Brand: TerraLOVA

 

TerraLOVA is a small, French brand that specializes in zero waste, handmade soaps and oils. The prices of the items are a little more affordable than the other brands we offer without losing quality. Because of the more affordable and zero waste nature, we thought it would be the perfect addition to Florissana.

The company was founded by Marie Blandin who has a passion for soap-making. She takes care of the production of the soaps by herself and uses a cold saponification process to create the products. They're committed to offering organic soaps and treatments, made from carefully selected raw materials, with respect for nature, people and animals.

Health	The ingredients list of the products is short and consists mostly out of plant oils and butters. The soaps are cold saponified according to a traditional method which preserves the benefits of oils and retains the glycerin naturally formed during the chemical saponification reaction. Plant-based oils and glycerin nourish the skin as opposed to drying it out, even though it leaves you feeling just as clean. You will find no synthetic perfumes either, as everything is either unscented or essential oils were used. All TerraLOVA soaps are organic.
Sustainability	All of TerraLOVA's products are handmade by Marie Blandin, the founder of TerraLOVA, in Paris (France) using energy-efficient equipment. Whenever possible all ingredients are sourced from within France or Europe and preferably all are fair trade. The soaps themselves are not packaged. The oils and flower waters come in glass bottles.
Ethics	The organic olive oil found in most products comes from a Spanish farmers cooperative. Ingredients that don't exist inside of Europe come from an ethical, fair trade source. The products themselves are handmade in the Paris using natural and plant-based ingredients. All products are PETA certified cruelty-free and vegan, so never tested on animals.

My boyfriend and I were on a trip to Paris. We were walking to the next vegan restaurant as one does. If you're not stuffing your face with vegan food on holiday, were you even on holiday? We walked passed a store which had the words 'vegan', 'naturelle' & 'cosmétiques' on the window. Needless to say it definitely made me curious. So we went in. I looked around, looked at the ingredients and decided to take a few items to try out. At this point I had yet to find a vegan shampoo that worked for me. I had been trying things out for years ranging from very cheap to very expensive organic, plant-based shampoos, but none of them really worked. I decided to take the volume shampoo, a cacao/coffee scrub and the coconut soap (I think, it's been a while). I have to say I didn't necessarily have very high expectations as I've had so many bad of mediocre experiences before.

To my very big surprise I was blown away by the quality of the shampoo... my hair hadn't felt as 'light' and soft in such a long time. Florissana already existed at this point - in contrast to most other brands which I found and loved before founding Florissana - so after a few weeks of trying out the products, I decided to contact Marie to ask if she would be interested in having her products on Florissana. And here we are now!