If you like what we make at GeoBlends, there is a good chance you will like these too.
Five products from independent shops that caught my eye. Nothing here is sponsored and I am not getting paid to say any of it. These are simply things I think you will love, and things I think the people you shop for will love.
For the one who never slows down
Fresh Start Wood Wick Candle
Scent and Psyche · from $14
White tea and thyme, softened with jasmine and a whisper of cucumber. It smells like climbing into freshly laundered sheets, which is roughly the fantasy of every tired woman I know.
It is a coconut soy blend, paraffin free, phthalate free, and infused with essential oils. Scent and Psyche describes it as hand poured in small batches in Minnesota. The wood wick crackles. That alone is worth it on a slow night.
Three sizes: Discovery at 24 hours of burn time, Signature at 38, and Statement at 60. The 4 oz Discovery is my pick for a stocking or a coworker gift, and the Signature is the one to give someone whose bedroom needs a reset.
For the hostess and the host gift
Apple Pie Jam
Little Black Box Baked Goods · $11
Apple pie in a jar, and that is not marketing language. It is crisp apples, cane sugar, lemon juice, pectin, and a custom pie spice blend cooked down until it spreads. Soft apple pieces, cinnamon and nutmeg on the nose, 8 oz.
Use it on buttered toast or biscuits, swirl it into oatmeal or yogurt, fill thumbprint cookies with it, or set it next to aged cheddar or brie on a board and watch it disappear first.
Eleven dollars is a hard price point to fill well. This does it. Little Black Box says it is made by hand in small batches out of Jacksonville, and stock moves fast in the fall. If you want a few, buy them early.
For the skincare minimalist
Activated Charcoal Complexion Soap
Hemlock Springs Soaps · $8
Most charcoal bars strip your face and leave it tight. This one does not, because the charcoal is paired with goat milk. The fats and proteins in the milk support the skin barrier while the charcoal binds to oil and buildup, so you get a real clean without the squeaky regret.
Olive, coconut, castor, sunflower and sustainably harvested palm oils, goat milk, shea butter, activated charcoal, and lavender, tea tree and lemongrass essential oils. Hemlock Springs describes their bars as handcrafted in small batches. The scent is quiet enough that it will not fight with anything else you use.
Daily use is fine for oily or breakout prone skin. If you run dry or sensitive, use it a couple times a week as a reset and follow with a simple moisturizer. Face or body, either works.
For the reader, the mom, the grandmother
The Complete E. B. White Children's Book Collection
Log Cabin Vintage · $30
Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan as a set, with the Garth Williams and Edward Frascino illustrations and the original dust jackets. Three of the best read alouds ever written, in editions that look like the ones you grew up with.
Log Cabin Vintage says every book is hand selected, and the listings include condition notes so you know what you are getting. Orders arrive gift wrapped, which is the part that makes this an easy send straight to someone else's door. Reviewers mention the vintage wrapping paper and the postcards tucked inside.
Vintage means one of a kind. When a set sells it is gone, so if it is in stock and you want it, take it.
For curls, frizz, and the whole family
Second Life Hair Butter
MadeOn Skin Care · $13 pocket size, $25 full size
Four ingredients: coconut oil, unbleached beeswax, naturally refined shea butter, and orange essential oil. That is the whole formula. It puts oil back into coarse, kinky, or frizzy hair and the beeswax gives just enough hold to keep flyaways down.
Scoop a little, melt it between your fingers, work it through wet or dry hair or straight onto the scalp. It doubles as a leave in conditioner and, in a pinch, as hand lotion or lip balm. A little really does go a long way, which is why the 1 oz tin lasts so long.
259 reviews on the product page and the recurring theme is frizz control without grease. The pocket tin is the travel and purse version and makes a great stocking stuffer.
Build the whole gift
Pick two or three from this list, add a bottle of Oh No Flo, and you have a comfort box for someone who could use one. Every shop here ships separately, so factor that in.
These are independent shops and none of these picks are sponsored. Prices and availability were accurate at the time of writing and can change.