Can These Aromatherapy Balms Really Help You Sleep, Focus and Destress Better?

Practicing aromatherapy can be an awesome way to ease your mind, body and soul—but it's not always the most accessible.

Aromatherapy is all about using the natural oils, absorbed through the skin and inhaled as fragrances, to improve your mental and physical being, but the most popular methods involve soaking in baths with a couple drops of essential oils or using special diffusing humidifiers that fill the air with scented mist.

Neither of those are great options for people who spend most of the time on the go. The Scentered essential oil balms take a different approach, packaging the oils into a convenient, easy-to-apply stick (think a glue stick or lip balm) that you can carry around in your bag and apply to your wrists whenever you need a pick-me-up.

There are five different varieties in Scentered's lineup, each with its own cute packaging and unique scent made to improve a different aspect of your life. Scentered's directions ask you to "apply to pulse points," which I take to be the wrists, and inhale the scent deeply.

Stress Less, which is meant to help you destress when the pressure is on, has a woodsy, earthy and slightly citrusy scent. It includes chamomile, neroli and mandarin essential oils. There's no scientific way to test its effectiveness, but smelling it does seem to give me an immediate feeling of calm.

The Focus balm, scented with rosemary, mint and clary sage, is all about honing your concentration to accomplish the task at hand. It's got a clean, subtly minty smell, and though I haven't used it a ton (the mint makes me sneeze!), the times I did use it I felt like it boosted my ability to pay attention.

Sleep Well is, of course, formulated to help you catch some Z's. Scented with palmarosa, lavender and ylang ylang, it's got a bright, floral scent. While I can't exactly say that the balm ever made me feel sleepy, it does have a soothing, calming affect that's just the thing to relax the mind before bedtime.

While the benefits of Love are a bit more ambiguous, I believe the goal is to instill a feeling of comfort and outward acceptance and love. Containing rose, patchouli and cedarwood essential oils, it smells of spice, roses and wood. The overall affect is a scent that makes you feel open, in mind and in spirit.

Last but not least is the Escape balm, meant to inspire and lift your mind beyond any negative thoughts and straight into the positive. Scented with oud, frankincense and sandalwood, it smells like a warm, spicy incense. Something about the scent is exotic, and it does a great job taking your thoughts to another place.   

If you want a Scentered (or two or three or five) of your own, they're available on their website for $24 each, or $80 for all five plus a carrying case.

There's no real way to know whether these balms are really helping me focus or sleep or keep an open mind, but they feel like they do, and that's what matters. They're as easy to apply as they set out to be, and they all smell good enough to wear as fragrance even if you're unsure of the benefits.

 

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