Acquired Aesthetics: Nostalgia Organics Aroma Balm
My friends are often mad at me.
I have a really busy schedule, which includes way too many commitments, not enough sleep, and a lot of rain checks for dinner “when I’m not so busy.” (Yeah, right.)
To be honest, I like it that way. Even with all the stress and the frustrations - between work, the dog, the workout regimen, the blogs, the friends - I wouldn’t want to lead a simpler life. All of this stuff is just too interesting to miss out on, you know?
That’s part of the reason I’m always looking for portable beauty items: I do my makeup on the bus and I always forget perfume, so I like to pick up all-in-ones and solid scents that I can just take with me to the office or a night out. Oddly enough, I hadn’t thought of anything to destress me, like “aromatherapy to go,” until Spirit Beauty Lounge introduced me to Nostalgia Organics‘ aromatherapy balms. Luckily, a number of them are intended to reduce stress and keep me focused (along with forcing me to sleep when I should) so I had many, many chances to try them out. Here’s the breakdown of three of their five options, all of which are only $10.00 each.
Ruffles
Scent: Bergamot, Jasmine, Orange, Rose
My take on it: This is the first aromatherapy balm that I tried, and I did so without having any idea what was in it! When I woke up one morning, post-migraine and insomnia kicking my ass, I decided to just pick a balm and put it on. I was attracted to the Ruffles scent the most, and it’s no surprise: Ruffles contains two of my favorite smells, rose and jasmine, along with a healthy dose of blood orange and bergamot. All of these scents are meant to “calm ruffled feathers” and re-center you during those crazy moments. Once I’d rubbed it in, the blood orange really stood out as the top note, but it wasn’t crazy strong. I’m impressed that, without knowing which balms are tailored to which emotional needs, I’d grab the perfect one to help me re-center myself for a busy day at work!
Plum Tired
Scent: Lavender, Mandarin & Chamomile
My take on it: It’s the holidays. I manage an office. There are parties. End of year filing projects. Presents to buy. Family events.
…I’m using Plum Tired almost every night.
The lavender is mellow, soothing, and blends really well with the chamomile to make me feel all melty and ready to relax. Because I don’t like chamomile tea, this is another nice way to get the calming effects of the scent without having to drink it. Additionally, studies show that the quieter mandarin scent - an undertone to the stronger lavendar - is good for clearing your head, and with a mind that’s going a million miles a minute, I need to relax my brain just as much as my body before I go to bed. (It also elevates mood and can make it hard to study, so don’t use this before any finals, k?)
Butterflies
Scent: Ylang-Ylang, Neroli & Lavender
My take on it: Once a month, I am a very, very stressed out person. I know it may sound like a cop-out, but seriously, it’s true: that three or four days that come, each month, just before I find out that I’m not pregnant again (this is a good thing) are always high stress. I can’t help it; my PMS is all about anxiety.* I was skeptical about using a balm to calm down during the extra stressful moments – this month, it was a set of deadlines at work – but I was surprised to actually feel a little difference after putting on Butterflies. It wasn’t a huge difference – I was still stressed out - but I felt a little more controlled about it than usual…and even though I’m a skeptic, I still think it was the ylang ylang (the top note in the scent) and not the placebo affect: I’ve been trying to control this stress for years, and pretending it’s not there just doesn’t work. Ah, body, how you love messing with my chemical makeup…
*And, oddly enough, really firm boobs.
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In case you didn’t see my first post about Spirit Beauty Lounge, the skinny is this:
Spirit Beauty Lounge offers skincare, cosmetics, fragrances, baby stuff and accessories, all of which they’ve researched and tested themselves, so you don’t have to. They also offer lots of information about sustainable beauty, including the Green Guide’s “Dirty Dozen,” a list of chemical ingredients to avoid in cosmetics, as well as a link to the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep‘s Cosmetic Safety Database. They also use recycled shipping materials and make environmental donations. (They’re basically amazing.)
Along with the above, they also give you free samples with every order – my free samples of these balms have lasted for the better part of a month! They do a “Deal of the Day” every morning on Twitter, too, so if you’re looking for 20% off on almost anything, follow them and be patient. It WILL come up. (Stocking stuffers, anyone?)
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