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They've Got Soul
Aromatic
Soul
By Tonie Minsal
Cynthia and Kimberly, the owners of
Aromatic
Soul, started their business so that they could work at
the most important job in the world: being at home with their
children. I really admire and support that.
Kimberly,
the creative half of the company, is known as The Mad
Alchemist, and for good reason: she spent 8 years under the
tutelage of Jeanne Rose, the grand dame of all things herbal,
so it’s no wonder that her products rock. What did come as a
pleasant surprise was just how dang fun they are to use!
I love love looove A/S's Synergies: essential oil
combos with a multitude of uses! Try them in the bath,
on your person, in a diffuser, as a room spray, to customize
your bath and body products... My favorite is the
Meditation ($12.95), a sweet
frankincense and myrrh blend.
One evening I was feeling
particularly out of
sorts, so I added twenty drops of the Screaming Queenie
($9.50) (how great is that name?!) Synergy to my bath, and you
know what? I actually did emerge feeling better
The Inner
Child Synergy ($12.50) is one of those fragrances that smells
edible; it’s a pretty, happy scent. The Luna ($14.95)
Synergy is really nice; it has a wonderful deep, dark blue
color due to the chamomile it contains, and it’s another one
that smells good enough to eat! Reiki ($14.95) is an
interesting Synergy; it had a piney mojo goin’ that I quite
liked.
The Butter Bars ($15.00- $20.00) top the list as far as
fun goes; these dense bars look like giant confections. To
use, just hold the bar in your hands for a second to melt
it a little, then, voila, you rub it all over. The bars are
beautifully molded into various shapes, and are generously scented with Aromatic Soul’s Synergies. The addition of beeswax gives them really
nice staying power on the skin.
My favorite fragrance was the Sugar Kisses, an aptly
named blend of neroli, lemon, and patchouli; it’s sooo sweet
and pretty. I also tried the Screaming Queenie; this is
another one of those products that I never would have chosen
on my own, and I ended up loving! The Belleh Butter Bar has
the addition of cocoa butter in it, so it smells all
chocolaty.
The
Luna Bar is the prettiest- round with a crescent moon on it,
and it has that same makes-ya-wanna-eat-it smell as the
Synergy. The Sole Food Butter Bar is evidence of Kimberly’s
wicked sense of humor again- it’s in the shape of a little
hang ten foot! Hah! This one has a softer, creamier texture
than the other Bars; it made my tootsies feel very comforted
indeed.
Aromatic Soul’s Turbinado Body Polish ($25.95 for a 16oz jar),
a concoction of Hawaiian red turbinado sugar, a mix of oils, and A/S’s Soothe-n-Smooth
Synergy was a blast to use!
The huge grind of the Hawaiian red
sugar combined with the soupy slipperiness of the oils gives
this scrub a very fun, tactile texture, like some kind of goop
a kid would play with. This stuff also holds up nicely in the
shower due to those big ol’ granules.
The fragrance is really
relaxing, and the oil blend is spot on - it leaves my skin
smooth and slick like a little dolphin! Due to the size of
the sugar granules and the huge oil to sugar ratio, I found
this scrub to be more of a moisturizer than a hard-core exfoliator- so you can use it every day! I’m on my second jar of
this scrub!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my gig here at
Bathtime Suds
Report, it’s to be open minded. Case in point: Aromatic Soul’s Therapeutic Salt Gloss
($22.95 for 16oz). I’d given up on using
salt scrubs because my skin is so sensitive, so I really
wasn’t expecting much when I tried this one - boy was I
pleasantly surprised!
This is a very dry scrub, made with a
mix of salts, oils, and scented with A/S’s Detox Synergy.
Normally, I can’t even scrub my whole body with a salt scrub-
I have to scrub in sections and rinse off in between - it’s
just too irritating and stings too much. I don’t know what
kind of elfin magic the Aromatic Soul babes put into their
scrub, but I scrubbed my entire body, not once, but twice,
with no rinsing in between, and suffered absolutely no
itching, stinging, or burning!
I don’t know if it’s the salt
combo or the oils, and I really don’t care - all I can say is
bravo girls - you’ve really changed my mind about salt scrubs!
This scrub is very exfoliating, and left me with a sense of
well being, which I suspect is due to the mineral content of
the salts. I’m totally addicted to this scrub, and plan on
ordering more; I’ve been using it every time I take a bath,
and my skin is just baby soft.
I really liked the texture of Aromatic Soul’s Bath and Body
Oil ($18.00-$29.95 for a 4oz cobalt glass bottle) - the combo
of oils is nice and light, while still being very
moisturizing. They’re lightly fragranced with A/S’s Synergies.
I used these oils both in the bath and as an after
shower moisturizer with equally nice results. The Ansia oil
was very calming and soothing. Breathe Easy is another
nice one - great for
when you’re feeling stuffy and in need of some mommy-like
comforting. Now Detox is a fragrance
that absolutely defies description - I’d have to say that it’s
fresh, green, and sweet. Kimberly highly recommended this
blend, and I’m glad she did.
Aromatic Soul also offers several Salves and Balms.
I usually never use anything that has mint or menthol or
wintergreen in it, as I wear contact lenses and have to wash
my hands 7 katrillion times afterward if I do. For this review
(and because
 Kimberly’s such a doll) I gave A/S’s Pain Drain
salve a whirl, and ya know what? It did seem to work! This is
a handy salve to keep in your first aid kit - a 2 oz. tin
retails for $12.95.
Aromatic Soul’s Healing Salve ($10.95 for
a 2oz tin) is tres’ cool - I really like the thick,
honey-like, gooey texture and tea tree aroma. Mama’s Comfort Salve has a really pleasant fragrance and a beeswaxy texture. It’s a very simple yet effective blend, and
can be used for “anything from sprained ankles to diaper
rash!”
Kimberly
was also sweet enough to make me a custom skin salve - the
texture was really silky and beautiful, the ingredients fab,
and I loved the fragrance. Call or e-mail her if you’re
interested in custom work.
Finally, Kimberly and Cynthia
have created little Anointing Oil Kits ($50.00-$60.00
per kit, or $15.00 each). These complex oils are used to evoke
a particular state of being. There are three
different kits: Goddess and Psychic, for ritual intent, and Chakra for balancing and/or clearing.
They’re packaged in dear
little cobalt glass bottles and each kit comes with
instructions. The Lilith oil is meant to evoke a sensual mood,
and, wow - it works! Okay people, move along - nothing to see
here - move along! Check out these beauty-ful oils at
AromaticSoul.com.
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