giveaway time!

CONTEST CLOSED. CONGRATS TO HOLLY OF ELLENSBURG, WA

There is a wonderful homemade soap company that I am in LOVE with. And I mean love. I am very fussy when it comes to homemade soaps. Some are just too harsh and too granny smelling for me. And others, the scent just fades away. But this company, Funky Chunks makes amazing soaps. With scents that are just right, not too strong or too headache-inducing. There is this one soap called "surf wax" that smells exactly like summer, the beach, a beach house. You know that smell you get after spending all day at the beach, come home, shower, and your body, your hair smell just so good--just like the beach only cleaner; it's just so hard to duplicate that smell at home. Surf Wax is it! I just had to get them on board for a giveaway because you guys have got to try this soap. They have other soaps that are just as fabulous, plus they have a bug spray, an all natural bug spray that actually works. Trust me, where i live the mosquitoes are in mass quantities here. And can I share with you, I got an extra bar of surf wax to crumble up into small bits to place in a bowl which now sits in my office. So everytime I come into my office it smells just like a beach house. I love it. Perfect for the summertime.



Michelle of Funky Chunks was kind enough to answer a few questions about her business, and some techincal questions I had on homemade soaps. soapmaking, and ingredients. Just like food, soap making is a craft along with a small dose science. Very interesting--have a read:

What made you want to get into the soap business?

I grew up with handmade soap. My great grandmother was a soapmaker. I decided to start my own soap company after a conversation with one of my girlfriends. We were talking about how disappointed we were with recent purchases at a big name, big dollar bath and body shop we frequented. The soap didn't lather well and the fragrance was barely noticeable. I decided right then and there to open up my own soap shop and I haven't looked back since.



That scent of the surf wax is truly amazing; it's not too harsh or too soft; it's just right, but it truly reminds one of the beach. How did you get "that scent" just right?

We formulate many of our scents with the help of our wonderful customers. We have a customer testing program that has been a huge success for us. When it came to making a surf wax scent we went straight to our local surfing community for their ideas and opinions. If anyone is an expert on the scent of surf wax and the beach it would be a surfer. They tested 6 different soaps for us until we got the scent dead on. Thanks to their help we now have an insanely popular line of Surf Soaps.

I've noticed that with homemade soaps they tend to last longer and they also leave no film on your skin. Can you explain why that is?

Handmade soaps are made with natural oils and butters and contain natural glycerin. These ingredients produce a hard, long lasting bar of soap. Commercial soaps are made with harsh chemicals, additives and have the glycerin removed from them. Handmade soaps rinse so clean because they don't have chemicals and additives that get left behind on your skin.



Since i love the surf wax smell so much, are there any plans to make a perfume with it?

Actually we are working on a new line of body sprays that will be launching late July. They will be customizable just like our lotions and scrubs. You will be able to get any of your favorite Funky Chunks fragrances made into a body spray very, very soon.

What other scents can we look forward too?

Even though it is the beginning of summer we've been hard at work developing new scents for fall and winter. We're looking forward to bringing back customer favorites like Frosted Pumpkin, Mistletoe and Twice The Spice as well as several new creations especially designed for the cooler weather. We even have a bakery line of cupcake soaps coming out in the fall. We love to get ideas and requests from our customers. They come up with some amazing scent combinations that we use for our limited edition soaps.



Judging from your tweets on twitter @funkychunks , you're awfully busy delivering soaps. I take it business is good?

Business is fantastic! (we have a the greatest customers in the world) It's still hard to believe how much our small company has grown in the last few years. It's been a crazy ride and we look forward to seeing what the future has in store for Funky Chunks.



Is there a lot of "homemade soap" competition?

Absolutely! Just go to Etsy and search for handmade soap to see how much competition there really is. There are so many products to choose from! We love the competition. The more soap makers there are the more the word gets out about how wonderful handmade soap is. The trick is to do what you love, never compromise your values and find your niche in the market. There is definitely room for all the soapmakers out there.

Interesting right? I loved that they went right to the source (the surf community) to get their thoughts on surf-like scents. Smart!



To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is answer the question "Name one of the signature funky soap scents?" here in the comment section.

Hint: to find the answer, go over to funkychunks.net

I will do the drawing on July 5, 2011. ONE COMMENT per person. Extra entries will be deleted. And for the love people, no anonymous comments--what can i do with those but trash em. Have a valid email address and NAME.

The gift bag includes all this (retail value of over $150.00):

large canvas zippered beach bag
large beach towel
pair of flip flops
apple-tini drink mix
flip flop highball tumbler
framed photograph from Beach Bum Photography
Surf Wax Soy Candle
Surf Soap Six Pack
large Quit Buggin' Body Spray
8 ounce body lotion - Midnight Swell scent
4 ounce Whip'd Body Butter - Midnight Swell scent
4 ounce Sugar Scrub - Midnight Swell scent
Midnight Swell soap Chunk