Rafael Adon and his line of ethically sourced and all-natural skin care, Verdura Botanica, are one of St. Louis’ best-kept beauty secrets. Originating in Santa Barbara, California, the line found a second home in Lafayette Square in 2006, when Adon moved here. Since then, his great-grandmother’s skin care lotions and potions have laid the foundation for his company, bringing some of the best natural skin care products to St. Louisans.
Town&Style: What is your best seller?
Rafael Adon: Our Black Olive scent in perfumes, soaps, lotions and candles, hands down, 2:1.
T&S: Why did you decide to continue the family business?
RA: I’m a fourth generation Californian-Mexican, and the practice of ethno-botany (plant uses for everyday healing) was part of my upbringing. I grew up immersed in horticulture and growing botanicals. In the late ’90s I was inspired to share the use of plants for skin care and founded a soap company called Rancho Zacarías Hand-Crafted Soap of Santa Barbara (named after my Jack Russell Terrier, Zachariah). RZ soaps were made from the botanicals growing on our 800-acre ranch: avocados, persimmons, figs, quinces, etc. I was intrigued to bring an awareness about our California ranching tradition to the everyday citizen. We rebranded as Verdura Botanica and have scaled up its reach, production and offerings.
T&S: What makes Verdura Botanica different?
RA: Our soap recipe, the mixture of fats with plant oils, can be traced to my great-grandmother’s practice of making tallow candles and soaps in the late 1800s, early 1900s. So in a way, we have deep roots to a time when people made do with the resources they had around them. All our soaps are made with organic oils of olive, coconut and soy from producers who practice sustainable harvesting.
T&S: What skin care/beauty lines do you admire?
RA: I love Lush! I love their scrappy origins, their lessons learned from growing too fast and bankrupting themselves … and I love their re-emergence as a world leader in sustainable practices to make beauty products. I knew they were the real deal since their fig soap contains actual fig fruit and leaves. All VB products contain actual plant matter, too.
T&S: How did the line end up in St. Louis?
RA: I moved to St. Louis in 2006 for a university position. I’m a professor of education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
T&S: Where did the name Verdura Botanica come from?
RA: ‘Verdura’ is a Spanish word that refers to green goods, or vegetables/bounty/greenness. ‘Botanica’ is both Spanish and Latin and refers to the understanding, curating and offering of healing botanicals. The words express the identity of our company: We are artisans and lovers of nature, and we package our products in transportable ways that the everyday person can enjoy.
T&S: What new products will you be introducing in 2017?
RA: We are launching our Formulario 70 made-to-measure perfumery. Its offerings will be ready-to-wear perfumes that we will decant for you. The exciting part is, we can work with you to design a one-of-a-kind scent, made just for you!
T&S: If your grandmother was still alive, what would she think of today’s beauty products?
RA: My grandmother, Enriqueta Reyna de Bernal, was a loving, hardworking and deeply spiritual woman. She taught us to make sense of the world around us and that everything is connected, with signs all around us that are meant to be pondered and possibly acted upon. I think she’d see Verdura Botanica as the manifestation of a stirring I had almost 20 years ago, when I asked, “What if we could bring to people’s awareness the love of plants, a commitment to sustainability and family business?” I think she’d be proud. She passed in 2006, and there’s not a single day that I don’t think of her.
Photo: Bill Barrett
