Gen 2 Status: Maybe "Gens" were a dumb idea.

Its been a rough few weeks since my last update.  I've had a few failed prototypes in a row, and I'm in the process of moving house, which is not helping matters. but it isn't all bad news, some good things are almost ready too!

For now I'm still referring to upcoming soaps as "Gen 2," but I'm starting to think that releasing them like that is not in anyone's best interest.  I'm currently working with a vtuber friend group of four, and am in talks with a micro corpo. I'm now thinking it'd make more sense to get these smaller groups out first, and whatever happens to be the first six will be called "Gen 2." 

But the original intended Gen 2 has had some serious setbacks with prototypes:

• The sakura scented one is not working out.  Its a fantastic idea!  And when I mix it up, it smells great.  But after a week or so, all the scent vanishes, almost completely, effectively leaving me with just palo santo and sage:  Not bad, mind you, but not the goal.  Thing is, though, IRL cherry blossoms don't really have a scent.  Its a bit of a fantasy.  So... maybe some blend of flowers will result in something nice that actually sticks.  Right now I'm thinking a blend of ylang-ylang and champak.  Of course, at that stage, the palo may no longer be the wood to go with anymore.  I have some others here, and the idea of hinoki was floated:  I've never smelled it, its apparently a japanese cypress.  Is it the same as regular cypress?  Beats me.  I'd have to look into it, see if it'll work.  Point is, this one may be delayed quite a bit.
• My existing Unregistered Hyperorange 2 has tentatively been adopted:  However, something in it is making the vtuber sneeze, even though she thinks it smells good.  It might be the actual black pepper that goes into it, so I made a prototype without that.  But if its the black pepper oil that provides the scent to the soap... that might not work.  So I came up with two alternatives.  One is an accidental discovery:  I got a bit of a citrus blend and a hickory smoke scent on my fingers while doing some cleanup, and the combined scent was great!  When I mix the citrus and smoke, they smell fantastic!  After a week all of the scent drains out, leaving not a trace of aroma behind.  Completely useless. The other idea:  Gin.  I have a nice gin scent that I intended to pair up with lime, and perhaps some bergamot and a touch of rose, but I offered to pair it with orange instead.  The gin is fairly delicate, which means I can only use a little bit of the orange scent in it lest it be obliterated.  I punched it up with a bit of juniper oil, we'll see where it goes.
• Finally, since day one I have planned for brandy-pear-vanilla.  Alas, it seems to be one of those combos that works in my head, but in reality, not so much. The end result is fairly flat and boring.  I don't like it much, and I don't intend to proceed with it at this time.

I was thinking of replacing that last one with another theoretical soap:  Patchouli, rose, and allspice, and going with a Touhou theme.  But you know, with everything going on?  I might just skip bar #6 entirely, for now.  I might just put things out as the smaller groups, laid out above, are ready, and whenever the first six of whatever are done, I'll just call it Gen 2.

But the good news:  The soap for the group of four has mostly been received and approved, that's all worked out very well.  And the the blueberry waffle prototype has turned out well too, and is in fact being offered to the micro-corp I've mentioned.  So... I'm hoping to have new stuff available by the end of August.