A little more than a year ago I transitioned to a totally clean and all-natural skincare routine. Here's the thing: many of the beauty products in our supermarkets are filled with toxic ingredients that are surprisingly harmful to us.

There's a great lack of chemical policy and transparency in the personal care industry and so the conventional beauty products (and the ingredients in them) are highly unregulated. It's pretty terrifying that chemicals such as triclosan, phthalates, and parabens are hidden behind all kinds of wonderful marketing claims.

Our skin is the largest organ of our bodies and is responsible for everything from helping us maintain a stable body temperature, to acting as a protective barrier and enabling our sense of touch. It functions as a passageway from the outside environment to our bloodstream.

Although the outer layers of the skin do a good job at keeping elements like water from seeping in, absorption of certain chemicals through the skin is very real. What we put on our skin can be absorbed into our blood and so whatever products we slather onto our bodies can have a rather significant and direct effect on our health.

Knowing that our bodies absorb the moisturizers we use, it’s important to give ingredients a second look, and to make informed buying decisions and mindful swaps. In the same way that clean eating positively impacts our bodies and overall wellness — so clean beauty products impact it too.

Here, a round-up of my favorite non-toxic skincare kits. Bonus: all of these double as awesome gifts and travel sets.