Category Archives: Bath & Body Labels

Q&A with Customer Molly Meredith of HAUTEdog
(Fayetteville, AR)

Editor’s Note: Molly Meredith is the owner and founder of HAUTEdog, a line of luxurious bath and body products created for dogs and the people that love them. This article is the first in a series of interviews with Lightning Labels customers that will be published each month on this blog.

Q: What does it mean to be a “haute” dog?

A: Our philosophy of “haute” means taking a little extra time & effort to help our dogs look and feel fabulous — and to do that in a healthy, safe & responsible way — by providing bath & beauty products that are all natural, physically and emotionally supporting our canines.

Q: How did your business get started?

A: As an animal lover my entire life, I finally reached a point where I had to put that love into action. My background is in medical skin care and my husband has a degree in bio-chemistry, so combining these skills and knowledge reinforced the product decision. The aspect of creating and designing these products is such a pleasure for me, and knowing that it’s all for dogs and people that love them makes it so rewarding.

Q: What products are you most proud of?

A: Well, the response to HAUTEdog’s bath gelées (shampoo & conditioner) is overwhelmingly wonderful, so that makes me feel great, but I find the finishing gloss drops to be beautiful, fun and simple and they happen to be our best seller.

Q: I understand that your products are vegan. How so?

A: That means that absolutely no animal by-products are used for HAUTEdog product ingredients.  For example, we use only kosher vegetable glycerin instead of glycerin from animal fat- it’s more expensive, but the trade off is worth it.  We also opted to not include beeswax in our restore paw butter since it’s a fine line of being an animal derivative. We believe that products for the well being of dogs should also be for the well being of animals, and that means all animals.… Read the rest of Entrepreneur's Bath & Body Products Go to the Dogs | 1 Comment

It’s vacation time! You’re off on a trip across America. Maybe you’re heading to play some unfamiliar golf courses in some faraway city. Maybe you’re overdue for a spa, and that one spa you read about in some southeastern part of the country sounds extra appealing. Or maybe you just want to go to bed at night and not have to worry about making the bed in the morning. It’s time to get a hotel room!

Ah, but which hotel is the hotel for you? Sometimes, it’s obvious: the only hotel in the area, say, or the hotel that’s partnered with the golf course so you save tons of money on your greens fees. Maybe it’s the cheapest hotel you can find, or the hotel that has the best swimming pool. The hotel nearest to the beach? The hotel with free wi-fi?

How about: the hotel with the best soap, shampoo, and body lotions? Yes, a very small set of people admit to picking their hotels based on the quality of the bathroom amenities. Of course, sometimes geographical or occupancy constraints limit their choices, but these lovers of fine lotions and bath salts admit that — all things being equal — they’d take a Hilton over a Sheraton or The Oriental over the Plaza, simply because one has bath beads and the other doesn’t.

The love goes so deep that a small industry has developed around their love: the “hotels at home” market. Most of us admit to taking home the occasional bar of soap or miniature conditioning bottle, but these people take it to the next level. That’s right: if you loved that little bar of soap shaped like a sea shell, that fluffy robe that seemed to hug you like your firstborn, or even if you just must have that shower curtain with the exact same shower curtain rings? Well, now you can buy those fine items online.… Read the rest of A Hotel at Home?

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to introduce Jessica Wiener as our newest blogger. Jessica graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Art Theory, and currently resides in New York City. When she is not improving the Lightning Labels website, you can find her reading, playing hide and seek with her nephew, or planning great adventures.

Iconic cosmetic line M·A·C Cosmetics, short for “Makeup Art Cosmetics,” started as the brainchild of two Canadian entrepreneurs, Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. In 1984, with the help of Toskan’s chemist brother-in-law, the two Franks developed a line of makeup able to endure the increasingly high demands of the professional entertainment world.

M·A·C owes part of its success to the industry environment at the time. Three major limitations contributed to a sub-par makeup market. One was the limited color selection. Most makeup lines focused on a few color schemes, rarely deviating from “what sells.” If there was a special line of makeup with a new color, it was seasonal with limited availability.

The second issue was that average makeup didn’t withstand the harsh demands of entertainment world. On set, make-up artists struggled to keep makeup from melting off of the faces of models and actors. Searing heat from stage lights in photo studios and theaters made it difficult for average makeup to remain intact. Toskan and Angelo recognized the need for a more durable, versatile and flexible product that could handle everyday demands while catering to the unique needs and requirements of professional makeup artists. The two Franks saw a gaping hole in the market and decided it was time to take advantage of this opportunity.… Read the rest of History of the Mac Cosmetic Label | 1 Comment

Clearly the sponsors of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 have never had to design a packaging label for a personal care product. Otherwise, they would realize that requiring cosmetic makers to list almost every chemical (yes, chemical, not just ingredients) in a product would result in a package labeling nightmare.

Section 613 of H.R. 5786 would require all chemicals, including “detectable” trace elements, to be listed on the ingredients label of a personal care product. That means that a product containing water, for instance, would be required to… Read the rest of Safe Cosmetics Act Would Create Package Labeling Nightmare | 1 Comment

HR 5786, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, was introduced in the US House of Representatives last week with the intention to keep potentially harmful ingredients out of of Americans’ personal care products. Sounds like a good thing, right? If so, why is this bill so controversial?

“Harmful chemicals have no place in the products we put on our bodies or on our children’s bodies,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in a statement released to the press on HR 5786 by… Read the rest of Safe Cosmetics Act Threatens Future of Small Businesses | 4 Comments

Whole Foods Market suppliers have less than a year to certify personal care products labeled as “organic” to the the same standards that organic food is currently certified under US law. The deadline for submitting their plans for compliance, however, is only a month away.

As of June 1, 2011, all personal care products labeled as “organic” and “made with organic ingredients” must be certified to the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (USDA NOP) standard in order to sold in its US stores, the Austin-based organic grocery