Do Good

By Alyssa Swanson Hamilton

What’s one of the most striking things about entering Fill Up Buttercup, a shop dedicated to nontoxic, sustainable and zero-waste living in Costa Mesa? Despite the bounty of bulk cleaning and personal care products, there’s a refreshing lack of scent. The shop evokes freshness in a way that feels inspired by nature and essential oils, but your senses are not assaulted by artificial fragrances (which many of us in Generation Febreze have been conditioned to equate with cleanliness). If you notice fragrance when you walk down a supermarket aisle, it’s the chemicals you’re smelling, explains Fill Up Buttercup founder Jamie Lake, a California native. Unlike food, cosmetics and other personal care products, however, cleaning products are not required by federal law to show a list of ingredients.

“People might not realize that in the laundry detergent aisle, when they smell those fragrances, they are actually seeping through the plastic,” she says. “Those chemicals also go into your skin.” Jamie began her journey years prior to help her father, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She started eliminating toxic products from their shelves, while also spending countless hours on beaches picking up trash in a bid to keep plastic out of the ocean and landfills. She reused what she already had, avoided single-use plastics and sought out nontoxic household personal care alternatives. She soon realized her lifestyle was becoming a full-time job. Her passion project became Fill Up Buttercup, a bright and tranquil space with a distinct retro hippie vibe glowing with peach, gold and tangerine flower-power hues. Initially housed in a 200-square-foot space behind a Costa Mesa yoga studio, Fill Up Buttercup joined its likeminded, health-forward neighbors Fermentation Farm and The Water Brewery in Victoria Square in 2021.

“We have such a cool community here,” Jamie says. “You can see people starting at Fermentation Farm and working their way down to us and Water Brewery. We have so many essentials covered, right here!” Fill Up Buttercup started out as an educational model, one Jamie wasn’t sure would take off. “And then everyone that walked in said they’d been waiting for a place like this, a kind of onestop shop for nontoxic zero waste products,” she says. “They were excited. We joke that we’re the new Target.” Fill Up Buttercup offers bulk refills for virtually everything serving your kitchen, laundry, house cleaning and personal care life. From floor cleaners to pet shampoo, face astringents to air fresheners, Jamie has you covered. You can bring in your own container, purchase a glass or aluminum one in the shop, or help yourself to a freebie donated by a local community member (Fill Up Buttercup accepts clean glass container donations). The prices are reasonable: All-purpose cleaner by The Cleaner Soul in lavender, sage, coconut or eucalyptus runs 40 cents per ounce; Dropps laundry detergent pods in lavender eucalyptus, sage pine or unscented are 30 cents each.

Body care products can be a more challenging sell, says Jamie. People are very attached to their face and body care rituals, and who hasn’t had a traumatic experience with a natural

deodorant that failed us in our time of need? For the hesitant, the shop offers “Simple Swap Wednesdays” on its Instagram page; an example would be subbing out Cetaphil face wash for the shop’s essential wholesale mango/charcoal offering Fill Up Buttercup’s diverse offerings also include reusable cloth paper towel alternatives, “plant digestible” cat litter waste bags and compostable food waste bags, makeup and hair care products. The hottest items right now? Hand soap, laundry pods and Iron Lion soap, heavenly plant-based bars crafted in small batches by a vendor in Santa Ana. Many items on the shelves are created by local artisans, Jamie says. “We use all of these products ourselves, so we can say with confidence that they work very well and can be swapped out for your traditional gotos,” she notes. “In fact, they often work better than the original product a customer was using.” But she also acknowledges that making changes to our daily habits can feel overwhelming. “We encourage people to do what you can, where you can,” she says. “Even changing one or two things is significant. Swapping out your dishwasher and laundry products in favor of the bulk options we offer that are plastic-free, for example, eliminates the need for plastic jugs. Once you start realizing that you’re essentially buying your trash when you purchase commercial cleaning and personal care products, it’s easier to conceptualize. Every change makes a positive impact.” According to National Geographic, only 9 percent of recyclables are actually recycled. The rest are sitting in landfills. To stem the tide of plastics flooding the planet, she adds, we must stop buying them and start reusing what we already have. Don’t have time to shop? Fill Up Buttercup also offers online ordering with curbside pick-up or local delivery within a 5-mile radius. If you choose delivery, the shop will also pick up your empty bottles and reuse them. Fill Up Buttercup is located at 1125 Victoria Street, Unit C, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. fillupbuttercup.com | IG: @fillupbuttercup