Top All-Natural Skincare Gifts for the Holidays

I try to start gift shopping early and pick things up slowly as I find them, a little at a time, mostly so December doesn't turn into a scramble. So this list is basically my own early start as much as it's something for you to skim later.

A few things I actually think about when I'm picking something up, not just my own stuff:

• something they'll actually use beats something that just looks nice sitting on a shelf
• something that arrives ready to hand over beats something that needs assembling or wrapping
• specific beats generic every time.

Here's what I'd actually reach for this year, all things that'll still be around whenever you get to reading this.

1. Bar Soap Gift Bundle

A handmade bar soap, a sisal soap saver bag, and your choice of a bamboo or white soap dish, wrapped with a ribbon and a tag. This is the one I send when I want it to already look finished, without me doing the wrapping myself. Bar Soap Gift Bundle

2. Soap Crate Gift Set

Three bars of handmade soap tucked into a little wooden crate, plastic free start to finish. Good for someone who'd genuinely enjoy the crate itself once the soap's gone. Soap Crate Gift Set

3. Oily Skin Starter Kit

A simple routine built specifically for oily, blemish prone, or combination skin. If you know someone who's been fighting their skin for years and just wants someone to hand them a starting point, this is it. Oily Skin Starter Kit

4. Renew Tallow Cream

Frankincense scented, and one of the ones I hear back about most. A customer told me she was hesitant to try tallow at all, but after I sent her a sample, she was sold. That's most of why I still do samples. Renew Tallow Cream

5. Replenish Face Serum

This one's for the person on your list who already has a skincare routine they like and doesn't need you reinventing it, just adding one good thing to it. Replenish Face Serum

Why I still make everything by hand

Everything on this list is something I made myself, in small batches, from ingredients I picked out and can actually tell you about if you ask. That's not a marketing line, it's genuinely how I like to work. I know what's going into every jar and bottle because I'm the one who put it there, and I'd rather make less, more carefully, than more of something I couldn't stand behind. That's the whole reason to keep it small like this.

Whatever you end up picking, I hope it's something they'll actually use and enjoy, not just something that looked nice in a photo.