Posts Tagged ‘essential oil’

Posted on March 3, 2010 - by Leslie Billera

3 Easy Tips to Try Aromatherapy At Home

We’ve touched on what aromatherapy can do for your body.  So let’s look at what amazing aromatherapy can do for your home.

Aromatherapy is the use of pure essential oils to enhance our physical and mental well-being. Essential oils are highly concentrated distilled essences of plants that smell truly delightful. They are diluted either by water or with a ‘carrier oil,’ depending on the intended use of the essential oil.

Organic lavender essential oil – our personal fave – has the ability to evoke and increase the release of serotonin, thus producing a calming effect.¹

Try these simple at-home tips and bring the soothing power of aromatherapy to your abode!

1. Create a Simmering Scent

To freshen air inside your home, drip some of our favorite scent into a pot of water and simmer mixture on the stove top for several hours.

2. Try Tug-Worthy Toilet Paper

To ensure there’s always a fresh scent in the bathroom, add a few drops of essential oil onto the cardboard roll that holds the toilet paper. The fragrance will release with each pull. Remember to repeat with each new roll you hang.

3. Reinvent the Room Deodorizer

Conventional so-called room deodorizers are just chemical-filled band-aids used to mask odors. Make your own with ease: add 25 drops of your favorite essential oil to 16 ounces of water, put in a spray bottle, and voila – fresh, pure, natural smelling indoor air!

And don’t forget about hydrosol - it’s less concentrated than essential oil, but equally aromatherapeutic!

Our sense of smell impacts our daily perceptions and our reactions to what’s going on around us – physically, emotionally and mentally. Infusing your home with healing scents is a great way to boost your mood and keep you centered.  Now take one big beautiful breath, and enjoy!

1Perscription for or Nutritional Healing, Phyllis A. Balch, CNC

Posted on December 8, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Holiday Gift Giving: 2 DIY Perfume Recipes

I saw a White Diamonds perfume commercial on TV the other day – featuring a 1992 air-brushed Liz Taylor – and I thought I’d been sucked into a time travel vortex.

In addition to the post-collegiate flashback (in which ‘I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt’ topped the charts), the dated perfume commercial reflects the sea change I’ve undergone when it comes to the simple term ‘fragrance.’

A typical perfume contains a mixture of between 50 and 100 fragrance chemicals including, but not limited to:

• Coal tar distillates
• Petroleum distillates
• Benzene derivatives
• Aldehydes
• Phenols
• Phthalates (banned in cosmetics in the European Union since 2003 – see more in the ‘jargon alert,’ below )

Today, science makes it possible to dissect any natural scent and recreate it using synthetic fragrances.  Smelling machines, or ‘electronic noses’ use chemical sensors to produce a fingerprint of any scent. ¹

Doesn’t your special someone deserve something a bit more personal this holiday?

Try your hand at either one of these all-natural elixirs, and let us know how they turn out!

DIY Perfume

by Heidi Hill via www.MNN.com

Basic supplies for making perfume:

• 1 1/2 cups chopped flowers (we recommend lavender of course!)
• Cheesecloth
• Medium-size bowl with lid
• 2 cups distilled water
• Small saucepan
• Washed and sterilized vanilla extract bottle, or another small colored bottle with a lid or an airtight stopper

Instructions for making perfume:

1. Wash the flower petals. Gently clean off any dirt and sediment with water.

2. Soak the flowers. Put cheesecloth inside a bowl with edges overlapping the bowl. Put the flowers into the cheesecloth-lined bowl and pour the water over them, covering the flowers. Cover the bowl with the lid and let the flowers soak overnight.

3. Heat the flower-scented water. The next day, remove the lid from the bowl and gently bring the four corners of the cheesecloth together, lifting the flower pouch out of the water. Squeeze the pouch over a small saucepan, extracting the flower-scented water. Simmer over low heat until you have about a teaspoon of liquid.

4. Bottle the perfume. Pour the cooled water into the bottle and cap it. The perfume will last for up to a month if stored in a cool, dark place.

Green Eau de Toilette

by Julie Gabriel, The Green Beauty Guide

Basic Eau de Toilette Supplies

• 1 ounce vodka
• 4-10 drops essential oil of your choice
• 2 tablespoons distilled water

Instructions for making Eau de Toilette:

1. Pour the vodka into a small glass measuring cup (that has a spout) and add the essential oil, stirring slowly until the oil is fully mixed in. Pour mixture into a small, dark, lidded bottle and leave in a dark place (such as a closet) for two days so that the oil can fully blend with the vodka.

2. Slowly add the distilled water, shaking well. Again, let the mixture sit for two days (or more I you want a more potent mix). Now the perfume is ready. If you like, you can transfer it into a pretty spray bottle.

Homemade scents educate the gift recipient on why we can’t always trust what’s in our bath and beauty products. Plus, they earn serious brownie points for being hand-crafted. And most importantly, homemade scents are the healthiest way to smell great – naturally!

Top either DIY scent with a coupon for a relaxing Lavender Oil Massage, and you’ll win the award for best holiday gift, hands-down.

¹ The Green Beauty Guide, Julie Gabriel

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Jargon Alert: Phthalates

Phthalates (pronounced ˈtha-ˌlāt) are found in perfume, soap, shampoo, nail polish, hair spray, mascara and more.  Listed in ingredient labels as dibutylphthalate, DPB, DEHP, DHP. Phthalates are not listed when used in fragrance. May cause developmental and reproductive problems. It is used to make materials more pliable, prevent cracking, and retain scents by ‘fixing’ perfumes to reduce evaporation

Posted on November 13, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Discover the Duality of Lavender Essential Oil!

Our amazing lavender suppliers, The Kahns, boast 14,800 lavender plants, 2000 olive trees and 1/1/2 acres of petite syrah grapes on their truly spectacular property.

Their luxurious fields of purple splendor reap certified organic lavenders including English Munstead and Hidcote as well as French Grosso and Provence. This bounty of lavender is capable of producing 6-700 gallons of hydrosol and about 40 quarts of essential oil annually.

Essential oil is the very life essence of a plant, an aromatic pure oil extract that provides a deeply positive impact on both mind and body.  Unlike ‘fragrance,’ which is pretty much a dressed up word for the toxic chemical phthalates, an essential oil is a truly natural scent with myriad, often miraculous uses.

Lavender is one of the most popular essential oils. With its soothing scent, it relaxes and calms. And with its analgesic, antiviral, antiseptic and antibacterial properties, it’s good to go for practical uses like cleaning and wound-care.

Here’s just a whiff of its range:

Lovely Lavender Liquid Body Wash

Materials Needed:

• One bottle of unscented shampoo
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (optional)
• 15 drops of lavender essential oil
• 5 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 5 drops of rosemary essential oil
• 5 drops of tea tree oil

How To:

1. Take a large, glass mixing bowl and pour in one and a half cups of shampoo. It doesn’t need to be expensive, it just needs to be unscented.
2. If you’re someone who likes your body wash to be extra thick, add in a thickening ingredient such as Xanthan gum and mix well.
3. Next, add in all 30 drops of essential oils to the bowl and blend well. Feel free to choose whatever oils you like best. This combination works because the lavender is calming, the tea tree oil works as an antibacterial (and it smells great), and the peppermint and rosemary are invigorating.

Source: Bella Sugar

DIY Lavender Dishwashing Liquid

Materials Needed:

• One recycled 25 oz. plastic dishwashing liquid bottle
• Liquid organic castile soap
• 3 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar
• 15 drops of organic lavender essential oil
• 5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
• 4 drops of lemon essential oil

How To:

Fill plastic dishwashing liquid bottle with castile soap. Add essential oils and vinegar and shake to blend. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of liquid to water and wash dishes as usual. Shake bottle before each use.

Source: Laura Klein’s Green Club

Posted on November 6, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Let’s Hear It For The Soy!

I’m a candle junkie. When I go away with my husband, I always pack a couple of soy votives to ‘set the mood,’ in addition to a nice bottle of organic wine.

Any candle not made from soy, beewax or another specially-marked blend of wax is most likely paraffin-based. And the bad news about these popular candles is that paraffin fumes include toxic substances like:

• Toluene (recognized by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen)
• Benzene  (recognized by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen)
• Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK)
• Naphthalene

These contaminants are found in paint, lacquer and varnish removers are in stark contrast to the emotions that scented candles promise to evoke!

The American Lung Association backs it all up, advising that we “refrain from burning scented or slow burning candles that have additives.”

Soy to the Rescue: Healthier and Longer-Lasting

Soy candles burn naturally and emit little to no residue into the air.

On the practical side, soy candles last 30 to 50 percent longer then traditional candles. Plus, they clean up with soap and water – no more ruined table clothes or table runners.

Napa Valley Bath takes all the green goodness of the soy candle and transforms it into a sexy treat that does double duty – half candle, half all-natural massage oil.  Now that’s a two-for-one you can’t pass up!

Posted on January 29, 2009 - by Leslie Billera

Aromatherapy 101: What the Nose Knows

It’s time to delve deeper into aromatherapy.

We already introduced you to chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé, the father of modern day aromatherapy. But what can aromatherapy do for you?

For starters, here’s a definition we  like:

Aromatherapy can be defined as the art and science of

utilizing naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants

to balance, harmonize and promote the health of body, mind and spirit.

-The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy

Scents and Sensibility

Pure essential oils – the building blocks of aromatherapy – are taken from flowers, leaves, stalks, bark, rind, or roots. Aromatherapy, or as it is sometimes called, essential oil therapy, is applied either:

1. Topically: applied to the skin either via massage or baths
2. Directly Inhaled: breathed in deeply
3. Aerial Diffusion: oils evaporate into the air for pleasantly scented air or for disinfection

Scent immediately goes to the brain and elicits a response. A signal is sent to your brain’s limbic system, which controls emotions and retrieves learned memories. This then causes chemicals to be released which makes you feel relaxed, calm or even stimulated.

Popular essential oils and their related aromatherapeutic benefits include:

• Basil - Sharpens concentration; alleviate some depression symptoms; headache and migraine reliever.
• Bergamot - Useful for urinary tract and digestive tract; good for the skin when combined with eucalyptus oil.
• Black pepper – Stimulates circulation; aids muscular aches, pains and bruises.
• Eucalyptus – Relieves cold or flue by opening airways; commonly combined with peppermint.
• Jasmin – Offers aphrodisiac qualities.
• Lavender – Heals minor cuts and burns as an antiseptic; relaxer; relieves headache and migraine symptoms; sleep enhancer
• Lemon – Lifts  moods, relieves stress and depression.
• Tea tree – Provides antimicrobial, antiseptic, and disinfectant qualities. Commonly used in mouth rinses.
• Thyme – Helps with fatigue, nervousness and stress.

There are about 150 essential oils to choose from. Whichever one you choose for aromatherapy, make sure it’s made from natural, pure, raw and ideally organic materials. Synthetic oils are never an acceptable substitute.