I don't normally coo over 'everyday' hand soaps, but indulge me for a moment to share with you how thrilled I have been with my recent purchase of EO Peppermint & Tea Tree liquid Hand Soap. I bought a couple of EO soaps not too long ago, having read good things about them and, as always, appreciative of anything both eco-friendly and indulgent. They have all kinds of lovely organic ingredients, and are pretty reasonably priced (very much so when compared to high-end lines!). I put the Peppermint Tea Tree soap in the guest bathroom, thinking it would be good disinfectant for people coming in from outside (especially gardening), and the Rosemary Mint soap in the kitchen, thinking the herbal scent would work well in there.
It was a while before I got around to trying the Peppermint soap. The Rosemary Mint is pleasant enough, mostly herbaceous and slightly menthol, a bit weak on the lather but nice enough for the kitchen where it does not conflict with any cooking smells…
Some of my first forays into the world of fragrance came through an interest in aromatherapy. I loved the idea that fragrance could be a source of healing as well as pleasure, and was enthralled with the concept of capturing some 'essence' of a plant or flower through distillation, for use in beauty, healing or massage.
A friend of mine recently sent me a wonderful gift: the Alora Ambiance Reed Diffuser in Uno. Alora Ambiance was, as I understand it, the first company to introduce the diffuser concept to the United States, based off a home fragrance tradition that the founding partners — sisters — stumbled across while living in Italy near the gorgeous Lago di Como. This lovely concept has been highly successful in the US, and has since seen a variety of companies introduce similar products.