Despite only two people living in my house, we have a lot of shoes. I try to keep them contained in a storage cabinet, but some overflow, and let's be real, shoes can smell.
My gym trainers and my partner's impossible-to-clean climbing shoes had been offending our entry space with odor for months as they needed to air out after use.
Luckily, the NEOM rechargeable oil diffuser on Amazon, currently on sale at its lowest price ever, has turned out to be my entryway savior and worked better than shoe sprays and natural deodorizers.
Why I love the NEOM rechargeable oil diffuser
The diffuser comes in two colors, black and light pink, and can be used with any of the NEOM scents
I had tried various things to tackle the shoe smells in my entryway and then I took a punt on the Neom Portable Wellbeing Pod Mini, and it solved every single problem, hurrah!
I was drawn to it as it is fully portable so I didn’t need to worry about wires. All I would have to do is remember to charge it periodically – it has a promised 50-hour lifespan.
My usual first port of call when dealing with odors is to tackle the source, and I'd already given cleaning with vinegar and baking soda a whirl without success.
However, climbing shoes are notoriously difficult to clean due to their delicate construction, so I needed to mask the smell, rather than get rid of it.
At first, I tried using a battery-powered air freshener, but it would only emit a scent once every half an hour, and it faded after only a few minutes. It was loud too, making me jump every time it went off.
That's when I started to consider the best essential oil diffusers, knowing they would give a continuous fragrance without burning a candle. I didn't have an outlet near the doorway so the Neom portable was a saving grace as it's USB rechargeable.
Setting up the Neom Portable Wellbeing Pod Mini
The diffuser itself is tiny – fitting easily in one hand and small enough to fit into a cup-holder in the car if that's your bug bear space. This initially made me wonder if it would be powerful enough to actually do anything – but I would soon be pleasantly surprised.
Putting it together was simple but a little fiddly. Removing the insert is easy – you just press a button on the base and the top pops out. The diffuser comes with an empty oil bottle inside as a placeholder which you unscrew to attach the full bottle too.
The fresh bottles come with a traditional drip stopper in the bottle, but the diffuser comes with a tool to remove this. This was a little fiddly as I have slightly limited mobility in my fingers, but with enough light and a few attempts, the stopper came away. All I had to do was screw the bottle into place and push it back into the device.
Just be careful not to turn it upside down with the oil bottle in it. It warns against doing it in the manual but I missed that, and mine leaked.
Using the Neom Portable Wellbeing Pod Mini diffuser
It was charged right out of the box, so I pressed the power button and let it sit on the table. A word of warning – don’t make the same home fragrance mistake I did and hover your face directly over it when you turn it on. The fragrance was released immediately, and I got a good nose-ful of the Hibernate essential oil blend that came with it.
Luckily, it smells fantastic, but I don’t recommend inhaling it directly if you care about your lungs.
I left it on the lowest setting, which the instructions told me released fragrance for 15 seconds every two minutes and 45 seconds, to work out what the baseline was. I was immediately impressed.
The fragrance was very strong – so strong that despite the diffuser living on my mantel above the offending shoes, I could smell the fragrance on the other side of my open plan living space (approximately 17 feet away) after just a few minutes on the lowest setting.
It's safe to say the entryway no longer smells like stale, sweaty shoes.
My verdict
This powerful little portable essential oil diffuser not only looks great and takes up minimal space, it's fabulous at its job.
It's proven to be a great way to make a house smell expensive, with a strong, sophisticated fragrance, even if there is something malodorous in the vicinity!
It could easily be an entryway fragrance secret used by luxury spa directors) and a sleek profile. It looks a lot more refined than my bulky, plastic air freshener it replaced an instantly makes my small home look expensive.
I also like that diffuser automatically turns off after two hours to preserve battery. The scent lingers anyway, but I simply switch it on again when I walk past, or if guests are on the way.
I am yet to have to clean the diffuser, but the manual promises me that it is self-cleaning. All will have to do is fill the empty bottle it came with two-thirds with rubbing alcohol, readily available at Walmart, and run the diffuser for an hour. It's that simple.
With notes of Pine, Myrhh & Lime Peel, this relaxing blend is perfect for when you need a little calmness on a busy day
A classic blend of Wild Rose & Neroli, this oil is perfect for bedrooms
Chamomile, Ylang Ylang & Cedarwood are some of the best bedroom scents for sleep, helping you relax and unwind after a long day
I am certainly no longer worried about guests scrunching up their noses when they first arrive in my home thanks to this handy device. I genuinely have nothing bad to say about it besides the fact you can only use the branded NEOM refills to ensure the bottles fit into the device. With so many scents on offer, however, that isn’t too much of a hindrance when you are trying to pick a signature scent for your home, or are trying your hand at fragrance layering.
