our story
Who is 'Yes, Honey Skin'?
Yes, Honey Skin was founded on the belief that highly effective botanical-based skincare actually exists and is accessible to everyone.
We are a clean, botanical-based skincare & aromatherapy line, manifested & formulated by herbalist founder, Steph. Our offerings vary from oil-based cleansers & serums, tallow face & body butter, lip & eye treatments, water-activated face masks, essential oil rollerballs and paraben & phthalate free pure soy candles. Everything is virtually waterless & formulated
from the earth, for your skin.
about the founder (me!)
Hi! I'm Steph. Long story short, I'm a momma above all else, an herbalist with 12+ years experience in the skincare industry, and over 5 in formulating. I'm also a millennial with anxiety who finds solace in the forest where the wild things are. And dad jokes. They're great.
Even with these credentials, titles and experience, I still somehow get imposter syndrome.
I’m hoping that putting myself and my passion out there will inspire one of you, and of course, my daughter, to do the hard but damn cool things that you are wildly passionate about.
Short story long? Well, since you asked..
Here's the fancy one.
"bare feet firmly planted in the grass.."
Imagine you’re 8 years old, a wild child of the 90’s with your equally as wild older sister to guide and run with you. Bare feet firmly planted in the grass below you as you pick up and smell the pine needles that have fallen from the sky high trees in your backyard. You feel the delicate softness of rose petals grazing your skin, and the taste of freshly crisp green onions right from the garden. You're making mud pies and playing with the bugs and the bees. Yes, the bees.
I would harvest petals, leaves, herbs and whatever else I could find to make “potions” like rose water, or floral infusions. Everything I learned was from my own Gramma’s vast knowledge of product making or purely experimental. This was the late 90’s / early 2000’s when dial-up was painfully slow and we didn’t have the fingertip access to the internet the way we do today.
Grass-stained feet was a regular. 23 years later, it still is.
These days, I always find myself wandering for berries and mushrooms and admiring the beautiful trees, wildflowers and surrounding sounds of the forest.
I spend much of my time studying plants and their internal and external benefits. Many have skin and gut-healing properties that are incredible applied both topically and ingested via tincture, tisane, teas or even in smoothies or salads.
It was when I became pregnant with my daughter that I felt the need to realign myself with that 8 year old whose feet were feet firmly planted in the dirt. I removed all products from my routine that may be harmful during pregnancy & beyond. I was left with a very small collection and didn't have confidence that my skin would survive the pregnancy and postpartum hormonal changes.
My skin was on its own journey, one that I could not control. For a visual, fine lines were suddenly appearing where I never had before no matter how much I stayed hydrated. It was peeling off daily, there were hormonal breakouts on top of dry patches on top of rashes. I needed to come up with a solution.
I persisted with my plant knowledge and crafted some products that completely transformed my skin, and were safe to use for me & baby. Of course hormonal changes are things we cannot always control, but we can always have a hand in the healing process.
During my testing process for my initial products ('Kindly, Scrub Off', 'Golden Hour', 'Nectar' & 'Moist'), my friends and family had nothing but amazing feedback and they truly pushed me to pursue this. I thought if this can help my friends and family who will give me nothing but the best constructive feedback, surely this can help others.