What's New

Read an article this weekend by Christina Valhouli of The New York Times. Here are the hilights that grabbed me: Urban Decay now has a line (called Surreal Skin Mineral Makeup) Neutrogena and Physician's Formula also now have mineral makeup lines MAC is reissuing its Mineralize line Prestige mineral makeup brands now account for 4% of the cosmetics market in the US, which is double from when it first came out QVC (cable shopping network) more than 12.5 million units of Bare Escentuals have been ordered since 1998. Since late 2002, QVC sales have increased 217% Price Points: Urban Decay and ColoreScience from $28 - $55 for foundation. Jane Iredale is $48. i.d. bareMinerals is $25. Neutrogena and Physicans Formula are around $12. The term Mineral Makeup was coined in 1977 by Diane Ranger, the founder of Bare Escentuals who is now the founder and president of ColoreScience. Jane Iredale claims the following as her customers: Madonna, Condoleezza Rice and the cast of "The ...

I started TKB Trading, LLC the same year as EBAY. Ahhh, those were the days! Back then, Paypal didn't exist and many websites didn't take credit cards (you had to mail a check in with your order). Customer expectations were low. It didn't matter so much if your photographs were hard to see, your content was in pink-colored script or if your shopping experience lacked such functionalities as wish lists or order tracking. Heck, none of us even new what wish lists were! Things are sure different today. And it strikes me that someone just starting out might find it all very overwhelming. That's why I wanted to pass along to you a program which I found recently. I think it will appeal to a certain segment of my customers who are just getting started. I have absolutely no affiliation with the program, and we don't use it here at TKB Trading, but it is one option to consider. The program is Salonbuilder.com. As of this writing, you can try it free for 30 days and a...