The mission of Osmia is to energize consumers and educate them about the chemicals used in other beauty products. Their luxury skin care lineup is made using natural ingredients that they hope will inspire others to make a softer impact on the environment. Founded in 2012, Osmia was started by Dr. Sarah Villafranco who changed from emergency medicine to beauty because of her passion for plant-based materials. She sees her line as medicine for the skin, senses, and the earth. Since 2012, Osmia has grown to include a strong team of women who handle productions and operations.
Sarah, after founding her company, collected some of her closest friends and searched for brand new colleagues who could support her vision for the company. They are now a close-knit group of laughing and working women who handle the product design, sourcing, and marketing from their US-based office. It has grown from just Sarah to a full team that’s supportive, passionate, and eager to put a smile on the faces of their customers.
The founder keeps a blog where she talks about staying active, eating healthy, and living a healthy lifestyle. She promotes all-around healthy living amongst her company and consumers. In fact, Osmia has made a promise to never include parabens, phthalates, sulfates, pretochemicals, ethoxylated ingredients, synthetic colors, or synthetic fragrances. Osmia does use essential oil blends and plant-based materials, however, they are not a certified organic company. They claim they do try to use the certified organic form of an ingredient when it’s available.
Products Overview
Osmia produces both face and body products. In the facial section, they sell black clay facial soap, pumpkin facial soap, rose clay facial soap, and gentle foaming cleanser. They also product exfoliating masks, nourishing masks, gel tones, face creams, rose drops, facial serums, Lip Doctor, Lip Repair, and starter sets.
Their starter sets make great gifts and similar sets are available in the body section, which includes soaps, salt baths, milk baths, tea baths, body buff, body oils, body essence, body mousse, deodorant, and perfumes. As a luxury brand, they are a huge source of earth-minded gifts for the body and their products always pick up some added popularity around the holidays.
Top Sellers
One of the top selling products at Osmia is their Brighten Facial Serum. It is said to clear up the skin and truly leave it glowing. People follow it with their facial soaps, with a favorite being their seasonal Pumpkin face soap. For the body, people love the dirty chai soap and describe it as warming and delicious. Other top products include their facial masks, like the Adzuki Nourishing Mask that includes red sandalwood to smooth and tone the skin.
Benefits
The top benefit of Osmia Organics’ products is that all products are made using plant-based materials that are good for the body and for the earth. They are certified cruelty-free and vegan, and give thorough directions for each product. They are up-front about what products contain, however, when they use one of their proprietary essential oil blends, they don’t display all the oils included. However, they do clarify on the website that consumers who have allergies to certain oils can contact them ahead of time to see whether a certain oil is present in a product or not.
They offer a variety of items marketed at different skin types. Some are for dry skin, some oily, some young, and some mature. They make fair claims about what to expect from each product and they don’t get to sale-sy in the descriptions. The main hyped up aspects of Osmia products are that they smell great and are natural—which are certainly huge pluses!
Negatives
As far as the negatives go, the easiest thing to argue is that the pricing is on the high side compared to off-the-shelf products. While Osmia certainly uses better ingredients, not everyone will be willing to pay $40 (plus tax and shipping) for a 1.6 ounce jar of the Adzuki nourishing face mask. Comparably speaking, the brand Uncle Harry’s also offers a natural, sandalwood based mask of the same size for just $5.99 (made in the USA as well using Ayurvedic ingredients).
So, what are consumers paying for? Obviously, Osmia is a luxury line. The products are high-quality, but a lot of the price comes from the fact that it isn’t a mass produced product. Even natural products coming from brands with a little more reach, like the example just mentioned, have much lower prices but they, of course, don’t necessarily hold a brand of class and elegance like Osmia is trying to. The products are organic, effective, and presented nicely, but consumers have to decide if that’s worth an extra $34.
Where To Buy
Osmia sells products directly on their website, but many people have joined them to become retailers in their local community. In fact, those who really like Osmia’s products can apply to become a retailer and get wholesale pricing to save a bit of money. However, when comparing buying from a local seller to buying direct from Osmia, the prices will be about the same. But, finding a local seller means you’ll have the opportunity to try out the products and see if you like them before making a purchase.
Select Osmia products are also sold on Amazon directly by Osmia Organics. They can also be purchased at a few other websites, like Anthropologie. The prices are comparable among all the buying options, and the direct purchase seems to be the route to go since new buyers can get 10% off at Osmia’s website when they sign up for their newsletter. But, depending on shipping costs, another website with a free shipping option might be a better choice with everything considered.
Osmia Organics Review Summary
Osmia is a reliable brand for those looking for items produced with care, using only natural ingredients. Osmia would be an easy go-to for people who are tired of reading labels and want an easy grab-and-go line of luxury products that they know they can trust to not include chemicals or harmful ingredients. But, the price tag is a bit high compared to similarly produced products from better-known brands. The packaging and service at Osmia is certainly fantastic, but consumers have to decide if the presentation and shopping experience are worth paying the extra money when they could get a comparable product for much lower prices.
That said, Osmia is positioning itself as a competitor against high-end, luxury products and not as a competitor against drug store brands. So, with that in mind, their branding makes sense. Their items are undoubtedly natural and high-quality, and their mission statement gives peace of mind and inspiration to all of those who choose to use their products. The most important thing to keep in mind is the price tag, because a quick search can bring up many money-saving alternatives.
They do offer a 10% off coupon for new customers who sign up to their newsletter, so that’s a definite plus! Additionally, their assistance is valuable, with tips on storing soap, recommendations for certain skin conditions like rosacea and acne, and even service regarding expiration dates, products they don’t necessarily sale, and using the products to get the best results.
