Pure Fiji Coconut Milk and Honey Body Butter

I am a sucker for tropical fragrances - any time of year. When a body butter hydrates my skin and takes me on a trip to the islands, I fall in love. Pure Fiji's Coconut Milk and Honey Body Butter ($45) evokes pure rapture.

This nourishing body butter instantly hydrates dry skin. The ingredients? Coconut milk, "exotic drift nut oils," and raw honey, boosted with royal jelly. It's pretty basic: a body butter that leaves a divine fragrance as it moisturizes your skin. The best part? This fabulous fragrance lasts! I like to use this body butter at bedtime and drift off to sleep dreaming that I'm resting in the shade of an umbrella, surrounded by sand, drinking a yummy fruit drink, and eating coconut slices - just like my memories of Barbados.

Pure Fiji is a great company. Based in New Zealand, Pure Fiji uses the finest quality plant oils and extracts in each of their products. The line does not contain ingredients that commonly cause allergies or problems for sensitive skins, uses organic materials whenever they can, and does not test on animals. All Pure Fiji containers are recyclable.

Here's a little more about the company, abstracted from their Web site.

Pure Fiji endeavors to ensure that products will benefit customers through exceptional performance and value, while positively impacting the people and economies of the local communities from which the raw materials are sourced. Pure Fiji believes this is achievable by using ingredients from renewable resources and eco-friendly packaging.

Pure Fiji takes great pride in using ecologically friendly ingredients and supporting the environment that sustains business in the Pacific. They make every effort to minimize their carbon footprint, and where appropriate, enhance Fiji's unique ecosystem. Botanical ingredients, such as their blend of nut oils, are wild-harvested, which means they select the nuts from trees that grow in their natural habitat. That practice reduces their requirement for energy-dependent irrigation and fertilization methods. Bottles used in packaging are PET, which are an environmentally responsible choice that requires 24% less energy to produce and generates 40% less solid waste than glass bottles. Gift packaging is made by hand using natural fibers, such as handmade paper or delightful woven baskets.

These enlightened philosophies also played a big part in the design and construction of Pure Fiji's new, state-of-the-art factory and its daily production processes. Passive solar dryers are employed, and oils are cold pressed in the villages that supply them. Spa linens and staff uniforms are sun-dried, eliminating the need for electricity. Pure Fiji even recycles the chaff and seed casings from the nuts in the factory gardens - which act as a nursery for Pure Fiji's tree planting programs along the coastline, a source of a variety of flowers and herbs for use in their spa, and even supply fresh vegetables for the factory staff to use in their meals.

So, if you want to try a fabulous body butter - and feel good about using a "green earth" product - browse the Pure Fiji Web site to find the Coconut Milk and Honey Body Butter or another product that grabs your attention. You can order from Pure Fiji by clicking on the store that matches your country, or Google Pure Fiji for other online sources.

Photo courtesy of Pure Fiji