August means the Waterfront Festival in beautiful Gloucester MA, and my yearly meet up with Daphne, the esthetician and artisan behind Natural Island Botanicals natural skincare products.
I’ve been singing the praises of Daphne’s handmade soaps and skincare products for years now. And I still feel as strongly about them as I always have.
Because I still have another bottle of Citrus Sunrise Body Lotion waiting for me, I didn’t need to get more of that. But if you are a citrus scent lover, you must must must try Nature Island Botanical’s Citrus Sunrise Body Lotion. It’s a fantastic blend of blood orange, sweet orange and red grapefruit. Yummy. And NIB Body Lotion, though it comes in a pump bottle, is a rich thick lotion that’s actually more like a body butter. It’s perfect for colder weather and drier skin. It also comes in Caribbean Escape scent that I’ll describe below.
What I desperately needed to get from Daphne was a new jar of Caribbean Escape Body Butter. Nature Island Botanical Body Butter is lighter weight than the thick body lotion. I’d describe it as a soufflé. It just melts into my skin, and its oils are so nourishing. And the Caribbean Escape scent? It’s pure heaven! If you like the scent of pina colada, this is for you. It’s like a trip to the islands. It also comes in a floral White Ginger scent.
The body lotions and body butters are in the $23-25 range. They last for months. They are absolutely fabulous!
Next, I needed to resupply my bar soap stash. Daphne makes the coolest, artistic, best smelling, skin-loving soaps. I came away with three different soaps:
- Citrus soap: This one is my all-time favorite. The key notes are blood orange, sweet orange, pink grapefruit, and bergamot. The scent is strongly citrus in the best possible way. And I love the pink and orange swirled colors. 100% organic. <3
- Rose and Lavender soap: Rose absolute and organic French lavender are the key notes in this lovely floral/lavender pastel swirled soap with lavender flower on the top. Organic ingredients: sunflower, rice bran, coconut oil, pigments, organic unrefined fair trade coco and shea butters.
- Gloucester Scallop Bar soap: The key notes are West Indies lime, lemongrass and amber essential oils. The organic ingredients are the same as the Rose and Lavender above. I love the green, white and blue swirl, and the real scallop shell atop the bar.
Bar soaps are $10, and I cut them and easily get two big bars out of each one.
Daphne gifted me one of her new products: Vegan Hemp Butter.
It’s made from Virgin Unrefined Hemp Seed Oil, Bayberry wax, and Candelilla. The greenish solidified hemp butter is virtually unscented.
It’s thick and perfect for softening elbows, heels and any area that needs hydration. I’m looking forward to using it when the weather gets colder.
I’ve been using Nature Island Botanicals artisan-crafted natural and organic skincare products for at least 13 years now! I can’t recommend them more strongly. Daphne sells her handcrafted soaps and lotions at craft festivals from New Hampshire to Maryland from April through December. You can order from her in person at the craft shows, by either texting her or calling her at 954-646-4005 or by emailing her at natureislandbotanicals@yahoo.com. She has about a million different soaps that she makes and she changes them up from time to time so text or call to find out which soaps she has an any given time. Oh, Daphne offers free shipping in November-December for the holidays. That’s a really great time to test out her products for yourself or pick up some fabulous holiday gift items. You’ll be glad you did!
Morning from California……..🙋🏻☕️☕️ Love all organic. The soaps sound AMAZING 😱 I love the scent of anything orange 🍊🍊🍊🍊🍊🍊! My favorite ❤️. Hemp oil is one of the best healing oils for anything really dry, especially feet 👣. Have a beautiful day 💐🦋.
The citrus soap is wonderful! I am so glad she is still making this one, my favorite! I need to use my foot file and Amope and put the hemp oil on my feet with socks to revive them after summer. I’m glad you have good results with it.
These soaps are so gorgeous, and the Citrus soap is almost too beautiful to use! The Caribbean Escape Body Butter looks and sounds truly amazing!
Lola Seicento recently posted…CeraVe Picks to Cleanse and Protect the Skin
I have been using Caribbean Escape Body Butter for 14 years, and I still haven’t found anything better though the Citrus Sunrise Body Lotion comes close 😀
I love handmade soaps. I’m a total sucker for them and have waaaay more than I need, lol!
Carleen recently posted…My Steps for Dry Eye Relief
Me too, Carleen. I have quite a stash of handmade bar soaps, but a girl can never have too many!
I’m into this kind of organic shopping! Wish there are more here in Hawaii that’s not on a weekday. I’m sure it would be fun to shop with you coz we enjoy the same things for the most part
I agree! I wish MA wasn’t so far away from HI
I remember how much you love this brand and I’m glad to see she’s making you happy again. Her soaps are beautiful. I love seeing an artisan at work and being successful.
MarciaF recently posted…Boxycharm July and August delights and a giveaway
I loaded up on fab soaps this summer from a little shop that happened to be in the town hosting our family reunion this year. The organisers had put a little goody bag with a mini shower gel and bar soap in our registration packs, and I noticed that someone had also put a gift basket into our yearly raffle, so I figured the stuff must be good. It was. One use of the shower gel (the most dreamy frankense and myrrh ever!) and I knew I must have more. A big bag of stuff later we were smelling pretty good. And then we won the raffle. LOL! I have soaps coming out my ears!
Citrus is one of my faves too. 🙂
That’s amazing, Rach, that you ended up winning the raffle! How lucky! I love the sound of a frankincense and myrrh shower gel. NIB has Caribbean scents and Daphne doesn’t make a shower gel yet, so what’s the name of company that makes your goodies??
Pompeii Street Soap Co, in Mifflinburg PA. The frankense one isn’t on their website though, and I’m hoping it’s just seasonal and not gone for good. I did buy a handful so I’ll have it for a while if I don’t go crazy, but I’ll be sad if I can never get more.
And I’ve got NIB on my list to look for in case of incidental up east travels! Does she just do the festival circuit, or are there any shops that also carry her products? Not that I need more soap until the end of time…but I cannot leave that citrus unsniffed. 😉
Thank you, Rach! I just went to their website, and it is impressive indeed. They have an orange patchouli liquid soap on sale for $4.50. I have to see what the shipping would cost (probably as much as the soap). Their soaps are very well priced at $5.50/bar. Thank you for turning me on to this site! I wish Daphne from Nature Island Botanicals would make a website. She’s not tech savvy so it’s not on her agenda unfortunately. She likes doing to craft festival circuit in Maryland, NY, MA, and I think NH & maybe CT. Not sure if she goes to PA. I know that she does sell to boutiques, but I don’t know which ones. In November-December, she has free shipping so that’s when I place a second order. https://www.facebook.com/natureislandbotanicals/
Oh! Her products look wonderful! I love supporting small businesses like that!
Christine recently posted…Small Town Girl Living In The Big City
I agree. I can’t believe I’ve been buying her products for about 14 years. I hope she never retires coz in spite of all the bath & body products I’ve tried as a blogger, I still love hers most!
That citrus soap sounds amazing, I can almost smell it now!
Cindy (Prime Beauty) recently posted…Farmhouse Fresh Will Dew Probiotic Milk Mask
You can smell both the citrus scent and the pina colada Caribbean Escape scent as you approach her booth at the fair. Love it!
It’s so awesome that you support local business and visit her every year! Everything sounds really nice, but that body butter sounds heavenly!!
Kristina recently posted…Lancôme Rakuten Bonus Box Review!
Thanks, Kristina! I certainly love Daphne’s products since I’ve been using them every year for 14 years at this point! The Caribbean Escape Body Butter is truly to die for!
That’s my kind of festival! 🙂 I would love to visit and stop by Nature Island Botanicals booth some day.
Anastasia recently posted…Shortlist Skincare: Final Thoughts
I wish you weren’t so far away. I’d love to go skincare shopping with you someday!