First Day at the GBK Oscars Gift Lounge

 Events, GBK's Oscars Gift Lounge  13 Responses »
Feb 252012
 

The first day of the 2012 GBK Oscars Gift Lounge is over! And what a day it’s been! Many celebrities, guests and members of the Press have stopped by The Artisan Group (our “Ambassadors”) table and picked up a gift bag, full of handmade goodies!

Setup Day

But first, let’s start with the setup day! Here are a few pictures so you can take a peak at how our product is displayed. Big thanks to Valerie (the Founder of The Artisan Group and the designer behind The BeezKneez) and Jean (member of The Artisan Group and the designer behind Rotem Design Studio) for  sharing these “behind-the-scenes” pictures with us!

And now on the sweet side…the custom made cake!! :)

Day 1

So, who are the lucky celebrities who received our designer soap in their swag bag during day 1? Well, let’s see… here are just a few of them; I am sure you’ll recognize the names from many movies they played in or produced – many of these celebrities won or were nominated for quite a few Awards – just for reference, I’ll mention their most popular movies:

  • Kevin Nealon, comedian – Saturday Night Live and actor in “Weeds”
  • Marcia Gay Harden, previous Academy Awards Winner for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lee Krasner in “Pollock”.
  • Kristi Lauren, played Sophie Watson on the Fox sitcom “I Hate My Teenage Daughter”;
  • Rex Linn, best known for his role as Frank Tripp in the television series CSI: Miami;
  • Iqbal Theba, currently has a recurring role as Principal Figgins in the show Glee;
  • Penelope Ann Miller – In 2011, she portrayed Doris, the wife of protagonist George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) in The Artist;
  • Frankie Muniz, mainly known as star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.;
  • Gil Birmingham, played Billy Black in The Twilight Saga film series;
  • Nat Faxon, 2012 Oscar nominee – co-wrote the screenplay for the film “The Descendants”;
  • Glynn Turman, played Chief Floyd in “Men of Honor”;
  • Mary Birdsong, “The Descendants”;
  • Rick Otto, played Andrew in “The Walking Dead”;
  • Jim Rash, 2012 Oscar nominee – “The Descendants”;
  • Penny Marshall, played Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley;
  • ResHma Shetty, plays Divya Katdare in “Royal Pains”;
  • Holly Robinson Peete, best known for her role as Vanessa Russell on the ABC sitcom Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper;
  • Louis Gossett, Jr., received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman”;
  • Josh Sussman, best known for his role as Hugh Normous in “Wizards of Waverly Place” and his role as Jacob Ben Israel in “Glee”;
  • Tess Hunt, best known for her role in “Spanish Fly”;
  • Teri Polo, best known for her role of Pam Focker in the movie “Meet the Parents” and its two sequels, “Meet the Fockers” and “Little Fockers”.

Many more to come in our next post! Stay tuned! If you’d like to get your own bar of designer soap, please visit our Soap to the Stars Collection!

Oscars Preps – Let the Packaging Begin!

 Events, GBK's Oscars Gift Lounge  35 Responses »
Feb 142012
 

Now that our soap is on its way to Hollywood and we are less than 10 days away from the event, I have the time to share with you some pictures we took along the way, while doing our packaging.

More on our journey so far:
2012, GBK Academy Awards (Oscars) Gift Lounge – We’ll be there!
Oscar Preps: The Birth of our Soap Display
Oscars Preps: Making Our Display Soaps
Oscar Preps – Event Guide
Oscars Preps – Making the Soap for the Swag Bags

After we made, wrapped and labeled the 100 bars (50 Cool Rhythm and 50 Soft Rain) for the celebrity swag bags, it was time to package them all!

We had a hard time finding beautiful boxes in the right size and color… apparently, no one makes 3 x 4 x 1 inch set-up boxes anymore!! Unless, of course, you want to order 1000 pieces – custom made. Anyway, after a lot of research and a few headaches, we found some nice boxes.

Having everything we needed, the fun began! This was a 2 step/day process.

Step 1

We had to put a bar of soap and business card in each box.

Step 2

Tie all the bows… which we are not very good at! :) But we were pretty happy with the result. Here is what 100 celebrities attending the 2012 GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge will receive from Magic Senses®!

After all the hard work, we thought we’d have some fun and jump in the picture ourselves! Sorry for the bad lighting and everything but it was after midnight… :) Now, say “Oscars!!!”.

Where is Mike?! Oh, here he is!

Behind the scenes… me – extremely tired. This picture was not supposed to be published but I’ll share it anyway! :D

Big THANK YOU to Valerie and Nikki from The Artisan Group for representing us at this exciting event! The GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge is held at The W Hotel in Hollywood, California on February 24-25. Join us on Facebook and Twitter (@magicsenses) for more details and pictures from the event!

If you want to get your own handmade glycerin soap bar of Cool Rhythm, Soft Rain or any of the displayed soaps, please visit our “Soap to the Stars” category at www.MagicSenses.com.

Thank you, all, for supporting and encouraging us throughout the years. We couldn’t have done this without your patronage!!

Now, give me some comment love! :)

Oscars Preps – Making the Soap for the Swag Bags

 Events, GBK's Oscars Gift Lounge  Comments Off
Feb 052012
 

Hello, everyone! It’s been a while since I last posted but we’ve been preeeeetty busy making and getting the soap ready for the GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge.

After we made the soap for the display, we had to make 100 bars of soap (50 Cool Rhythm and 50 Soft Rain) to be included in the swag bags for celebrities. This took us a little longer than usual because we were extremely tired after the busy Holiday season.

We took some pictures along the way so we can share. Here we go…

We’ve been asked many times: how do you cut it? Do you have a soap cutter, a machine or something? Well, not really! We just use a big pizza knife and a little bit of precision. :) Our hand cutting is not perfect but we are getting better with every bar we cut!

Designer Glycerin Soap by MagicSenses.comIf you get a bigger bar than the 6 oz you paid for, well… put the blame on us and enjoy! And yes, those on the side are samples. As a rule of thumb, we send at least one sample (in whatever fragrance we have available) with every order.

Magic Senses designer glycerin soapHave I told you 100 bars is a lot?! It doesn’t seem like it but, trust me, when you make and wrap each and every one of them in a short time, you have a different perspective! Here is more soap!

Magic Senses designer glycerin soap…and more…

Magic Senses designer glycerin soap

Curious to find out how we packaged all these soaps? Stay tuned for more pictures and blog posts from our Oscars Preps! And don’t forget to give us some comment love!

Now, got get your own soap bar of Cool Rhythm or Soft Rain at www.MagicSenses.com! They make the perfect gift for your loved ones and yourself!

Oscar Preps – Event Guide

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Dec 192011
 

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to share our half-page to be published in the Event Guide for the GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge. We hope you’ll like it. Big thanks to The Artisan Group for including us! A link to the Event Guide showing all the artisans coming soon!

You can find our soap bars at www.MagicSenses.com. Some of these bars may be out of stock due to the huge demand but, don’t worry! We’ll be making more!

Oscars Preps: Making Our Display Soaps

 Events, GBK's Oscars Gift Lounge  3 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

As you all know from our announcement, Magic Senses® soap will be displayed at the GBK Academy Awards (Oscars) Gift Lounge in February, 2012. We’ll be represented by the lovely ladies at The Artisan Group: Valerie Propst Guerrero and Nikki Cutro.

After building our display almost a month ago, now it’s time to make the soap bars that will go to Hollywood! Our display holds 5 bars of soap in the following fragrances: Cherry Vanilla, Watermelon, Lemon Lavender, Two to Tango, Seaside and a “Believe in You” Butterfly soap (scented in soft Sweet Pea).

This morning we finished cutting and wrapping Cherry Vanilla and Seaside; from each batch, we chose a winning bar to be famous in a couple of months:

Cherry Vanilla Handmade Glycerin Soap by Magic Senses

Seaside Handmade Glycerin Soap by Magic Senses

Seaside, one of our most popular Fresh and Clean fragrances, will be available at www.MagicSenses.com starting in February, 2012.

Here is a “behind the scenes” picture of our knives, cutting board and Xacto knife…

Stay tuned for more Oscars Preps pictures and news! And visit our website to get some soap gifts! Last day to order this year: Sunday, December 18.

Oscar Preps: The Birth of our Soap Display

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Nov 142011
 

Hello, everyone! Since our announcement regarding our participation to the GBK Academy Awards (Oscars) Gift Lounge via the Artisan Group, we have been working on building a table display for our designer glycerin soaps.

We brainstormed different concepts on how to make the soap stand out; amongst these ideas, we thought of:

  • beautiful soap glass dishes from our friend Beth at BPR Designs
  • baskets in the form of a bath tub
  • bamboo soap dishes
  • seashell soap dishes
  • tree trunk soap dishes
  • rock soap dishes
  • soap dishes made from bonsai containers with river stones

Then, we realized that, in order to show the beauty of each individual bar, they had to be inclined at 45° (not laying flat) so any kind of soap dish was out of the question because the soap would slide. As far as the basket goes, the bars would overlap and hide each other. Not a good idea.  Another thing we had to consider was the color of the display… it had to be dark and blend with the background, so the focus would be on the colorful soap.

Anyway, after a lot of research and some drawing, we decided to go with a black velvet jewelry display adjusted to our needs.

Here are a few “behind-the-scenes” pictures from our process:

Step 1: Deciding on the configuration.

Step 2: Building and testing our prototype.

Step 3: Working on the actual display. We glued the custom made acrylic pieces that support the soap bars.

Step 4: Allowing to dry overnight. Le Petit Larousse comes to the rescue once again! I suppose having a minor in French and dozens of dictionaries helps once in a while. :)

Step 5: Taking pictures of the final display. Ta-da!! The picture is not as sharp as I want it to be; it was overcast here in Stockton, California.

As you can see, the soap bars to be displayed are: Cherry Vanilla, Lemon Lavender, Two to Tango, Seaside (coming soon online), Watermelon and the Believe in You Butterfly. You can find them on our website at www.MagicSenses.com.

Please feel free to leave any comments! :)

2012, GBK Academy Awards (Oscars) Gift Lounge – We’ll be there!

 Events, GBK's Oscars Gift Lounge  Comments Off
Oct 142011
 

photo courtesy of dorahon

We have very exciting news! In February 2012, we’ll be participating to the GBK Academy Awards Gift Lounge!

Our designer glycerin soap will be displayed for celebrities to see and smell. It will also be included in one hundred swag bags for attending guests.

We haven’t decided which of the soaps to send yet. We are debating if we should make a LIMITED EDITION design or just send some of our most loved ones… We’ll have to make a decision soon so if you have a top favorite, let us know below!

Many thanks to ALL our customers, friends and family for choosing, using and spreading the word about our handcrafted soap throughout the years.

Big thank you to The Artisan Group! They’ll be our ambassadors to this very exciting event.

As we go along, we’ll keep you updated on our journey; we’ll post pictures and other info. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter and be the first to know details of our “behind-the-scenes” process. You can even recommend us to Oprah, if you love our product!

Love,

Betty and Mike
MagicSenses.com