Ritual of Calm Turns to Confusion

I was given a chance through Tryazon's Tryabox program to look at the The Ritual of Dao Small Gift Box. I thought this might be a good chance to see if I could find a product that would make a good gift for some family or close friends since one of the shops that sells it, Ulta, is less than a mile from my house. It is always a bit of a risk for me to try out skin and hair care products because of my allergies and very sensitive skin. However, the Dao set is supposed to promote calmness and

The product is supposed to have white lotus and yi yi ren (an herb) but the scent was very light for every one of the products that I tried. I tried them over the course of three days to see if it caused any negative reactions in my skin or hair, to see if my family or close friends noticed, and to see if it affected my mood. Let's look at each product separately.

The Nourishing Shampoo had no directions so I started with a quarter sized amount in my hand. It sudsed up well but since this gift box did not come with conditioner, I was careful in how I applied it. I have curly hair that can tangle easily so since I turned 40, I've been needing conditioner when I shampoo my hair to make it more manageable. I wasn't sure if I should leave it in my hair or rinse it right away so I treated as I do all my shampooing and left it in while I did a full set of my arm exercises that I have to do 2-4 times every day. The scent is so light that I barely picked up on it but that did make me calm because I could focus on my arms and not on overpowering fragrance. The shampoo rinsed out well. However, by day two, my hair was feeling a bit rougher than normal and it was tangling more easily so I didn't try it a third day.

I washed my body first with my regular body foam to make sure I was applying the Balancing Foaming Shower Gel to clear skin the first time I used it; after that I tried it as I would my regular product to all but my intimate parts. The canister can with no directions so I managed as best I could based on previous experience with bath gels and foams. A lot of the gel came out at first because it was tricky to figure out how to press the top, it was down and back not just straight down. The gel started to foam as soon as it touched my skin as you can see in the photo to the left. It made a lot of foam, actually a bit too much all three days that I used it. Weirdly, the gel let the foam out in tiny amounts after I removed it from the shower to a dry place even when the cap was put back on after being dried off each day. The result is that I worried about how much of the product was being wasted even though I was trying to be careful. However, this worked well on my skin and caused no negative reactions. The very light scent was pleasing to me and my partners.

Lotions and creams are a bit problem for me normally because they can clog my skin, triggering not only allergic reactions but pore problems. Again, this tube had no directions so I used it as I thought was appropriate. I applied the Be Kind to Your Skin Body Cream as sparingly as I could on an selective body parts -- my cheeks on my face and on my left arm only. This way I could compare arms to see if there was difference. This scent is the one that lingered the longest of these first three products that I tried out. It did leave my skin feeling smooth each day that I used it and caused no negative reactions. However, I could definitely feel it on my skin over the course of the day so it isn't as light as I prefer. The amount you see in the photo to the right is enough to cover my entire arm so this product would last a couple of weeks for me, at least.

Finally, the Calming Shower Oil was the newest type of products for me since I've never used shower or bath oils. Luckily this bottle did have directions on how to use it though I had to get out a magnifier to read it. Since it said it could make the shower floor slippery I used it on the days that I knew I'd be washing out our tubs. How calming would it be if I had to add more household to use this product? The amount you can see, two drops on my wet arm covered my entire forearm. This left my skin feeling smoother than the body cream did but the scent was lighter. This didn't cause any negative reactions on my skin. Which would I use? Cream or oil? I'm still not sure since I feel like the cream is completely used when I apply it but I believe the oil partly falls off my body otherwise why woudl there be a risk of my slipping when I apply it?

Confusion came about when I looked for the product to review online and found they did not match.

I was sent the following in a off-cream colored gift box: Balancing Foaming Shower Gel, Nourishing Shampoo, Be Kind to Your Skin Body cream, and Calming Shower Oil. However when I visited the link to review the box on Ulta, the products inside the green gift box included: Foaming Shower Gel, Magic Touch Body Cream, Caring Shower Oil, and Softening Rice Scrub.

The medium gift box's product sizes listed on the Ulta site, meant what I was sent had to be the small.

I looked for the product elsewhere and found a small Ritual of Dao gift box on Amazon and Jet but they matched the Ulta description, not what I was sent. Luckily, Tryazon and Rituals quickly addressed this issue and I was able to review the individual products fairly online where they are sold.

If you want the gift box that I wrote about above, you'll need to visit the Rituals shop online and use this link to get the same product, called THE RITUAL OF DAO Calming Treat. You can find the individual products at Macy's, Ulta, and Lord & Taylor stores.

Check out the video unboxing below if you like, too.