Lately I have been getting into essential oils. I received a couple on promotion and they got me hooked so I decided to invest in getting a few to mix up the fragrances. There are a ton of brands around, ranging from really cheap fragrance oils to really expensive $60 for 15 ml jars which can be a bit of a rip off if the essential oil is not great quality. I am happy to announce that I will never know if they are good quality because there's no way I could ever justify spending that much money on one small jar. What is essential oil? In short, it's a natural oil that's extracted from plants and trees. It can be used for crafting, water diffuser's, consuming (be very careful doing that!), inhaling, and even used for medicinal purposes along with a carrier oil. Since I have now used a cool mist diffuser and an electric essential oil burner I am proud to announce that for essential oils you want them in a diffuser, fragrance oils you can throw in a burner. By burning oils the heat breaks down the properties and it's less effective depending on what you're using it for and can also kill the fragrance after a while. Keeping essential oils cool is just, overall, better for the oil. I had to experience it to believe it because I was hardcore about my oil burner but now I barely use it.
One of my favorite brands of essential oil is NOW Essential Oil. I have done a bit of research on what others use and I know this is considered medium to lower-grade oil but I find it really useful and it does help me immensely. I tend to purchase my oils from Amazon since I have a membership and I will be damn if I don't use it! They have a nice selection of different oils and the price is moderate which is right up my ally. I stick to price mainly because you can get carried away and start going for different oils that have snappy and snazzy claims like rewinding your internal clock so that you can live forever like on Fame or claiming that the higher-priced oils can cure diseases and keep you healthy by consuming. Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA comes to mind. They have really interesting claims and guarantees but if you research a bit deeper you will find that they can claim certain terms because they have trademarked the term to try and give it more credence and there is a bit of in-fighting between the two companies. The word on the curb is that Young Living Essential Oils and doTERRA was once one company. So, some disgruntled higher ups didn't like the direction the company was going in so they resigned and then started their own company. Apparently they have taken a lot of patents and idea's from Young Living so they have been in and out of court over it. It's quite the story.
When I use essential oils I like to be in relax mode. Who can relax with that drama going on, right? That's where NOW steps in. I can use the oils, think of something soothing and let the fragrance take me on a mental journey depending on the fragrance mixture. There are other brands of essential oil if you really search but just make sure they are selling you oil and not a dream/marketing/promotion. I do use fragrance oil as well when I feel like smelling something that's not so much essential oil but just something to scent the room. PB&J Trading and Eternal Essence are two of my favorite fragrance oil companies. The fragrances are very nicely concentrated and the scent doesn't dissipate very easy. If you purchase from Amazon they are very cheap but you often have to pay for shipping which can be about as much as the fragrance. So, say there's a fragrance for $2.95, the shipping might be like $2.66 and then all together you would be paying a little under $6. The good thing is they last a long time since you don't need many drops.
Mixing oils to make a fragrance is one of my favorite past times. I mix essential oils and I also do the same thing for fragrance oils. Once you build up a decent collection the combinations are limitless. Since I am really new to the game of essential oils I have not learned all there is to learn about them yet but I'm slowly gaining knowledge. Listed below are some of my favorite combinations. As I gain more information and come up with more recipes I will create other posts. Enjoy!
Recipes: All have been tested with 150 ml of water. Depending on the brand of oils you get you can modify how much oil you need. If I choose to fill the diffuser up to 300 ml I will often up each amount of oil by one to two drops.
Fight Nausea (also works for headaches and yes, it does work!)
5 drops of Lavender essential oil
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
5 drops of Grapefruit essential oil
Sensual Night
6 drops of chocolate fragrance oil
2 drops of strawberry oil
2 drops of Vanilla essential oil
Fruity (smells like Skittles)
5 drops of Lemon essential oil
2 drops of Lime essential oil
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of strawberry fragrance oil
Uplifting
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
4 drops of Clove essential oil
4 drops of Lemon essential oil
4 drops of Orange essential oil
Orange Dream (my favorite!)
5 drops of Orange essential oil
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
1 drop of Grapefruit oil
Relaxing Medley
5 drops of Vanilla essential oil
2 drops of Patchouli essential oil
2 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
2 drops of Clove essential oil
2 drops Ylang Ylang essential oil
