Green Product Review: Sparklehearts Sweet Hearts Sparkly Body Lotion

We’re smack in the middle of our Sparklehearts Natural Beauty Giveaway and today I’ve got a Sparklehearts product review for you.

Product: Sweet Hearts Sparkly Body Lotion; the product specs note, “Glisten Up, Gorgeous. Sparklehearts Sparkly Lotion moisturizes and brightens your skin with a beautiful shimmer. Natural mica sparkles add glamour to your glistening beauty. Naturally antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory, sesame oils are pro-healthy and protective. Moisturizing murumuru butter feeds your skin fabulous nutrients, enhancing your inner glow. Skin-softening sweet almond oil improves your complexion.”

Reviewers: I reviewed this product, but being that I’m not a teen girl I also enlisted the help of my boyfriend’s daughters, who luckily, fit the Sparklehearts demographic perfectly. Jade is 13 and Katana is 11. I also ran this by my son, Cedar, who is 8, just to get a boy’s view. Whew – four reviewers and we all had different opinions.

Cost: $12.49 for 8oz – although right now you can save 20% (details at the bottom of this post).

Ingredients: Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice*, Vegetable Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol & Glyceryl Stearate (coconut derived), Tapioca Starch, Stearic Acid, Panthenol (Vitamin B-5) , Viola Odorata (Violet) Leaf Extract, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Flower Extract, Viola Tricolor (Pansy) Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil*, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower)Seed Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*,Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Astrocaryum Murumuru Seed Butter*, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Essential Oils, Mica, Titanium Dioxide. *Organic Ingredients

NOTE: The company did not link the ingredients – I looked them up on Skin Deep. I didn’t link all the scents, because most, like the Viola Odorata were scores of 0 (good).

Eco facts:

• Certified organic. 99.6% natural ingredients.
• Not tested on animals.
• No harmful toxins ingredients used. Sparklehearts uses essential oils, violet extract, coconut, Shea butter, and green tea extract in their products.
• No artificial colors.
• Packaging made with 100% recycled plastic and is recyclable after use.

I covered all the eco-perks of this company in-depth in the company review. Learn more about the green benefits of the Sparklehearts company.

What I thought:

Of course I like the eco-perks above so besides that, here’s what I thought.

I like that they listed all the ingredients on the bottle and at the website. Sparklehearts is not listed at Skin Deep yet (Skin Deep scores beauty products on safety) but I did look up most of the ingredients myself, and based on that, I’m guessing this product would get a low to mid level score (good-decent). I LOVED the sparkle effect of this lotion – subtle glitter that smooths over everywhere and makes you look super sparkly. I thought it softened fine and went on easy. It’s not a deep moisturizing cream, more of a light all-over cream.

I wasn’t too keen on the scent. I didn’t NOT like the scent, it’s just not something I’d wear on a daily basis. It was just a little too sticky sweet for a grown woman – of course grown women are not their target market, so that’s ok. The website gave me a headache – really bright and bubbly, (again, I’m not their target market) but I will say that it was easy to navigate and very safe for young girls.

What Jade & Katana thought:

Both of them loved the sparkles right away but were undecided on the scent. Katana noted that she couldn’t figure out what it smelled like but that she thought it smelled a little like fresh play-dough, which she said was fine, but maybe not in a lotion. Jade couldn’t decide if she liked the scent at first either saying that she couldn’t place it. Later both girls decided that while they couldn’t totally place the scent they they did like it and would use it. Both of them liked the packaging a lot – i.e. pretty hearts, pink, bubbly, very girl-friendly.

In the last post I noted, “Kids can log on to Sparklehearts, learn about green beauty issues and even create their own Sparkleheart designs. The free design program allows little ones to save it to their computer to use as wallpaper, or print it onto an iron-on transfer for a one-of-a-kind T-shirt.” Katana was especially in love with the website. We played on there together for a long time, then when I got bored, she kept playing around on there. She designed a ton of her own Sparkleheart creations and really liked all the design choices and colors offered. Her favorite part were the virtual stamps you could choose from.

Of the two of them, Katana liked the lotion more I think, saying something akin to, “I would totally buy this and other products from them.” Jade was more undecided, but Katana told me later, “She would so buy this stuff.” This depends on how well you trust sisters, but in my experience (I had a sis 2 years younger) usually sisters are smack on.

What Cedar though:

Well, let’s just say Sparklehearts is not targeting young stereotypical boys. Cedar is so typical boy it hurts – trucks, dirt, sports, and all that jazz.  BUT he also has a bling addiction (weird) where he’ll note how much he likes shiny stuff, so I thought he might like the glitter aspect. No. He hated the bottle and hated the scent and got mad that I even dabbed the lotion on him. His exact words, “WHERE can I wipe this off NOW!”

Um, not a boy product.

Overall happy tree score:

4 out of 5 happy trees. Not bad. They lose a point because none of us were in complete bliss over the scent. While none of us, (minus Cedar) disliked the scent, we all pondered over IF we liked it for a little too long. I also thought it was a little pricey for pre-teen and teen girls. Although, I will also say that in my opinion organics are worth the cost because kids shouldn’t be exposed to toxic junk. Also, this product was comparable in price to other like-minded organic lotions.

Overall though, all of us girls loved the sparkles, loved the packaging, and both Katana and Jade decided that they’d use the lotion again AND would love to try other Sparklehearts products. Also huge bonus points for the fun interactive website. That said, the girl reviewers would like to highly recommend this product for pre-teen and teen girls. I think adult women who like sweet scents would also like this lotion. None of us thought this was a boy-friendly product.

BONUS: Sparklehearts sent me a great sale code for Tree Hugging Family readers to use. Head to Sparklehearts, choose your fave products, and when checking out, enter the code, Blog20, which is good for 20% off any purchase.

Don’t forget to enter our great Sparklehearts Natural Beauty Giveaway if you’d like to win your own Sparklehearts products to try.