Feel Good.We are all meant to in life; it's in our nature. When we feel good, we give more back to the people around us, and our planet.
Escents Aromatherapy is founded on the idea that everyone should feel good, body and mind. For one person, it's about creating a personal oasis in which to relax.For another, it's about relieving headache pain so they can do the things they love. No matter what the need, nature has the power to provide and make us all feel good. It give in every way imaginable, nourishing & healing our bodies and stimulating our minds, creating a truly soulful experience of life.
Jacqui MacNeill, founder of Escents, respected nature all her life, growing up surrounded by the vast coastlines, green forests and mountain glaciers surrounding Vancouver, Canada. But is was when she discovered essential oils that she found her true calling. Jacqui was amazed by their power to heal, inspire and transform, committing herself to learn everything she could about them. Then, motivated by a desire to giver back to her planet and its people, she founded Escents.
Escents started with a small kiosk, a base of unscented, plant-based personal care products and a variety of pure essential oils, ready to blend. People would come to Jacqui looking for something to take care of a specific need, something that would make them feel good. They would ask for all sorts of things including bath & body products, natural perfumes and wellness solutions for everything from headaches to insomnia. Jacqui would blend essential oils and create custom formulations for each customer using her extensive knowledge of aromatherapy. She would then bottle and label each one uniquely.
As more and more people came back to her raving about the healing and transformative effects of her essential oil blends, Jacqui knew she had brought life to something special. Certain blends were asked for time and time again, so she established product collections in answer to the demand. Nearly 20 years later, many of Escents' most popular products still come from her original blends. Escents has grown from a single location to a thriving international company with over 200 products that make people all over the world feel good through the power of nature.
Our Founder
“Nature, in all forms, has powerful gifts for us all. Everyone deserves to feel good through its wonder, beauty, sustenance and healing power every day of their lives.” – Jacqui MacNeill
Jacqui MacNeill started Escents in 1992 with a maxed out credit card and a small retail cart in Vancouver Canada. Her dream; "To help people feel good naturally”. She had no idea how quickly she would realize that dream. Staying true to her vision, within 6 months Jacqui expanded to a small retail store. Aromatherapy was new to Vancouver and the city quickly fell in love with Escents, leading to the opening of multiple stores. Together with her husband John MacNeill, she continued to build on that dream over the years, expanding internationally to reach people all over the world.
As more and more people raved about the healing and transformative effects of her products, Jacqui knew she had brought life to something special. It was a few years later that she discovered just how special. With a 2-year-old child and pregnant with twins, she started having unexplained seizures. Doctors discovered that a vein had burst in her brain. Her twin children were removed safely and emergency brain surgery was performed, but doctors believed she only had a slight chance of survival and even less of a chance that she would ever function normally.
Armed with a strong will, she went through the painstakingly slow process of recovery. She used her own essential oils and natural remedies to help her handle all the symptoms and stress of her recovery. Through her drive to work with nature’s essences and ingredients, Jacqui continued to create new wellness solutions and personal care products that benefited both her and her customers. Her drive to develop new formulations and products helped her get through her 7 years of recovery.
Jacqui feels nothing but gratitude for every moment of her life. She continues to develop new essential oil blends and plant-based personal products, motivated solely by her honest desire to give back all the good that nature has to offer.
Our Nature
We strive to consider our nature, eco-system and planet in all of our activities and decisions. Our journey to zero impact is ongoing and endless. Nature is our most precious commodity. It nurtures us, so we work to serve nature and preserve it.
Our Environmental Practices
• Biodegradable. Our products are natural, biodegradable and aren’t harmful to natural watersheds and eco-systems.
• Minimal Packaging. We don’t over-package and are careful to ask “Do we really need this?” before a product goes into a box or bag. Our packaging is selected and sourced with sustainability in mind. We only use secondary packaging when absolutely necessary. Whenever possible, we print on recyclable or recycled paper with vegetable inks.
• Shipping. We pack our shipments with biodegradable, cornstarch peanuts and re-use our boxes until they can’t be used anymore, then recycle them. We also use and re-use boxes from other companies.
• Recycling. We believe people should be rewarded for recycling. We accept all our customers’ bottles back at any store and give them a 10% discount on their next purchase.
• Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. These are things we just do without thought or hesitation. It is a fundamental part of our way of doing things at Escents and we encourage behaviours in our staff that help reduce waste and environmental damage.
• Cruelty-free. Our products are not tested on animals. Not now. Not in the past. Not ever.
Connecting Youth with Nature
The role of children in nature has profound implications not only for the conservation of land, but also for the direction of the environmental movement. By providing young people with meaningful experiences with nature, in projects that benefit our communities, they support our environment socially, as well as ecologically.
That is why Escents is partnered with the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA). EYA is a local, youth-driven, non-profit organization dedicated to the health of the urban environment, our planet and the well-being of its people. EYA has acted as a catalyst for youth led and centered sustainability programs in Vancouver and in 15 countries internationally. Escents donates 10% from the sales of the Earth Aromas Collection to help support their cause.
“Nature, in all forms, has powerful gifts for us all. Everyone deserves to feel good through its wonder, beauty, sustenance and healing power every day of their lives.”