Lavender Goodies from New Mexico: A Review of My Los Poblanos Haul  

Being a lover of all things lavender, I’m always keeping an ear out for recommendations. And a good friend recommended soaps from Los Poblanos, a lavender farm (and inn) located in New Mexico. 

Starting as an organic farm and historic inn in 1932 (lavender was first planted there in 1999), Los Poblanos has become somewhat of a holiday destination. With several buildings and room choices it sounds like a great place for a gamut of holiday choices: from a spa holiday, a romantic weekend getaway, to a family farm holiday. While I sincerely hope to get there at some point, during the pandemic was not easily possible and with a new baby now…well, it’s on the list for the future! 

Since I can’t visit in person at the moment, I took my friend’s recommendation and ordered some soaps from their online shop. I stayed with lavender items, but their shop has non-lavender items too! If you are interested, be sure to look for their sales several times a year (or subscribe to their email list!). I ordered lavender shampoo and conditioner, lavender hand soap and hand lotion, lavender syrup, and a candle. Here’s what I thought of them: 

Lavender Shampoo and Conditioner

Both the shampoo and conditioner have a clear lavender scent, with the shampoo being the more strongly scented of the two. I find them to be a fairly classic shampoo and conditioner: not drying and leaving the hair clean and shiny. The bonus is that the hair is also left smelling lightly of lavender! Pair this with a lavender bath soap and voila! It’s a perfect relaxing mix, especially when taking a pre-bedtime shower. 

I will say that if I ever need to choose between the two, I would likely go with the shampoo and use my normal Pantene conditioner with that. My hair is fairly fine and when it is long length…suffice to say I think the Pantene worked slightly better for really long hair. At shorter shoulder length, the lavender conditioner works beautifully. My husband doesn’t tell much difference with his short and courser hair (granted he’ll use bath soap as shampoo and be happy too). 

Lavender Hand Soap and Lotion

Both the hand soap and lotion have the same strong and clear lavender scent of the shampoo. The hand soap cleans very well and leaves a light lavender scent on my hands (which of course I love and my cat hates). My only complaint is that the soap of course always runs out quickly…I guess I need to order a refill? 

The lotion does not seem to run out as quickly in my household, but definitely helps moisturize the hands. It is not a thick creamy lotion. It instead is the perfect texture to absorb into the skin and do its job. It certainly helps our dry-from-dishwashing hands! And I like how I can use it during the day and not worry about leaving lotion fingerprints all over the place! However, if you are looking to heal cracked skin you may be better off with a thicker Vaseline-style cream. 

Lavender Syrup

I had run out of lavender syrup from another farm, so I took the opportunity to add some of Los Poblanos’ lavender syrup to my order. It comes in a nice large bottle and is sure to last a while—especially as a small amount of syrup tends to go a long ways! That is, until you use it as the only sweetener in lavender lemonade… 

This syrup was a bit different than my previous one. Mainly, while it was definitely sweet, the taste reminded me more of honey than lavender. My husband more accurately described it as “honey ginger syrup with a slight lavender aftertaste.” It still serves as a good sweetener, but I personally prefer my previous, more clearly lavender-flavored, syrup from Orchard View Lavender Farm. 

La Hacienda Candle 

The La Hacienda Candle was a bit of a gamble purchase on my part. I was torn between the pure lavender candle and this mixed scent candle. Described as a concoction of lavender, cedar wood, and orange, I was not so enthusiastic with my first whiff from the box. It was a bit too strong on the cedar wood department! 

When trying to light it, we discovered that the wax had dried on the wick, so we had to try to burn it off and melt the candle wax down to lengthen the wick. As the wax burned, the scent improved, but my baby decided he didn’t like it. The candle is now back in its box and we haven’t attempted to use it since. Although I can’t fully review the candle due to never actually lighting the wick, I think choosing their plain lavender or rose candle would’ve been a better choice for me based on scent alone. 

Overall, I heartily recommend the shampoo, hand soap, and hand lotion! The conditioner is really nice too! However, I personally would have preferred a different candle and cannot fully review the one I have since we never really got it to properly burn. I also am not a fan of the syrup. But I will definitely order the soaps again and I hope to make a trip to visit in future!