The last year has brought us some of the most unexpected yet interesting collaborations that we never could have imagined. We've seen a lipstick brand team up with an underwear brand, a fragrance founder work with an affordable furniture powerhouse, and a skin-care brand get together with a beloved TV show. And now, 2021 is kicking off with yet another inspired alliance: Beloved natural deodorant brand Native is launching a collaboration with one of our favorite designers, Justina Blakeney.
If you don't know Blakeney by name, you may still be familiar with her design blog turned stunning home collection, Jungalow. Infused with global inspiration and vibrancy, Jungalow's "imaginative world of color and patterns" is what caught Native's attention, according to Mia Croft, the deodorant brand's creative director of marketing. And when Blakeney shared with them that she was personally making an effort to switch to aluminum-free deodorant, the partnership seemed inevitable in the best possible way.
"I've always been careful about the stuff I put on my body, as well as in my body, and Native is all about offering cleaner personal-care products that work really well," Blakeney tells Allure. Notice that she said products — not just deodorant. That because, while the collaboration launching on January 5 includes Native's famous deodorant in four new scents, it also features body wash. Each aluminum-free, vegan deodorant and pH-balanced body wash come in Palm Leaf & Bergamot, Tangerine & Citrus Blossom, Paradise Flower & Amber, and Sandalwood & Fig.
Understandably, Blakeney has a hard time picking a favorite of her collab's scents. "If I had to choose, my favorite deodorant is probably the Fig & Sandalwood. But I think that has to do with the phase I'm in right now where I really gravitate towards woodsy, earthy scents," she says. "But on a special occasion, I think I'd go with Tangerine & Citrus Blossom because it's such a romantic scent and it transports me to some of my favorite locations like Morocco and Ojai, California."
It's not just the scents that Blakeney had input on. The packaging design is clearly Jungalow-adjacent. "The packaging features my hand-painted artwork," she tells Allure. "With Native's minimal aesthetic, I knew I would have fun bringing a bit of fun jungalciousness to the packaging."
Although this is Blakeney's first time working on personal-care products, she was able to apply her usual process to this new pursuit. “The first thing that I think about is, what emotion do I want this product to illicit? Is it happiness? Comfort? Hope? Bliss? Joy? Because of this approach, working with Native to translate my aesthetic into deodorant and body wash was similar to the process I go through with any design project," she says. "In this case, I wanted the product to transport me to a place where I feel inspired, curious, and refreshed."
Needless to say, the collection will transport anyone who uses it to that place. You can get the deodorants for $12 each ($13 for the plastic-free option) and body washes for $8 each starting January 5 at nativecos.com and at select Target locations on January 31.
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