric Blends at Natural Products Expo West in March

2006-03-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

We're excited to announce we'll be attending the Natural Products Expo (West) in Anaheim again this year. We'll be in the exhibit hall in booth #2681 and the conference runs from March 24 thru March 26.

Here's a glimpse at what will be happening at the Auric Blends booth during the show:

We'll be debuting the new Egyptian Goddess Collection display. We recently released the new Egyptian Goddess candle and soap and now we have a beautiful rack that will do a great job of merchandising these exciting new products.
We'll also be debuting our new line of Auric Blends Premium Handcrafted Incense packages. Now your personal favorites are available in our beautiful packaged line. Great for gifts, perfect for sharing and available in 12 fragrances; Dark Opium, Eastern Sandalwood, Egyptian Goddess, Indonesian Patchouly, Island Coconut, Lavender Dream, Ocean Song, One Love, Seduction, Spring Rain, Sweet Vanilla and Wild Blueberry. All information on the packages is printed in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Canadian French.
On Saturday March 25th from 11:00a.m.-5:00p.m. we'll be offering free Henna Tattoos in our booth courtesty of master Henna tattoo artist, Wendy Tylka - http://rtgarden.com/wendy/mehendi.htm
We'll also be running show specials all weekend so make sure to come by and see what we've got cookin'.

See you at the show later this month.

Auric Blends Announces Arrival of New Nag Champa Cone POP Display

2006-02-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yep, its true, we just received our first shipment of the NEW Nag Champa Cone POP display and its definitely a winner.

Each shipper display comes with 12 boxes containing 12 Nag Champa incense cones. This product is licensed and has the authentic Shrinivas/Sai Baba labeling that assures all of us its the real thing. As you'll see in the flyer we're sending out, the display is handsome and does a great job of showing the product and leveraging the world famous blue Nag Champa brand. Each package contains 12 cones and a tiny (but very functional) metallic cone incense burner.

For those of you who need to set this product up for UPC scanning the UPC code is:

712469-10512-6

Wholesale pricing information is on the promo flyer in your email inbox and on the hard-copy version being sent through regular mail.

I also want to take this chance to announce our upcoming Nag Champa promotion. We're putting all of our Nag Champa products (http://auricblendswholesale.com/nagchampa_products.htm & http://auricblendswholesale.com/nagchampa.htm) on sale through the middle of April. This should be a great opportunity for our sales reps to capture some new nag business because we're running some pretty deep discounts. We'll be mailing a promo announcement to all of our stores and we'll also be sending all of you hard-copy versions of the flyer (we should have them this week). I also emailed you all a pdf version of the flyer a couple weeks ago. Let me know if you don't have it, and I'd be happy to resend.

We have several more new products and promotions planned for the rest of 2006 and beyond so make sure to check back regularly to see what's going on.

Auric Blends Comes to Nugget Markets

2005-04-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, its true, Auric Blends is coming to Nugget Markets!

Beginning May 1st, you’ll be able to find your favorite Auric Blends perfume oils and incense at the following Nugget Markets store locations:

Nugget Market, 130 Browns Valley Way, Vacaville, CA 95688, 707-469-6900
Nugget Market, 1414 E Covell, Davis, CA 95616, 707-750-3836
Nugget Market, 157 Main St, Woodland, CA 95695, 530-662-5479
Nugget Market, 2000 Town Center Plaza West, Sacramento, CA 95691 916-375-8700
Nugget Market, 1040 Florin Rd., Sacramento, CA 95831, 916-395-2875

We’re thrilled about doing business with Nugget Markets and we’re confident their customers will enjoy our exciting line of essensual fragrance products designed to inspire self-expression. We’ve been in business for twelve years and it’s hard to believe there hasn’t been an Auric Blends/Nugget Market connection until now. You should definitely check out Nugget Markets' web site (http://nuggetmarket.com) if you get a chance. The original store opened in 1926 and they’ve built their business by providing great prices for superior quality products. When you think about that, it’s easy to see why an Auric Blends/Nugget Market connection makes so much sense.

Natural Products Expo West 2005 - Day 2 & 3

2005-03-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a couple of days. This show has been amazing. Days 2 & 3 provided even more buzz and excitement than on Day 1. I didn’t have a chance to check-in on Day 2, because our booth at the Natural Products Expo was packed from the beginning of the day until closing. We sponsored free henna tattoos to show attendees in our booth and invited master artist, Wendy Tylka from San Diego, to do the honors. Needless to say there was a waiting list the entire day and Wendy didn’t disappoint. Every tattoo she produced was exquisite and it was clear after the first few tattoos that the word was getting out that Auric Blends had it "goin’ on." From that point on our booth was overflowing with people until they finally turned the lights out and demanded that everyone go home. Near the end of the day Wendy also blessed our booth with the most incredible and beautiful belly dancing display I’ve ever seen. She was truly a master and as mentioned above, our booth was genuinely blessed by her presence. People left our booth with scent of Egyptian Goddess on their skin and the spirit of Auric Blends in their heart.

On the business side (it was a tradeshow after all) of things we spent both days meeting new and old customers and catching up with old friends and business partners. We saw just about every current retailer of Auric Blends’ products in Southern California. All of the great folks from the various Whole Foods
Stores were there, as were many of the people from Henry’s Markets, who by the way, is one of Auric Blends’ original customers in the natural products industry. We also saw all of the wonderful independent retailers who stock and sell Auric Blends products on the West Coast. Many of these stores also provided some of the original building blocks of our business activity with health food stores. We owe a lot to these people and its great to see them at the show so we can look them in the eye and tell them how much we appreciate their business.

So what can I say but what a weekend! Last night I also got to spend a few hours at Disneyland with my family, so its safe to say "I’m spent" and more than ready to go home.

Natural Products Expo West 2005

2005-03-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am in Anaheim, California for the 2005 Natural Products Expo West, the annual West Coast gathering of all the players in the Natural Products industry. I work for Auric Blends (www.auricblends.com), arguably the leading US brand of hand-crafted bulk incense and oil-based perfume products. We're exhibiting at the Expo for the first time in 4 years so its exciting to be here to see all of our customers, as well as the people who drive many of our sales and distribution efforts. Its also great to be here to see the incredible array of products that comprise this huge multi-billion dollar industry. With nearly a quarter-million square feet of exhibit space and over 2400 exhibitors there's no doubt this show is "the" show to be at if you're buying or selling anything that's remotely close to a natural product.

Day 1 of the show didn't disappoint. The show floor was packed all day for the most part and there was a distinct and palpable buzz in the exhibit hall. This show creates that buzz better than any other I've ever been to. People seem genuinely excited to be at Expo West. I think its something that most people truly look forward to all year, and when they get here they're usually brimming with energy and anticipation. The Auric Blends booth was busy almost the entire day as we sampled out hundreds of bottles of our world-famous Egyptian Goddess (www.auricblends.com/egyptiangoddess.html) perfume oil. I'm still astonished at how people respond to this fragrance and how quickly it wins them over. I started working in the fragrance industry over 13 years ago and I've never seen a scent capture women's imagination and hearts like Egyptian Goddess.

I didn't get around much at the show today because our booth was so busy and I don't like missing any of the action. :-) Tomorrow will no doubt be busy at our booth again as we're sponsoring free Henna tattoos by a local and noted Henna Tattoo artist. Should be good...