If you are like me when I first saw this product here on Eden then you are or were probably wondering, just what exactly is "arousing herbal bath essence?” After receiving this product in the pomegranate I did some digging just to see what it was all about. A lot of the information I found was that bath essence can range in various different ways, from plant and/or flower extracts mixed with a lot of oil or only a little. In some cases I saw some bath essence that had mostly just oils in it, which seemed more like bath oil than essence. Overall it seems they can vary from company to company.

What is Dona herbal bath essence used for then you might ask? Well you simply add 1 or 2 cap fulls to your running bath water for an essence-filled relaxing experience. This product is not designed to bubble up like the Dona bath foam and it does not really change the consistency or color of your bath water. This is actually designed more so for your mind than your body. A lot of the extracts in this product are going to absorb through the skin accompanied with the aroma to give you an invigorating, stimulating, uplifting and well-being feeling that will help fight fatigue while improving concentration and stress-relief. As this is my first bath essence I have used I am not really sure if there are any other ways you could use a product like this other than bath soaking.

With so many bath products on the market, especially ones to soak in, it can be difficult finding the right one. After using bath milk, bath salts and bath foam I have been spoiled with the skin softening, cleaning and moisturizing properties. So when using Dona herbal bath essence I was slightly disappointed that it does not do much for the skin. So please keep in mind this product has a lot of plant extracts in it and the whole intent is to provide a relaxing experience vs. skin moisturizing and nourishing. At the end of a hard stressful day when you are feeling like a zombie you can slip inside a nice hot bath of Dona herbal bath essence of plant extracts (hence the plants vs. zombies). Just about anyone can enjoy this type of product if you really want to relax in a bath, couples can use it together, and while it is not as fun as a bubble bath. You can use it by itself or even with the '5 Step Dona Ritual' (see special features section).

There are a few allergy concerns with this product, to start with it is loaded with multiple plant extracts (please see ingredient list in the special features section) and also glycerin. While Dona uses an all-natural vegetable-based glycerin that is supposed to be less irritating, I would still take caution. With that in mind, a test spot is always recommended before full use and to also look at the ingredients to see if you might have problems using this. I would probably say this is for external use only.

Out of all the Dona products I have used this one seems to be to least interesting in terms of its texture and consistency. This will be great for those who do not like the feel of bath products on their skin. In the bottle it has a pale yellowish sap-like color to it with a thin consistency either like a liquid candy or thin hot maple syrup. Because of this it is very easy to pour, so take it slow and don't try to just dump a bunch out at once. Just for this review I decided to rub some between my finger tips and it felt like thin gel-like oil, but nothing overly oily like massage oil.

When adding it to the running bath water it very quickly disperses and dissolves into the water. A very minute amount of bubbles can form if added early during the filling of the tub. However these quickly dissipate and a very thin and almost unnoticeable layer of film will form on the surface due to the oil in the product. Don't worry though because even with 2 cap fulls (1 tablespoon-ish) the water actually stays fairly consistent and does not seem to soften or feel oily/greasy. After soaking I did not feel the need to rinse off at all and my skin did not feel oily or have any residue left on me. A big bonus was that after draining the water there was no residue or slippery feeling in the tub.

I have included a couple of pictures; I must note that depending on your lighting your bath essence may look lighter or darker in the bottle. This picture shows it fairly dark, like a honey-maple blend, however when I look at it with my eyes it is much lighter. The other picture just shows me pouring some of this so you can see that it doesn't color the water and very few bubbles will form.

While I love mangosteen I have become quite infatuated with the pomegranate as well, thankfully when this was given to me by the manufacturer I received it in the pomegranate. When I compare this particular scent to other Dona pomegranate products that I have (Linen Spray, Bath Milk, Bath Salt, Massage Candle and Body Butter) it is very similar in its aroma profile. When you first open the bottle it is of medium strength unless you stick your nose right on the opening then it is fairly strong. At first it smells very strongly of the lovely sweet fruity pomegranate smell I have come to enjoy. Although after a short while I start to pick up on a lot of green scents and plant scents. It smells very much like a blend of plants with a slight bold spicy-like aroma of flowers, but not that strong of a high note of floral.

When using this in the bath tub I did not find the aroma to fill the bathroom up nearly as strongly as the bath foam, bath salts or bath milk. It is a much lighter, but more relaxing aroma I feel you can really enjoy vs. that rush of strong scent. While I was soaking I found the scent to stay almost the same as in the bottle, however the floral notes dissipated more and it seemed like a sweet and tart fruity plant-like scent. Personally I found it to be very pleasant and relaxing without being overpowering or giving me a headache, in fact my headache I had went away (read on for more info on that). I would have to say this does not smell chemically in any way; the scent to me seems mostly of a natural smell. However it's like something in the aroma profile is in between chemical and natural, maybe artificial but not in a bad way.

While some of the ingredients in this product do have benefits for the skin I really did not notice anything different physically for my skin. But to be fair the product is more so designed for relaxation and the mind. In use I found the overall aroma to be very relaxing and soothing while not being overly strong. The essence does have oil in it and I was really worried the water would be oily or have beads of oil. However to my delight the water does not become oily at least from what I could determine.

The essence in the hot bath water both worked very well in calming my body physically, reducing muscle aches and inflammation. My skin did not feel irritated at all with all the extracts that are used, no itching or dry skin. However I was really hoping for some moisturizing properties with this, so you will most likely need to moisturize after using the essence.

Overall for how it is intended to perform it did a great job at soothing my mind and body. The first few times I used it was actually after a long work day and I was considerably stressed with a bad headache. To my surprise I felt almost completely the opposite after soaking in the herbal bath essence. This is definitely more so my go to product when I need the most stress-relief.

Having tried many of the Dona products this one has my favorite colored packaging. Like the other Dona products this one has the lace design on the label and colored coded with a lovely blue. This is my favorite out of them all. The bottle is 6oz and made of a hard plastic (recyclable no.1) standing up thin and tall. This is one of the smaller containers in the Dona line and seems more reasonable for travel however because of the ingredients you should keep this in a zip lock bag if traveling. I personally find most of the Dona products discreet including this one, but because it says "Arousing Herbal Bath Essence" and "An Aphrodisiac Infused Ritual" it makes it seem more sexual.

There is more than enough information on this bottle to suit most people’s interest, ingredients, allergy warning and also directions on use. I found it easy to read the white writing on the black label but it is rather small. There is a foil seal on the bottle once you remove the black screw cap, this needs to be removed and is fairly easy to do. I'd say you can open this container with one hand if you had too. You can really store this anywhere in your bathroom, just make sure it is standing up and not laying on its side, while I have not had leaking issues its better to be safe than sorry.

Included are a few pictures of the packaging, the pictures will rotate in a series of three. Because I received mine from the manufacturer, it came with a Dona brown box with the lace design and product line name. Never fear, if you order from Eden the package will be discreet.

Ingredients

Glycerin, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Seed Extract, Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract, Paullina Cupana Seed Extract , Ptychopetalum Olacoides Root Extract , Turnera Diffusa Leaf Extract, Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Pausinystalia Yohimbe Bark Extract, PPG-26 Buteth-26, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Fragrance

I'm not sure as to why but my ingredient list on the label does not show "Pomegranate" listed on it, this may be a labeling issue I am still waiting to hear back from the manufacturer. Otherwise the other ingredients are listed. Because of the plentiful plant extracts there is a huge amount of information to be found on the internet about them. Sadly, way too much information to put here, but I can summarize the best I can. Overall most of the ingredients have a huge list of health benefits but a lot of them only if ingested (but please don't ingest this product). Things that came to attention were that these ingredients are a blend of adaptogen's and also have anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-bacterial benefits.

5 Step Dona Ritual
1. Relax---"Slow down and set the sensual tone."
Massage Candle, Bath Salts, Bath Milk, Arousing Herbal Bath Essence, Chromotherapy Bath Treatment.
2. Cleanse---"Purify your body using luxurious lathers, exfoliators, and gels."
Body Wash, Body Polish, Bath Foam, Shave Gel, Lingerie Wash.
3. Nourish---"Make your skin touchable and kissably soft."
Body Butter, Body Lotion, Body Mist Lotion.
4. Illuminate---"Enhance your natural beauty and space."
Shimmer spray, Linen Spray, Lip Balm.
5. Engage---"Share the fun with sensual play products."
Massage Oil, Kissable Body Drizzle, Pheromone perfume gel, Rose Petals.

Good for You and the Environment
(As quoted from a Dona product catalog)
Created with natural and naturally derived ingredients obtained from renewable resources.
Eco-friendly and biodegradable.
Free of mineral oil, petrolatum, lanolin, and other petroleum derivatives.
Free of parabens, harsh chemicals, or preservatives.
Cruelty-free and not tested on animals.

I'm giving this product a 4 star rating, some people might find that generous, but I'm rating this based on how the product performed for its intended purpose. On top of that the rating is based on some interesting results it gave me (read on to experience section). My only wish is that this product had more skin nourishing and moisturizing ingredients or at least something more to it. I really feel it's missing something to make it a 5 star product, maybe it could have come in different colors too.

Again, the Dona line talks about aphrodisiacs, they are intended to be absorbed into the skin to increase sexual desire. This may happen in some people based on the product and situation, the bath essence actually has multiple aphrodisiacs in it because of the various plant extracts.

If you were to use 2 cap fulls (1 tablespoon-ish) for each bath in this 6oz container you would only get 12 uses out of it. That's about $0.83 (USD) per use at Eden’s $9.99 price without a sale or discount. Fairly reasonably priced, these types of plant extracts in higher amounts are not exactly cheap.

I would recommend this more so to people who are looking for maybe something specifically for relaxing the mind. However if you are looking for the skin nourishing and moisturizing this will not be the product for you. I'd say try this one with an open mind and judge it for yourself, just don't set any high expectations. I could see ordering this again myself, maybe in another super-fruit like mangosteen.

When I first got this product I wasn't sure really what to expect upon first use or how it was intended to perform. After gathering information about bath essence in general and also the ingredients in this product it gave me a fair outline of how it was intended to perform. So with that in mind I did not expect the skin softening and moisturizing from this. At this point it was time to test the product in different ways.

My main focus was to test the bath essence ability in relaxing mentally and physically. One particular day after a 9 hour shift at work my feet, legs and back were all very sore and achy. Accompanied along with that I was fairly stressed and irritable with a relatively bad headache. Normally I would stay away from things with scents with a bad headache as that will often make things worse, but at that point it couldn't get much worse. So sure enough I ran my bath and added my herbal bath essence, my head didn't hurt any more than it already did thankfully. After soaking for around 10 minutes I didn't notice any major changes but around the 15-20 minute mark is when I noticed my headache and body-aches started to quickly fade away. By the time I drained the water and dried off I had no headache and I felt refreshed and energized in a sense.

Sure there was still a light sense of stress but for the most part I felt much better and rejuvenated. This has occurred more than once where I felt this way and the bath essence has really aided in making me feel better. Because of all that I really felt for my purposes the product performed very well, but overall not to the point of a 5 star rating all around. This will be something I will order again specifically for the stress-relief results.