The 5 Best Rituals Bath and Home Buys for 2026

The best thing Rituals sells is also the most ordinary. This is a 300ml hand wash, soap-free with glycerine and betaine, in a heavy ribbed glass bottle that looks better by a basin than it has any right to. Rituals lists the scent as cherry blossom, pear, orris and soft musks, and the page pairs it with a 600ml refill, so the bottle is a one-off purchase.

The criticisms are about value and refills rather than the soap. At £53.33 a litre it is expensive hand wash. In 2024 Trustpilot reviewers were scathing about a concentrated refill that had to be mixed with water and came out thin and watery; the page now offers a ready-made refill instead. A glass bottle by a busy sink can also break, which matters in a house with children.

Rituals’ foaming shower gels come out of the can as a gel and turn into a thick foam on the skin, and they are the cheapest way to find out whether you like the house scents. The Sakura version smells of cherry blossom and rice milk, and Rituals says the formula is 91% ingredients of natural origin. At £10.90 for 200ml it is also a good stocking filler.

The Trustpilot complaints about the foams are specific. Several describe a can that lost pressure, leaving product stuck inside or spurting liquid that would not foam; one reviewer says customer service called it a known issue with older cans. A long-time buyer of the 25th-anniversary set thought the foams now feel thinner and smell more chemical than they used to. Travel sizes drew similar complaints.

This is a whipped body cream in a 220ml glass jar, with what Rituals calls its Moisture Lock Complex and a blend of oils. The brand says it melts in quickly with a non-greasy finish and keeps skin hydrated for 48 hours; those are its claims. The scent is the same cherry blossom and rice milk as the hand wash.

Read the small print on the page, because it contradicts itself. The bullet points still say “Refillable glass jar”, while a notice above them says the new jar does not support the previous refill system. Trustpilot reviewers have also complained of refills that would not let the lid close, and one long-standing buyer misses the older, lighter balancing body cream that the whipped formula replaced, finding the new one too thick.

Fragrance sticks are the other Rituals habit, and the mini size is the sensible way in. It is a 70ml bottle with sticks, which Rituals says will scent a small room for up to five weeks, in the Sakura blend of green and nashi pear, cherry blossom and orris. The page is honest about the trade-off: turning the sticks strengthens the scent but shortens its life.

That trade-off is the main complaint on Trustpilot. Reviewers say sticks run out within a few weeks, that a refill did not fill the room like the first bottle, and that one refill arrived without the fresh sticks it should include. At £270 a litre, five weeks of scent is not cheap. The empty bottle is heavy enough to reuse as a bud vase, which Rituals itself suggests.

Rituals is very good at boxes, and this is its showpiece. The 2026 Classic Advent Calendar unfolds into a townhouse for the mantelpiece, with 24 doors of bath, body and home products, two of them full size and the rest travel minis. Rituals puts the product value at £187.10, which means what the contents would cost bought separately, not what you save.

Trustpilot reviewers who bought earlier calendars have two complaints. The first is contents: mostly sample sizes, more hand creams than anything else, and in one case an expired lip balm. The second is delivery: several describe calendars lost in transit and a struggle to get a refund. If you can, buy it in a shop, and open the box when it arrives rather than on 1 December.