DORÉ

Norma Kamali swears by olive oil for her skin. And I mean, look at Norma Kamali.

My Greek grandmother also swears by olive oil for her skin. And since she’s not on social media you’ll have to take my word that she looks twenty years younger than her birth certificate states.

That’s all fine and good. But have you ever slathered olive oil on your body?

No?

Well, don’t worry. I have done this for both of us. Because there is nothing I won’t try in the name of skin care.

It’s messy at best. Post slather you stand in you tub wondering if you’ve lost your mind while you wait five minutes for the oil to sink in while listening to your favorite podcast. You finally give up and put on your black robe and putz about your studio wondering which neighbor is making a Greek salad. Then you realize YOU’RE the Greek salad. An hour later it’s past your bed time but you’re still a bit slime-y and salad-y and you don’t want to stain your white bed sheets.

That’s when you realize this olive oil routine is not sustainable.

A few weeks after my foray into olive oil slathering, Clary ended up on my desk next to my cluster of beauty products that have been sent to me to test. When I’m trying to tease out a joke in my writing, or need to give my eyes a break from the blue light emanating from my screen, my hands wander to these products. I pick one up and mindlessly slather it on myself. One such time a mindlessly slathered Clary’s Bath and Body Oil on my hands and immediately slathered on more because the smell was just too good.

Upon closer inspection I saw the main ingredient was olive oil! What black magic allowed this Clary oil to be made with olive oil while also allowing it to absorb immediately and not smell not like a Greek salad but instead a delightful garden of herbs.

I immediately emailed Jen, one of Clary’s founders, and told her I was obsessed. A few weeks later when she was in New York we met for coffee and turns out she’s as delightful and nurturing as her products. Jen founded Clary along with her friend Adriel when they were both embarking on motherhood and starting to question what products they should put on their children’s skin.

When looking at Clary’s ingredient page, I think it’s pretty clear what they settled on.

Couple those natural ingredients with the traditional craft of oil infusion, where flowers and herbs are slowly steeped in warm oil, and you have the genius, and clarity, of Clary.

Clary’s Bath and Body Oil is currently the only product I display on my bathroom counter besides toothbrushes and hand soap. It is slathered on religiously after my shower and doesn’t impeded me slipping on my jeans or into my bed two seconds later. And the smell of a Greek salad is left to where it should be found, on my lunch plate.