Although a luxury today, perfume began as a hunting tool primitive deer stalkers would dose themselves in to convince the odor-sensitive animals they were nothing more than flowers. Put scent to good use with today's Groupon: for $7, you get $15 worth of customizable bath and body products at Escential Lotions and Oils, good for in-store shopping only.
An independent lab of fragrance alchemy, Escential Lotions and Oils spritzes and daubs scent-seekers with essential oils and coordinating bath and body potions. Long-lasting, botanically based, alcohol-free essential oils ($8+) include intensely floral Bulgarian lavender and cool, soothing eucalyptus, said to ward off insects, stuffy noses, and the koala-allergic. Aromatherapy oil blends ($14 per 0.25 oz.) channel such disparate emotions as Broken Heart and Euphoria. Signature scents ($8 per 0.25 oz.; $15 per 0.5 oz.) such as Hot Peach Pie blend into lotion, shampoo, and body wash for a synchronized shower regimen. Ready-to-customize unscented products include a vitamin A, D, and E lotion ($9 per 8 oz.; $15 per 16 oz.) and a coconut-oil-based body wash ($5 per 4 oz.) with exfoliating ground walnut shells to scrub off fossilized temporary tattoos.
Escential Lotions and Oils packages skin-soothers simply to reduce waste, and its biodegradable beautifiers are never tested on animals. Let competitive nostrils battle against one another in a winner-take-the-nose sniffing contest among the shop's glass shelves and carefully handwritten labels.