One of my part-time jobs is as a shop girl in a little luxurious boutique sitting atop the Blue Mountains. This has its pros and cons: I work surrounded by beautiful, and largely eco-conscious Australian produce. Conversely, my pay usually ends up worn around my neck (which, more than anything, is a first-world concern I’m humiliated to profess as a problem.)
It’s not often, though, that I love the body products that arrive in large brown boxes, awaiting display. But I’ve found one – one particularly delicious-smelling, impeccably presented range – I’m simply mad about. Now, I’ve not been sent this product. I haven’t been asked kindly by a wholesaler, or sent a pretty invitation asking me to promote this incredible range. I just can’t keep quiet about professionally presented, thoroughly thought out products, and this stuff is really, really, deliciously good.
Co-lavishers, meet Essense; a wholly Australian made, beautifully hand wrapped and packaged collection of moisturisers, soaps and candles. All the product ingredients are plant-based, and they don’t tolerate animal testing. Their palm oil suppliers are members of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil, who source from old growth plantations, which were previously rubber tree farms. Essense candle wax is made of such fine raw materials that it’s classed as ‘food grade’, so while they don’t recommend eating aesthetics, the option’s there if you can’t go past how delectable the wax smells, and you’re hideously famished at someone’s awful cocktail party, and you happen to see an Essence candle. Oh, and when their products arrive in those big, brown boxes, there’s always a tag attached explaining that while retailers mightn’t like the products arriving in slightly crabby-looking boxes, they’re committed to re-using plastics and cardboards, so shops can like it or lump it. They’re that good.
Now, I could go on to talk about how achingly scrumptious their Pear and Ginger range is, or compliment the lightness of their Lemongrass-scent, and gush over their exquisitely wrapped soaps, perfectly tied ribbons on their beauty packages, and their tasteful selection of wrapping papers that are both contemporary and elegant, but instead I think you need to find a retailer stat. Alternatively, book a summer escape to Noosa, where you can find these beauty artisans doing what they do best.
A list of stockists and a peek at the range is available via their humble website, www.essensenoosa.com.au.
