After experimenting with essential oils for the wellness of her own family, my podcast guest Nicola Elliot founded one of my favourite brands, Neom Organics. Neom is a brand that has pioneered no fuss natural products for authentic wellness 14 years ago with its range of beautiful essential oil candles, pillow sprays, skincare, fragrances and so much more.

What makes Neom my favourite brands as Nicola explains in this interview, is the potency of their products, using 100% natural organic essential oils meaning you actually receive the benefits of aromatherapy through their products. This is a company founded in the truest desire to help people live happier healthier lives and something Nicola spoke a lot about in this episode.

Why Natural?

• 14 years ago: 98% candles were synthetic and that figure has hardly changed, synthetic is easier, cheaper but loses the benefits of aromatherapy 
• The price difference between natural and synthetic mean you can actually receive the aromatherapy benefits of essential oils
• The average woman uses 450 chemicals everyday it’s important to not blindly trust brands and choose natural. 
• Make the choice to educate yourself, find brands you can trust and make a pledge for you, your kids, the planet to use natural products.

 

Natural Brands Nicola Loves: 

Haircare: Christofe Robin

Skincare: Neom, Trilogy Rosehip Seed Oil, Dr Haushka 

Nails: Butter, Nailberry 

Burts bees: Lips 

Foundation: Bare Minerals 

Fragrance: Neom, or essential oils directly i.e. jasmine / rose

Like everything else, be kind to yourself and don’t worry if you aren’t using 100% natural just focus on prioritising the items that will be most absorbed i.e. using mascara on the tips of your eyelashes or conditioners on the ends of your hair wont be absorbed as much as a foundation or a shampoo. 

 

How does aroma therapy work?

• through the capillaries either through skin contact or through breathing in 

 

Neom’s 4 wellbeing principles: 

• Energy
• Less stress
• Good sleep
• Good mood

 

Stress management:

• anxiety: prevention with whatever works for you, not just exercise and food – relationships, day to day, work life, work life balance 
• for Nicola: dog walks!
• Find your own wellbeing, make it manageable, don’t be stressed out trying to be well! 
• Don’t sweat the small stuff 

 

Developing a sleep routine

• Make you own toolkit for sleep, be in touch with what you actually need in terms of sleep, switch off time before sleep
• Switching off from work 
• Sleep anxiety: anxiety around the amount of sleep, don’t stress about sleep 
• Use coffee sparingly so it can be effective 
• ‘Napaccino’ drink coffee before a nap to wake up alert

 

Finding your purpose, starting a business 

• You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to invent a faster wheel
• It’s actually easier to introduce a better version of something people already use than to create a whole new thing
• Find what works for you, wellness works in little moments
• Be authentic – finding wellness that works, not as a trend but as a long term, not a trend but an evolution of the way we live that is not coming and going 
• FINDING YOUR WHY: why are you joining this movement, not just a product 
• What it takes to start a business: doesn’t need to be unique, just needs to be uniquely great with a unique passion and drive

 

3 key points: 

1. find what is right for you – enjoy building your own simple personal toolkit wellness that stresses you out isn’t wellness! Find your own wellbeing toolkit that actually fits into your life and makes you feel better! 
2. don’t sweat the small stuff 
3. choose natural for skin and body care 

 

Where to find Nicola: 

Instagram

Neom Website 

Podcast