Update August 2018: Since this posting was written in September 2017, Bliss has updated their body butter formula to contain less toxic chemicals. I haven’t gone back to Bliss body butter yet (I’m still loving L’Occitane’s Organic Shea Butter) but I wanted to acknowledge this change.
I love Bliss Body Butter–especially the lemon + sage maximum moisture cream. I purchase it in the super-sized 14 fl oz bottles and grab as many samples as I can from the W. Unlike the other household products I use though, Bliss had ingredients I could not pronounce. Recently, I decided to look up every ingredient. My findings:
- Bliss uses different ingredients for the lemon + sage body butter they supply at W Hotels than they do for the bottles you can purchase
- The lemon + sag body butter that they supply at W Hotels is more toxic than the bottles you can purchase, although both contain allergens and trace carcinogens
I used the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database toxicity classifications (1 = least toxic and 10 = most toxic) to standardize these classifications.
Bliss lemon + sage body butter (W Hotel version) ingredients rundown:
There are actually two formulas for W Hotel’s lemon + sage body butter; I have noted when the ingredients vary.
- water
- cocos nucifera (coconut) oil: 1
- ethylhexyl palmitate: 1
- vegetable oil: 1
- cyclopentasiloxane: 3
- cetearyl alcohol: 1
- dimethicone: 3
- polysorbate 60: 3
- steareth-2: 3
- phenoxyethanol (missing in one of the formulas): 4
- dimethiconol: 1
- propylene glycol: 3
- hydroxyethylcellulose: 1
- carbomer: 1
- diazolidinyl urea (missing in one of the formulas): 6 (moderate hazard)
- butylene glycol: 1
- tocopherol: 1
- limonene: 6 (moderate hazard)
- sodium hydroxide: 3
- methylparaben (missing in one of the formulas): 4
- disodium EDTA: 1
- sodium hyaluronate: 1
- BHT (missing in one of the formulas): 4
- citral: 7 (known allergen)
- parfum: 8 (“parfum” can contain anything but it is likely to cause irritation)
- propylparaben (missing in one of the formulas): 7 (developmental and reproductive toxicity)
- chondrus crispus carrageenan extract: 1
- retinyl palmitate: 9 (developmental and reproductive toxicity and cancer)
- linalool: 5 (moderate allergen)
- citric acid: 2
- geraniol: 7 (known allergen)
- calluna vulgaris extract: 1
Bliss lemon + sage body butter (retail version) ingredients rundown:
- water
- cocos nucifera (coconut) oil: 1
- ethylhexyl palmitate: 1
- glycine soja (soybean) oil: 1
- butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter: 1
- glyceryl stearate: 1
- dimethicone: 3
- stearic acid: 1
- isopropyl myristate: 1
- cetyl alcohol: 1
- PEG-40 stearate: 3
- trimethylolpropane triisostearate: 1
- sorbitan tristearate: 1
- phenoxyethanol: 4
- retinyl palmitate: 9 (developmental and reproductive toxicity and cancer)
- tocopherol: 1
- butylene glycol: 1
- triethanolamine: 5 (moderate allergen)
- caprylyl glycol: 1
- algae extract: 1
- tetrasodium EDTA: 2
- carbomer: 1
- ethyl acetate: 1
- cyclohexane: 2
- arnica montana flower extract: 2
- calluna vulgaris extract: 1
- propylene glycol: 3
- sodium hyaluronate: 1
- citral: 7 (high allergen)
- limonene: 6 (moderate hazard)
As much as I love the smell and texture of Bliss, the toxic ingredients had to go. My go-to moisturizer is now organic shea butter. I use L’occitane’s organic shea butter enriched with vitamin E oil because there is zero fragrance and the texture is the most creamy of any shea butter I have ever used before–but the major con is that it’s really pricey at $39 for 5.2 oz).
Bendi Yogi 