Abe's Market

I'm a major proponent of tchotchke-free gifting and one of my favorite gifts to give is soap; it's useful, one can never have enough of it, and it can look like little works of art. Jon and I have a tradition of soap gifting around his birthday and this year I wanted to try some new brands. Following a query on Twitter, I was grateful to my friends Liz and Kristen at Cool Mom Picks for responding back with some of their favorite soap shops. The first place I put in an order at was Abe's Market.
Abe's Market is the kind of website that's fun for an eco-geek like me to get lost in -- they offer a wide variety of natural products for the whole family, spanning personal care, home, pet, and food items. However, last week I was shopping in a hurry (cutting it close online shopping for Jon's birthday) and after a brief distraction in the coffee department, I narrowed in on soaps and immediately was drawn to their collection of Butter Vine botanical soaps.

Clearly handcrafted with love, these soaps are loaded with yummy natural oils and herbs; the blocks feel wonderfully chunky and beautifully imperfect in the hand, happily gentle on the nose (I like fragrance, but not overwhelming fragrance), and deliciously moisturizing on the body (the richness of the natural oils definitely comes across in a good way). Each bar comes labeled with a natural paper wrap and push pin closure. My delivery even came with a lovely handwritten note from Butter Vine.

Jon and Laurel couldn't stop ooh'ing and aah'ing over the different varieties (and the first we sampled was the orange...yummy). I can't wait to have another occasion to gift these lovely soaps (and probably some other things from Abe's). I think a trio (or more, depending on the occasion) of these soaps would make for a lovely sampler gift.