About Us

About Hagstone Hill

Hagstone Hill started with a pretty simple idea.

I wanted to make things that feel good, work well, and do not need a bunch of unnecessary stuff wrapped around them.

What began with handcrafted skin and body products has grown into skincare, body care, balms, candles, and a few other things that make everyday life a little better, or at least a little more entertaining.

I make our products in small batches and spend a probably unreasonable amount of time thinking about what actually goes into them.

My educational background is in biochemistry, so I have always been fascinated by ingredients. I want to know what they are doing, how they interact, and whether they actually deserve a place in a formula.

I love modern skincare science. I love botanical ingredients. I love old remedies that have been passed down for generations.

Mostly, I love asking why something works.  Because natural does not automatically mean better.  New does not automatically mean better.  And complicated does not automatically mean better either.

Sometimes complicated is exactly what a formula needs.

Sometimes the simplest answer was sitting there the whole time.

Why Hagstone Hill?

A hagstone is a stone with a naturally worn hole through its center.

In folklore, people believed that looking through that opening could help you see beyond illusion and past the distractions of the ordinary world toward what was actually there. Depending on who was telling the story, they were also handy for spotting witches, fairies, and other suspicious nonsense.

I have always loved that idea.

We are surrounded by beautiful packaging, cool scents, complicated routines, miracle ingredients, and shelves full of products promising to fix whatever we have decided is wrong with our skin.

And yet sometimes, after trying all of it, our skin still is not happy.

So what happens when we look through all that noise?  What if we stop asking what else we need and start asking what our skin actually needs?  Sometimes the answer is a carefully formulated blend of modern skin supporting ingredients.  Sometimes it is a botanical oil that people have used for generations.

And sometimes the simplest remedy may have been sitting in the kitchen all along. An egg yolk. A little olive oil. A plant somebody's grandmother already knew exactly what to do with.

That curiosity is really the heart of Hagstone Hill.

We look at ingredients, traditions, research, and formulations and ask a simple question.

What is actually helping?

Not what has the prettiest label.  Not what happens to be trending. Not what gives us the longest ingredient list.  Just what works, what feels good, and what earns its place in the bottle.

Made with intention

I choose ingredients because they have a reason to be there.

That might mean a beautiful organic oil, a butter, a botanical extract, or a more modern ingredient like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, bakuchiol, or a specialized form of vitamin C.

I am not interested in making something complicated just so it sounds impressive.  At the same time, I am not afraid of a complicated formula when every ingredient is doing a job.

That is probably the easiest way to explain how I formulate.

Complicated is fine. Unnecessary is not.

And yes, sometimes that means reformulating something again and again until the texture is right.  Sometimes it means researching an ingredient I have never used before.  Sometimes it means finding something halfway around the world and immediately wondering what I can make with it.

There is a lot of curiosity behind this brand.

And probably too many jars.

A little less serious

Good skincare can be serious without taking itself too seriously.

That philosophy has slowly worked its way into the rest of Hagstone Hill too.

So alongside face oils, serums, body creams, and other beautifully formulated products, you may also find something called Bite Me Balm, a candle reminding you not to be a d*ck, or a product I created simply because the idea made me laugh.

That combination feels very Hagstone Hill to me.

Beautiful ingredients.

Thoughtful formulas.

A little irreverence.

Small batch. Human made.

Hagstone Hill is a small business.

Products are developed, tested, mixed, poured, whipped, labeled, packed, photographed, rewritten, reformulated, obsessed over, and occasionally sworn at by an actual human being.

That matters to me.

I want the things you receive from Hagstone Hill to feel thoughtful and useful and a little special.  I want you to know why something is in your product.  I want you to feel comfortable asking questions.  And I want you to know that behind every jar, bottle, tube, candle, and slightly questionable product name is someone who genuinely cares about making something good.

If it makes your skin happier, your shower better, your house smell amazing, or makes you laugh when you desperately needed to, even better.

Welcome to Hagstone Hill.

Look past the minutia. See what matters.

For the beautifully unruly.