Which Essential Oil Diffuser Should I Buy?

       Over the course of the last five years I have been asked numerous times, "Which Diffuser do you use?" I will admit that I have gone through a few before I found my favorite and I even still use several different brands in my home. There is, however, one that I swear by because it has all of the features that I love for just the right price. Let me also say that I am in no way affiliated with any company and I receive absolutely no perks for endorsements. This post is purely my opinion based off of 5 years of experience.
       My first experience with diffusers was through Doterra back when I was selling there products years ago. I like the company and they do have quality products. The Lotus was my first purchase for $119, which was a sacrifice, but I was sure I wouldn't regret it. It had to be replaced 3 times because of the plastic breaking down. The customer service was amazing and it was replaced no problem, but the product failed...multiple times. Finally I gave up on the Lotus and decided to take the plunge & upgrade to the Aroma Ace. The Aroma Ace was nice, but extremely pricey at $173 (also comes with one oil, but still). Lastly, at full blast, it was very loud. I thought it was ok, but ok isn't quite good enough for the price tag attached.
      In an effort to share my love for aromatherapy with my sister, I purchased the Miu Color 500 ml Diffuser from Amazon. It was $32.99 which was fair because I knew she wasn't into it as much as I was. Long story short, when I saw hers I had to have one! It has a subtle color changing light (which can be switched off), automatic shut-off, a timer, a large water tank...basically everything I had been looking for for a fraction of the price! I purchased one for myself & have been using it with no problems for the past 4 years. It is by far my favorite diffuser. I use it every single day.
     It was suggested to me to try the Signstek 1500ml Diffuser for $24.99 on Amazon because of the large capacity water tank and the high volume output. I did purchase this diffuser and I like it for that price except for a few things. The look of the diffuser is cheesy...it's not sleek like my MIU. It does not have automatic shut off which is huge for me & my peace of mind. Also, I love the high output of vapors, but it leaves A LOT of condensation where ever it is placed. This could ruin a nice piece of furniture...no bueno. It also runs out quickly when switched to high output.
      All in all the point of my post is to say that you do NOT have to shell out loads of money in order to have a nice Essential Oil diffuser. Find out which features are most important to you and go from there. After years of experience, if I ever needed to replace a diffuser, it will be with another MIU 500ml. I use them all but this is my favorite!

       Here are three of the four diffusers I mentioned. I do not own the Lotus anymore and that is why it's not pictured (notice the water droplets around the base of the Signstek).  I hope that this helps in your journey with diffusing oils and aromatherapy. I, of course, use Peace, Love & Soap essential oils & blends. I own the company & I know exactly what goes into my products. Our oils are 100% pure, but not all essential oils are equal. That is another post for another day...Happy Diffusing!

 Let me know if this post helped by commenting below and subscribing to the Peace, Love & Soap blog!

Purchase Your Lava Diffuser Bracelets & Oils Here!

          In trying to add the Lava Diffuser Bracelets & Essential oils & Blends to my website, I discovered that my website had been HACKED!! Here is a quick fix for the time being...these PAYPAL buttons are a safe way to order your bracelet & oils if you need those as well. I hope you love these as much as I do!

Lava Diffuser Bracelet

Small $10.00 USD Medium $10.00 USD Large $10.00 USD

Preferred Bead Choice (variable)

Essential Oil Blends

Patchouli Lavender $12.00 USD Lemon Eucalyptus $12.00 USD

Essential oils

Lavender $12.00 USD Peppermint $10.00 USD Lemongrass $10.00 USD Patchouli $12.00 USD

This is my Pop, talking about Peace, Love & Soap

Peace, Love & Cupcakes!

I wanted to write about the cute little cupcake soaps that I made up and brought to the market last Saturday along with some hand poured lip balms. I wanted to have something geared toward the children because so many come up to my table to look at my soap. I made up these cupcakes that look like they have strawberry icing on them. They smell like cupcakes too! I was so happy that the kids loved them, I actually sold out! The lip balms were really popular, too. They are made of cocoa butter, beeswax and olive oil. They were fun to make and I think they would make great stocking stuffers. I will post the picture I took from saturday. Hope you like them.

Plans for Fall!

It is so beautiful here in the mountains at this time of year. The changing leaves are so bright this year, some of them almost look neon! Last night I made 2 new batches of soap, english rose and nag champa. Nag Champa has been such a great seller, but it's kind of like patchouli- some love it, and some hate it. I love it! December 6th is our last market of the year and I'm so sad that it's over. I have a few appointments with people interested in carrying my soap in their stores, which I'm really thankful for. I got my tax ID number the other day so I am official and ready to go. That will make it easier for the bigger retail stores to set up accounts with me. I'm also going to be working on my hand poured lip balms. Those sold so well, I was kind of surprised. I have learned that you can never really tell what people are going to like. I enjoy being pleasantly surprised when I'm sure somebody is going to love a certain scent and then they go for the opposite. It keeps me on my toes. I am also going to always have completely natural products as well as my mostly natural ones. For some, it is merely a preference, but there are many who have such sensitive skin, they cannot handle even cosmetic grade products if they are not natural (by that I mean "from the earth- natural" not what the stores call "natural"). I know this from experience. My baby has such sensative skin, I have noticed a difference since I started bathing him with natural soap.

What's in a name?

Today was a great day at the market. I met so many interesting people. That is one of my favorite things about doing it. I had a few people comment on the name of my business, which was funny because nobody has ever said anything before. Back when I was trying to come up with a name, my brain was racked. I disected any and everything to do with soap, bubbles, and cleanliness. The funny thing is, Peace, Love & Soap was one of the first things I came up with. I was sure that the real name would take me much longer to find, so I went on to ponder against my first judgement. My husband liked it, and that is what helped me stick to it. Looking back, I'm so glad I did. I met one of the coolest guys ever, today, and it all started with Peace, Love and Soap. He came up to my booth and asked me if I was some kind of hippie! I assured him that I wasn't around long enough to be a real hippie, but I do agree with most of the ideas that came out of the era. We both said that the one thing that ruined the hippies were drugs. (not saying that all hippies used, but I'm sure most did!) He went on to tell me that he loved the hippies because they taught him how to love like a mother and a father. When his 3 children were little, he lost his wife to cancer. He went from daddy, to mommy and daddy. He was a man's man who had been in the Korean War and raised to be "tough". Now he had to be a nurturer. It was the hippies who taught him that it was ok to be a man and be loving and hug his little kids. Many people in his generation thought that it was the mother's job to do the hugging and kissing and the father's job tell their little boys to "suck it up" and be brave. He said that he was freed of this stereotype and it made his life better. He was able to enjoy his love of art and music without feeling like it was wrong because he was male. We had a long, great conversation and I hope I see him again! The last thing he said to me was that if you love somebody expecting something in return, then you are not loving them at all! I think that is so great! I'm sad that it was my last week, but I'm looking forward to December 6th when we have our special holiday market. Until then, I will be looking for festivals and working on my marketing and displays.

Double duty for Peace, Love & Soap!

Saturday, August 25, Peace, Love and Soap will be pulling double duty! In the a.m. we will be at the Autumn Festival on Main in downtown Greenville. It's going to be a really fun event and I'm totally excited about it. Then, that afternoon, I was asked to do a soap demo at The Cliffs organic farm! I am very honored to have been asked to be a part of ther Fall Festival. Now I need to time myself so I can make my demo around 30 min. I don't think this will be a big deal. Once you have your materials prepared, it goes pretty fast. I love this time of year with the georgous weather and festivals going on.
Yesterday I unmolded a test batch that I had made using curly shavings from another batch. My objective was to make each cross section look like it had curly q's in it. I know, it sounds confusing, I'll post a picture later. Anyway, I am very happy to say that it came out looking really cool! Can't wait to share my picture and get some feedback on it!

Exciting News for Peace, Love & Soap!

Yesterday we recieved some very exciting news from the producer of a local television show called "Your Carolina". They want to feature Peace, Love & Soap on their show on December 19th! I have already been hard at work revamping my inventory for the upcoming holiday season. I feel so honored to have the chance to talk about soapmaking and starting up a business. I'm glad I have some time to get my thoughts together! Wow, I'm excited. I know it's kind of a long way off so I will remind all of my local friends to try and tune in closer to the date.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today I am 29! I am learning that as you get older, you must change your expectations of your birthday. The day you were born is a great day to reflect on all of the little (and not so little) Blessings that have been sprinkled throughout the year. It's not about presents or gifts, it's about the happiness that you feel when you look around and know that you are loved.
Okay, enough of that philosophical stuff. Yesterday was very exciting for me. I got to go to Asheville and pick up my bulk organic oils that I had ordered a couple of weeks ago. Those 5 gallon buckets were beautiful! I know, I know- nerd alert! It's nice to know that I can keep making my soap without having to run to the store every couple of days because I was out of something. I had all of these different recipes and oil blends going through my mind as I was waiting for my oils, it was like torture. But, now I can make them happen. I also want to say thanks to my customers who take the time to send me comments on my blog. It almost brings me to tears when people tell me how much they enjoy my products or give me props! I know that is super-cheesy, but it's true. Thank you, thank you, thank you......

Peace, Love & Soap LLC!

Many changes have taken place lately concerning Peace, Love & Soap. We are an official LLC! We also made our debut this Saturday at two stores in Greenville. You can purchase our soap at Reedy River General Store (formerly Pott's Natural Foods Store) and Brew & Ewe! It is so amazing how this has gone from an interest to a full blown business. There are many more opportunities in the works that hopefully will be in place in a couple of weeks. I have to give props to a really good friend of our family, Nancy. She organized all of my legal stuff for my LLC right down to the stamp. She is a wonderful lady and I owe her big time for taking the time to help me. This new endeavor has come so easy, so far, that it doesn't really even feel like work. I hope that it will stay stress free and fun. My husband has been so supportive of me. He believes in me and the potential of my business, which gives me the peace to keep marching. Most of all, he never complains about me spending any little bit of extra money on oils. He is a wonderful man. I love you, Mike! I had my ten year reunion this Saturday and it was great seeing all of my friends from back in the day. It's funny how you see yourself change, but don't expect anybody else to. I had a really nice time with everybody. I was glad to see that everyone is doing well. Go UCHS!

Lather Up!

I placed my first order for bulk ingredients the other day! I feel so official. Today I completed an order for one of the stores that will be carrying my soap. My bags are ready, just waiting for my labels, which are getting printed. I made a grapefruit batch today that I can't wait to unveil. I marbled it so that should be interesting to see how it turns out- pink & white. I love how the marbled bars look, still trying to get the hang of it. I've ruined about six shirts from not wearing my apron. The funny thing is that I have about four hanging in the garage. They are just way too cute to get anything on and mess up! Oh well, guess I'll wear old t-shirts from now on. My inventory is building steadily. I'm still trying to wittle my scents down to about six with a couple holiday specials. I made a Holly Mint bar the other day that I just have to sniff every time I walk by. It puts me in the mood for Christmas. Speaking of, I'm totally loving this weather. My windows are open, music is on, kids are playing nicely (for the moment!)- Life is good!

Peace, Love & Hard Work!

Things seem to becoming together quite nicely. I've been hard at work coming up with new recipes for the fall & winter seasons. I made a pumpkin pie soap, night before last, that smells good enough to eat! The kids and I are going to Organicfest in Asheville tomorrow. I am so excited, I've been saving up to get lots of great ingredients. Not to mention, Asheville has better natural food stores than Greenville. I still consider that to be local since it's only an hour away. I altered my muslin bags to have a drawstring. This is better because the soap is more accessible for viewing and sniffing. My marketing team has been hard at work and sales are going up, up, up! The hardest thing right now is the balance of taking care of my kids and my eagerness to improve my business. The kids come first! If I ever start to forget this, they quickly bring me back down to earth. Thanks guys, I love you so much! Cameron (31/2) pitches in by turning my bags right side out for me, as I sew. He is very helpful and interested in my soap. He knows many of the essential oils and anxiously tells me his thoughts on each one. Slowly, but surely we're getting there.

My First Sale!

Yesterday I had my first experience at selling my soap. At Monkey Joe's they are having a "Christmas in August" promotion where people who have a craft or handmade items come and sell thier goods. I was a little nervous at first and my biggest fear was that nobody would want my soap! It was quiet for most of the day, which was good because I could get comfortable with my setup. I had both of the kids with me, but they were dolls! I made a few pretty good sales. I was happy with that considering the amount of people that showed up (not many). The best thing about the whole experience was the great feedback that I got about my soaps. It was so encouraging to know that all of my efforts weren't for nothing. I actually made something that other people liked! Wow! that's a great feeling. I left there very tired, but pleased with my success for the day. The hundred bucks I made felt like a thousand! I'm definitely going for it!

Starting My Business!

I am very excited to be venturing out into the soap world. I learned to make it after overcoming the fear of the unknown. Now I'm hooked and I want to share my creations with the rest of the world. I know that I'm being naive about starting a business, but in some ways I think that can be a good thing. I will be documenting my failures and triumphs on this blog. If nothing else, for me to look back on for fun. I'll be posting pictures of my creations so please feel free to let me know what you think. I'm open to positive and negative feedback.