Nature's Trace

Spring and all its finery is slowly dissolving into summer. Trees are all leafed out and Linden nearly ready to bloom. Babies are fledging and finding their feet. It's growing season, planting and starting, greeting fresh shoots from the annuals and plants that reseeded.

If you're in the garden like me these days, and working up a good sweat, Charcoal Sea Salt is a great summer companion! The peppermint and lavender scent is invigorating and soothing, and the tiny charcoal particles feel amazing on the skin. I call this my, "head to toe bar" because you can wash your hair, body and face with it!! Highly recommend you add it to your shower or sink 🫧

What are you planting this spring? 🌱 (Literally or metaphorically!)

A little something to celebrate spring 🌱

Meet The Rainbow Connection Collection! This set includes 6 bars of soap. This is the same soap recipe you know and love, just a different shape and size and without the gorgeous labels.

This collection is something I've been wanting to do for a while! To clear out some essential oils and fragrances I only used once or rarely used and there's just a wee bit left in the bottle. As such, these are very limited edition. If there's a scent you love there's a good chance I'll never make it again, since I put the last of it into these bars.

Rest assured, the soap is the same recipe you know and love, just a different form factor and without the gorgeous labels. If you've been reading along for awhile and haven't tried our soaps yet, now is your chance to get great soap at a great price! If you don't need 6 bars, give the extras to your Mom (hint, Mother's day is May 10 😉

Scents you can expect include Cedar, Spiced Mahogany, Amber, Ginger, Patchouli, Passion Fruit and Guava, Mango, Ylang Ylang, Pine, and Gardenia. Think clean/fresh, woodsy/earthy, citrus/fruity, and warm/floral.

I hope the name of this collection and the colors evokes all the delight of spring, and reminds you of the beloved song celebrating stargazing, rainbows, our gorgeous planet, and the beautiful and sacred mundane that holds us all together. 🌎

April 2026. No filter. ✨

The beautiful and sacred mundane of the every day has been filling my heart lately. Here's some of what I've been up to:

1. Studio view

2. Rainbow Connection Collection release coming this Saturday (check your inbox!!)

3. Transplanted a Service Berry bush to the community garden

4. Dogwood in bloom

5. Thrift finds

6. Charcoal Sea Salt restock

7. Airbnb soaps custom order

8. Alder cones? Not entirely sure. Anyone help me out?

9. The best cookbook

10. What happens when I clean my soap cutter

11. Honey bee visit on lunch break

12. Postcard ripped in transit, an accurate depiction perhaps on how fragile our civil rights really are

13. The best pencil sharpener ever (thank you for the rec)

14. Hilarious) questionable tin advertisement from 1960's America (work night shift, sleep, wake, drink?!)

15. Lake Michigan delights with family visiting

16. A house in Chicago

17. Learning about the incredible history of plants and healing practiced by black women in America who brought the tradition from their African ancestors

18. A bench that needs the same relief it has afforded so many

19. Work gloves for all the spring time outside things

Apparently I post so infrequently that I am not entirely good at it, chopping off the top and bottom of the image I can to share. But this is the photo I took and this is the photo I will share 😅 because it's beautiful even in its truncated state.

A photo on a sunny day, of dwindling inventory, because I've been savoring the quiet and slow of winter and I haven't made soap in months! I always try to make enough at the end of the year to carry me through spring. Winter is typically the quiet season for a maker. Now it is March and all the things that I have put off doing for months, very much need to be done! As the earth slowly awakes from its winter slumber.

While I love the bird song and the sun and the promise of warmer days to come, I don't feel that I'm quite ready to give up the quiet of winter. And lucky for me I live in Chicago so we'll probably have at least one or two more snow storms before May 😊 Snow like a soft blanket to sit under and sip hot tea.

But today. Today is for planting the seeds, and making more soap, and tending to the bees. 🐝

Transition. Seasons. I love it all.

Happy almost spring 🌱

I have been getting rave reviews for this lotion lately and realize I have not told you enough about it! So I'm fixing that now.

This rich, fast-absorbing formula rescues seriously dry skin with deep, lasting moisture from shea butter, jojoba oil, and silky squalane. It soothes the driest, most tired hands while sinking in quickly, leaving skin velvety, comfortable, and ready for whatever’s next.

Super hydrating and never greasy!

I have a jar in my bedroom, in the bathroom, in the living room, on my desk... You get the idea. Nature's Trace soap should never leave your skin feeling dry, but especially in Midwestern Winters you just need a little bit extra moisturizing magic. 🪄

Infused with a blend of soft lavender and a touch of citrus, the scent is both calming and bright.

Bonus ✨ We designed the jar to be reusable by ensuring the label can be cleanly removed.  Just start at a corner and cleanly peel away.  Wash with warm soapy water before reuse.

So...go get some!

Hi! I did this thing where I made a limited edition soap but then it sold so fast it might be gone before I told you about it so...I'm telling you about it!

The market is about to start day 3 but I wanted post here quick so you saw these dreamy Winter Wit bars 🍺

They were inspired by a classic Belgian Wit beer (think 's Allagash White) and are scented with Chamomile, Coriander, and Orange. They've been the best seller this weekend at Dovetail - because I used Dovetail beer to make them :)

The online store is all stocked and ready for holiday shopping! I'll send another email soon but like I said, these are almost gone! Milk & Honey and Cashmere Flannel are also running low but there should be plenty of everything else.

More soon!

Rachel

Hi Everyone!

I made this simple goat milk soap to tide you over for a bit, but I am going to release a whole fall bundle soon! 🖤🤍🧡 Black Bird is coming back with an even deeper to***co and bourbon note, Cashmere Flannel is my most requested, "Please make this again!" and a third one will be included that I haven't quite decided on a name for yet. The ingredients and scent are inspired by Illinois' Shawnee National Forest. I cannot wait to tell you more.

Until then, lather up with this delicious gentle goat milk soap, with sweet fluffy lather and the slightest lingering scent of warm honey.

https://naturestraceco.com/products/milk-honey

May you pause to breathe deep, close your eyes and hear the birds chatter in the tree, may you squirrel away time to be with your dearest and best, and may your lather be so so fluffy.

-Rachel