While our local fashion scene is getting more and more exciting with the arrival of new designers or labels, the same can’t be said about the local beauty scenes. I don’t see enough newcomers in the market, which is why I was very intrigued when I saw a few bottles of body care products in one of the booths at Market Plaza Day. What caught my interest was because the brand was something I’ve never heard of before and the owners, who were at the booth the whole day, explained to me that their products are made in Indonesia. Excellent!
Rosaphora is actually a local brand which has 2 lines of products: fashion and beauty. The owners didn’t stop their vision there though, as they’re planning to add a home decoration line too in the future. But let’s just save those for future articles, right now I want to tell you a little bit more about their beauty line.
Rosaphora has a complete scented body care range and they categorize the products into 3 types, each with a different scent that you can choose to match with your personality.
They are Lil’ Miss Popular, Jazzalova and Rockstar. Each of this scent comes in body lotion, body scrub, shower gel, body spray and lip balm.
They also have a small-sized sunscreen lotion for body called Rosaphora By the Sea SPF 30 (70 ml). It’s light and non greasy with no annoying scent. I love it and will definitely be bringing this to my beach trip next week!
Lil’ Miss Popular has mango and brown sugar scent and I can see that this line could be the most popular one among the three. It has that creamy scent that agrees with most people even though the mango scent isn’t too apparent. It’s more of a fruity-vanilla foodie type of scent which is sweet and comforting at the same time.
Rockstar is described as a combination of sweet raspberry with a hint of spices like pink pepper and patchouli. You know what it smells like to me? Peppermint! Yes, it definitely has a fresh and minty scent with a hint of berry in the background. I didn’t detect the patchouli at all but pink pepper could be there although it’s not too pronounced. This combination somehow fits with the name and packaging.
Jazzalova is perhaps the most confusing one in the bunch. It is described as “A blend of green tea and chocolate with a hint of fresh neroli”. However, I smell neither green tea nor chocolate in the products, except a very faint of chocolate in the body spray. In the shower gel and lip balm, the predominant note is the neroli. So it has the fresh and green “cut grass” scent which I love! I wish they would just go with that direction instead of green tea and chocolate which they didn’t capture very well.
The body lotion in all 3 range has a nice consistency, not too thick or too light. Because of the small bottle (100 ml), you can slip it into your handbag and use it on your hands or legs when your skin starts to feel dry. The body scrub is perhaps my favorite because they have the right amount and size of grits to help scrub those dead skin cells away. The body spray is well…body spray. It’s enough to freshen up your body after shower but don’t expect the scent to last a long time. Though you can probably layer it with the shower gel and body lotion to make it last longer.
I like the size of the lip balm. It’s tiny but to me it’s perfect because I love trying different lip balms and usually get impatient when I can’t finish the one I’m currently using. I also like the clear and waxy formula which is similar to the old MAC lip conditioner (the one without SPF) however, I find it lacking in its moisturizing ability because it’s not emollient enough.
All Rosaphora body care products come in small 100 ml clear plastic bottle packaging with peel-on labels. I love it because I’ve got a trip coming next month and these will not take too much space in my beauty bag. However, I find that for the size, the pricing is a little bit steep. The body lotion retails for IDR 95 thousand while the body scrub is IDR 97 thousand a pop. The shower gel is IDR 89 thousand, body spray is IDR 88 thousand while the 5 ml lip balm is IDR 78 thousand. To compare, Bath & Body Works travel size spray mist (89 ml) retails for US$5 and is being sold at IDR 65 thousand in our beloved Market Plaza. And you know people are familiar with the scent and quality of Bath & Body Works products. In my opinion, Rosaphora should aim for product quality that are on par, or even superior, than those brands and at a lower price point. And you know what? Judging from the collection I tested, which may not be perfect but full of potential, I believe they can do it!
My verdict of Rosaphora body care products: they’re the perfect size for traveling and if you want to get the full range with one corresponding scent, get the sweet and alluring Lil’ Miss Popular. But if you’re into a less feminine scent, try Rockstar instead as it has an “edgier” scent. If you want something unique and totally fresh, get Jazzalova body lotion, shower gel and scrub but skip the body spray. Oh and while you’re at it, do get the sunscreen lotion too!
