Product: CVS/pharmacy Earth Essentials Aromatic Room Mists available exclusively at CVS/pharmacy. These aromatic room mists come in four scents. I reviewed the following three…

• Lavender + Citrus
• Sweet Rain
• Apple + Cinnamon

Also available in Fresh Eucalyptus which I didn’t try, but it’s just as well, since I’m not the biggest fan of eucalyptus.

Price: Around $4 for a 7-oz can which is an excellent price point for an eco-minded air freshener.

Eco facts:

• No animal testing.
• Uses natural essential oils.
• No propellants.
• Non aerosol.
• Recyclable container.

Ingredients listed: Purified Water, Surfactant, Fragrance, Glyceryl Caprylate.

The ingredients are tricky. Glyceryl Caprylate is a low hazard chemical, and it’s not something you need to worry about. It’s the surfactant and fragrance I’d be more concerned about. For one thing there are biodegradable surfactants out there (often made from stuff like coconut), but this product doesn’t actually say what kind of surfactant is used, so it could be anything. The fragrance is another concern of mine. Fragrance is VERY vague. I’m not sure if they mean the essential oil, or possibly something else. Both terms are used on the bottle so… ?

If I had to guess, I’d assume they mean the fragrance IS the essential oil based on how these smell (not chemical, very essential oil scented) however I don’t like to guess, and consumers shouldn’t have to either.

Product pros:

• I love the Apple + Cinnamon scented room mist and the Lavender + Citrus smelled great too.  Both smelled very much like natural essential oils, not like some chemically scented air freshener.
• Nice soft mist of scent. When you spray this can, you get a light mist that floats around the room. No harsh squirts.
• Not too harshly scented. Someone who is scent sensitive could likely use this product without a problem.
• It’s nice that the can is recyclable.

Product cons:

• I didn’t like the Sweet Rain scent at all. As frequent readers here may know, I’m a big ol’ essential oil user. I’ve smelled dozens, used dozens, and can usually tell you with my eyes closed which essential oil you’ve got. However, I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell you which essential oils were used to make this product. I’m not even sure I could tell you what this is scented like. It did smell chemical to me.
• I’m not sure that the lid is recyclable. I’d go ahead and toss it in the bin though.
• Obviously, I’m not pleased with their ingredient listing (see above). While they do list ingredients on their website and on the can, terms like surfactant and fragrance are just far too vague.

Pros or cons depending on your taste:

I didn’t think the product was quite so concentrated as they say they are. I also didn’t think the scents lasted very long. If you compare these to say, the 100% Pure Citrus Air Fresheners that I discussed in the post Natural Air Fresheners, these room mists are nowhere near as concentrated or long lasting.

Now, this might be a pro and it might be a con. For instance, I think that the 100% Pure Citrus Lime is WAY too much scent. You spray it and a day later it’s still really strong; which means at first it’s so overwhelming. The CVS scents are far less overwhelming. This pro or con comes down to personal taste. If you like light scents, the CVS are perfect for you. Especially if you’re using this in a small space, like the bathroom.

If you want more scent punch, I’d try something else. For example, while I like the Lavender scented CVS room mist I’d probably never buy it, because I can achieve the same results by dashing a few drops of lavender essential oil onto a room diffuser, only my lavender scent will last longer.

Overall happy tree score:

Four out of five happy trees: For both the Apple + Cinnamon scented room mist and the Lavender + Citrus room mist. I’d for sure buy the Apple + Cinnamon mist again. I would not buy the Lavender, but only because I own so much lavender oil. This is the only Lavender room mist I’ve ever smelled that truly smells like essential oil vs. weird lavender. I hate the vague ingredient list, but overall, based on my nose, I’m guessing these mists aren’t too toxic, if at all. I’d recommend both the above scents.

Two out of five happy trees for the Sweet Rain scented mist. If I can’t tell what the heck it’s made with, that’s a problem for me. If it smells perfume-like, that’s another problem. Overall, I can’t recommend this scent.

Learn more at CVS/pharmacy (tip – hit their air freshener page)

Have you used these room mists? What do you think?

[images via CVS/pharmacy]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

The lilacs are starting to bloom! FYI this is the perfect time to collect some and try that Candied Flower recipe – you know you want to.

Or maybe you’d rather make some air freshening mixes that aren’t toxic. I saw some great dried lavender at the farmers market the other day, so maybe some local shops around your town have some as well.

Gather:

• Cedar shavings – 1-2 ounces (I like mine Cedar heavy, but most people like the lavender to shine through more).
• About 1/4 – 1/2 ounce dried pennyroyal (air dried best, but most of us don’t grow it so…)
• Dried lavender; about 1 1/2 ounces.
• A few whole cinnamon sticks.

To make:

Break up pennyroyal and lavender. Place on a cutting board and slighting crush over with wooden rolling pin. Mix in bowl. Add Cedar shavings. Grate some cinnimon sticks into the mix – you don’t have to grate an entire stick, just grate enough to allow a sprinkle of cinnamon to fall into the mix. Then pop the whole sticks right into the mix.

You can put this in a clay or other earthen bowl in your closet, or remove the cinnamon sticks and sew it into a bag and hang it in your house. It’s best in a bowl I think, because this is a pinch-generated mix. Meaning, once the smell starts to wear of, you can pinch, or in this case, re-crush with a rolling pin, and re-grate the cinnamon to perk the mix up. I’ve perked up this mix maybe four times before it starts to not work.

This mix has a homey, earthy, woodsy, slightly spicy scent. Of course experiment if you like or even add a few drops of essential oils. Oh, with homemade potpourri, you should keep it up if you have small children or pets. This mix is pretty safe, as far as mixes go, but pennyroyal in large amounts can be dangerious, and cedar shavings for pets have not been proven totally safe.

[photo via Jennifer Chait's "daily walk to the park" collection]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Here are some of the small green steps you can try with your family this year:

Use Cloth Napkins

Remove Plastic Beverage Lids

Smart Paint Disposal

Refillable Liquid Hand Soap

Silicone Baking Cups

Ditch the Air Fresheners

We also do a fair amount of tree hugging around here. So far, we’ve hugged many different trees:

• Cedar
• Heirloom Peach Tree
• Almond
• Autumn Trees
• Lemon
• The Pumpkin Tree
• Binary Tree
• The Chocolate Tree
• Sugar Maple
• Edible Tree
• Douglas Fir
• Red Flowering Dogwood

Wow. That’s a lot of tree love. Anyone else notice how many food-minded trees I hug? I must like snacks.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Some of the air fresheners I mentioned before would work for this but the problem is getting a bunch of people who don’t care to light up some incense or warm up some oil. The majority of men I’ve lived with want a quicker solution or they won’t bother.

The following are natural air fresheners like yesterday’s but more commercial and in my opinion have worse packaging. However, they are non-toxic and are a huge improvement over your basic plug-in or spray type deal.

Orange Mate makes a biodegradable and nontoxic line of supplies for cleaning and freshening. I’ve never used any of their cleaning items but I have used their 100% Pure Citrus Air Fresheners. They’re available online or at stores like Wild Oats and other natural food shops like your local co-op. Some benefits from the Orange Mate website include:

• “Freshens the air without any artificial chemicals
• Destroys odors – Does not just mask them
• Made from the highest quality biodegradable citrus ingredients
• Non-aerosol container carries no fluorocarbons, hydrocarbons or propellants
• Unique spray system delivers a finer mist than most products to spread and circulate more efficiently
• Works faster and lasts longer than perfumed chemical air fresheners”

I wouldn’t buy these regularly because of the containers but if a spray is what would work best for your family you can go with Orange Mate and at least avoid chemicals which are both bad for the planet and your family. I think that the scents last way longer than ANY commercial air freshener I’ve ever smelled as well.

The scents available are orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and the new cinnamon. I’ve used orange which I’d recommend because it really does just smell like oranges and I’ve used lime which I didn’t like. The lime scent seemed way more overpowering to me. The grapefruit sounds good to me too.

Other Options:

To see some other natural air freshener spray options; some with containers that seem more recyclable than Orange Mate’s check out Kokopelli’s Green Market.

Homemade spray:

This is the best spray option. Buy a small mist spray water bottle — like one you’d use for hair care. Fill it with water and add some drops of essential oils. For air freshening purposes I usually use about five drops of oil per cup of water. However, I like my scents strong — you can make it however you like and adjust it to your nose. This is the perfect option for various reasons:

• Low cost: One bottle of oil used over time is cheaper than multiple bottles of air freshener.
• Reusable: The bottle you buy is obviously not a throw-away item.
• Custom: You can choose any mixture of scents you like and not have to pick what’s on the local store shelf.

One note about essential oils; not everyone can handle them. While they are not toxic in the same way chemicals in commercial fresheners are; some people can be allergic to essential oils. If you only want to freshen your house label the bottle you use as such. Don’t allow family members to spray it on their skin.

Essential oils 101 is a much longer topic for another day. Just know that oils like anything else can cause an allergy. If anyone seems sick after using this type of air freshener talk to your health care provider or a certified aromatherapist to see if it could be the oil.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family