Lush unveils Día de los Muertos collection featuring Sonoma’s Blanca Molina

The self-described “Latina Maximalist” art of graphic designer and muralist Blanca Molina can be seen on the walls of local businesses in Santa Rosa and her hometown of Cloverdale, where her colorful, large-scale murals share messages of joy and positivity.

Now, Molina’s vivid works are appearing on a smaller scale – on the shelves of Lush Cosmetics stores in Santa Rosa and beyond – as her art adorns the packaging of the company’s newest line of Día de los Muertos-inspired products.

Last month, the globally recognized cosmetics brand, best known for inventing the bath bomb, released its 11-piece collection of soaps, shower gels, bath bombs and bars, fragrances and lip balm to celebrate the Mexican holiday, also known as Day of the Dead.

Typically observed on Nov. 1-2, Día de los Muertos is a time when families gather to remember and honor loved ones who have died, with altars, flowers, food and iconic symbols like skulls and skeletons.

Lush reached out to Molina earlier this year to design the collection’s gift box and a knot wrap – a reusable fabric square that can be worn as a scarf or head covering, or used in place of a bag – as part of the company’s Co-Create program. The initiative aims to promote diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging “by lifting up authentic stories from respective communities,” Lush said in a news release last month.

According to Molina, the company discovered her through her Instagram account, which features many of her pieces centered around Día de los Muertos themes.

“My style is, I guess, a Día de los Muertos style,” Molina said in a phone call earlier this month. “I’ve always been drawn to very vibrant, colorful illustrations, and Día de los Muertos falls into that category because everything is so vibrant.”

Molina said Lush was particularly drawn to her illustrations of traditional iconography, such as sugar skulls, corazones sagrados (sacred hearts) and altars.

Those symbols appear in Molina’s “Amor Eterno” (eternal love) knot wrap for Lush. The fabric, which measures 27.5 square inches, is priced at $9.50.

“They also needed a theme that goes with that design,” Molina explained. “I presented a few options, and the one they liked was Amor Eterno, because it’s saying the dead might not be here anymore, but the love still lives on.”

Molina’s “Sweet Recuerdo” (sweet memory) gift box design showcases the Guadalajara native’s Hispanic heritage and Sonoma County upbringing, incorporating a mix of English and Spanish words among sugar skulls, marigold flowers and flaming hearts. The box, which includes Lush’s Concha bubble bar and Champurrado shower gel, retails for $31.

Both products are now available online and in-store.

Locals can also see Molina’s art around Sonoma County – at Tía María bakery, Sazón Peruvian restaurant and Henhouse Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, on the side of the Encore Dance Theater in Cloverdale and wrapped around a zero-emission bus in Napa.

For more information, visit blancacreative.com.