Smells like lemongrass and cedar, so it doubles as summer perfume. Good Flower Farm’s DEET-free bug spray from northern Wisconsin, in a 4 fl oz or 2.7 fl oz travel bottle.
Leave it by the kitchen sink and time how long before someone tries to eat it. Senteurs de France croissant soap, 50 g, with a touch of vanilla, boxed.
For a guest bath, a stocking, or anyone who’s ever come home from Paris sad. Senteurs de France baguette soap, 50 g, bread-scented, made near Marseille.
The last step, warm and woody: one or two pumps smoothed through the ends. Najeau hair serum with argan, marula, and sea buckthorn, 3.4 oz. Start with less.
Comb it through damp hair and leave it, or use a little on dry ends between washes. Najeau leave-in conditioner with quinoa, jojoba, and argan, 6.8 oz.
The one Najeau is known for, and the one you use before shampoo: a few drops per section, a few minutes, then wash. Follicle Drops pre-shampoo scalp oil.
Bergamot and grapefruit peel in the rinse-out half of wash day: mid-lengths to ends, a minute or two, rinse. Najeau lightweight conditioner, 10 oz, color-safe.
On damp skin right after a shower, with extra for elbows, knees, and heels. Ursa Major Golden Hour Body Butter, shea and vegan squalane, 6.7 fl oz glass jar.
Rich in the jar, thin on the skin, and the cream the Golden Hour line is named for. Ursa Major Golden Hour Recovery Cream face moisturizer, 1.57 fl oz.
Two stable forms of vitamin C that won’t oxidize and turn orange in the bottle. Ursa Major Brighten Up vitamin C serum, 1 fl oz glass pump, vegan, Vermont.
For people who like suds, in the travel bottle. Ursa Major Fantastic Face Wash Traveler, a sulfate-free foaming gel cleanser, 1 fl oz, spearmint-cedar-lime.
No sheet, no twenty-minute wait: five minutes, then a damp washcloth. Ursa Major Vital Spring hydration face mask, hyaluronate and flaxseed, 1.69 fl oz.
Finishes dry to the touch, though give it a minute before you get dressed. Ursa Major Golden Hour Dry Oil for body and hair, rose-sandalwood scent, 5 fl oz.
Lighter than the Body Butter, heavier than the Dry Oil, layers under either. Ursa Major Golden Hour Body Serum, meadowsweet and sea buckthorn, 5 fl oz.
Goes on under moisturizer, or mix a pump straight into it. Ursa Major Forest Water hyaluronic acid serum with lupine peptides and tremella mushroom, 1 fl oz.
Nothing complicated: damp or dry skin, morning or night, or whenever. Ursa Major Botanic Buzz everyday body lotion, Herbal Citrus scent, 7.4 fl oz glass pump.
A wake-up-and-go shower: eucalyptus, peppermint, and citrus, matching deodorant a few feet away. Ursa Major Hoppin’ Fresh sulfate-free body wash, 10 fl oz.
Three minutes on, then rinse; Ursa Major says overnight is fine too. Bright & Easy fruit enzyme face mask, pomegranate, hibiscus, willow bark, 1.57 fl oz.
For anyone who’d rather not feel their moisturizer. Ursa Major Fortifying Gel Moisturizer, water-based with willow bark and aloe, herbal scent, 1.7 fl oz.
This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Sted’s Salty Licorice mini, 0.5 oz: salmiakki’s gentler cousin, licorice powder and sea salt in organic white chocolate. Buy two; someone will want the other.
Malt and caramel in the finish, from the beans alone. Sted’s Nordic Milk mini, 0.5 oz of Scandinavian-style organic milk chocolate for the Christmas table.
The milk chocolate Sted’s founders’ Scandinavian relatives used to mail over, remade in Minnesota from four organic ingredients. Nordic Milk bar, 2 oz.
Honey swirled through 50% dark milk chocolate, with just enough lavender to read as floral, not soapy. Sted’s Honey Lavender bar, 2 oz, Minnesota bean-to-bar.
The mini to hand someone who thinks they’ve tried every chocolate bar: Sted’s turmeric white chocolate with cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, and honey. 0.5 oz.
Sted’s Golden Milk took a silver at the 2021 International Chocolate Awards: turmeric white chocolate with cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, and honey. 2 oz.
Four organic ingredients and a malt-and-caramel finish that comes from the roast, not from flavoring. Sted’s Classic Milk chocolate bar, 2 oz, bean-to-bar.
Sted’s mini Cardamom Krumkake Cookie bar: the two-bite version of the Norwegian cookie plate, dark milk chocolate and all. 0.5 oz, sized for a stocking.