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About Dolce Mia Place Mats

About our Place Mats

What makes Dolce Mia’s place mats special?

Heavy Duty 10 Mil. Lamination . We use the thickest, most durable laminating film available to us. This 10 mil. film makes our place mats extra stiff and durable.

Crystal-Clear . We hold our laminator to the highest quality standards. We only accept place mats whose lamination is perfectly clear.

Easy Care . Our place mats are perfect for everyday use. Just wipe clean with sponge. Or use the dishwasher.

Durable. Our quality lamination and workmanship means our place mats hold up exceptionally well to daily use.

Unique Vintage Designs. Our retro designs make our place mats both fun and stylish — a pleasure to use as well as to give as gifts. Dolce Mia’s founder Jenny Mountjoy does all the designs. Visit Jenny’s design blog.

Great Gifts . Dolce Mia’s place mats make great party favors, birthday gifts, holiday gifts…. A favorite place mat will live on forever as a treasured childhood memory.

Made in USA. Dolce Mia is a family-owned company, based in Sonoma County, California. We have been manufacturing in the U.S. since 1995. Our place mats are printed and laminated in the USA.

We are sure you’ll be pleased with your purchase of a Dolce Mia place mat.

But don’t take our word for it. Read customer reviews.

Dolce Mia-Zine #2009-23 – Work for Dolce Mia Selling a Product You Love

Dolce Mia
Dolce Mia-zine

2009 #23

a newsletter for our customers

featuring commentary by our designer Jenny Mountjoy

And new product news.


Sell a Product You Love

Dolce Mia is growing! (In 2009…can you believe it?) Our sales have doubled this year. Our soaps and lotions are hot!. And we are looking for individuals experienced in sales to represent our line to gift shops, salons, spas, clothing boutiques, natural groceries, saddlerys, feed stores . . . Dolce Mia sells in so many kinds of stores, it’s hard to list them all. You can also sell our products at home parties or special events. And we’re customizable!. Please consider creating a new professional career for yourself. Becoming a Dolce Mia Rep.

We also offer excellent training and support. The following is an excerpt from our recent Sales Rep Newsletter, where our sales manager shares some wisdom from the road.

Stars divider

After my latest foray into the field, I came up with a more polished plan of attack. It was hot, my inventory was heavy and I didn’t have a really organized road bag/presentation folder. So, I realized that all I needed was a more structured strategy in order to be more effective. I have laid out my findings in the phase “plan of attack” you see below.

1.) Recon

Physically visit the areas you are interested in marketing to. You can often work this into your normal routines of errands or usual route of travel to start. Check out the other retailers in the strip mall where you do your grocery shopping. See which stores in those areas would be the best fit. Make notes about these locations and what they are near (to help jog your memory).

Then decide which stores would be the best fit. This way you can be sure to target your sales, and to not over saturate any one area. If there are two or three possible candidates in a single strip-mall or city square, start with the best, and work your way down. Selling to two or more stores in close proximity will only upset both clients.

2.) Planning/Mapping

Either make appointments over the phone, or plan blind attacks, according to your personal style. If you tend towards the latter, you will save time if you call ahead to try to find out who the buyer is, and when she will be there. Once you know whom you need to see, where and at what time, you can plan your route.

I like Google Maps for route-mapping. It lets you list multiple destinations, then re-order them until your trip route is optimized. You can make the most of your gas money, and your time, if you map your sales trip before you go.

3.) Attack! (Site Visits)

Get out there! Have your samples and marketing materials in a slim, light bag with you. A bag that you can carry over the shoulder for minimal effort in carriage, I think, is best. Some reps have found that ‘scrap-booking bags’ which are sold in crafting/fabric stores are perfect. Make sure our product is one of the first things the potential customer sees. This will break the ice and get them interested. They will know right away if they like it. And chances are, they will.

Be aware that while this may seem intimidating, shop owners and buyers are used to this, and expect it. This is generally how they get their inventory. You are performing them a valuable service. Have confidence that you will not be treated as a “pesky solicitor”.

***Be sure to take notes after you visit each place so that filling in your contact log will be easy!***

General tips:

Bring a note pad and pen to jot down ideas, owner/store details or even orders! Keeping a note pad for Dolce Mia notes in your car at all times will make your life easier.

Make sure you are not hungry/thirsty when you leave. Bring water and snacks – or plan to take yourself out to lunch in the middle of your route.

Bring a hairbrush/comb, sunscreen if needed, and mints.

Dress comfortably- dressing up is nice, but being comfortable is important. I really advise against high-heeled shoes for site visits- ouch! (I have a blister from my last trip, no fun).

Make sure you have your business cards handy, if you use them, and that you always keep at least one of each scent tester for yourself to let potential customers smell each for themselves. I also suggest that you avoid any fragranced personal products, other than ours of course, as they will distract from what you are trying to sell.

Hopefully this will get your creativity going and challenge you to map out your next trip out on the road. You can modify, add or subtract to my method, but hopefully this will get you started, or moving if you are stuck.

Write in with any additional ideas you have or follow-up questions.

It’s the peak of the buying season friends, let’s make the most of it!

Melena :)


New! Countertop Brochures for Lotions

Countertop brochure

Made in the U.S.A., natural, organic ingredients, great looks, delicious fragrances.. the more you know about Dolce Mia, the more there is to like. But how do all these selling points get communicated? With our Z-fold Countertop Brochure.

The Z-fold Countertop Brochure to accompany our Point of Purchase unit. Our z-fold is designed to be set out alongside our products, for customers to read and take away.

Ingredients

And we’ve just updated it for the lotions!

Lotions
About Dolce Mia
Founded in 1995 by the designer Jenny Mountjoy, Dolce Mia produces vintage inspired stationery, home décor and soaps for the gift and bath & body markets. Dolce Mia is headquartered in Sonoma County, California, north of San Francisco, in an area known for its farms and pastoral landscapes, small food producers & fine wines.
Jenny Mountjoy | Designer | www.jennymountjoy.com

What Makes Our Clocks Special

About our Clocks

What makes Dolce Mia clocks special?

Perfect Size for kids’ room or nursery. 10″ round.

Easy Read for children just learning to tell time, or for sleep-deprived parents.

Great Vintage Designs. Our retro designs are drawn from the Golden Age of illustration—the 1950′s and 1960′s. For those of us old enough to remember, they take us back. For those younger…they are just fantastic!

Made in the Americas. Our vintage style wall clocks are printed in the U.S.A. and assembled by our neighbor to the south, Mexico. We are keeping local people employed and keeping the quality superb.

Archival. Dolce Mia uses giclée printing to create the vivid colors and detail of our Sew Vintage line of picture frames, photo albums and wall clocks. “Giclée” (pronounced zheeCLAY) is a French term. It describes a technique for making fine-art quality prints using color-accurate, ultra high-resolution inkjet systems. Though giclée is significantly more expensive than other methods of printing on fabric, we chose the process for its superior image quality and archival characteristics. Our giclée-printed images are color-true and will last for generations.

Product Ingredients and Company Philosophy

About our Soap

Our soap is:

  • Hypo-Allergenic
  • Safe for Sensitive Skin
  • Biodegradable

Our bar soap:  Our bar soap is considered “pure soap” which means that there are no detergents, no sulfates and no alcohol.   So real and pure is our bar soap, the FDA does not require that the ingredients be listed on the label.  Many bars on the market are actually detergents, and not soaps at all. They are called “syndet bars”, or synthetic detergent bars. They are made from synthesized chemicals (powdered detergent) and are typically much harsher than soap. True soap, like ours, is made from natural oils and is gentle -much more mild than detergents.

Glycerine is good! And our bar soap contains a high amount of natural vegetable glycerine.   A natural humectant, glycerine attracts moisture to the skin.  Glycerin soaps are known to have a mild ph and are gentle, moisturizing and softening.  A high glycerine soap is especially good for sensitive and delicate skin, and for children.

Believe it or not, a lot of companies will extract the glycerin at a certain stage of the soapmaking process by adding salt to the batch.  In order to make the extremely hard French milled soaps, the glycerin must be removed or the soap would be too soft.  In our case, we maintain the glycerine and the integrity of the soap producing a bar that is detergent free, hard and long lasting.

Our liquid soap: Our liquid soap is a Castile 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.

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.

No Unnecessary Additives: We stay as close to natural as possible using the highest quality ingredients and avoiding unnecessary additives.  For example, we do not use sodium lauryl sulfate – a thickening and sudsing agent.  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.

What we put into our soap is just as important as what we leave out.  We use ingredients such as olive oil, shea butter and lots of glycerine to gently cleanse, moisturize and protect skin.

About our Lotion

Our lotion: Dolce Mia offers a thick and creamy shea butter body lotion that is infused with organic botanical extracts, vitamin E, almond and sunflower oil and Dolce Mia’s signature fragrance blends, made with natural oils.  Our lotion absorbs quickly to quench, soothe and repair parched skin.

About Shea Butter: Shea butter moisturizes the skin, penetrating deeply to deliver valuable nutrients.  The moisturizers in shea butter are the same as those produced by the sebaceous glands of the skin. In fact, because its structure and function resembles that of the lipid content of skin, shea butter is considered to be a Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF). As an NMF, it helps keep the intercellular structure of the epidermis intact, and effectively keeps bacteria out.  Shea butter facilitates the skin’s healing process, prevents dermal irritation and regenerates the skin.  It is particularly useful for those looking to improve the appearance of dry skin, or those having to combat cold winter weather. It also works as an anti-inflammatory, helping to soothe itchy, irritated or sunburnt skin. Best of all, it naturally absorbs UVB rays to protect the skin from the sun, and has antioxidant properties as potent as those of green tea and olive oil.

About Our Organic Botanicals: Our lotion contains the following organic botanical extracts,  which benefit the skin in a multitude of ways:

  • Sweet Almond Oil – Softens and protects skin, helping to balance water loss and support the absorption of moisture.
  • Chamomile Extract – Soothes skin.
  • Red Clover – Valued for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, calming, cleansing and demulcent properties.
  • Marsh Mallow Root – Helps with chapped skin, may be an anti-inflammatory.
  • Oat Kernel Extract – Provides anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-itch benefits.
  • Sunflower Seed Oil – A natural antioxidant that provides excellent emolliency.
  • Calendula Officinalis Flower – The common Marigold.  The flavonoids and saponins contained in extracts of the plant have been shown to not only promote skin healing and repair, but also significantly reduce inflammations.  Anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, soothing & healing.  Stimulates cellular regeneration.
  • White Tea Extract – Flavonoids contained in Red, White & Green Tea present veinotonic properties.  They reduce capillary permeability and increase blood capillary resistance, consequently improving tissue irrigation & skin condition.
  • Lavender – Lavendar essential oil is adatogenic in nature, meaning that it normalizes both dry and oily conditions of the skin. Anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and skin regenerative, it is also great for sensitive or mature skin.
  • Comfrey – Traditionally used to heal damaged skin, ulcers and chapped skin. The healing power of Comfrey is mainly due to one of its active ingredients – allantoin – a powerful cell proliferator.

Plus:

  • Vitamin E – Derived from wheat germ and/or vegetable oils. It heals, rejuvenates, softens, soothes and protects the skin.

No Unnecessary Additives: Our lotions contain only the additives necessary to preserve the integrity of the formulation, without which lotions can easily turn rancid or gain microbiotic contamination.  We do not add parabens, a common preservative that is in question in the US for it’s health effects.  Our lotion is 100% vegan and not animal-tested.

Our lotion is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Dyes
- Triclosan

Packaging and Design

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 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 body products, we have created something special and have set ourselves apart from the rest of the personal care market. Why not have it all? Great product AND gorgeous design!

The power of smell: 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-perfumed.  We use consumer-safe fragrance oils that include natural ingredients.

Close to Home

Local Production: Our research indicates that many personal care products are made overseas, in several different countries.  Proud to be MADE IN THE U.S.A, our soaps are made right here in Northern California using traditional, time tested soap recipes – no shortcuts, no overseas production (it’s surprising how many soaps are not made in the USA!). The benefits of local production include reduced carbon footprint, procuring local ingredients, hiring local people – enhancing the local economy, and employing family businesses like our own, whenever possible.

“Green” as a Lifestyle

Going Green:  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.”

What Makes our Thank You Cards Unique

About our Thank You Cards

What makes Dolce Mia’s thank-you cards unique?

High Quality Card Stock . We use the highest quality 125 lb. Fine Art Uncoated Cover for our newest Made in USA thank you’s*. This extra-thick archival matte paper feels great in the hand and is a pleasure to write on.

Unique Vintage Designs. Our retro designs make our cards fun and stylish — a pleasure to receive as well as to send. Capture your mood and rediscover the pleasure of stationery and handwriting. Great for introducing kids to the importance of sending a hand-written thank you card. Dolce Mia’s founder Jenny Mountjoy does all the designs. Visit Jenny’s design blog.

Unique Packaging. Our thank-you cards are packaged with care using our trademark canvas band. These bands are digitally printed in our California factory on artist’s quality canvas using archival inks and ultra-high resolution. They are hand-cut and hand-applied to the card boxes. Each band in itself is an original piece of vintage-inspired design. They make great keepsakes, or scrap booking materials to preserve your memories of your birthday, wedding or other special event.

Made in USA. Dolce Mia is a family-owned company, based in Sonoma County, California. We have been manufacturing in the U.S. since 1995. Printing our latest round of thank you’s here in California helps us assure the quality and availability of our cards. It also helps us bring to you a wider variety of vintage designs. Even those thank-you cards that were printed overseas are now packaged in the USA.

* Certain classic designs, such as Western Tots and Kids’ Space were printed on somewhat lighter card stock, in China.

The following styles are printed in the USA:

• BLRTX Ballerina
• CGLTX Cowgirl
• CHOTX Choo-choo Farm
• CRCTX Circus
• FIRTX Firefighter
• HSYTX Horsey Girl
• JNGTX Jungle
• TRNTX Trains
• VIHTX Vintage Hawaiian
• IFLTX Island Floral
• SAITX Sailor.

Express your style and enjoy the experience of letter-writing once again with Dolce Mia’s vintage thank you cards. You are sure to be pleased with your purchase.

But don’t take our word for it. Read customer reviews.

Dolce Mia Introduces Vintage-Themed Lotions for Gift Giving and Personal Use

PRESS RELEASE

Dolce Mia Introduces Vintage-Themed Lotions for Gift Giving and Personal Use in Today’s Economy

Sebastopol, CA

Lotion

Dolce Mia Introduces Vintage-Themed Lotions for Gift Giving and Personal Use in Today’s Economy

Consumers are returning to the simple pleasures, and Dolce Mia Designs of Sonoma County, California is benefiting.

Sebastopol, CA – (June, 30th 2009) –Riding the wave of nostalgia, and appreciation of affordable luxuries, Dolce Mia Designs of Sonoma County California is enjoying a growth year. The company’s line of natural soaps, introduced last fall, captured the imagination of the country and became a best-selling gift item in stores everywhere. Not only are the vintage designs great looking, but the made-in-USA natural soaps themselves are wonderful to use, satisfying the nation’s need for unique gifts that are sure to be appreciated as well as for feel-good products that add pleasure to life.

But where are the lotions? everyone asked. What a perfect match they would be, they said.

Good things take time…and now the lotions are here. Available in fourteen vintage-inspired themes, such as Pin-up, Cowgirl,Ccowboy and Hawaiian, and in eight original fragrances like Pikake, Tuberose, Leathery Western and Sweet Almond, Dolce Mia’s lotion is a thick, creamy shea butter blend infused with organic botanical extracts, vitamin E, almond and sunflower oil.

Estheticians and spa-specialists were consulted on everything from ingredients to pricing to ensure top-quality, affordable luxury for all. The resulting lotion is suitable for the most discerning tastes and the sensitive skinned. In addition to a 12 oz. pump bottle, the company also offers a travel size jar, which with its retro tin lid and wood-grained outer wrapper is itself a triumph of original packaging.

Intriguingly, Dolce Mia’s packaging was designed with customization in mind. The canvas bands, where most of the design appears, are digitally-printed, making it relatively easy to add text, a logo, or even to create entire new designs. Personalized wedding favors, corporate gifts and a fundraising program for volunteer firefighter departments are just a few of the ways that this ease of customization has been explored so far.

Early adopters of Dolce Mia’s beauty line include the iconic Fred Segal in Los Angeles. International buyers are also beginning to take note. Dolce Mia has captured the attention of the Japanese cosmetics market and will soon be distributed throughout Japan.

Dolce Mia’s lotions and full line of beauty products and gift items can be viewed on-line at www.dolcemia.com .

For more information please call 888-929-0440 or contact Alex Mountjoy at www.dolcemia.com

About Dolce Mia Designs:

Founded in 1995 by the designer Jenny Mountjoy, Dolce Mia manufacturers design-based products for the health, beauty and gift markets. Dolce Mia is located in the northern California city of Sebastopol, about an hour and a half north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Alex and Jenny live nearby with their two sons and five sheep. The Mountjoys are fans of wine, cheese, local art, farmers markets and time in the garden.

About Our Lotion

About our Lotion

Our lotion: Dolce Mia offers a thick and creamy shea butter body lotion that is infused with organic botanical extracts, vitamin E, almond and sunflower oil and Dolce Mia’s signature fragrance blends, made with natural oils. Our lotion absorbs quickly to quench, soothe and repair parched skin. See lotions.

About Shea Butter: Shea butter moisturizes the skin, penetrating deeply to deliver valuable nutrients. The moisturizers in shea butter are the same as those produced by the sebaceous glands of the skin. In fact, because its structure and function resembles that of the lipid content of skin, shea butter is considered to be a Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF). As an NMF, it helps keep the intercellular structure of the epidermis intact, and effectively keeps bacteria out. Shea butter facilitates the skin’s healing process, prevents dermal irritation and regenerates the skin. It is particularly useful for those looking to improve the appearance of dry skin, or those having to combat cold winter weather. It also works as an anti-inflammatory, helping to soothe itchy, irritated or sunburnt skin. Best of all, it naturally absorbs UVB rays to protect the skin from the sun, and has antioxidant properties as potent as those of green tea and olive oil.

About Our Organic Botanicals: Our lotion contains the following organic botanical extracts, which benefit the skin in a multitude of ways:

· Sweet Almond Oil – Softens and protects skin, helping to balance water loss and support the absorption of moisture.

· Chamomile Extract – Soothes skin.

· Red Clover – Valued for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, calming, cleansing and demulcent properties.

· Marsh Mallow Root – Helps with chapped skin, may be an anti-inflammatory.

· Oat Kernel Extract – Provides anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-itch benefits.

· Sunflower Seed Oil – A natural antioxidant that provides excellent emolliency.

· Calendula Officinalis Flower – The common Marigold. The flavonoids and saponins contained in extracts of the plant have been shown to not only promote skin healing and repair, but also significantly reduce inflammations. Anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, soothing & healing. Stimulates cellular regeneration.

· White Tea Extract – Flavonoids contained in Red, White & Green Tea present veinotonic properties. They reduce capillary permeability and increase blood capillary resistance, consequently improving tissue irrigation & skin condition.

· LavenderLavendar essential oil is adatogenic in nature, meaning that it normalizes both dry and oily conditions of the skin. Anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and skin regenerative, it is also great for sensitive or mature skin.

· Comfrey - Traditionally used to heal damaged skin, ulcers and chapped skin. The healing power of Comfrey is mainly due to one of its active ingredients – allantoin – a powerful cell proliferator.

Plus:

· Vitamin E – Derived from wheat germ and/or vegetable oils. It heals, rejuvenates, softens, soothes and protects the skin.

No Unnecessary Additives: Our lotions contain only the additives necessary to preserve the integrity of the formulation, without which lotions can easily turn rancid or gain microbiotic contamination. We do not add parabens, a common preservative that is in question in the US for it’s health effects. Our lotion is 100% vegan and not animal-tested.

Our lotion is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Dyes
- Triclosan

Dolce Mia-Zine #2009-5 – A Sneak Peek at our New Lotions


Dolce Mia
Dolce Mia-zine

2009 #5
 

a newsletter for our customers
featuring commentary
by our designer Jenny Mountjoy
And new product news, and a free prize at the bottom of the box.

 

Soap Header


Lotion Preview —12 oz. pump and personal-size


Lotion You Asked For

Lovers of our soaps have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our lotions, which are now expected in just three weeks.

Lotions will be the perfect follow-up to a Dolce Mia shower. Now you can lather up blissfully with our Pikake, Vintage Tuberose or Mango Tangerine soap and afterward smooth on our luxurious lotion in the same fragrance.

The 12 ounce size is packaged in a striking porcelain-white bottle, wrapped in our unique canvas-band and contrasting pattern label, just like our liquid soap, and will cost about $22. The personal-size comes in a thick-walled jar with a tin screw lid and has an unmistakably vintage feel and sells for about $3.

In formulating our lotion, we began with a Shea butter base of highest quality. To this we added a balanced selection of natural ingredients, including organic botanicals. The result is a silky, moisturizing, non-oily lotion which might possibly be the finest lotion you will have ever tried.

By the way, our lotion was developed to the standards of consulting aestheticians and salon owners, so you know it is good.

That’s all on our lotions for now. You’ll learn more as the release date nears.

For now, to learn more about our soaps, please read What Makes Our Soaps Unique

We also invite you to learn what’s special about our Invitations and Thank You cards.


Robots Together

Make a Match and Earn a $25 Referral Fee

Do you have a favorite shop, salon, cafe, or clothing boutique where you would like to be able to find Dolce Mia products? You’ll be doing a good deed for the folks in your neighborhood if you can match us up. Send us the name of the business, and if they are neither a current customer nor prospect of ours, and if we are able to arrange a sale to them — and you might be able to give us a hand with that — we’ll send you a check for $25.

Just use the contact us link on our web site. Or reply to this newsletter. Be sure to include your contact information.


Oh boy!

Customer Review
of Rocketships & Robots
Baby Memory Book

Rocketships & Robots Baby Memory Book

"The memory book is adorable. It is just what I was looking for. I was not looking forward to the usual baby book, that, let’s face it, I was never going to fully fill out (I only finished a fraction of my wedding album). But the Robot book has just enough for me to fill in without getting bogged down. Also the text is very clever and unique. I look forward to ordering invitations and announcements from you too. Thanks!"

—Portland, Oregon

Our Story Line Baby Memory Books offer a fresh take on the genre. In our books, we present with a whimsical tale, lightly sketched in imagery and text. The reader is invited to develop the story in a personal way, and to such extent as he or she chooses, by adding photos, text, and scrap booking elements to the pages. Our baby memory books provide a context for and gives impetus to your creativity, encouraging the creation of a book that is special, fun and wholly original.

Read What Makes our Baby Books Unique


At the Bottom of the Box — A free soap bar!

Place an order for $30 or more in Dolce Mia merchandise on our web site before the end of the day on Sunday, May 17th, and we’ll include in your shipment a free full-size trial bar of our Leathery Western soap. (And you’ll love it!)

Just paste or type the phrase "Please include my free Leathery Western bar" into the "order notes" area at checkout. We’ll take care of the rest.

Act now! This offer is good only through Sunday, 5/18.

About Dolce Mia
Founded in 1995 by the designer Jenny Mountjoy, Dolce Mia produces vintage inspired stationery, home décor and soaps for the gift and bath & body markets. Dolce Mia is headquartered in Sonoma County, California, north of San Francisco, in an area known for its farms and pastoral landscapes, small food producers & fine wines.
Jenny Mountjoy | Designer | www.jennymountjoy.com


Lotions Ingredients List

Lotions Ingredients List

In formulating our lotion, we began with a Shea butter base of highest quality to which we added such other natural ingredients as would elevate the product to a yet higher level. The result is a silky, moisturizing, non-oily natural lotion with organic botanicals. It is possibly be the best lotion you will have ever tried. (By the way, our lotion was developed to suit the needs and meet the standards of aestheticians and salon owners, so you know it is good.)

The following is the ingredients list for the Dolce Mia lotion, which will appear on the bottle label:

Water, Organic helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, Sodium stearate, Cetyl alcohol, Glycerin, Fragrance, Glyceryl stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), Dimethicone, Caprylyl glycol, Potassium sorbate, Sodium PCA, Disodium EDTA, Organic prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) fruit extract, Organic althea officinalis root extract, Organic avena sativa (oat) kernel extract, Organic calendula officinalis flower extract, Organic camellia sinensis (white tea) extract, Organic chamomilla recutita (matricaria) extract, Organic lavandula angustifolia (lavender) extract, Organic symphytum officinale extract, Organic trifolium pratense (clover) extract, Tocopheryl acetate

Why Our Soaps are Unique

What makes Dolce Mia soaps unique?

Local vs. global:  Most of our competitor’s soaps are made overseas, sometimes in several different countries.  In contrast, our soap is made and packaged right here in Northern California. Yes, it is made in the USA. The benefits of local production include a reduced carbon footprint, procuring local ingredients when possible, hiring local people – enhancing the local economy, employing family businesses like ourselves, whenever possible. 

Pure, Natural, Soap: Our ingredient list is about one-third as long as those of our competitors.  We just don’t need that much stuff in our soap!  In fact, our bar soap is so pure that the FDA doesn’t require us to list any ingredients at all. It is just soap, and fragrance.

Many of liquid soaps containg additives that 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 many liquid hand soaps.  Most often used in shampoos, SLS is known to remove oils from the skin, and can cause skin and eye irritation. 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.

Soap Bars close up

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 soap is: Hypo-Allergenic + Safe for Sensitive Skin + Biodegradable

Style with Substance:  We have always had a thing for vintage, particularly retro-modern – a contemporary take on classic aesthetic. It 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. 

Dolce Mia

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!

The power of smell: 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-perfumed. We use consumer-safe fragrance oils that include natural ingredients. We tint our soaps using food grade tint (the same thing we use to tint our cupcake frosting).

Vintage Tuberose

Going Green: 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 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, we enjoy sending our kids to the local school, which happens to be an environmental magnet school that embraces place-based education. A campus 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

As a family, we spend a lot of time and energy fundraising in support of our school and to the development of its progress, helping to assure that our school can continue to make a difference and be an environmental role model for other schools and the broader community.

Community Service and Volunteering:  Here again, our focus is local – on our immediate community.  A background in education (MA, Stanford ’92) has help shape Jenny’s belief that we can make a difference in our future by educating and inspiring the next generation.  Creating awareness of our needs as a community living on this planet is a priority.  We are involved in projects that inspire schools and the community to become responsible, educated, compassionate stewards of the environment. 

People Love Our Soaps

Surfer Girl soap

I have to thank you so much for your wonderful Mango Tangerine Surfer Soap that is in our restroom here at O’Reilly! I’ve been watching the soap levels disappear… I think everyone, even strangers, enjoys it. It fills the whole bathroom with a wonderful fragrance and the soap’s scent lingers on the skin waaaaay afterward. Sometimes, I feel I can even taste it… gingery-spicy notes! When we first put it in the bathroom last week, it was the first distraction and thing to look forward to at work! It even feels different. It is so wonderful… I wasn’t expecting any soap to do that.

Read more customer reviews.