I wanted to share some new essential oil diffuser blends I have come to enjoy this fall. Most of the blends include Basil essential oil which has become a new favorite for me.
Basil essential oil is used in traditional Asian Indian medicine. The name basil comes from the word “basileum” which is the Greek name for king. Uses for basil according to my pocket reference book are: help with migraines, combat throat-lung infections and insect bites. The fragrance is also know to fight mental fatigue – promoting energy, alertness and good decision making.
Two of my favorite combinations of the above list are:
Basil, Peppermint and Lime
Basil and Peppermint
Both of these combinations smell good and seem to give me energy to get things done, which I can always use.
Basil, Cinnamon Bark and Lime is another pleasant combination.
So far I have only tried Basil essential oil and these combinations in the diffuser. It seems that Basil oil when applied topically with a carrier oil, like jojoba oil, would be good for colds or congestion. According to some information in my Aromathreapy 101 book Basil is a good oil to aid with respiratory illnesses and muscle spasms in the chest area, especially when used with Eucalyptus oil.
I use Young Living essential oils. Please contact me using the form below if you would like more information about Young Living and how to use their essential oils.
What are some of your favorite essential oil combinations in the diffuser? Leave me a comment and let me know.
There are many ways to use essential oils. One of the ways I have found to use them daily is wearing them as a perfume. Not all oils are good for this but I have discovered a few of the different essential oil blends from Young Living that smell nice when worn as a fragrance.
Three of the blends I have discovered that work well as a perfume are:
Awaken
Lady Sclareol
White Angelica
Awaken is actually a combination of five different Young Living Blends in fractionated coconut oil. The blends are: Joy, Forgiveness, Present Time, Dream Catcher and Harmony. According to the Essential Oils Pocket Reference Book this blend enhances inner self-awareness, stimulates right brain creativity, amplifying functions of the pineal and pituitary glands to balance the energy centers of the body. I think this blend has a pleasant smell and have applied it on my wrists and behind my ears and over my heart area in the morning before doing some yoga.
Lady Sclareol is a blend of 11 different single oils to create a lovely fragrance that I have been using a lot as a daily perfume over the past several months. This blend is suppose to enhance feminine nature by improving your mood and raising estrogen levels for women – it may also provide PMS relief according to the Pocket Reference Book.
White Angelica is a blend of 12 different single oils in fractionated coconut oil. This blend is suppose to bring a renewed sense of strength and protection to the body, create a feeling of wholeness in one’s own spirituality and neutralizes negative energy as stated in the Essential Oils Pocket Reference Book. I have also been wearing this one a lot as it has such a pleasant and calming smell.
To wear any of these three essential oils as a fragrance you can apply them as you would any perfume, as each of them are safe to apply without dilution, to the wrists, neck, behind ears, on the forehead, on the shoulders or over the heart area. You could also use a small glass spray bottle and dilute about 15 to 25 drops in one or two ounces of filtered water to create a body spray – I have done this with some single oils to create my own blend and this works well.
If you are interested in learning more about essential oils or about Young Living specifically please contact me using the form below and I will get back to you.
If you are interested in signing up to be a Young Living member please click on the highlighted Young Living to take you to the sign up link. If you join Young Living with this link I will send you a free gift for signing up once you have ordered you starter kit.
How do you use essential oils and what are some of your favorite Young Living blends? Please let me know by leaving a reply.
One of the things I love about summer and early fall weather is being able to sit outside on my front porch after my morning workout. I love to sit out there with a cup of coffee and read or do a little crochet or knitting. One of the things I don’t like are the mosquitoes that also like to sit out there with me.
Since I have been using Young Livingessential oils for the past nine months I have gotten quite a collection and decided to make my own DIY bug repel spray this year. I tried it once before in the past with some other oils that were not Young Living and I didn’t think it worked all that well. Well, this blend I came up with seems to work pretty good. I have used it daily for the past few months and do not get mosquito bites. The mosquitoes do still come around me but they do not seem to bite me. The other bonus with this blend is that it does not smell terrible like some of the other products you buy. It is also free of harmful chemicals.
The blend is a combination of citronella essential oil, rosemary essential oil and peppermint essential oil with a tiny amount of optional witch hazel. It is super easy to make up. I keep mine in a 2 ounce glass spray bottle. I think I ordered the bottles from Amazon but you can also find them at Whole Foods or Sprouts.
The main essential oil in this blend is the citronella oil which is known for keeping bugs away – especially mosquitoes. I added in the other two oils to make the smell a little more pleasant and they were also listed in my Pocket Reference book as recommended for an insect repellent. The citronella oil is pretty strong on its own but if you only have that one then you could probably try the blend with just it and leave the other two out. I also read in my Essential Oils Pocket Reference book that blending the citronella oil with cedarwood enhances the insect repelling properties. I have not tried that blend yet. Two of the top oils to blend with citronella as listed in the book were palo santo, and idaho tansy but I do not have those oils.
Citronella essential oil has powerful antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal medical properties as listed in the Pocket Reference book. That in addition to being an insect repellent. Other uses as listed in the book include:
respiratory infections
muscle-nerve pain
digestive problems
anxiety
skin problems (acne, oily skin, eczema)
skin penetration enhancer
In addition to using my DIY bug repel spray I have also been taking a gauze pad or cotton ball and placing 2 or 3 drops of the citronella oil on it and sitting it next to me when I am outside. I have a friend that lives in Michigan that told me about using essential oils last summer to make a DIY bug spray and she said it also worked well to spray it around the perimeter of the area you are sitting in. I am not sure what her blend was but I remember her telling me about spraying it around her deck so she could sit outside in the evening to read.
If you would like more information onYoung Living essential oils please email me at kkg@kimberleeskorner.com. You can also click on the highlighted Young Living to take you to a sign up page.
*Please note that this blend is my own creation and opinion, it may or may not work for everyone.
Essential oil books are great to refer to once you start using essential oils. I mentioned this in part 1 of my post on essential oil books and today in part 2 of the series I am going to share a couple of other books I use regularly when working with essential oils.
In addition to the books I wrote about in part 1, I have also been reading and referring to The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood and Aromatherapy Through the Seasons by Judith Fitzsimmons and Paula M. Bousquet. I bought both of these books over 10 years ago when I began learning about essential oils.
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy is one of the reference books that is very nice to own if you are focused on learning more about essential oils and how to use them. This book is full of great information on using essential oils for your body, your home, your pets and cooking with essential oils. To cook with essential oils you need to use therapeutic grade, high quality, oils safe for ingestion such as Young Living oilswhich are the kind that I use.
Recently I have used the Complete Book of Essential Oils to make up some blends for stress. There are two pages in this book devoted to various blends and what type of stress they are best used for and for the level of stress. One of the blends is for general stress that I have use in my diffuser as well as topically mixed with a carrier oil.
General Stress Blend:
Grapefruit – 15 drops
Rosemary – 11 drops
Palmarosa – 5 drops
To use the above blend mix in a small recycled 5ml glass bottle or buy a glass bottle with a dropper. Use 7 or 8 drops in a diffuser with water or add a few drops to a teaspoon of almond or jojoba oil for topical use.
Another stress blend from the book I have tried and like to use on my neck and feet at bedtime is one for Low Immunity. I figure it will help me sleep better, strengthen my immune system and lower my stress level while I sleep due to the properties of some of the oils in this blend.
Low Immunity Stress Blend:
Vetiver – 10 drops
Lavender – 10 drops
Geranium – 10 drops
Combine all the drops in a 15ml empty bottle and top it off with almond oil or your favorite carrier oil. I did not put the reducer back on the bottle – to use just shake it gently and pour a small amount in the palm of your hand and rub it on your neck, thyroid area and then the bottoms of your feet at bedtime.
The other book I have been using lately is the Aromatherapy Through the Seasons as I mentioned above. I love how this book is written. Each chapter is a month from January to December and there is an oil recommended for that month. For example, March is cedarwood and there are lots of great recipes using cedarwood oil – along with other basic oils like lemon, lavender, rosemary and melaleuca a. (tea tree). The beginning of each chapter-month explains the oil and its uses. For cedarwood there are recipes for hair care and skin care. I also like how many of the pages have inspiring quotes. There are lots of recipes in this book for body care and for your health – like a cold blend, a flu blend and allergy blend.
In my opinion if you are looking to expand your knowledge and have some guidance with your essential oils both of these books would be great to add to your library. Next month I will be reviewing some essential oil books on body and skin care for part 3 of this series.
I recently made up a couple of essential oil blends to help with my hormonal issues. Any woman in their 40’s knows what I mean when I mention hormone issues. So far these blends have proven effective for me and my needs and I wanted to share them on my blog.
Hormone Balance Blend using Geranium – 20 drops, Clary Sage – 14 drops, Palmarosa – 8 drops – in a base of jojoba or grapeseed oil
The first blend is an oil that I have been using topically in the morning and at bedtime on my neck, lower abdominal area and on my spine and sometimes my feet – the inner side (like the arch area) which is the reflex point for the spine. I call the blend Hormone Balance – as you can see from my lovely handmade masking tape label in the above photo – it is getting kind of worn out after using it for the past month.
Here is the blend:
Geranium essential oil – 20 drops
Clary Sage essential oil – 14 drops
Palmarosa essential oil – 8 drops
Jojoba oil or grapeseed oil – 4 tsp
Blend all of the above listed oils in an empty 15 ml bottle – shake lightly before each use. Use 2 to 3 times a day on abdominal area, lower back, spine, neck, wrists and feet. Note: all oils used are Young Living essential oils – those are the kind I prefer to use due to their therapeutic qualities. Also – I do not use the reducer dropper on the bottle – I just pour the oil onto my palm from the bottle.
I actually think this blend has a better and stronger scent to it if you use the jojoba oil but I have also used the grapeseed. I like the fact that this blend works to help my hormones and it also smells nice – I had it on the other day and a friend of mine commented that I smelled good. Some blends I have made up do not always smell so great but I use them for therapeutic purposes – not always to smell great. It is nice that this one has a pleasant scent.
The other blend I made up about two weeks ago is a spray. The spray can be used on your body, clothes, in the air in a room or on your bed linens or a pillow. I am calling the spray Hormone Happy Spray. In a 4 oz. glass bottle combine:
Geranium essential oil – 8 drops
Clary Sage essential oil – 6 drops
Elemi essential oil – 3 drops
Fennel essential oil – 2 drops
Add 1 tsp witch hazel and top off with filtered water
Again, I have my really fancy hand written masking tape label. I am constantly changing blends or using the bottle for other things when one runs out so I hate to invest in printing labels – also those seem harder to get off the bottle and the masking tape comes right off. This is just for my personal use anyhow so it is fine for my needs. Again all the oils used in this blend are also Young Living.
These two blends seem to be providing me some relief from some hormonal imbalances I have been experiencing – the joys of getting older! Please note that I am not a doctor and I am just sharing with you what has helped me. Everyone is different and sometimes you have to try some different oils or blends to figure out what will work for you and your body.
Young Living also makes some of their own blends like Dragon Time, Lady Sclareol, and Sclar Essence that also help with female hormone issues. I have tried Sclar Essence and it also works well but I think my new blend is working better for my needs at the moment. Sclar Essence is a blend of clary sage, spanish sage, peppermint and fennel and it has a pleasant scent. It can be applied topically, diffused and also be ingested – I have drank it as a tea.
I have recently ordered Lady Sclareol and I will write more about that one after I have tried it out for a while. I like to use things for a little while before I decide if I like them or if they are working for me.
If you are interested in learning more about Young Living please contact me via email kkg@kimberleeskorner.com Also, if you are interested in signing up for a Young Living account you can click on the highlighted Young Living link or the button in the sidebar.
Essential oil books are great to refer to when you get into using essential oils. There are several essential oil books that I refer to and use on a regular basis. I find myself referring to these books and continuing to learn more about different oils all of the time.
One of the books I received from my friend Julie when I signed up for Young Living. It is the Essential Oils pocket reference. This little book has a wealth of information – I don’t think a day goes by without me looking at it. To give you a breakdown of what is in it:
Chapter 1 – Yesterdays Wisdom, Tomorrows Destiny – This gives you the history of essential oil extraction and includes biblical references to certain oils
Chapter 2 – How Essential Oils Work – info on the chemistry, standards and testing and the influence of aromas
Chapter 3 – How to Safely Use Essential OIls – This is about guidelines for use, a chart of cerified GRAS – generally regarded as safe – or as a food additive, by the FDA. Also in this chapter are things to know before you start; info on topical application, diffusing and other uses
Chapter 4 – Single Oils – This is alphabetized and lists all the single oils from Young Living. For each one you get: Botanical Family, Extraction Method, Key constituents, Historical Data, Medical Properties, Uses, Application, Cautions (if any), Found In (lists other Young Living blends or products can be found in)
Chapter 5 – Essential Oil Blends – This describes how Young Living blends are formulated then lists each blend alphabetically and the same info I just listed above for the singles such as use and applications, etc.
Chapter 6 – Techniques for Essential Oil Application – This explains the different techniques in detail and gives you vita flex foot and hand charts as well as a nervous system connection point chart of the spine. If you are into massage therapy it gives you the overview for the application of the raindrop technique
Chapter 7 – Personal Usage – This is a great reference chapter on giving you info on taking charge of your health, developing your program and a complete reference guide for many common health issues like: arthritis, colds, flu, headaches, insomnia, pain, skin care and problems, sore throats, and stress – just to name a few common ailments. I love this chapter and refer to it all the time just to learn more about certain health aspects.
Another book I refer to a lot lately is Aromatherapy 101 by Karen Downes. I have owned this book for over 10 years. I bought it back in early 2000 when I first got into using essential oils. I like this book because it explains what aromatherapy is, what essential oils are and gives you info on how to properly use them. The book also lists the oils alphabetically. She gives you a great description of each oil, the issues it addresses, what it helps promote and any safety information.
Lately I have been reading this book a lot again and referring to it along with the pocket reference. I also like how in the Aromatherapy 101 book she recommends oils that blend well together. Even though this book is older, published in 2000, I still see it around on the internet and I think it contains some really good and helpful information for anyone learning to get more from their essential oils.
If you are interested in learning more about Young Living essential oils you can email me kkg@kimberleeskorner.com Also, if you are interested in signing up for Young Living you can click on the highlighted Young Living to take you to the sign up page. You can sign up for a retail account but if you sign up for a wholesale account, or distributor, you will save 24% on all your orders. There are not a whole lot of rules and requirements to be a wholesaler – you have to order a starter kit is the main one. After that you can order as much as you want or never again.
If you decide you love Young Living like me then you can sign up for Essential Rewards that is a monthly auto ship where you decide what you want in your order each month and it has to be a minimum amount of $50.00. Also, if you decide to sign up I will send you a copy of the Essential OIls Pocket Reference – that is the first book I mentioned above in the post.
One of the books I will be reviewing in Part 2 of this series will be Aromatherapy Through the Seasons. This is another book I have had since the early 2000’s. So follow my blog or check back for part 2 on essential oil books coming in February. I will also be sharing some recipes for foods and skincare using essential oils in the future.
