So I got a little carried away with rearranging my rubber duckies in the cutest possible pose — The idea was to cute-ify the picture of sample products I got from Bonicca, but as you can see, I lost focus –

Right after this, I got in the bath and sprinkled in Bonicca’s Spice Island bath salts. The duckies and I are now squeaky clean and sweet-smelling. I type noisily, they quack silently.

But back to Bonicca — Bonicca’s a natural organic skin care company — all vegetarian, anti-animal testing, licenced by the CCIC, certified by OCIA — started by a couple in Oceanside, California 2 years ago. Oscar, one of the founders, sent me some free samples (see our exchange here) to try, which I did after a long hard day of quals today — the first of 3…

I’m usually a Love-My-Body Card carrying fan of The Body Shop, but Bonicca scored some points with me — mostly with their yummy fragrances, cuz I’d been looking for a new, more eco-friendly perfume. I know eco-friendly perfume oils are out there, but I find oils difficult to dab on without smudging my clothes, and I don’t feel like anyone else can smell them, which kinda defeats the purpose of wearing perfume for me.

Bonicca does offer perfume oils, but that’s not what I’m talking about. After my bath, I put Bonicca’s Bamboo Flower Organic Spa Lotion on, and I now smell like an organic bouquet of tropical flowers, tipsy with malibu rum (there’s a hint of coconut). The lotion’s very thick and creamy, but very absorbent. It’s not as thick or sticky as The Body Shop’s body butters, which I don’t buy, cuz they’re too thick and sticky.

So for the ladies who like to smell sweet, this is a way not only to buy organic and support local start-ups, but also to save money by cutting back on the perfume bill. For the girls not into floral scents — Try the Watermint products– a cool fragrance with a touch of mojito (you know, the mint). Cucumber Lime also sounds promising, though I haven’t personally tried it. They do offer unscented too, but you’d really be missing out.

Day to day, I think I’ll stick to my Body Shop stuff (not the butters, their other stuff), mainly because at $25 an 8-ounce bottle, this’ll have to be more of a special occasion, weekends and nights out thing, for which, yes, I do keep a separate stash of lotions. Bonicca would also make a great gift.

My one suggestion would be to tweak the packaging a bit. Right now, the labels seem rather busy — like Kiss My Face products before their repackaging efforts — though this observation is partly due to my own minimalist aesthetic. Still, an upscale, $25-bottle of lotion should have an upscale look to match — Girls often buy lotions not only to use but to display prettily. The website’s already there — go to Bonicca and click on Watermint for a simple, refreshing visual that makes you wanna sink in and relax — just carry that over to the lotion bottle labels.

Currently they’re only avaliable via the web, but they’re having a $10 off of a $75 purchase deal. Hopefully they’ll be available around town soon so we can smell them all before picking one — I’m really curious about the California Coast scent –

organic

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