It’s impossible to create quality products without quality materials, which is why our makers are so considerate about the materials (or ingredients) they use. For example, are they sustainable, durable, high-quality, innovative, organic, renewable, beautiful, functional, time-tested, healthy, delicious, or locally sourced? For this series we asked our Bay Area Made companies to tell us about the materials they use and why. Because materials matter!
Summer Solace Tallow is a heritage skincare and lifestyle brand based in Oakland. Since 2014, we have crafted nutrient-dense, tallow-based skincare, soaps, and candles rooted in the ancestral art of whole-animal care. We use regeneratively raised suet tallow, hand-rendered in-house, and blend it with organic, regionally sourced botanicals and globally revered aromatics. Our work reflects a deep reverence for regional land, tradition, and the healing wisdom of nature.
Earthy and Complex: The Summer Solace California Collection
From Pasture to Palm™ | Crafted with Care in Oakland, California
Lapsang Souchong Smoked Tea & Vetiver Candle
Scent Profile: Smoky, earthy, and contemplative. Experience: Creates a calming, meditative space with notes of smoked black tea and wild vetiver.
We are proud to feature the California Collection, a curated set of our most transportive offerings. This collection reflects the complexity and natural beauty of Northern California—its coastlines, forests, and sacred terrain—through scent, texture, and ancestral nourishment. Each product is made with our foundational ingredient: regeneratively sourced suet tallow from Land to Market™ Verified ranches.
Mendocino Sea Change Seaweed Soap Bar and Sphere
Formulation: Thalassotherapeutic bar infused with hand-harvested California seaweed. Benefits: Gently exfoliates and nourishes with a mineral-rich, grounding cleanse
Rooted in the richness of the land and sea, the California Collection captures Northern California’s spirit in scent and sensation. Infused with rare, globally sourced aromatics, including Omani frankincense, Japanese Hiba wood, Italian blood orange, Indonesian patchouli, roasted seashells, and African neroli, each product evokes elements of rugged coastlines, ancient trees, and sacred ritual.
Masculin Féminin Tallow Body Balm
Scent Profile: Herbaceous, resinous, and subtly floral. Benefits: Moisturizes while centering the senses with aromatic notes of conifer, incense, and sage.
Launched in 2023, the California Collection is an ongoing seasonal offering designed to nourish skin and spirit while celebrating place, ritual, and sensory depth.
Cardamom Orange Tallow Lip Balm
Scent Profile: Bright, warm, and citrusy. Experience: Evokes a golden California sunset with zesty blood orange and comforting cardamom.
Every product in the California Collection is made with integrity and care using the following key ingredients:
Suet Tallow – from regeneratively raised, Land to Market™ Verified Northern California cattle. Rendered in-house using traditional methods to preserve nutrients.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil from SEKA Hills – grown and cold-pressed by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Capay Valley. It is rich in antioxidants and deeply conditioning.
Hand-Harvested California Seaweed – adds minerals and exfoliating properties to our Sea Change Soap.
Essential Oils and Natural Aromatics – includes Omani frankincense, wildcrafted vetiver, blood orange, Hiba wood, patchouli, neroli, and cardamom. All oils are selected for purity, potency, and aroma-therapeutic properties.
Beeswax – sustainably sourced from Khaled Almaghafi, an Oakland master beekeeper, for our candles.
Packaging – recycled glass balm jars and candle vessels, compostable soap wraps, recyclable labels, and plastic-free and compostable shipping materials.
These ingredients are sustainable, non-GMO, organic where possible, and chosen not only for their function but for their connection to the land and lineage. Working with tallow, herbs, and pure aromatics allows us to create products that are timeless, therapeutic, and deeply respectful of nature’s intelligence.
View the Summer Solace Tallow profile
