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I’m a bit of a sceptic when it comes to wellbeing products, so it’s hard to admit that I actually really like this electric diffuser and its little extras (dimmable light, breathing feature, and timer). I’ve found it creates a relaxing atmosphere, using essential oils to gently fragrance the room, and I could watch the gentle, calming spiral of steam from the top of the ceramic dome for hours. I know, I know, maybe I need to get out more…
Anyway, whilst there are a couple of things that mean it’s not perfect, I’m still very glad I bought this Neom wellbeing pod and it has pride of place on the bookcase in my living room where it gets regular use over the weekends. Have a read of this Neom Wellbeing Pod review to find out more about it.
Editor’s rating: 4.5
Pros
- Very effective fragrance
- Creates a peaceful ambience
- Looks stylish
- Easy to use and clean
Cons
- Price
- Not all the oils are vegan
What is a Neom Wellbeing Pod?
The Neom wellbeing pods are basically electric scent diffusers that use essential oils to create a fragrant and relaxed atmosphere (so no more messy oil burners and tealights)! My wellbeing pod emits a consistently well-fragranced vapour that gently but effectively scents my living room with whichever essential oil I have selected. In addition, 2 out of the 3 Neom pods have lovely lighting functions too which makes them much a more integral part of the room. I bought the medium Wellbeing Pod, which has 2 settings, that throws out a gentle light. There is also a ‘breathe’ function on it where the light brightens and dims in a time sequence designed to relax and slow your breathing.
The positives
With its lovely fragrances and gentle spirals of steam, this stylish-looking Neom Wellbeing Pod creates a lovely atmosphere, and it’s simple to use and easy to clean too. Let’s look at each of those positives in a bit more detail.
Very effective fragrance
The wellbeing pod is a great way of getting fragrance into your room – you add a few drops of the essential oils into the water reservoir, and the resulting spirals of fragrant steam do the rest, spreading across the room very effectively (providing you have bought the right sized pod for the room you are using it in – see the table below).
Neom has a great range of essential oils, including blends to help:
- calm and relax you with scents of rose, black pepper and lime
- boost your energy with sicilian lemon and basil
- get ready to sleep with Neom’s Bedtime Hero chamomile blend
I have tried several and they really do smell lovely, and although they seem pricey, you use only a few drops which will burn for many hours in the pods. The following table indicates which sized pod you should choose for your needs:
| Pod Type | Mains/Battery | Water required | Light | Space | Timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellbeing Pod Mini | Battery & USB | No | No | Small/car | No |
| Wellbeing Pod | Mains | Yes | Yes | Medium | Yes |
| Wellbeing Pod Luxe | Mains | Yes | Yes | Large | Yes |
Creates a peaceful ambience
With different settings for lights and the intensity of the fragrance, the Neom pod really does help to create the atmosphere you want. It looks really lovely in a darkened room, and is quite candle-like in the light it gives off. I find the fragrance much more consistent than a scented candle though, and the fact that you have more control over the pod than you do a candle is really useful. But you can use both features separately too, so just have it lit gently in a corner, or have it fragrance the room without the light on.
Looks stylish
The pod really won’t look out of place in any setting – it is stylish, looks very well made, and is certainly classier than many other makes of diffuser pods I’ve seen. The base is made from Hevea wood apparently, an up-cycled latex by-product – hence Neom say it’s made of wood. I still think it looks and feels like plastic, but still, it definitely doesn’t look cheap. And the ceramic top ensures that when lit, it creates a warm, gentle glow.
Easy to use and clean
This pod is incredibly easy to use and has very straightforward instructions. Basically, remove the ceramic lid, add water into the reservoir up to the max line, add up to 10 drops of your chosen essential oil, put the lid back, and switch it on. When you’re done, you can leave it if you’re going to use it again within a few days, but any more than that and you should clean it out – just tip it away, use a cotton bud or cloth to wipe the bottom and that’s it.
The negatives
The price of a product is often a negative, and this is no exception! The other thing to look out for is that not all Neom’s products are vegan, so let’s look at that now.
Price
You won’t get much change out of £100 for the mid-range Neom Wellbeing Pod. The mini pod is significantly cheaper, but it will only fragrance a smaller space – modest bathroom, box room – so I imagine that it wouldn’t successfully fragrance the average sized living room. That said, you can spend a fortune on reed diffusers and I find that the scent from those tends to disappear very quickly. The pod should last an awful lot longer (having taken a look at a lot of online reviews, I haven’t seen any complaints about them breaking) so when you look at it like that, it is probably better value for money in the long term.
Not all the oils are vegan
Whilst most of Neom’s essential oils are vegan, not all of them are – you should avoid their ‘Real Luxury’ range. All the others seem fine.
Vegan Mum’s Conclusion of the Neom Wellbeing Pod Review
My first experience of seeing an electric diffuser in action was actually in someone else’s home. I had occasionally seen them in shops before that, but hadn’t really given them a second thought. However, when I saw it working in a home setting and experienced just how effective it was, I was sold! Although it worked well though, I wasn’t keen on its appearance and quality, so I looked around and found the Neom range and I have to say, the Neom Wellbeing Pods are much more stylish, visually appealing products.
I baulked at the price initially, but after I had done a couple of back of fag packet calculations – OK, I haven’t smoked for over 15 years so it was a bit of paper to be truthful, but you know what I mean – it looked like a better investment once I’d worked out how many reed diffusers I would no longer feel the need to buy.
Now, if you’re not a fragrance kind of person, none of this is going to be making much sense, but we live in an old house – a very, very old house – and sometimes, it needs a bit of help on the fragrance front. That said, I think we are a bit obsessed in the UK with trying to make our homes smell nice as we try to embrace the Danish hygge vibe…
Anyway, I ended up buying a Neom Wellbeing pod and one of their essential oil fragrances – Happiness – with neroli, mimosa and lemon. After receiving my order, it was incredibly straightforward to set up and use; I filled the integral water container, added a few drops of ‘Happiness’, plugged it in and within just a few minutes it was puffing out a steady stream of fragrant, spiralling vapour. It works incredibly quickly once you plug it, and it is very effective – I love it.
The pod also has a light with a couple of dimmer settings on, although you don’t have to use that at all, as well as timer and intensity settings. In addition, it has the ‘breathe’ function, with the light brightening and dimming in a sequence designed to help you wind down and relax. It’s not something I’ve felt the need to use, but others might like it.
I know that there are some concerns around the use of fragrance in the home, and with essential oils too, particularly with regard to children, pets, pregnant people and asthmatics. I always ensure my room has some ventilation, and leave the door open for Coco, our canine companion, to make her escape if necessary. But I also restrict my use of the product to the weekends, and I use the timer function to switch the diffuser off after an hour, then give it a break. If you leave it on all the time you stop smelling it anyway.
I also think that it is a much healthier option than incense sticks, which we would use sometimes, and we no longer use scented candles or oil burners either. So I’m pretty comfortable with the health aspects personally, and think that my Neom Wellbeing Pod is by far and away the best method I have found to fragrance my home.
Any downsides apart from price and being careful about exposure? Well, some of the Neom products aren’t vegan – all their candles contain beeswax for example. From what I can see, the only essential oil that isn’t vegan though is the Real Luxury essential oil blend.
So, was the result of this Neom Wellbeing Pod review that it was ‘heaven scent’ or just a ‘steamy affair’? To be honest, I think it’s a little bit of both!
Alternatives to the Neom Wellbeing Pod
I hope you have enjoyed this Neom Wellbeing Pod review. If you want to look at a more cost effective alternative, try this diffuser from Asakuki on Amazon.
Asakuki 300ml essential oil diffuser from Amazon
You may also be interested in reading Vegan Mum’s Best Vegan Candles UK Guide
FAQs
Why would I use a Neom Wellbeing Pod?
We are a nation obsessed with fragrancing our homes, whether that’s using scented candles, incense sticks, reed diffusers, or oil burners. And now, we have electric wellbeing pods. So, if you are someone that likes to create an ambient atmosphere using fragrances that can help to either relax or energise you, then a pod might be perfect for you. It is probably far less ‘polluting’ than an incense stick, less messy than a tealight-driven oil burner (which I always end up forgetting to refill, and then wonder what that awful burning smell is), and way more effective than reed diffusers which just end up as strangely odourless, dust-gathering ornaments in my house.
Are these pods safe to use?
As with any essential oil (or any other fragrance) care must be taken when using a Neom Wellbeing Pod, particularly when there are pets, children, pregnant people and asthmatics around. Essential oils are used in aromatherapy, and it is generally accepted that ‘smelling’ essential oils is safe, although applying them topically i.e. directly to your skin, may not be (depending on the oil). Neom says that its home fragrance products are safe for all, but you should ensure you have adequate ventilation in the room you are using the pod in, and leave a door open so that pets can move out of a room if they wish.
There is also some general health advice online that suggests you should run electric diffusers for an hour at a time, and then switch them off for an hour to take a rest from the fragrance. To be honest, this is good advice because you stop smelling it after a while anyway – fragrance fatigue!
I am definitely NOT an expert in this area, so do some research (I have provided some references below that I used as part of my research for this Neom Wellbeing Pod review) and if you are in anyway unsure, contact a medical professional. However, most people are able to use diffusers (following any guidelines provided by the manufacturer) without any problems at all. I can be sensitive to fumes and things like incense sticks, but have had no issues using my Neom pod. Nor has the dog. And neither has the husband…
Is the Neom Wellbeing Pod worth it?
Well, there is an initial outlay that is not insignificant, and essential oils can have a bit of a price tag too. However, once you have it, it costs virtually nothing to run, and you use only a few drops of the oil and that can last for hours. So after an initial investment, it’s very economical. Not only that, the integral light is lovely and it looks pretty stylish on your shelf!
I think it’s worth it, and not only that, it also makes a great gift for someone special. But that’s just my opinion…
References
I carried out research for this Neom Wellbeing Pod Review, and am providing some of those research references in case you would like to find out more:
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