Expanded User Guide to Smooch!

The expanded user guide is basically a glorified FAQ. The nature of the Smooch! - the formulation that makes it so decadent - requires a small amount of fuss. Since forewarned is forearmed, we want to make sure you know what you're getting into.

• MO/Modus Operandi:

  The smoochy part of a Smooch! is the rich, self-emulsifying butter base. After that, we make 4 varieties of Smooch! (as indicated in the "MO" field on individual product pages) that vary vastly in texture, temperature and application.
  

  • Body Conditioners:

    Almost entirely butters and oils. These go on like a balm, emulse to a lotion, and leave you kissable. They feature a mere smattering of botanicals for decadence's sake, but are not exfoliating in nature.

  • Salt or Sugar Body Scrub:

    This is the basic Smooch! It is 65% exfoliating components (usually a blend of sugars or salts), and 35% butters and oils. These are more of a traditional scrub, with a generous window to exfoliate before the salts or sugars melt, and the same clean-rinsing emulsion as our Body Conditioners. These generally feature a very light smattering of botanicals - fruit seeds, ground spices, jojoba beads and more.

  • Warming Scrub:

    These feature a warming component in addition to white, brown, or raw sugars. The warming ingredient makes the texture much more dense, and lends a powdery afterfeel to the Smooch! that enhances the clean-rinsing emulsion. Because they rinse away so cleanly, and have the least conditioning properties, Warming Scrubs are suitable for oily and normal facial skin-types, provided you have no sensitivity to the fragrance or botanical components in the Smooch! With these exceptions, the Warming Scrubs are intended for body application.

  • Facial Scrub:

    The facial Smooch! is based on a clean-rinsing emulsion, but uses a lighter blend of oils and emulsifiers than any of the body Smooch! products. The exfoliating components are more finely grained, allowing you to concentrate the scrub on rough spots or congested pores.

• Melt Point:

  The Smooch! is a ridiculous blend of butters and vegetable oils designed to melt on impact with your skin. So, in warm weather your Smooch! will melt in transit. You might not notice if it's a Warming Scrub - those are very dense, and only get a little soft when melted. A Body Scrub is still saturated with sugar - it will melt, and about 3/4 of the sugar will settle to the bottom, leaving a pool of melted oils on the top. The Body Conditioners melt most dramatically. Since they don't have an appreciable scrubby component, they will melt to an altogether liquid state, and their token botanicals will settle to the bottom. Because we use pressure sensitive seals to protect the Smooch! you don't have to worry about oil leakage - even a completely liquid Smooch! will contain itself.

  What to do? In most cases, your Smooch! will re-solidify to it's native balm texture at room temperature. If your house or bathroom is warmish or if you're in a hurry to use your Smooch!, pop it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, and give it a good stir to distribute the exfoliating components evenly. If you've received a completely liquid Body Conditioner it may require an overnight in the refrigerator to regain it's composure.

  We've toyed with the idea of adjusting our formula for summer months. But the bottom line is that anything that ups the melt point will also alter the skin-feel of Smooch! So, we've learned to love our fussy scrub. Many customers have relayed their love of a cold Smooch! in the summer. Even more refreshing are our Scintillating and Novocaine varieties after a brief trip through frigid regions.

• Preservatives:

  Preservatives are, by their vary nature, toxic, but almost unavoidable in water-based products. Our innovative, anhydrous formula affords us a fabulous opportunity to completely forgo the use of preservatives. Since water will be introduced during the product's use, we cannot recommend a PAO (period after opening) longer than 30 days. The idea is that once you've opened a Smooch! and introduced water to the blend of oils and sugars, you're on a countdown until Things Begin To Grow. Things, you know, that you'd never want to slather on your skin while you scrub. So treat your Smooch! like a dairy product - open one up, use it up. And don't drink from the jug! We've packaged Smooch! in small month-sized portions just for this reason. Extend the safe-life of your Smooch! by using clean, dry hands to portion out scrub.

• Shelf Life:

  Again, Smooch! is anhydrous, so you don't have to worry about things rotting. The biggest long-term concern with a Smooch! is oil rancidity. Oils go rancid as a result of oxidation, which is furthered by exposure to heat and light. To begin with, Smooch! is loaded with anti-oxidant rich oils (this is why they're so fabulous for your skin), and then dosed with Tocopherols to extend the shelf life (and compensate for heat exposure during transit), so it takes a lot to push them over the edge. We recommend a shelf life of 9-12 months provided you store your Smooch! in a cool, dark place. Linen closest, good. Bathroom cabinet, bad. China cabinet, good. Your car, very bad.

• Abrasion:

  Scrubs work just like sandpaper. Big grains, like large grit, scrub in big swaths. They're rough, scrubby and abrasive, but you might not feel like you exfoliated thoroughly because the large grain size makes it difficult to concentrate in one area. We favour medium grit or mixed-grain scrubs for general body application, large grain scrubs for toes and elbows, and fine grain scrubs for facial use. The trick, in regards to efficacy, is to find a grain that won't abrade skin, but also won't dissolve or disperse before you've finished scrubbing.

  
  
  • Abrasion Scale:

    Decadence, Datura, Embargo, Paradise Misplaced - Absolutely smooth. Ticklish additives, will not scrub.
    
    Crushed, Ginger Snapped, Pyromania - Brown Sugar. Scrubby, but soft.
    
    Blush, Dulces en Fuego, Jai Mahal, Scintillating, Krakatoa, Ennui - White sugar with botanical additives. Scrubby, and firm.
    
    Grundy - White Sugar and Salt. Semi-coarse, firm-texture, medium-grain scrub.
    
    Pearl Diver - Salt scrub. Blend of fine, medium, and large-grain salt granules. Coarse and super-scrubby.

• Weight versus Volume:

  Body Conditioners, Body Scrubs, and Warming Scrubs have different densities. This means that given the same jar and the same weight, the Body Conditioners would overflow, Body Scrubs would be "just right" and the super-dense Warming Scrubs would look like a miser's portion. Since Smooch is used by volume it is sold by volume and each jar is filled by a weight that yields a volume comparable to the other formulas. That is 5 oz for Body Conditioners, 7 oz for Body Scrubs and 8 oz for Warming Scrubs. Body Conditioners still have an additional (and sometimes alarming) 1/8" of headroom, but we assure you, weigh exactly 5 ounces.