Getting the STINK out! Aera Home Fragrance

ew

So.  This is a roundabout review.  Hang with me.

So.  Last week I was at the Farmer’s Market and came upon these delightful bouquets of pennycress, surrounding a small bunch of prairie flowers.  Pennycress is so pretty and I have an interest in it because it is being tested as a biofuel here in Central IL.  And the rather hefty bouquet was $5. And charming.  Winnah, right?

Not so fast.

I’d never actually seen pennycress in the flesh frond.  I had NO idea how it smells.  It doesn’t smell.  It STINKS!  O.M.G. Pretty as it is, it has this rank, dank, vegetal, wet sneaker, eau du frog smell that had me tearing apart the kitchen, looking for the rotten potato.

Worse?  Even after I turned out the kitchen, found out it wasn’t a rotten potato and got rid of the blasted bouquet?  THE SMELL STAYED!  and stayed.  and STAYED!  If they do use pennycress as a biofuel there will be NO auto accidents At All.  Because you won’t be able to get close enough to any other vehicle!

Almost in despair, I turned to my fabbo Aera Home Scent Diffuser (I know I sound like an informercial – but it’s true.  I haven’t been using it much lately because I have all the windows open and I don’t feel like scenting the outdoors, y’know? And we’ll talk about the error of my thinking, in just a bit) –  I’d just received a couple new scents for review (that’s my disclosure, right there) and the Citrus canister was in the gorgeous little machine – so I turned it on.

Boom!  Within 4 minutes?  Aera: 1  Stink: 0.  What’s even nicer?  It didn’t have that Room Freshener aftersmell , no Febreze or Eau du Bus John aroma.  It is a delightfully light, citrus smell that doesn’t scream “I JUST SPRAYED PLASTIC LEMON ALL OVER THE PLACE, FEAR ME!”  I emailed Levi (the sender of those fab scents), extolling the virtues of Citrus – and he replied that, much as he loves Citrus, he really ADORES  the White Tea scent, with its quietly heady mixture of jasmine and thyme (I love thyme – such a peppery little lift to it), so I decided to try that one (I haz a hard job over here, lol!) – what a nice scent!!  Why don’t we use the word ‘nice’ more often?  I like ‘nice’ scents for the home.  When I walk through the door after a day of beatdowns, I don’t want to be challenged by some psychopathic fragrance.   I want the olfactory equivalent of a perfectly clean house, glass of Pinot Blanc awaiting ….fresh flowers in the foyer (as if, but a gal can dream) and The Girl has been fed & walked.

Aera pretty much hits all those (except walking The Girl, alas,)  –  their fragrances are ‘nice’- pretty without being insipid, interesting without being intrusive, and…hey, this is where we talk about usage in Summer!  I am not an AC fan so unless it’s 900F I usually make do with open windows and ceiling fans.  The lovely thing about Aera is, since it’s not a spray in the conventional sense of the word, the little ‘puff’ of scent it releases mixes nicely with fresh air, lingering but not heavy.   I also like the system because it’s sleek and cool – and it won’t set your house on fire – don’t laugh!  Awhile ago, someone went into a friend’s guest bath to ‘freshen up’, took off her decorative scarf and left it in the bathroom (she was a bit toasted) – a moment later she remembers thinking ‘huh.  I didn’t know Mark had a fireplace in his bathroom…oh, sh#t!!!’ …….see, if you had an Aera, your toasted friends could drop their scarves on it and not burn up your guest bath!

still gorgeous!

The new scents are White Tea (my new fave), Citrus (my other new fave), Lavender (perfect for evening and for when you don’t want to go to jail – very, very soothing) and Sandalwood (which I tried for a hot minute but, in all honesty, it’s just too hot and humid right now – I see myself really enjoying this, come October).  All are $39/ea.  You can check them out on the Aera website www.aeraforhome.com – and the canisters still make that cool, James Bond ‘whoosh’ when they go into the machine. Every time they do that I get this big grin on my face….Omg.  I am such a NERD!