The Body Care Routine in Four Steps

Our body care routine has four steps: wash with the Replenishing Body Wash, polish with the Hawaiian Black Lava Body Caviar, smooth on Imperial Jade Body Oil while skin is damp, and finish with the Rejuvenating Body Cream. Wash and cream are everyday steps. The scrub is for when skin looks dull or feels rough, and the oil adds glow and helps hold in moisture. Here is what each product is made of, how to use it, and how the four fit together.

Step one: wash with real soap

The Replenishing Body Wash with Kalahari Oil is a true castile-style liquid soap. Organic coconut, olive and jojoba oils are saponified the traditional way, so it cleans with real soap rather than a thickened detergent.

• Coconut oil gives the lather its lift.
• Olive oil keeps it gentle and creamy.
• Jojoba, a light liquid wax from the Sonoran Desert, leaves skin feeling soft.
• Organic aloe vera adds a cool, fresh touch, and a touch of Kalahari melon seed oil finishes it.

How to use it: because it is real soap, it pours more fluidly than a gel. Pour a little onto a cloth or sponge, work it into a soft lather over damp skin, and rinse. Skin should feel comfortable afterward, not tight.

Step two: scrub with salt, sugar and oils

The Hawaiian Black Lava Body Caviar Body Scrub with Charcoal is the step that changes how skin looks. Sea salt and organic sugar buff away dull surface skin, while a blend of safflower, coconut, macadamia, kukui, passion fruit and Kalahari melon seed oils leaves skin soft. Charcoal powder gives it the deep black color, and coffee bean adds an aromatic texture. The scent is Hawaiian Black Lava, musky and woodsy.

How to use it: stir the jar first so the oils and crystals come together as a thick paste. Massage it over wet skin from the neck down, rinse with warm water and pat dry. It is for the body only, never for the face. Because the scrub already carries a good amount of oil, skin comes out feeling cushioned rather than stripped.

How often: let your skin decide. Reach for it when skin looks dull or elbows and knees feel rough, and skip it on the days in between.

Step three: body oil on damp skin

Step out of the shower and pat dry lightly, leaving skin a little damp. This is when body oil works best: a few warmed drops spread in seconds and help seal in the water already on your skin.

The New Imperial Jade Body Oil keeps to a short list of plant oils. Mongongo has a dry, silky touch. Kalahari melon seed oil is light and rich in linoleic acid. Marula brings nourishing oleic acid, grapeseed keeps it light, and argan leaves skin smooth and supple. Vitamin E finishes the blend. It comes in Hawaiian Black Lava, Moroccan Fig and Bergamot, or Violet and Bergamot.

For more scent, the Rosewood and Litsea Cubeba Imperial Jade Body Oil uses a different base: grape seed and apricot kernel oils that spread lightly, marula and argan for suppleness, pomegranate seed oil, mongongo, and vitamin E acetate. The rosewood is smooth and woody, and litsea cubeba gives it a bright, lemony lift.

Step four: the body cream

The Rejuvenating Body Cream with Kalahari Oil is the last layer. It lifts out of the bottle as a rich, velvety cream and melts in with a slow, even glide, leaving skin moisturized without a greasy residue.

The formula starts with Kalahari melon seed oil. Aloe leaf juice and glycerin add a fresh layer of hydration, coconut, sunflower, jojoba and avocado oils cushion the surface, and argan and borage oils add suppleness. Tocopherol and rosemary leaf oil round it out.

How to use it: smooth it over the oil, giving extra to elbows, shins and heels. This is the order our Rosewood Body Glow pair follows: oil first, cream over it. On days when you skip the oil, apply the cream straight onto slightly damp skin.

Matching the scents across the steps

The body wash and body cream come in the same four scents: Moroccan Fig and Bergamot, Hawaiian Black Lava, Violet and Bergamot, and Rosewood and Litsea Cubeba. When the wash, oil and cream share a scent, it layers rather than competes. When they differ, choose one strong scent and keep the others quiet. The smoky Lava scrub with the bright Rosewood oil is a pairing we like enough to sell as a set.

Sets that put the steps together

• The Indulgent Body Box: scrub, oil and cream, the last three steps, with Gold Under Eye Masks.
• Imperial Body Glow Bundle: the Lava Body Caviar and the Rosewood and Litsea Cubeba body oil, steps two and three.
• Rosewood Body Glow: the Rosewood body oil and the body cream in the same scent, steps three and four.

All four products are made by hand in our Williamsburg workshop.

Questions about the four-step body routine

Do I need all four steps every day?

No. Washing and the body cream suit every day. Add the oil when you want glow or extra moisture, and save the scrub for days when skin looks dull or feels rough.

Does the body oil go on before or after the body cream?

In this routine, oil first on damp skin, then the cream over it, the order our Rosewood Body Glow pair uses. When skin is very dry, the reverse also works: Imperial Jade layers well over body cream. Either way, apply both while skin is still slightly damp.

Will the body oil feel greasy?

It should not. Imperial Jade is made of plant oils with no heavy butters or waxes, and it sinks in without a tacky film, especially on damp skin.

Can I use the scrub before the body wash instead of after?

Yes, the order of the two shower steps is up to you. What matters is that the scrub goes on wet skin, is rinsed off with warm water, and is followed by oil or cream.