New York City is a chameleon, offering such a myriad of possibilities that a visitor can shape and define her so that she never looks or feels the same way twice. I'm a bit of a chameleon as well, which is why it's one of my favorite aspects of the city. I can look back over the many visits since the first, 28 years ago, and track my own journey, with all its many offshoots, twists, and turns. What I purchase during my visits to the city reflect a great deal as well.
This time, when I arrived in the city, it took me a couple of days to get into the rhythm. New York sounded louder to me than it ever had, more crowded, confusing...I felt a little unsettled, the first time in all my history there that I had felt that. It was weird, I thought that maybe the rhythm of New Orleans had finally overtaken my natural, innately faster pace.
But two days into my trip, I was spending the day with a good friend and we made a quick stop at Muji so she could stock up on sketchbooks. As I walked into the store, I was greeted with an unbelievable scent, so fresh and clear that it stopped me in my tracks.
Now, I'm not much of a home scent person and I constantly marvel at the ridiculous number of air fresheners on the market. I can't quite figure out why our homes smell so bad that we feel the need to cover them with perfume. Most of them also give me a headache and make me feel nauseated. I'm just too sensitive to them. Occasionally, I'll find a scented candle that makes me swoon, but usually there's a price tag attached to it that makes me swoon as well. Pass.
But this, this wasn't something I wanted, this immediately felt like something I needed. I perused the store, but kept circling back to this scent of lemongrass and ginger, pulled in in such a way that I knew I wouldn't leave the store without the Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser and essential oils in hand. It was perhaps my best purchase of the trip - an investment in my psychological well-being.
The two scents that attracted me the most were Vitality, the lemongrass and ginger blend of pure essential oils, and the Grapefruit pure essential oil, meant to be uplifting or joyful. My nose, it was telling me exactly what I needed, and standing there in the cool mist, I could feel a physiological difference as well as a psychological one. I bought all of it, not a single regret.
I've been using the diffuser and oils since I got home a few days ago. The diffuser is the size of a pillar candle and resembles one as well. It's powerful enough that the scent filters through most of my downstairs, but isn't at all cloying. My husband loves it as well, and he's even less focused on scent than I am. He's mentioned several times what a good purchase I made.
Aromatherapy's not new to me - I spent many years living in Los Angeles and aromatherapy is very much a California thing, but finally, I get it - and I'm sold!
Title photo from Muji
Just put that on my wish list... I have looked at different ones before but, like you, I have never been one for those cloying chemical perfumes. I just love the look of this one and the fact that it uses essential oils. My neighbour sells Dotera oils which I would love to use in a diffuser when anybody gets sick as well.
Posted by: Catherine | 18 June 2013 at 10:50 AM