Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Basil dish soap - UPDATED

UPDATED 8/22/12: I just found out that Caldrea (which owns Mrs. Meyer's) is owned by none other than SC Johnson, well known to be an animal tester. BOOOOOO, HIIIISSSSSSS. So I will not be purchasing any more Mrs. Meyers or Caldrea products (which is a super bummer becuase I just sniffed their Honeysuckle scent and it smelled awesome...).

Product: Basil dish soap

Company: Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (Owned by Caldrea)

I purchased this bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s Basil scented dish soap for use in a fruit fly trap. At work. No joke (and I caught the most fruit flies out of my colleagues). Anyway, I had used some of the same scent hand soap at a friend’s house and really liked it; after researching the company, I found out they were cruelty free, so when I needed dish soap (and Walmart didn’t have Method), this was the winner! The website for this company is http://www.mrsmeyers.com/

I can’t remember how much this product cost (again, didn’t know I’d be doing this blog at the time!) but I seem to remember it was more expensive than the store brand soap but not terribly more expensive than Dawn. While I really like the scent of the hand soap I used, the dish soap is a bit overpowering. It’s reminiscent of basil but of course, isn’t just like fresh basil. The bottle is unobtrusive; it’s not as commercial looking as a Dawn or Joy. It performs… well, like dish soap. I can’t tell if it’s my imagination or not, but it might not be QUITE as effective as conventional dish soap on really super stuck on food. I’ll try to remember to update this post when I’ve been using it a little longer.

Overall, 3 out of 4 paws up. Recommended (but pick your own favorite scent – they have several to choose from).

South of France Shea Butter Body Wash

Product: Shea butter body wash

Company: South of France (owned by Good Health Natural Foods)

As one of my first deliberately cruelty-free purchases, I bought a bottle of body wash to replace my beloved ultra-moisturizing Olay body wash. I selected a bottle of South of France Shea Butter Ultra Moisturizing Body Wash. South of France is a smaller company based in North Carolina. They make soap, body wash, and lotions. They’re owned by Good Health Natural Foods. You can find out more about them here http://www.goodhealthnaturalproducts.com/south-of-france/

The body wash itself is a large bottle and I think it was around $10 (I got it a while ago and didn’t keep notes at the time; this blog was not a factor back then) at Fresh Market. The scent is light and smells just like shea butter (I know, surprise!), which is actually not a draw for me. I’m not a huge fan of the scent of shea butter. However, it’s not overwhelming and it doesn’t really perfume your skin too much, so I’m OK with it. I like the pump bottle, it lathers well, and has lasted me over two months so far (and still going!). Granted, I do switch things up with a body scrub every few days, but it’s still very long lasting. It’s lightly moisturizing… but doesn’t live up to my gold standard Olay (which is SUPER MEGA AWESOME moisturizing). However, the South of France body wash doesn’t contain mineral oil like Olay’s does, so at least that’s a plus.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 4 paws up.  I’d come back to it if I can’t find something else more moisturizing, but if you don’t care as much about that, I’d definitely recommend.