Spiezia Lemongrass and Marigold Body Scrub Full Review
Posted: 09 April 2008 by Rikke Bruntse-Dahl
The world would be a better place if only all body care products were made like Spiezia's body scrub. It's made by hand on a farm in Cornwall according to biodynamic principles and absolutely everything is certified by the Soil Association -- from the actual manufacturing facilities to the raw materials that go in Spiezia's products. All waste is composted or recycled.
The ingredients are mostly sourced via the Organic Herb Trading Company, which, in addition to being certified by the Soil Association, also guarantees that it trades ethically with the communities growing the ingredients. Spiezia grows its own marigold on the farm, and the palm oil is from South America and is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). That means the plantations have been managed in an environmentally friendly way, which is good news for the environment, orangutans and workers.
With regard to ingredients, the list is an absolute dream. They're all what they are, with no weird processing transforming them into something dubious. The sugar is sugar, the marigold shows up in the scrub as actual petals and the oils are just cold pressed, which keeps all the goodness in the oil.
The body scrub smells and tastes (yes, we did taste it) like lemon and chocolate sweets. Being able to actually eat our body care products is something we can't say we've ever done before, but we love that you can do it with Spiezia's scrub. The sickly sweet smell and strangely separated texture of the gop made us hesitant to get started using the scrub at first, but once we got going, we weren't disappointed. The sugar has a satisfying scrubbing quality and it really does make you feel indescribably natural when a marigold petal gets stuck between your toes as you rinse. Often the problem with natural scrubs is that they're too oily. But the oil content in this scrub was just perfect. It made our skin soft and smooth, without leaving a greasy layer -- the perfect primer before applying Green People's self tanning lotion.
Sceptics might argue they could have made this scrub for a fraction of the money Spiezia charges, which is possibly true. But let's face it, very few of us would get around to sourcing that organic palm and lemongrass oil. Our home-grown marigold would fail to blossom and we would get the measurements wrong and end up with some kind of oily concoction that would look more like a baking mishap than a body scrub. Our point? Thirty-five pounds is a helluva lot of money for 500g of what's essentially sugar, cocoa, oils and flowers, but that's exactly why we just wouldn't make it ourselves. We are under no illusion that it would be part of our daily beauty regime instead of an occasional treat. We even keep ours in the fridge so that it keeps longer.
Spiezia is probably the most transparent company we've come across thus far. They've told us where every single element of this product comes from, from the ingredients and the jar (Colorlites in Kent) to the 100 per cent organic cotton string (India via Greenfibres in Totnes) that attaches the recycled ingredient label to the jar.
We've talked to Colorlites, which supplies Spiezia with its purple jars, and they told us that normally a very high proportion of recycled glass goes into the manufacturing of the jars, though the exact amount depends on how much glass is available at the point of production. They're dyed with a mix of synthetic and natural dyes. Ideally, the jar would be made from 100 per cent recycled glass and dyed with 100 per cent natural dyes, but Colorlites does what it can and we really appreciate that. We like that Spiezia encourages its customers to reuse the jar rather than just recycle it. It certainly would be a good place to keep lollies or homemade chocolate truffles.
Spiezia is a member of the Vegetarian Society and never tests any ingredients or products on animals. We guess the animals wouldn't mind if they did, though. Another ethical kick is that the company supports the Cornish organisation Surfers Against Sewage, which campaigns for clean seas and beaches.
Bottom line is that we can't really think of much more Spiezia could have done to make the body scrub perfect. Well, the sugar and cocoa could have been certified Fairtrade, and there are those little details about the jar. We wouldn't complain if the price went down a bit either. But other than that, we're over the moon about this product.
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
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