A little Swedish-transplant-to-Canada skincare business called Tval! came knocking on my cyber door one day and I answered to some of the most exquisitely made skincare products I've ever had the pleasure to play with.

Headed by a lovely young woman named Anna Hellqvist and her fiance Jason Bailey, Tval! offers classic European style blended with New World boldness.

Body Butter --->

Ginger Fig - Fresh and green and full of liveliness, as addictive as chocolate and twice as luscious, Tval!'s Ginger Fig Body Butter is a rich, soft and beautiful skincare cream made with shea butter, avocado oil, cocoa butter, water, fragrance and emulsifier. I found myself holding the jar in one hand and delicately poking the soft butter with the index finger of my other hand, rolling it around in the jar, just so I could feel it. I was reaching for this butter all day long, even though my skin couldn't soak up another drop! This lovely cream has a soft, whipped ricotta cheese texture that just melts away into your skin with absolutely no greasy after effect, and the scent is divinity itself.

Honey & Orange Blossom - When I picked my choices for review, I was so looking forward to the Ginger Fig, wringing my hands and all that other weird excitable stuff, but after receiving the Honey & Orange Blossom, I really don't know what I was thinking. The first word that came to mind when I opened this jar was, 'Eat!'. Ok, I didn't, but man, oh, man, was I tempted. This body butter is just dreamy, blended with the same base ingredients as the Ginger Fig - Honey & Orange Blossom presents a deep, delicious, intoxicating scent - definitely dripping honey and cloying sweet blossoms - like a blissful kiss at the fruit stand, baby! I had a hard time putting down this jar of butter (even harder than with the Ginger Fig), and since I really couldn't keep putting more on (my skin was having none of it), I'd WASH then reapply. Is that crazy, or what?

Tval!'s body butters come beautifully packaged in amber PET jars with brushed aluminum lids. The top label is in both English and Swedish, for all of Anna's original Swedish customers. These are definitely spa quality butters that are perfect for resale in any posh boutique in any city in the world.

The butters are priced at $12.40 Canadian, which translates to $9.45 USA, for a 4 oz (120 ml) jar.

Soap -->

Tval!'s handmade soap is a creamy concoction of canola, castor, cocoa butter and coconut oil. The bars weigh in at about 3.5 to 4 oz's each, come packaged in clear wrap with a lovely label describing the soap's contents, as well as sporting the nifty little 'handmade beauty Network' logo, and, of course, the labels are in English and Swedish. The Ginger Fig soap was just delicious, with the same sweet, sappy fig scent as the butter. It lathered beautifully and left my skin feeling soft and smooth after shower. I'd recommend this soap to anybody who loves REAL fruit scent - Ginger Fig is light and not heavily perfumey, but the scent still lingers on the skin for hours. Honey & Orange Blossom was, of course, my favorite. With the deep, rich, almost ambery honey scent blended with the high floral of orange blossom, I felt like I was driving down the Blossom Trail in Central California with the scent of blooming orange trees flowing through the car windows. Yes, it's that good. And smooth - this soap was so creamy I thought it would turn to liquid in my hands (it didn't).

Tval!'s soaps are priced a $5.00 Canadian; $3.81 USA. Well worth every cent.

I asked Anna a few questions I thought would be of interest to some of our Bella readers.

Q. When did you start making natural skincare?
A. For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in flowers and herbs and how they can be used in skincare. I remember one summer, I must have been about 14-years-old, and I was spending a few weeks with my grandparents. We went into town and I found a book called "Make Your Own Natural Beauty Products" and my heart jumped! I bought the book and then got my grandfather to find glycerin and oils for me, and my grandmother helped me pick and dry lavender, chamomile and calendula. Since then I have always been experimenting with making creams, lotions and soaps!

Q. What were your inspirations?
A. I guess you can say that I have a 'mad scientist' in me. I actually have a master's in biology and chemistry, and a Ph.D. in zoology, so I DO enjoy experimenting. I always think, 'But what if I try this?' And sometimes it turns out quite nice.

Q. What do you see in your future as far as the skincare biz is concerned?
A. I think people are looking for something more in their skincare products than just a cream or just a cleanser. We want something unique, something made with a purpose, other than a big company wanting to make money. You can even see that the big companies have noticed the trend of smaller companies making handcrafted natural products, and they try to mimick that. So, I definitely see a shift from synthetic mass produced products to niched, natural and trendy products made on a smaller scale.

Q. Which of your own skincare products is your favorite?
A. The Cinnamon Hazelnut Cappuccino soap. It smells just like its name, and it lathers like crazy. It's my favorite shower companion.

Check out all of Tval!'s great skincare by following the link to the right of this article.

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Be Beautiful!