Sexy and eco-conscious don’t always follow
But Sandoval’s line of handmade, essential oil fueled mists perfectly straddle both worlds.
Sandoval’s decadent scents, packaged in sleek jet-black glass bottles, look as good on your coffee table as they smell when misted over your linens. The sprays are completely toxin-free and instead infuse your home with the potent, yet gentle effects of aromatherapy.
Michael Carbaugh is the founder and creator of this uniquely masculine and alluring line of eco-home fragrances. After working in fashion for over 15 years, Micheal began to crave a career change. He longed for a path that would lead to a healthier lifestyle for himself, while creating something that could be a positive force in the world.
One day while working on a shoot in New York, a commercial beauty client shared with Michael that the company had discovered traces of chemicals from their shampoo in studies of breast lumps. This was a pivotal point, and what lead him to take natural personal care seriously. The seed was born, but it took several years before Michael found his calling.
A vision and a heart centered mission
After moving to San Francisco, he began to experiment with essential oils and to create fragrant home sprays, just to freshen up his own apartment. During the holidays he would package the sprays as gifts, and as friends fell in love with the delicious blends, Michael felt increasingly driven to deepen his play with formulas and research into the therapeutic properties of the precious oils.
With a back-and-forth between intuitive scent and science, and the discovery of Berkeley based perfumer Mandy Aftel’s inspiring writings on natural essences, his mission to create a toxin-free fragrance line became clear. After about six months of investigation Michael conceived his four signature blends: Peace, Love, Captain and Wood.
In 2014 Sandoval was born. In honor of his great-grandmother and her incredible spirit, Michael christened the line with her maiden name. With sophisticated scent profiles that feel like designer perfume, over the last two years Sandoval has grown into a sustainable business, with stockists including ABC Home in New York and Ron Robinson in L.A.. The line has been featured in Vogue, Goop, The Cut, CA Home and is beloved by Alanis Morissette.
I especially love to share a story like this, because Sandoval was brought to life with a shoestring budget, but on the foundation of a vision and a heart centered mission. It’s hard work flying solo, but when you’re determined to create beauty in the world, the angels come swooshing in!
Something beautiful, that contains something even more beautiful.
The pretty black vessels contain sprays that are made of 100% natural ingredients. Distilled water and ethically sourced essential oils.
That’s it–aside from the inclusion of tiny full moon charged Rose Quartz crystals, added for an extra boost of positive vibrations!
Whether you believe in the energetic properties of crystals or not, the benefits of aromatherapy and essential oils are well documented. From the beginning of his journey Michael noticed that the essential oil blends had mood enhancing properties when sprayed in his home. As he dove into research on his favorite oils he found that the scents he intuitively gravitated towards had especially long lists of healing properties and benefits.
When asked to pick a favorite oil, Michael’s unequivocal answer was: Sandalwood! He can actually feel energy shooting through his body with its scent. But this essential oil is also known to:
- calm and reduce anxiety (3)
- stimulate cell regeneration
- create euphoria
- work as an antiseptic (1)
- and as an anti-cancer agent! (2)
Healing waters
I’m not suggesting here that you’re going to be cured of all major diseases while enhancing your home’s scent, but if you use Sandoval’s mists on a regular basis, you could very well reduce feelings of anxiety, experience a variety of subtle health benefits, while also killing bacteria on surfaces that don’t get sunlight or can’t be cleaned.
Other essential oils that Michael includes in his blends, such as bay, ylang-ylang, vetiver and neroli all have antiseptic properties. Most of them also have mood enhancing effects, including anti-depression and anti-anxiety properties. If that’s hard for you to believe, there’s plenty of research supporting the power of plant oils. For example, a recent study determined that by treating patients with aromatherapy using a blend of neroli, lavender, ylang-ylang and marjoram it significantly decreased blood pressure and stress hormone cortisol levels!(4) This is seriously powerful stuff.
Aside from the incredible medicinal potential, each of Sandoval’s layered blends is like an olfactory orgasm. I kid you not. The fragrances are as intoxicating as they are inspiring. I feel equally as wooed by each scent profile, but if I was forced to pick, I’d settle on PEACE and WOOD.
PEACE brings back memories of Bali for me and feels the most open, spiritual and soothing. It makes me feel like I’ve just entered into a sacred space. I find it helpful in going deeper in meditation or easier to concentrate while reading. WOOD has the richest spicy notes of the lot, and feels energizing and sexy. At moments it transports me to the depths of an old growth, mossy forest–helps me to feel like I’m on a directed path.
If you’re buying one of these blissful mists online without sampling a whiff, explore Dr. Mercola’s incredible Essential Oil Guide to determine which blend of essences would be most beneficial for your mood and health. When you receive your Sandoval spray, be sure to look into the oils and their properties. My experience of these interior aromatics has become a much richer one after investigating them for this review!
WOOD: Cedar, Vetiver + Sandalwood
LOVE: Neroli, Ylang-Ylang + Vetiver
PEACE: Sandalwood, Frankincense + Palo Santo
CAPTAIN: Lavender, West Indies Bay + Patchouli
The opaque bottles are not only chic, but are impermeable to sunlight, helping to maintain the incredible therapeutic qualities of these precious essential oils.
Sandoval’s two lines, Interior Aromatics and Aromatic Concentrates, both have incredible staying power. Once sprayed the scent lingers for a long time!
Buy Sandoval
Buy Sandoval natural home fragrances online at www.studiosandoval.com or Goop, or stop by ABC Home in New York and Ron Robinson in L.A
16oz Interior Aromatics bottles run $45.00 each, and will last a couple months–even with frequent use.
3oz Aromatic Concentrates go for $60.00 each, but you’re getting 5 times the concentration of Interior Aromatics, and the 3 oz bottles meet travel size specs, so you can take them wherever you go! A bottle will last several months, even if you mist your space with frequency–as you should!
I know that for some of you these numbers may feel pricey. Keep in mind that when you purchase cheap (though sometimes even more expensive) synthetic home fragrances, whether it’s in the form of candles or reed diffusers, synthetic chemical fragrances release airborne toxins that cause cancer and other major illnesses. It’s just not worth it.
If Sandoval is simply not in your budget, use this information as inspiration to make your own essential oil home fragrance!
- Comparative phytochemical analysis and antibacterial efficacy of in vitro and in vivo extracts from East Indian sandalwood tree (Santalum album L.). Misra B.B., Dey S.. Lett Appl Microbiol. 2012 Dec;55(6):476-86. doi: 10.1111/lam.12005. Epub 2012 Oct 26.
- Anticancer Effects of Sandalwood (Santalum album). Santa S., Dwivedi C.. Anticancer Res. 2015 Jun;35(6):3137-45.
- The metabolic responses to aerial diffusion of essential oils. Wu Y1, Zhang Y, Xie G, Zhao A, Pan X, Chen T, Hu Y, Liu Y, Cheng Y, Chi Y, Yao L, Jia W. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44830. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044830. Epub 2012 Sep 12.
- Essential oil inhalation on blood pressure and salivary cortisol levels in prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects. Kim IH, Kim C, Seong K, Hur MH, Lim HM, Lee MS. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:984203. doi: 10.1155/2012/984203. Epub 2012 Nov 19.
Sandoval Home Aromatics
from $45
Pros
- Calming
- Mood Enhancing
- Lasting Scent
- Natural
- Disinfecting
