Reset Ritual: Desert Midnight

The start of 2026 feels like the right time to bring it back to basics. We spent 2025 developing six distinct essential oil blends for our magnesium bath salts, but this month we're celebrating the original - Desert Midnight. Our first scent formulation, and still the most simple. Just two notes: Palo Santo and Juniper. We set out to create a scent that represented the desert, but it goes far deeper than that when look at the history of the ritual and therapeutic uses of the plants. 

Both plants thrive in dry, drought conditions - hardy survivors in harsh landscapes. But they also share something deeper: for centuries, both have been used for their cleansing properties.

Juniper shows up in winter rituals across cultures, burned around the winter solstice and into the new year to purify spaces energetically. Historically, people would burn it in sickrooms, believing it could clear the air and prevent the spread of infection. Burning Palo Santo wood has been a ritual for centuries in Central and South America as a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, cleansing whatever space it touched.

Juniper grows here in the high desert, it is used to make gin. Their evergreen branches and berries are used for herbal therapeutics, as a food spice, beads are made from the dried berries, and the trunks are used to build structures. Juniper smells bright, green and fresh. It smells clean.

Palo Santo is quite popular these days, and is burned so widely it has become a familiar scent to many. It is deep and smokey.  People enjoy it's calming effects of the scent.  To me it makes perfect sense that a tree has a grounding vibe, the tree has a super deep tap root to reach far down water - which is needed as it grows in tropical dry rainforests that experience periods of drought. 

It feels right to celebrate Desert Midnight now, at the threshold of a new year, and create our own ritual around self care.

Step 1

Start the bath with the hottest water you can handle and spray the Desert Midnight Anywhere Mist to cleanse the air. Breathe in the aromatics.

Step 2

Pour in Desert Midnight Bath Soak. Using the full pouch is recommended. RELAX AND SOAK. Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salt) is known to help the body relax along along with the hot water. To encourage relaxation, dim the lights or light a candle and stay screen free while taking the bath. Use a washcloth to clean and massage your body.

Step 3

Step out of the bath, pat dry, and spray head-to-toe with Juniper Hydrosol. Hyrdosols are distilled plant waters that are a coproduct of essential oil making. We distill our own hydrosols using desert plants. Hydrosols have gentle plant powers and contain trace amounts of essential oils. When we use them in our daily skincare routine, we see more clear and balanced skin.

Step 4

Lock in the moisture by massaging in Desert Midnight Body Oil. Our Desert Midnight Body Oil is made with another desert plant - Organic Jojoba Oil. A "dry" feeling oil, jojoba oil is actual a wax ester and has tannins that give a dry hand feel and a non-greasy feel. Jojoba oil is moisturizing, has antioxidant properties and mimics our own sebum and is non-comedogenic.

Step 5

Mist your pillows and bedding with the Anywhere Mist and tuck yourself in for a restful, long winter’s sleep.

If you don't have a bathtub at home, try using the salts for a foot soak or a facial steam.

Shop the entire Desert Midnight Collection here.