Equilibria CBD Reviews

Cannabidiol (CBD) has emerged as a potentially game-changing substance in the last 20 years. Despite being a chemical found in the same plant that produces THC, it’s not a mind-altering substance. Rather, it can provide serious relief from aches, pains, and stress, and that’s something from which we could all likely use a respite.

Equilibria markets its CBD products specifically to women. Considering that 53% of women polled by Forbes reported higher levels of stress in 2022 than in 2021, and almost half reported feeling complete or nearly complete burnout, women’s stress management is an important topic.1 We investigated Equilibria to see if their CBD products are actually as luxurious as the company claims.

As a luxury-branded CBD company aimed at women, Equilibria provides CBD at a significantly higher price than most of its competitors. The company has lowered prices on some products and raised the savings you’ll get on bundles in the last year, but most products are still two to four times more expensive than companies who sell CBD products that are just as good, if not better. While they have a wide range of self-care-inspired products in unique forms, such as Altoid-like hard candies and bath salts, you’re constrained to a small range of potencies. If you don’t use CBD often and want to feel luxurious — or if you want to buy somebody a special gift — this could be a good option. As a product you’d use daily or weekly, though, we believe it might not be your best choice.

We’ve determined the four most important factors to consider when sizing up a CBD brand:

• How well are its products formulated (high-quality CBD, potency, and certifications)
• Whether or not its products are safe (transparent third-party testing, dosages, and claims)
• Cost (including both products and programs designed to lower prices)
• How easy it is to purchase and take each product

Generally, we consider product formulation the most important factor in CBD because it combines safety features with things like:

• Minor cannabinoid content (more minor cannabinoids can amplify how well CBD works)
• Potency
• Any additional ingredients for CBD products designed to address a certain problem

Safety is a close second place, considering any certifications earned by the company and transparency around third-party testing results since CBD is a field generally unmonitored by federal agencies. A shocking number of companies give you less CBD than they say they do. (These companies generally don’t provide testing results to the public for obvious reasons.)

Cost makes a difference since CBD can be wildly expensive, but there are steps companies can take to minimize costs, like assistance programs for at-need groups, subscription programs, and bundle deals. Convenience is useful but ultimately not the end-all, be-all; we’d rather have a CBD product that’s slightly inconvenient to use but is guaranteed to be safe and provide all the CBD it says it will.

Equilibria’s CBD doesn’t have any certifications we’d like to see, but it is clear and straightforward, with its Certificates of Analysis (testing results) linked on every product page. These products have streamlined doses, meaning adjusting your dose without taking several servings is difficult unless you’re using the lone oil product. And more importantly, they’re at least twice as expensive per milligram as similar CBD products with better certifications and, in some cases, better ingredients.

Formulations

Equilibria has some unique product offerings, including Altoid-like melts, bath salts, and some nootropic-like gummies that don’t even include CBD. Its CBD doses tend to be low — 5mg, 10mg, or 25mg, compared to most CBD brands’ 25mg to 50mg average. With a few exceptions, you can’t opt for a higher potency, larger bottle size, or different flavor of most products. What they do produce is very consistent, pleasant-tasting, full-spectrum CBD. We prefer full-spectrum CBD, as it takes advantage of the entourage effect (which we’ll discuss later), but it may not be a good fit for people who are sensitive to THC. Equilibria’s products with added ingredients are generally coming from the right place and have some benefits (such as GABA and L-theanine for calming purposes and Bacopa monnieri extract for focus), but they’re more often about the sensory experience of taking these products than any actual health benefits.

Safety

First and foremost, Equilibria uses third-party testing and shares its results (called Certificates of Analysis) on each product page under “Supplement facts.” These are only the most recent Certificates of Analysis for products that haven’t been discontinued, so you’ll have to make some assumptions if you want to check back on an older product, but they do break down more information than most CBD companies. The company’s certificates rival Lazarus Naturals, who we think offers a near-gold standard for testing transparency, but there are differences to note.

Equilibria checks for the following things:

• Cannabinoid content
• Terpenes
• Pesticides
• Microbial contamination
• Mycotoxins (mold)
• Heavy metals
• Foreign matter
• Solvents

Just looking at this list, it’s the most thorough certificate of analysis we’ve seen in the CBD sphere. Even Lazarus Naturals doesn’t include mycotoxins in its certificates (though it should). At the top of the first page, the certificate presents a series of color-coded bubbles letting you know immediately whether or not the product passed tests for any contaminants; information continues on the second page. The certificate itself doesn’t list all of the information about the foreign matter, which is okay considering just how much other information it shares.

Equilibria CBD is not U.S. Hemp Authority certified, which isn’t a dealbreaker because it’s a paid certificate, not a federal organization. But that certification is another example of a way the company could use a third party to verify that its manufacturing standards are above and beyond the average.

Cost

Equilibria tries to offset its costs with a generous range of savings options — more so than most CBD brands we know. However, it doesn’t offer an assistance program to help people who really need CBD but may not be able to afford it, such as veterans and people with disabilities, to whom the top companies offer steep discounts. Despite that, you can save 25% with subscriptions, get free shipping if you order at least two products with no minimum price, and save up to 25% by bundling products together. The company is one of the only ones we’ve seen in a while to lower many products’ prices significantly as of March 21, 2023; one CBD oil even dropped $25 in the last year alone. However, it used to offer free shipping on every order (you’ll pay $8 if you only purchase one product now). Equilibria offers our readers 15% off with coupon code INNERBODY at checkout.

Ultimately, and most importantly, Equilibria’s CBD is expensive when broken down per milligram of CBD. Most products have low doses, so while sticker prices look comparable to most competitors, it actually costs anywhere from two to ten times more than nearly identical products. There’s only so much that rewards programs and bundle deals can do to offset high unit prices, and while we definitely appreciate Equilibria’s attempts at bringing its prices back to Earth, they are still a luxury brand for relatively low-dose CBD.

Customer service

Equilibria offers some fantastic options for beginners figuring out what kind of CBD will work best for them, including one-on-one meetings with trained Dosage Specialists — the Member Education team, which has a separate contact line from the tech-savvy Member Support team. These Dosage Specialists can help you calculate how much CBD may help you fall asleep, ease arthritis pain, or reduce anxiety before your big meeting. You can contact them by phone, and the team members are extremely warm, bubbly, and personable.

Equilibria offers a 25% savings if you join the subscription program, though you can’t modify how frequently you get a new order (and can save more from bundle deals). Shipping is relatively fast, arriving in 3-5 days, but its packaging isn’t discreet if you’re concerned about your neighbors knowing you’re buying CBD online. Overall, the company is very oriented toward beginners and building knowledge in the community.

CBD’s only been federally legal in the U.S. since 2018, meaning there have only been a few years where it’s been possible for us all to become acquainted with the substance — and for online retailers like Equilibria to build a national reputation.

We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and testing various CBD products, from full-spectrum oils to isolate gummies with herbal additions. Throughout our studies, we’ve read over 125 clinical studies examining how CBD works in the body, what it can (and can’t) do to improve your health, and what the safest and most effective ways to take CBD are, so we can critically examine Equilibria’s product line. And our testing experience with competing brands — like Medterra, Lazarus Naturals, and CBDistillery, to name a few — gives us a baseline to compare more basic facts about CBD.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles. Like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. To keep things up to date, we’ll monitor Equilibria’s offerings and update this page as information changes.

Equilibria CBD is a CBD brand explicitly aimed at women. Women are at a higher risk of having pain disorders like migraines, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Some studies suggest that this might be related to sex differences in our natural cannabinoid systems.2 There’s not a ton of research backing this up, but it’s a compelling theory, so Equilibria wants to ensure that those who might not otherwise have access to help can get it. That said, you shouldn’t go into your experience expecting a miracle treatment or cure.

Equilibria partners with an organic, non-GMO farm that grows its proprietary hemp flowers. Having the exclusive rights to this flower strain means that it won’t change between batches or years — you’ll experience the same thing in the same intensity every time, whether you’re taking a 10mg softgel now or ten years from now. They hand-harvest their hemp, ensuring that very few trichomes get lost in the process. (Trichomes are the dust on the outside of the flower containing terpenes and other important chemicals.) This step is time-consuming and isn’t common in CBD brands, giving Equilibria a leg up.

They also provide Certificates of Analysis for every product, showing exactly what an independent third party has tested along with its results. To help maximize transparency, they have a separate page that explains how to read a certificate of analysis. And if you aren’t sure where to begin, Equilibria has a team of Dosage Specialists who are specifically trained to help you navigate the sea of CBD options. Every purchase unlocks a one-on-one call with a Dosage Specialist, ensuring you’re maximizing your new routine.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the major chemicals known as a cannabinoid. There are more than 150 cannabinoids, including CBD, THC, CBG, and CBN, which all partner with terpenes and flavonoids to create general feelings of well-being. Unlike THC, the primary cannabinoid in marijuana that causes psychoactive effects or the feeling of being “high,” CBD doesn’t induce any changes in your mental state. Good CBD, like Equilibria’s, is made from hemp, which contains less than 0.3% THC.

Research suggests that CBD might help with:

• Epilepsy
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Pain
• Inflammation
• Insomnia

It can be taken orally (either swallowed directly, in the case of a gummy or softgel, or held under the tongue for faster absorption in a method called sublingual administration) or applied topically.

Some research has shown that CBD can make a big difference in the quality of life for people with regular or intense seizures and several other pain- and inflammation-related health conditions. However, the FDA has only approved CBD for treatment-resistant seizures, so it shouldn’t be considered a medication. Before trying CBD, discuss any hopes, concerns, and treatment options with your doctor.

There are three kinds of CBD on the market.

To learn more about CBD, check out our introductory guide.

Endocannabinoids

Our bodies naturally make cannabinoid-like chemicals known as endocannabinoids, including anandamide and 2AG.3 4 There are receptors throughout the entire body that connect cannabinoids to just about every organ system. Researchers don’t know much about what endocannabinoids are or what they do for the body, having just discovered them in 1992, but there is a lot of research currently underway.

Equilibria claims on its CBD basics page that “our bodies’ endocannabinoid system naturally depletes as we age or endure trauma.” Resilience to stress and anxiety is associated with higher levels of endocannabinoids (specifically 2AG), and endocannabinoids might modulate our experiences of sleep and pain as we age.5 6 7 CBD acts slightly differently at receptors than endocannabinoids, instead controlling the reuptake and binding efficacy of neurotransmitters like 2AG and serotonin.

So while Equilibria’s claim makes sense on paper, there hasn’t been enough research on endocannabinoids to plainly state that natural levels wane with time and CBD can alter that process. Our brains are complicated, and while taking CBD may help alleviate the discomforts that come with aging and trauma, it’s not an anti-aging miracle.

For most people in most situations, CBD is perfectly safe. It is non-addictive, isn’t known to cause dependence or withdrawal, and is tolerated well by the body, according to clinical research. While the FDA does not approve the products Equilibria sells for medical purposes, many people use CBD to help cope with symptoms and side effects of a wide range of health concerns.

Some people experience mild side effects when they take CBD. These include:

• Dry mouth
• Changes in appetite
• Drowsiness
• Fatigue

Of course, some people will take CBD specifically because they cause these effects, using it as an appetite booster or sleep aid.

CBD in extremely high doses of 200mg per kg of body weight may damage the liver (though there’s conflicting scientific evidence about this). It also interferes with medications that rely on the family of liver enzymes called cytochrome P450 enzymes, which metabolize almost half of all prescription medications. This includes things that are particularly important for women’s health, like oral contraceptives, antidepressants, statins, anticonvulsants, and blood thinners. If any of your medications have a notice to not eat grapefruit (another cytochrome P450-altering substance) while taking them, don’t take CBD either. And be sure to ask your doctor about other possible contraindications before trying CBD for the first time.

Equilibria goes above and beyond to prove safety by providing lab results for all of its products. You can read the Certificates of Analysis performed by an independent third party if you’re curious about the specific breakdown of cannabinoids, product purity, and potential contaminants from solvents, heavy metals, or pesticides.

THC tests

Full-spectrum CBD — the kind Equilibria uses exclusively — may trigger a false positive drug test result. This happens because full-spectrum CBD contains trace amounts of THC (0.3% or less), which aren’t enough to make you feel any psychoactive effects. The chance of this happening is slim, but THC binds to fat and lingers in the body long past when you take it, so over time, it may build to a detectable amount.

Equilibria CBD has a decent range of CBD products. Their power lies in a variety of modes rather than doses, as most of their products come in just two strengths (regular/10mg and Extra Strength/25-50mg) and are full-spectrum to take advantage of the entourage effect.

In the past year, the company has significantly expanded its gummies, melts, and drop (oil) lineups. Below, we’ve broken down the details for each kind of product, including flavor options, count, and time to onset.

Here’s some information about Equilibria’s gummies options, which have doubled in quantity (adding Focus and Stress to the mix), and two types of melts, which are like lozenges and can give you the hard candy equivalent of effective sublingual dosing (adding Rapid Sleep Melts).

Despite being sold through the CBD brand, neither Focus Gummies nor Stress Gummies actually contain CBD (like Medterra’s latest fast-acting sleep and anxiety gummies). Both gummies are similar to nootropics, working to calm and regulate your brain’s higher functioning. Focus Gummies include Lion’s Mane mushrooms, phosphatidylserine, choline, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6, making it a slightly weak but decent uncaffeinated nootropic. Stress gummies contain a blend of five mushrooms (Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Turkey Tail, and Maitake), which makes it more similar to an adaptogenic mushroom coffee like Ryze. Unfortunately, other than Lion’s Mane, not many of these mushrooms show many benefits in clinical studies.

The price of Sleep Gummies has gone down by $6, and Equilibria has added an additional flavor (Pomegranate Blueberry) to the Daily Gummies lineup, though it seems to be popular enough to run the company out of stock.

Softgels will be your best option if you want to quickly take CBD and ensure that it all gets absorbed through your digestive system, as gummies tend to break down somewhat before they’re completely absorbed. Here’s some information about what Equilibria offers:

Like Stress and Focus Gummies, the Energy Capsules are more of a nootropic than a CBD product, considering they don’t actually contain any CBD. They contain 200mg L-theanine — an appropriate dose successfully used in scientific studies — 100mg of caffeine from coffee and 2.5mg black pepper extract to increase overall absorption. You might not find increased focus, but you will probably feel calmer, as L-theanine is generally better at decreasing anxiety levels than anything else.

The price of a 60-count jar of both regular and extra-strength Daily Softgels went down by a whopping $25 and $15 in the last year, respectively, providing a nice bonus opportunity for savings.

And finally, here’s a quick breakdown of the Daily Drops line. Drops are oil and oil-like products; they work best when taken with or immediately after a fatty food like avocado or nut butter, especially when taken sublingually (held under your tongue for 30-60 seconds before swallowing).

The Extra Strength Daily Drops have come down by $15 in the last year.

Equilibria often rotates out new limited edition and seasonal Drops flavors, including Birthday Cake (for the company’s anniversary), Winter Citrus, and White Peach.

Bundles

If you’re looking to use CBD to combat a specific experience — feeling very stressed or particularly sore after workouts, for example — Equilibria has designed bundles that they call routines for a range of common concerns. We’ve broken them down below for you (prices included are for a one-time order and drop another 25% if you purchase them as a subscription).

With the exception of Balance+ (which stayed the same), Extra+ (which decreased in price), and Sleep+ (which decreased in price but added Sleep Melts), all of these bundles have had slight price increases in the last year.

Should one of these premade bundles not meet your CBD needs, you can put your own together. You'll net some savings by purchasing more than one Equilibria CBD product at a time. Specifically, you’ll save 15% if you buy two Equilibria CBD products and 25% if you purchase three or more, which is identical to the savings you’ll find in a premade bundle. We appreciate this; it allows you to save money and avoid corporate constraints while getting exactly what your body needs.

Topical CBD allows you to pinpoint precisely where you need relief and nowhere else. It’s particularly useful in supporting aches, pains, and overall skin health; researchers are mixed on whether or not topical CBD crosses into your bloodstream for systemic circulation, but it does appear to quiet nociceptors (pain receptors) where you apply the CBD.

Equilibria has a few targeted topical CBD products that work for your outsides as effectively as their drops, gummies, and melts work for your insides.

You can find some information about their main topical products below.

NOTE: Mindful Mineral Soak was out of stock at time of writing.

In the time since we last reviewed them, Equilibria stopped selling a set of three Luxury CBD bath bombs and Daily Treatment oil. Notably, however, a few of these products have dropped their prices significantly in the last year: Recovery Roll-On dropped a whopping $20 (almost 30%), and Relief Balm dropped by $13.

Equilibria requires you to make an account before you can purchase your products. Checking out is straightforward after signing up, staying in line with most online store check-out platforms. You can use most major credit cards, Google Pay, or Equilibria gift cards to pay for your order.

There are two different shipping options. You can choose between the following:

• Standard shipping (3-7 business days), which is always free if you order two or more products
• Expedited shipping (2-3 business days), which costs $15.00

Expect processing to take two days before your package leaves their warehouse. Ordering just one product costs $8, which is on the expensive side for shipping fees; previously, Equilibria offered free shipping on all standard orders, so it’s a bit of a bummer to see this fee implemented. Ultimately, it’s still a better shipping deal than the average CBD company, which has a $50-$75 free shipping threshold and charges $5-$8 if you don’t meet that.

Equilibria is negatively unique because the company doesn't offer returns or refunds. There may be rare exceptions if items get damaged in transit (where you’ll need to send in photographic proof of the damage within seven days), but even if your package is lost in the mail, don’t expect your money back or another order shipped out to you for free. Most CBD companies have at least a 30-day money-back guarantee, so it’s disappointing to see such a strict limit here.

Subscribe & Save

If you know you like Equilibria’s CBD products, you can sign up for their subscriptions at any time. No matter what you order, you’ll receive 25% off your subscription products, which stacks with any bundle discounts (providing up to 45% off the initial price). Previously, you could only save 20% on bundles, but Equilibria has equalized your savings across the board. Your subscription will ship once every four weeks, and there isn’t any flexibility in that shipping date, unlike many other CBD brands’ subscription programs. There aren’t any ways to move up or delay orders, but you can skip a month or cancel your subscription from your account page without penalty.

An active subscription also unlocks a coupon for 10% off all other one-time purchases you make, rewarding you for trying new things, which is a nice perk we haven’t seen before.

EQ Rewards

Since everyone is required to make an account to place an order, you’ll automatically be signed up for and start earning points for EQ Rewards. There are three tiers at which every dollar you spend equals a different amount of points.

• Bronze: 1 point per $1 spent
• Silver (unlocked after spending $500): 1.5 points per $1 spent
• Gold (unlocked after spending $1,500): 2 points per $1 spent

This is a reasonable dollar-to-point ratio, but redeeming your points is a different story. 250 points are equivalent to a $10.00 gift card. You’d need to spend $500 to get your first $20.00 back. While that ratio does go down the more you spend, and you can earn an extra 50 points with every subscription renewal, the amount of money you ultimately get back is quite low. Tier settings also reset every 12 months after your first purchase, meaning you’d have to spend at least $1,500 yearly to achieve and maintain Gold tier status.

CBD isn’t cheap. It can be cost-prohibitive for some, even as the price has decreased over the years. Equilibria is an expensive CBD brand, and while you’re paying for quality, it still misses some major marks like the U.S. Hemp Authority certification that we’d expect from a CBD brand that charges this much. There are some simple ways to work around their high prices, but it doesn’t bring the products into line with the average CBD brand. We think they have decent value if you have the capital to pay for it up-front, but be prepared to play with bundling and subscriptions. And we recommend you order at least two products at once.

Equilibria charges close to $0.20 per milligram for regular strength products ($0.19 to $0.21). Their extra strength formulas are much more cost-effective if you can handle 2.5 times the dose, costing about $0.10 per milligram. While Equilibria is unique among companies for decreasing some products’ prices over time, this is still very expensive compared to the average CBD products of similar quality. Most of our favorite competitors in this sphere charge between $0.05-$0.08 per milligram of CBD, with some even reaching as low as $0.02-$0.03.

This is where Equilibria’s subscription program comes in handy. Bundles save 15% or 25% for two or three-plus products, respectively, and creating a subscription plan saves an additional 25%. After adding these bonuses, Equilibria’s most expensive products fall to the lower end of the cost spectrum, about $0.10 per milligram of CBD. But it still leaves them well above the average range for high-quality CBD.

Equilibria retains slightly more information than your average online retailer because of the tricky nature of CBD sales online. In order to check out, you’ll have to make an account. While nothing says that you must keep your account after placing your order, they may retain any information necessary to complete it. It’s a relatively minor detail — especially considering you’ll need to make an account if you want to take advantage of their subscription or rewards programs — and the rest of their privacy policy is in line with other online marketplaces.

Also important to note is that they do not use discreet packaging. Their boxes all say Equilibria on them and have their goddess logo prominently featured. They don’t explicitly state what the contents are, but it only takes a fast Google search to figure it out. If you don’t want nosy neighbors or people you live with to know you’re ordering CBD products, Equilibria may not be your best option; Lazarus Naturals and CBDistillery both have much more discreet packaging.

If you’re brand new to CBD and don’t know where to start, Equilibria has a short quiz that will help point you in the right direction. The quiz asks about your:

• Name
• Age (by decade)
• Main health goal
• Level of experience with CBD
• Preference for vegan products
• Preference for softgels/capsules or gummies
• Relation to a few descriptive statements
• Feelings of personal balance on a scale from one to five

After taking the quiz, they’ll recommend three items that may help your symptoms and goals based on your quiz answers. Purchasing every item from this bundle unlocks a 25% discount, whether or not the products come from a premade routine. This is a nice bonus that only a few other companies like Medterra offer.

Equilibria is one of the only CBD brands explicitly marketed toward women, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be a woman to purchase from this company (nor that women should only use Equilibria CBD). Despite its luxury posturing, many other CBD companies sell more potent CBD at a lower price.

Lazarus Naturals is one such brand. This company isn’t U.S. Hemp Association certified but uses USDA organic hemp to make its CBD. Both brands use full-spectrum CBD almost exclusively, which is an overall plus (as long as you don’t have to worry about drug testing). More importantly, however, you can pick from two bottle sizes (30mL/1,500mg and 120mL/ 6,000mg) and three flavors of Lazarus Naturals’ high-potency, 50mg/mL CBD oil. Equilibria’s Extra Strength Daily Drops also contain 50mg CBD per mL in a 30mL bottle, but it costs $95. The same product from Lazarus Naturals costs $40. While you can’t get Lazarus Naturals’ CBD oil in a subscription program, being able to save at least $30 between two virtually identical products is enough to tip us in Lazarus Naturals’ favor. (This product repeatedly wins our favor as the best budget pick for people who regularly use CBD.)

One place that Equilibria really stands out is its unique range of vehicles that CBD comes in. Things like bath salts and melts aren’t things we’ve seen from other CBD brands. If you’re interested in things that aren’t your standard oils, CBDistillery could be another option. Not only is this brand U.S. Hemp Association certified, but it also offers drink mixes, CBD powder, “relief sticks” shaped like tubes of deodorant, warming creams, facial serums, and other topical products that are more like what you’d find in a Sephora than your local dispensary.

CBDistillery’s Isolate CBD Relief Stick is similar to Equilibria’s Recovery Roll-On, but it’s a thicker stick rather than an oil roller, which is more convenient because it dries faster and is less likely to be messy. However, each bottle contains 250mg less CBD in a bottle 0.5oz bigger than Equilibria’s, meaning CBDistillery offers a less potent option, but it costs $25 compared to Equilibria’s $45. CBDistillery also offers a higher subscription savings rate (30% versus 25%). If budget matters more to you than a slightly higher potency, CBDistillery’s unique topical options may be a good fit.