Last week started with blue Monday and ended with yellow weather warnings.
Obviously, the former is a cooked-up marketing ploy - I'll decide when I feel down, therefore need to buy a little pick-me-up, thank you! But I'll concede it's well-timed, because getting to the end of January can feel a bit like trudging through mud.
I say, give in. There's nothing wrong with indulging the urge to retreat, especially when the weather's this bad and the telly's this good. Plus, I've found a little scentscaping trick that's made sitting on my sofa feel like a legitimate wellness activity.
Why this spa-like fragrance diffuser is my beauty buy of the week
I call this my beauty buy of the week, which begs the question, is a diffuser a beauty product?
The fact that I feel compelled to defend my choice speaks volumes. But we beauty editors are in the business of fragrance, and many home fragrance brands originated as makers of the best perfumes for women. So, they do come into my orbit a lot.
You could also argue that scenting your environment is no less a 'beauty' thing than scenting your skin with long lasting perfume. As in, neither has anything to do with how you look. Plus, after trying NEOM's Wellbeing Pod, I just couldn't not tell you about it.
That's a very grand name for an electric diffuser, but after filling her up with water (spiked with Real Luxury essential oil), plugging her in, and letting the magic happen, I get it. This beautiful object puffs out a stream of scented vapour that smells, not just grounding or energising, but expensive and evocative of spas, sound baths, and luxury yoga studios. I swear my shoulders dropped about three inches as soon as the first puff hit.
You can choose how long to release the fragrance for, and even a one-hour burst has so much more throw than a reed diffuser, spreading evenly around the room and beyond. My newly purchased (but actually very old and slightly damp) Victorian terrace has never smelled better. Probably ever.
Seeing as I've detoured into homes territory, I may as well take a pitstop in health and wellbeing. I don't want to state the obvious or come over all Goopified guru, but breathwork (as in breathing deeply in and out) has got to be the fastest route to a calmer, quieter mind.
The Wellbeing Pod's breathing mode guides you using its light, which brightens for seven seconds (inhale) then dims for 11 (deep exhale). I've been doing it in the morning, with Mood Boost oil, but it'd also be amazing before bed with Better Sleep.
It's ridiculously simple, like all the best things - a small, realistic ritual that doesn't require lots of time, fancy gear, or for you to disengage from the sofa if you can't be bothered. Sounds good? Great! Let's chat next Sunday.
