Kate McCleod Moisturizing Daily Body Stone Review | Zero Waste, Natural Body Lotion
The Top Line:
MIXED BUY — but know you will be paying a premium. We really like that melting point is very low and thus most of the lotion is absorbed into our skin, which has been hard to find. Note: this means it’ll melt in hot weathe! The scent is very subtle: while we typically like that, given the price point, we would almost expect the Kate McLeod Daily Stone to be a solid, moisturizing perfume. So, we would expect a bit more scent. We also really like that it is completely zero waste that there are only a handful of ingredients (cocoa butter, moisturizing oils, and essential oils) — and no chemicals.
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: $38 for the 3.5oz Daily Stone full size; $45 if you add the bamboo canister; $14.00 for the 1.5oz Daily Stone Mini. Both sizes offer a subscription: 20% off and free shipping (ships every 4wk, 6wk, 8wk, and 12wk).
How ‘Clean’ Is This? Pretty clean. No plastic and: hypoallergenic (but says not suitable for those with nut allergies); vegan friendly/Leaping Bunny cruelty-free certified; ingredients are cocoa butter and moisturizing & essential oils.
Packaging: Muslin cloth and a paper box - zero plastic. Unfortunately, our bamboo box did not arrive on purchase, but we will update once we hear from customer service.
Purchasing & Shipping: Shipping is a flat $5 regardless of purchase. Free shipping only comes with subscriptions. Shipped within 5 business days.
Note: Also available on Amazon
Good to know: The body stones, despite their name, have a very low melting temperature. Shipping across hot climate or hot temperatures can melt the bars. Given the winter months, ours was fine.
What’s Your Impact? No plastic bottles for lotion — and all natural ingredients. Zero chemicals
The Experience
Context: Using body lotion daily, we have tried to switch that into being zero waste too. Previously, we tried a couple of other solid lotions or moisturizers, including Lush’s Bar in Pansy and Sustain Yourself lotion bar.
Ingredients are limited: unscented cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil + essential oils
The stone melts so much more easily than the other two lotion bars that we’ve tried.
The scent is very light: you can lightly smell the almond oil, frankincense, and neroli.
You can still feel the heaviness that a solid lotion or thick cream that may stay on the skin for a moment, but the Daily Stone gets absorbed relatively quickly, unlike other solid lotions.
The Cost
We are not sure how long this stone lasts compared to a liquid lotion. So instead of comparing apples and oranges, we will just show you the price per ounce of both solid and liquid lotions and moisturizers. Note: we believe that 1oz of a solid lotion lasts much longer than 1 oz of liquid — we just don’t know if it’s 3x or more like 10x.
Money Report: Before comparing to other brands, we wanted to note that the mini is actually cheaper per ounce than the standard lotion bars. The subscription to the mini is the cheapest way to purchase the stones.
As far as comparison: the Kate McCleod Stones are among the most expensive solid lotions. That’s all.
The Good:
✔ Melts into your skin so easily compared to other solid lotions
✔ Low melting point means it melts quickly - which can be bad in hot weather
✔ Very simple ingredients that include unscented cocoa butter and moisturizing oils
✔ Naturally scented with essential oils, no fragrance
✔ Leaping bunny certified/cruelty free
The Bad:
✗ Pricy daily lotion — more of a bit of luxury
✗ The Daily Stone has such a light scent that it’s almost not there
✗ Melts in hot weather
Our Recommendation:
MIXED BUY — but know you will be paying a premium. We really like that most of the lotion is absorbed into our skin, which has been hard to find. The scent is very subtle: while we typically like that, given the price point, we would almost treat the Kate McLeod Daily Stone as a solid, moisturizing perfume. We also really like that it is completely zero waste that there are only a handful of ingredients — and no chemicals.
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
