News from the Metropolis

Steven and I are taking our first trip over the Atlantic this week and we are so excited! Going to Ireland has always been a dream of ours and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to go.

While we’re gone the House of Metropolis will be closed. Orders placed on the website will still be received and logged into the system so fear not, we have received your order! We will be back in New York on August 30 to pack and ship your order out August 31st.

“May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that’s always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.” – Irish Blessing

Score our favorite summer scents for cheap!

Lavender and Tangerine. Ginger and Lemongrass. ALL of our perfume oils. They’re all on sale this week! Quantities ARE extremely limited so don’t wait to grab your favorite products on sale while you can.

Head to the Specials Section

I sent this to the Hon. Representative Nadler, who represents the 8th district of New York City. Please feel free to use this as a template and contact your representatives! This bill will be the final nail in the coffin for many small businesses! Find Your Rep Here
———————————
Representative Nadler,
Please help us oppose H.R. 5786 Safe Cosmetics Act. On the surface it sounds like a wonderful idea…safer cosmetics for all! But this bill will be a deathblow to small business such as mine. This bill will:
- Remove many natural ingredient options, thereby creating more synthetic and chemical-based products
- Require testing not only from manufacturers of the ingredient, but from companies who will then use the ingredient in their formulas. This will increase price points for all beauty products and in this tough economy may ruin many businesses as consumers will no longer be able to afford their products.
- Require ludicrous amounts of labeling. For example: the bill requires labels to list all constituents of an ingredient. This is water:
Aqua (lead, acrylamine, alachlor, alpha/photon emitters, antimony, asbestos, arsenic, atrazine, barium, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, beta photon emitters, beryllium, bromated, cadmium, carbofuran, carbon tetrachloride, chloramines, chlordane, chlorine, chlorine dioxide, chlorite, chlorobenzene, chromium, copper, cyanide, 2,4-D, dalapon, o-Dichlorobenzene, p-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate, dinoseb, diquat, endothall, endrin, ethylbenzene, fluoride, glyphosate, hexachlorocyclopentadiene, mercury, radium, uranium, vinyl chloride, xylenes)
That was ONLY water, by the way.

As it stands I am currently regulated by the FDA, my products are tested and I am in compliance with the current laws to manufacture safe products. I am worried that this bill is adding unnecessary elements in an effort to regulate something the creators of this bill don’t care to understand.

There are many small business industry leaders that have written their views against this bill. Please take the time to read them:

http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/5-ways-the-safe-cosmetics-act-will-harm-consumers/689/

http://www.indiebusinessblog.com/2010/07/21/the-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010-has-been-introduced/

http://www.soapguild.org/blog/2010/07/from-the-president-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010/

There is currently an online petition being passed around. At the time of this there were 1,512 signatures and counting. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oppose-hr-5786-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010/671435043/taf

I do hope that you will become an advocate for the small beauty businesses, especially the ones in your district! Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Sincerely Yours,
Megan Brame-Finkelstein

We’re launching a whole new set of soap and face products in the Fall but we want to give them to you for free NOW as a thank you to our die-hard (and consequently, very clean) customers! Two new lines we’re really excited about giving you first dibs on:

Nectar of the Gods! : Our vegan version of black tea and honey…these products contain organic blue Agave nectar, green tea extract, and lemon and cinnamon essential oils for a yummy tea experience.

Call Me “Coco”: The most decadent vegan chocolate line! These products contain Cocoa absolute imported from France, moisturizing coco butter, and vitamin-rich coconut milk powder.




This week (now until July 30) every order over $35 will receive a complimentary product from one of these lines. And the best part is, you can pick!
During checkout tell us which line you like best and we’ll include something from it in your order.
It could be a soap, a facial product, or a bath treat but either way it’s on the house and it’s all yours!

NEW! The compliment to our Calendula + Citrus bath soak…our new Rose + Jasmine soak!

This is seriously the most DECADENT bath soak! It has real rose and jasmine buds mixed with a combo of sea and epsom salts. The eseential oil blend of lavender and patchouli helps calm and ease the mind. Plus it's just a beautiful looking soak! Imagine the spa experience of soaking with this while rosebuds and jasmine float on top of the water. What a way to end a rough day!

It's available in the shop and on etsy

Don't forget about our Calendula + Citrus soak for when you need to pump up!

Come say hi if you’re in Park Slope this weekend…we’ll be debuting our newest soap, it’s not even in the shop yet!

Friday: 4-8pm Brooklyn Friends School, 375 Pearl Street

Saturday: 10:30 – 5pm Brooklyn Friends School, 375 Pearl Street

Sunday: 11 – 4pm PS 295, 330 18th Street

Hope to see you there!

Black Friday got you down? All of the shoppers out there making you crabby? Shop on the cheap from home!

All this weekend we’re offering FREE SHIPPING in the shop and no minimum purchase required!

Enter the code YAYFREE during checkout but hurry, free shipping ends Monday night!

Just a heads up…next week I’m heading to Columbus, OH for Tiny Canary Indie Design Market. I’ve done the show for 3 years now and am always willing to venture back for it.

If you’re in Columbus next weekend please come say hello, I love meeting customers!

Randomizer.org says….Lisa wins!

Congratulations and good luck on the cat herding! Shoot me an email with your address

Thanks to everyone that participated!

Lately I’ve been on the worst best chocolate kick. Mr. Metropolis brought me home some lindens chocolate last night and Im sorry to say I devoured them far too quickly.

I love to bake but don’t do it much simply because…well…the problem with living with someone is that there will always be another person who knows how much cake you’ve eaten.

I’ve been collecting recipes lately and I stumbled upon these two. I love them so much that I combined them into an unholy marriage of chocolatey goodness. Allow me to bestow it upon you. I give to you a little chocolate cake in a cup with homemade hersheys syrup for icing. I call it “Our Little Secret”

Cake:
Ingredients:

* 2 T flour
* 1.5 T sugar
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
* A pinch of salt
* 2 T milk
* 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 1 tsp oil

Directions:

* Mix all of the ingredients together in a cereal bowl.
* Scrape batter into a mug sprayed with cooking spray.
* Microwave on full power for 1 minute.

Syrup (will make way more syrup than necessary…unless you use it all. Don’t worry, I won’t tell)
Ingredients:
* 1/2 C packed cocoa powder
* 1 C water
* 2 C sugar
* 1/8 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions
* Whisk cocoa powder and water together thoroughly in a large saucepan.
* Heat and whisk to dissolve the cocoa.
* Add the sugar and stir/whisk to dissolve. Be sure the sugar has dissolved before continuing on, so your syrup is not grainy.
* Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Be sure to watch this VERY carefully. Mine has a tendency to want to boil over immediately, so I have to continuously take it on and off of the burner.
* Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla extract.
* Let cool completely and skim off any skin that may have formed.

Destroy all evidence and wash cooking tools quickly. They’ll never know…