HISTORY OF BALANCED ESSENTIALS
Balanced Essentials began in May 1996 to provide a balance between conventional and alternative with emphasis on educating and supporting people in their endeavor to heal themselves.
Cheryl Gilbert, owner, creator and the energy behind Balanced Essentials began her love of fragrance as a child mixing her aunt’s expensive French perfumes. Her inspiration came after working as a trainee nurse 20 years ago where she recognized that to facilitate true healing we must address the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the individual.
An intense interest in Aromatherapy and a desire to create her own products developed into producing the Balanced Essentials range. Through owning and operating her own shop in Beecroft, Sydney Cheryl recognized the need and desire for aromatherapy products to be simple and easy to understand. Many customers expressed the feeling that the existing brands on the market concentrated too much on individual blends i.e. basil, lavender etc and some ranges comprised 40 of these thus making it difficult for people to choose which oils they purchased. Did they smell good together?; and also did they create the desired effect. This meant that up to six or seven oils would have to be opened at once then a decision would have to be made on how many drops of each one to blend together.
This led Cheryl to believe through these experiences and her own personal mixing of the oils that the majority of people wanted to purchase aromatherapy that was “user friendly” and that took the guess work out. Most people that are drawn to aromatherapy do so out of a desire to reduce the stress in their lives and achieve benefits from these essential oils. By using a product that is as simple as choosing 1 in 5 products i.e. to feel calm use “BE Calm”, to feel uplifted use “BE Uplifted”, to study or be aware use “BE Aware”, to feel vital or alive use “BE Vital” or if wanting to meditate or inspire yourself use “BE Inspired” and then adding it to your bath or vapouriser.
Extensive research was carried out to find the exact formulations that were the most appropriate and effective for the blends. An intuitive approach to the blending and a skill for creating appealing fragrances allowed each product to also have a wonderful aroma as well as creating all the benefits that each blend offered.
Cheryl had imagined a range of products that were “good enough” to be in David Jones. This first milestone was achieved in 1997 when David Jones purchased her range for 27 of their stores Australia-wide.
In 1998 Cheryl developed and listed with the Therapeutic Goods Administration three new products. They were BE Relieved – A Calming Blend for Pain & Inflammation, BE Sport – A Stimulating Blend for Pain & Inflammation, and BE Lite for Cellulite, developed for aiding in the treatment of cellulite and fluid and for detoxing the body. It has proven to be one of the most potent products on the market for this purpose. These products are the premier products of the company.
Cheryl’s products – Balanced Essentials – was formerly one of the top three ranges on TVSN (The Television Shopping Channel on Foxtel & Optus) for Health & Beauty, and has held the records for the largest amount of sales in one day ($103,000) and the quickest sales of any product. The products also have the reputation of having the highest resale and the least number of returns. Her live TV shows throughout Australia & New Zealand attracted a large audience of customers. Their comments and testimonials to the incredible effectiveness of the products outnumber any that has ever been received by TVSN.
Cheryl approached Thermography Australia in 2005 to conduct some trials using Thermal Imaging to visually show her customers how this happens. She followed up these impressive results with a research paper co-written with Pauline Rose (Thermographer) and Ric Williams (Chemist). This paper was chosen to be presented to the Australasian Society of Cosmetic Chemists in March 2008 in Surfer’s Paradise and was the only technical paper published worldwide in the Personal Care Magazine which goes to manufacturing and Chemist related organizations worldwide.
On April 17th 2009 Cheryl’s products BE Relieved and BE Sport were featured on A Current Affair as “The Miracle Oils”. Her research using Thermal Imaging validated her product claims that pain & inflammation were significantly reduced after just 3 minutes of application. This was the second major milestone that Cheryl had imagined when she first developed her products and brought recognition of the efficacy of the Balanced Essentials products and their ability as an effective natural alternative when considering a treatment for pain & inflammation.