Dryland Wilds

This company is so special. I had been officially wooed upon my first visit to Spur Line in Sept 2017 when I experienced their products after casually strolling through their corner of the venue. It was realllly hard to narrow down my purchasing choices, but settled on the primrose lip tint and rosehip + thistle perfume roller, which I loooooveeeee. I had the opportunity to learn so many fascinating details from Cebastian & Robin about Dryland Wilds, and our unique plant life, in a lovely workshop at Spur Line this past week. In this particular class, we put our hands and noses to work, compounding and mixing, putting together some customized resin incense creations...it was a blast, my house smells amazing, and I'm looking forward to sending some Dryland Wilds gifts off to friends who've moved out of state and miss the sites and smells of our high desert heaven.

I'm workin' on three weeks of applying an all natural, sans-aluminum deodorant from this company, and I might as well throw out my old stick, I'll never use it again. My tiny, two ounce jar of Desert Deodorant from Dryland Wilds is such a powerful and intense product, a teensy dab does my pits plenty, just once a day, and I often sniff myself, if only to be briefly transported to the air of Abiquiu. This is an incredible company, with a simple approach to sourcing health and beauty products in harmony with the natural world. I'm so glad they call New Mexico home.A few more brief notes. Robin Moore and Cebastien Rose are transplants from California and the Pacific Northwest, with plenty of experience crafting products from plants and herbs. They moved to northern New Mexico to live a life in the high desert wilds, while running a business that sustainably expanded our knowledge and appreciation for native species. Alongside the product line, they teach small classes at various festivals and businesses around the state; last week, I had the pleasure of hand-moulding tree sap incense, infused with flowers and essences, and I learned that much of what I thought I knew about the shrubs and weeds of this state were common misperceptions. Basically, if you want to heal yourself, you can start in your own backyard.And that's why these marvelous women satisfy my personal narrative about why I live here. I grew up in the midwest, where natural beauty -- from lakes and streams to lush green forests and abundant wildlife -- were an assumed aspect of everyday existence. The harsh sunlight and dry climate of my second home, in Albuquerque, was an altogether opposite journey where I learned to appreciate the subtleties and tremendous power of the overlooked: the hues of a mesa or a sunset, a sage breeze drifting past my nose, the quiet resilience of an ever-thirsty land. I'm quite sure that Robin and Cebastien have an even stronger appreciation for these daily observations, and their products reflect a philosophy that makes me wanna smear my sweaty, stanky pits with arrowroot powder and milk of magnesia on the regular.

I grew up in the desert, but had to leave it in my 20's for work. I had no idea it would take me 20 years to make my way home! I wish I would have had access to products from Drylandwilds during those tough years when I lived away from the desert, my heart and my home. Scent is one of the most powerful triggers of memory as you know, and the smell of the wild New Mexican plants delivered by these amazing products would have comforted me enormously. Happily, now that I have found Drylandwilds lovely lotions and soaps and lip balms (and beard oils for my fella), whenever I travel, I can take a piece of the desert with me. I wont have to be homesick ever again. And if that isn't enough to convince you to give these heavenly products a try, how about this...Drylandwilds is all about responsible wildcrafting. They want to protect and appreciate all the beautiful wild plants in our lovely, fragile desert. To this end the ladies (Robin Moore and Cebastien Rose) teach wild plant classes on how to use our wild plants in your everyday life, with emphasis on sustainable, responsible foraging. They lead wild plant walks and show people how to identify the plants in the landscape around them. I also happen to know they are involved with some of the greatest conservation projects of our time. For example, this fall they will be releasing a new scent drawing awareness to the Northern Jaguar Reserve in Mexico. If you are not aware of the crucial work being done to protect Jaguars (and many, many other types of life, including humans) by the Northern Jaguar Project, I urge you to grab up some of this new perfume this fall. Breathe deeply, and let your senses experience Jaguar country. Then you can google the preserve, and learn all about the place that brings you your new favorite scent.PS If you need a gift for a friend who misses or has never experienced the smell of our gorgeous dessert, look no further. Or, hey, another thought, for those of you who AirBnB your places, what a nice addition to a basket of local amenities for your guests!

I quickly became obsessed with this business and their products. Their Instagram is filled with beautiful images and videos that keep you connected to nature and beauty. I have the primrose lip tint. The coloring is a sheer pinkish mauve tone that is moisturizing and adds just a tiny amount of color. It's really nice. I also have the sagebrush snakeweed beauty oil. This is what makes me so obsessed with them. They have distilled NM beauty and scent into this precious oil. The smells make me so happysad. Happy because they are the true scents you smell when hiking around in NM but sad because I no longer live in NM to experience that organically anymore but happy again because i can relive that in this oil but sad that it will eventually run out but happy i can order online haha. If you are like me and scents can strongly evoke memories and emotions, and you have had happy experiences in NMs nature, i implore you to buy this. I wear it as perfume and sometimes i just sniff the bottle when I'm having some anxiety. I have worn it along with a vanilla perfume and i think it smells so nice like i came from a fresh nature walk but also am warm and inviting. They truly have this down to a science and i am in love with this. You can find their products in spur line (or at least a year ago you could) and in traveling events, like the holiday market in Santa Fe last christmastime. Follow their Instagram to keep up to date.