Dolce Mia of Sonoma County - News & Reviews

Ingredients, The Short List

Our ingredient list is about one-third as long as the most liquid hand soap lists.  We just don’t need that much stuff in our soap!  Many of our competitor’s liquid soaps use additives to assist in foaming and thickening the soap.  For example, a major and much talked about additive called sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) - often added as a foaming and dispersing agent - is present in most commercial liquid hand soap.  Most often used in shampoos, SLS is known to remove oils from the skin, and can cause skin and eye irritation.  Unlike Method, we do not use sodium lauryl sulfate.  Not only does our soap lather up beautifully on its own, we would never want to add an ingredient that literally strips away the benefits of our soap.  Our intention is to make our soap both hard working and mild, sticking to the purest soap “recipe”  possible.

Our concerns are not limited to the effects these additives have on our skin and bodies, they extend to what happens when these chemicals go down the drain and enter our waterways.  Our feeling is that additives such as sodium lauryl sulfate and cocamide DEA are not only not necessary but potentially harmful to the environment.

Our Liquid Soap:

Castile soap is a natural, vegetable oil soap that has been around for hundreds of years.  Castile soap isn’t a brand but a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil (often olive oil) rather than animal fat or synthetic substances.  The simple nature of the soap means a lesser environmental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and also faster biodegradability.

In our castile soap, we use a combination of extra virgin olive and coconut oils to create a soap that cleans effectively without being aggressive - a soap that leaves the skin silky-smooth and refreshed. Our natural liquid soap has a high level of glycerine with no sulfates, surfactants or detergents. It is mild to the skin while offering great natural cleaning power.

Olive oil is a fantastic emollient, which means that it softens and smooths your skin.  Products with Olive Oil are especially good for prematurely aged, dry or irritated skin.

Our Bar Soap:

Our bar soap is considered “pure soap” which means that there are no detergents, no Sulfates or Surfactes, and no alcohol. So real and pure is our bar soap, the FDA does not require that the ingredients be listed.

Local vs. Global

Our research indicates that most commercial soap products are made overseas in several different countries. In contrast, our soap is made and bottled in the USA, right here in Northern California. The benefits of local production include reduced carbon footprint, procuring local ingredients when possible, hiring local people - enhancing the local economy, and employing family businesses like ourselves, whenever possible.

Going Green as a Lifestyle

For us, going green means simply using recipes and ingredients that were developed before the industrial and chemical revolutions - using ingredients that are pure and locally procured, when possible, and keeping production within our local economy. Green is not a marketing tool for us, we just happened to have embraced a lifestyle and business philosophy that falls within the definition of “being green.”

Beyond the trend, we truly are green in our lifestyle - we strive to keep business and our business relationships personal and manageable. We live in a small community that is much like a village, and we enjoy sending our kids to the local school, which happens to be an environmental magnet school that embraces place-based education. The campus is on 50 acres with a nature trail and salmon filled creek…how green is that?! Our campus has just finished construction on the first gold Leed certified green building on a California public school campus. Learn more at: http://ftp.harmony.k12.ca.us/greenschool/index.shtml

Style with Substance

We have always had a thing for vintage, particularly retro-modern - a contemporary take on classic aesthetic. Turns out this is extremely popular these days. More than ever, people are gravitating towards the comfort zone of nostalgia - a simpler life, a return to “home” and the familiar.

Our “look” is not sterile or omni-present. Nor is it passé. Our soap packaging conveys imagery and style that speak to everyone - we zero in on personality and help consumers to express their individualism. Paired with a luxurious, effective soap product, we have created something special and have set ourselves apart from the rest of the soap market. Why not have it all? Great soap AND gorgeous design! (Not to mention the best fragrances out there, which happen to be uniquely ours, by the way).

As you can see, Dolce Mia’s soap is far from ordinary.

Our designer, Jenny Mountjoy, worked directly with a French perfumer to custom blend and develop each of our fragrances.

Our fragrance blends were developed exclusively for Dolce Mia to coordinate with and enhance the thematic elements of our soaps. In the vast market of over-perfumed, artificial and predictable smelling soaps, ours stand apart with fragrances that are rich and deep without being overpowering.

Our designs are unique, so we felt the fragrances should be too. In keeping with our vintage themes, even our scents have a nostalgic quality about them.  We worked hard to develop scents that were both refreshing and familiar.  Whether it is fruit or floral, our blends are sophisticated and attractive.  Our scents are light, natural and not over the top.  We use consumer-safe fragrance oils that include natural ingredients.  We also chose to tint our soaps using food grade tint (the same thing we use to tint our cupcake frosting).

The following are descriptions of the custom fragrance blends used in Dolce Mia’s “Fine Soaps of Sonoma County” line.

Mango Tangerine

This fruity and refreshing scent could stir up an appetite. It’s the kind of delicious aroma that merits a warning like those found on surfboard Wax: “Do not eat/chew”. The pure, fragrant mango and tangerine are perfectly balanced-full of complex flavor with a tangerine high note and just sweet enough.

Color: Mellow Sunset

Styles: Surfer Boy & Surfer Girl

Tropical Citrus

A rich undercurrent defines this luscious scent of fruit and flowers. Citrus high notes emphasize freshness, with a hint of coconut to ground our scent in the tropics. It’s a fresh take on the suntan smells we remember.

Color: Leaf

Styles: Hula Couple & Vintage Hawaiian

Vintage Floral Tuberose

This scent is a fresh twist on tradition, starting with a classic floral blend plus a heady addition of tuberose. A soft, sensual yet subtle floral, this scent is sweetly seductive, reminding us of the attraction of the flower.

Color: Petal Pink

Styles: Golden Girl Pin-Up, Red Hot Pin-Up & Starlet Pin-Up

Pikake

The native Hawaiian Pikake flower is used in the traditional Hawaiian lei and is known throughout the world as “Hawaiian night blooming jasmine”. Fresh and uplifting, its smell will stimulate memories of a tropical evening breeze. Lush, sweet, and a bit exotic.

Color: Pikake White

Styles: Hula Girl

Leathery Western

This clean outdoorsy scent emanates elements of freshly chopped wood, new leather and lemon verbena. Calming, bold and inspiring, it speaks to those who love a fresh clean confident cleanse.

Color: Light Saddle

Styles: Wild West

Vanilla

Simply the most perfect vanilla scent around for the body. Creamy, with a wisp of sweetness, this scent is rich and versatile. A delectable fragrance the whole family will enjoy.

Color: Cream

Styles: Horsey Girl

Sweet Almond

This scent is pure almond with a hint of sweetness. The plush almond aroma is smooth and bright with currant high notes - appealing and fulfilling for all ages.

Color: Light Almond

Styles: Horsin’ Around & Howdy

Ambery Lavender

An exquisitely balanced combination of flower and mineral, our ambery lavender scent is loaded with both vitalizing and calming aromatic qualities. Loved by lavender purists, this scent also has universal appeal, with its added depth of rich amber notes.

Color: Sunrise Pink

Styles: Shootin’ Cowgirl & Sittin’ Cowgirl

There is something for everyone!