Essential Oils
Jul 18
Peppermint essential oil is one of those bottles that can completely change a blend with just one or two drops. Its crisp, unmistakably minty aroma works beautifully in fresh diffuser blends, cooling adult massage oils, and simple personal aromatherapy preparations. Peppermint also contains substantial amounts of menthol, the compound responsible for much of its familiar …
Jul 11
Citronella essential oil is one of the most recognizable botanical fragrances of summer. Its bright, lemony, grassy aroma is strongly associated with patios, outdoor candles, insect-repellent sprays, and warm evenings spent outside. But citronella is more interesting than the familiar candle burning beside a picnic table. The essential oil comes from aromatic grasses in the …
Jul 03
Sharp, herbaceous, warm, and unmistakably intense, oregano essential oil is one of the most powerful-smelling oils commonly encountered in aromatherapy. Steam-distilled from oregano leaves and flowering tops, it is often rich in the phenolic compounds carvacrol and thymol. Those constituents help explain both its strong aroma and the considerable antimicrobial activity researchers have observed in …
Jul 03
Softly floral, herbaceous, fresh, and instantly recognizable, lavender essential oil is one of the most widely used aromatic oils in modern aromatherapy. Its popularity is easy to understand. Lavender blends comfortably with florals, woods, citrus oils, herbs, and resins. It can be enjoyed through inhalation, added in appropriate concentrations to massage and body products, incorporated …
Jul 02
Bright, juicy, fresh, and slightly bittersweet, pink grapefruit essential oil has one of the most instantly recognizable aromas in citrus aromatherapy. Its fragrance is lively without being as sugary as sweet orange and softer than the sharp edge of lemon. That makes grapefruit particularly useful in diffuser blends, room fragrance, oil perfumes, and carefully diluted …
Jun 26
Fresh, sparkling, slightly bitter, and instantly recognizable, grapefruit essential oil is one of the brightest citrus aromas available for home aromatherapy. It works beautifully in diffusers, perfumes, room-fragrance blends, and carefully formulated body products. Grapefruit can make lavender feel lighter, soften heavy woody oils, brighten frankincense, and give herbal blends a juicy citrus top note. …
Jun 26
Fresh, woody, green, and unmistakably evergreen, cypress essential oil brings the aroma of Mediterranean forests into aromatherapy blends. Steam distilled primarily from the needles and leafy branches of Cupressus sempervirens, cypress has a clean coniferous fragrance that falls somewhere between pine, cedarwood, and juniper. It is less resinous than frankincense, less sweet than many florals, …
Jun 25
Echinacea is one of the best-known herbs in natural wellness. Walk into almost any supplement aisle during cold and flu season and you may find echinacea in: But echinacea essential oil is a very different—and much rarer—product. True essential oil can be steam distilled from Echinacea purpurea. Scientific researchers have analyzed volatile oils from its …
Jun 24
Few essential oils smell as instantly recognizable as eucalyptus essential oil. Its cool, penetrating, camphoraceous aroma appears in everything from shower steamers and chest rubs to spa products, massage oils, soaps, and diffuser blends. Eucalyptus is especially popular during cold-weather months because many people associate its strong fragrance with a sensation of freshness and open …
Jun 23
Sweet, spicy, earthy, and distinctly reminiscent of licorice or anise, fennel essential oil has one of the most recognizable aromas in aromatherapy. The oil is commonly steam distilled from the fruits—often casually called “seeds”—of Foeniculum vulgare. Sweet fennel essential oil is typically rich in trans-anethole, the aromatic compound largely responsible for its characteristic sweet anise-like …
