The art of Wellbeing
Longing for a quick spa reboot? Hit the pause button at the Neom Organics boutique in SW19
If there’s a wellbeing brand that lives up to its tagline, it’s Neom Organics. ‘Scent to make you feel good’ is bang on and the products and treatments really deliver. The brainchild of Nicola Elliott, Creative Director and Co-Founder who describes Neom as a “wellbeing, fragrance brand”, it’s so much more than a luxury candle, bath and body line.
Elliott founded the brand in 2005 after mixing bespoke aromatherapy blends for stressed friends and family in her former life as a journalist. Today Neom is stocked in 16 countries outside the UK, adorns the counters at Selfridges, John Lewis, Heal’s and Fenwick and one of its Real Luxury Scented Candles is sold every ten minutes worldwide. Proof that niche and natural can be embraced by the masses.
Elliott is keen to point out that “by 2020, four of the top health issues will be stress-related.” And stepping into the Neom stand-alone wellbeing boutique you can see this is her prescribed (and exquisitely scented) antidote. Sure, she’s not claiming to counteract serious disease with her menu of mood-inspired treatments, but it’s a beautifully indulgent start.
The Wimbledon village based space exudes a Hamptons meets Cornwall aesthetic; with its blonde wood floors, shell-hued walls and muted pastel colour palette. It brings the outside in, with blooms adorning the walls and branches suspended from the ceiling. It’s calming and restorative and pretty hard to stay stressed for long here.
Book in for one of the four unique treatments and you’ll first take the “science of scent therapy” test. It sounds like you may need to revise for this, but in reality it’s the start of your blissful time out. My therapist Zaira lifted the cloches over four oversized candles and asked me to take a few breaths in to inhale the aromas of each. I was immediately drawn to the lavender, basil and jasmine in the Tranquility candle and we decided on a sixty minute Sleep Treatment.
Once cocooned in a cloud-like duvet in the amber-lit treatment room my treatment kicked-off with an audio meditation and visualization exercise. Sounds wacky – weird even, but trust us at Live Gorge HQ on this, it works. After a few minutes you forget all about Instagram, tomorrow’s 9am meeting and what you need to pick up for supper, as you drift off into deep, deep relaxation. And for someone who struggles big time with sitting down and flicking the off switch, that’s impressive.
The oils are light, silky and feel incredibly luxurious on your skin. And the scent is sublime. You can really tell that everything is blended using 100% natural and organic ingredients. Elliott explains, “Neom essential oils are so pure they hit 50 million receptors in your nose, linked to the olfactory glands, which in turn store hormones to help you sleep, relax, or boost your mood.”
All four treatments harness massage, cranial, mindfulness, reflexology and breathing techniques. Developed in collaboration with the Neom Wellbeing Board, a team of aromatherapists, life coaches, nutritionists, psychologists, mindfulness, sleep and massage experts, choose from De-stress, Sleep, Happiness and Energise.
It’s clear this brand is serious about wellbeing and has done its research into creating something unique, it really goes above and beyond a regular spa treatment, recognizing the key connection between body, mind and soul. And it does it all with a welcome creative twist; all the staff members are known as “Neomologist’s” and there’s even a Neom candle that doubles up as a skin treatment. (the Intensive Skin Treatment Candle).
As my Sleep treatment draws to a close I feel arguably the most zen I have in months and that evening I get in a full eight hours of blissful, baby-like slumber.
