Tomato Bath & Body Oil
The Scent: We love this scent so much. It's really a verb; picking tomatoes. The scent the tomato leaves leave on your hands.
The Inspiration: It reminds our co-founder Christopher Gable of his Grandfather's farm when he was a kid.
The Story: The United States Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1883, a rather innocuous piece of legislation requiring a 10% tax on imported vegetables, in response to growing international trade. Just a few short years later, a tomato importer evaluated the law closely, and decided to challenge it on the botanical grounds that a tomato was in fact technically a fruit, not a vegetable, and should therefore be exempt from said tax. John Nix's case posed merit enough to land the case before the Supreme Court in 1893. In Nix vs Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), Justice Gray wrote, "Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine...But in the common language of the people...these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens. Thus, the court rejected the botanical truth that the tomato is in fact a monstrously sized berry, and deferred to the culinary vernacular of vegetable to describe it. Thus, the tax on imported tomatoes is still paid today.
Nor do the politics of tomatoes end at the Supreme Court. In 1981, the USDA chairman declared ketchup to be a vegetable to justify Reagan administration budget cuts in the school lunch program. Our Tomato, however, owes nothing to politics or law, just great perfumery.
Baby Powder Cologne Spray
The Scent: As clean and as fresh as it gets, like the proverbial freshly powdered baby’s behind. Let Demeter’s Baby Powder takes you on a journey through the pleasures, the innocence and the scents of childhood.
The Story: In the 1890’s, Italian talc was mixed with plasters, to reduce irritation. Soon customers were asking for more talc. Shortly thereafter, that scented talc was being sold as baby powder, creating the link in our minds between the scent of baby powder and fresh cleanliness. It is that fresh scent that is the inspiration for Demeter’s Baby Powder.