VANILLA DREAM
Luxurious Handcrafted Face Cream
Small Batch, only 59 jars made. Not available anywhere else.
a collaboration: Gather x Priya Means Love x dream visitation
A nourishing indulgence for face, hands, anywhere. Intensely repairing and deeply sensorial, this vanilla bean steeped cream provides rich, buttery emollience and gentle comforting sweetness. Three extractions of real vanilla beans in a no-filler emulsion creates an exquisite, authentic experience of one of the globe's most treasured ingredients, one chased by Chanel and revered by cuisines the world over, a time consuming bean to cultivate and a legendary catalyst of sensuality.
She came in a dream, my mother, returning to the Earth plane for a gift. She arrived fully in her wild red tresses and fringed wool cape, bearing a basket of jars. "I had to come back" she said, and handed me a jar. In these instances, in real life, this is the moment she looked at you with palpable excitement, anticipation, and mischief, her hazel eyes capturing the stars. I opened the jar and inhaled deeper than ever, letting the creamy bourbon barrel sweetness fill my lungs and body. "I had to come back and make one last cream." she said. "It's vanilla. That's it. Just a lot, a lot, of vanilla."
I asked my children what we will do now that Nana isn't here to make creams. They both said "you're friend Priya, her creams come the closest". And that connected my dream to the idea of co-creating it with Priya -
Priya is kindred spirit. I met her many years back, I want to say 2013, attending a perfumery intensive at Providence Perfume Company. We connected in some way .. perhaps over our love for olfactory nuance, our equally difficult for baristas to say Sanskrit names, our efforts to reconcile a connected life in a disconnected world or over the making of wild plant tinctures.... whatever the spark was it stayed. We studied together at a shared air b&b for a couple more perfumery intensives, where we stayed up into the wee hours of the night immersed in smell-shares and rolling banter. Like I imagine college days would be remembered for some; inquisitive, thick with learning, blessed with encouragement and camaraderie, and divinely inspired. We've stayed in touch over the years, seemingly without the barrier of time or distance.
Every connection with Priya delights my being, and we are both honored to bring forth this Vanilla cream that so clearly my mother wished for her last and final creation. Priya's mastery of emulsions and formulation skills shine forth here, marrying the vision of indulgence with my mother's insistence on quality and simplicity. The cream offers the best of hand selected ingredients and the attention and freshness of small batch production.
VANILLA DREAM is rich - you only need a tiny dollop for the whole face. The size of a pomegranate seed or a pine nut. Gently massage into the skin, and allow a couple minutes for it to be fully absorbed before deciding if you want to add more. It begins very creamy and smooth, and turns to buttery, supple skin that remains plush for hours.
The aroma is round, semi sweet, of true vanilla bean, gourmand, and slightly woody, like that of gourmet vanilla extract. It lingers for a few minutes and then delicately dissipates.
Please enjoy Priya's plethora of treasures here.
Vanilla Dream Ingredients:
Grapeseed oil (expeller-pressed, not solvent extracted), organic aloe vera, organic neroli hydrosol, nilotica shea butter, mountain spring water, in-house vanilla bean-infused golden jojoba oil, organic calendula tincture (organic cane spirit, local organic calendula flower), organic babassu oil, local small farm beeswax, camellia seed oil, vitamin e (from non-gmo sources), Vanilla Co2 (26% Vanillin content), Vanilla Absolute, organic rosemary oil antioxidant, borax. 30 ml jar. best used by Oct 2026.
