Do "Energy-Shifting" Beauty Products Really Work? I Tried Them For a Week

editor experiment
POPSUGAR Photography | Renee Rodriguez
POPSUGAR Photography | Renee Rodriguez
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I'm just going to come right out and say it: I don't really subscribe to a holistic approach to . . . well, anything. When it comes to my beauty routine, let's just say I'm more Kim Kardashian than Kourtney Kardashian, or more WebMD than Goop. So, when I was tasked with testing "energy-shifting" beauty products that promise to "raise my vibrations" for a week, my first thought was I might be the wrong person for the job. Still, because healing crystals never hurt anyone, I decided to give it a go.

Before embarking on my "energy-shifting" journey, I needed to make sure I had the right products on hand. This meant weeding out all of my medical-grade skin care and swapping it for natural products claiming to have an effect on your energy levels. After doing a little research, I was surprised to learn there are plenty of options to choose from on the market. Who knew that just by washing your face, you could essentially alter your entire mood? The real question was: would it actually work?

To start, I switched out my typical fragrance in favor of The Nue Co.'s Mind Energy ($95), which is a unisex fragrance meant to boost your focus and mental energy. It's not like anything I typically wear; it has a peppery, earthy scent, which is a far cry from the floral smells I usually go for.

As for the rest of my beauty routine, I whittled everything down to only a few key products: I switched my normal cleanser out for the Aavrani Purifying Oil Cleanser ($36), a face wash meant to purify and heal the skin. Instead of my normal serums, I opted to use only the Ascension 4.22 healing serum ($65), a "frequency-charged" formula meant to hydrate, prevent breakouts, even out complexion, and protect your energy. The brand claims that the serum has been vibrationally charged with the frequency 7.83 Hz, aka Earth's frequency, which is meant to heal and calm the body.

POPSUGAR Photography | Renee Rodriguez

At this point, my skeptical spidey senses were definitely twitching, but I decided to continue on. As for moisturizer, I opted to use the Monastery Flora botanical cream serum ($140), a botanical-rich hydrating formula made with phytosterols, which are meant to reduce transepidermal water loss. Next, I needed an SPF, so I went with The Organic Pharmacy's Cellular Protection Sunscreen ($69), a physical sunscreen made with aloe vera, shea butter, and vitamin E, as well as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide to protect from the sun's harmful rays. (There isn't anything "vibration raising" about SPF in particular, but I needed one in my routine, and this is about as natural as it gets.)

As for what I put inside my body, I'm already a pescatarian, but I opted to try and eat mostly vegetarian for the week. I also added in the Elix Daily Harmony supplement ($38) — an organic blend of hormone-balancing herbs that promise to help reduce the effects of stress and anxiety — to my daily morning tea.

For the entire week, I cut out all of my typical beauty products, I tried to eat as clean as possible, and I used only products that were meant to have a positive effect on my daily routine.

It might have been a placebo effect (I'm just keeping it real with you), but by the end of the week, I actually felt like I started to notice a difference. I found myself looking forward to the morning, when I would mix my Daily Harmony with my tea, because I felt myself become more energized immediately after.

POPSUGAR Photography | Renee Rodriguez

I also took to keeping my Mind Energy perfume bottle right next to my desk, and I would bring the bottle to my nose and inhale it whenever I needed a little pick-me-up. The scent definitely grew on me, even though it wasn't a smell I'd normally be drawn to. As for my skin, I have no idea whether my products were truly shifting my energy, but my skin was pretty glowy, and I definitely wasn't experiencing any breakouts from any of the new products I was testing.

The moment I realized that something was working was when my boyfriend commented on how I seemed to be in a great mood all week. I'm naturally a pretty negative person (I didn't get the nickname "Renegative" for no reason), so the fact that someone close to me noticed the shift in my mood definitely made me somewhat of a believer.

As for whether I'll be adopting this routine full-time, my answer is . . . kind of. I am not planning on throwing any of my clinical skin-care products in the trash can anytime soon, but I will absolutely be adding a few of these products into my daily lineup. While I don't think the Mind Energy fragrance is going to become my new signature scent, it has earned a permanent spot at my desk, where I can reach for it and spritz it whenever I hit my mid-afternoon slump.

I'm also planning to continue taking the Daily Harmony supplement because it's worked itself nicely into my routine and I do feel a difference when I take it. As for my skin-care routine, Monastery's cream serum left my skin ultra glowy, so I'll definitely continue using it in conjunction with my typical moisturizer. Although this experience hasn't changed my opinion on holistic beauty entirely, I'm definitely more open to it.