About Essential Oils

Spring is here and what a great time to learn about the purest fragrance for your home. Soy candles made with essential oils are a perfect way to enjoy a healthier candle alternative.

Essential oils are extracts from plants with medicinal purposes, in the form of essential oil candles, and bath and body products. Whether inhaled as aromatherapy essential oils, or absorbed into the skin through massage oils and bath salts, pure essential oils represent an effective alternative medicine – oils essential to good holistic health. Please use this essential oil information and glossary to choose the right aromatherapy soy candle, or bath and body product, for you.

For thousands of years, people have been using pure essential oils for curative purposes:

The ancient Egyptians were the first to use aromatherapy essential oils, dating back to 3,500 B.C.Hippocrates, the most well-known Greek physician, practiced holistic medicine using essential oil massage.

During the Dark Ages, monks used oils essential to good health when tending to the sick in their monasteriesToday, essential oil candles, bath and body products are hugely popular in the contemporary alternative medicine movement.

When choosing essential oil candles, or bath and body products, the more essential oil information you have the better. There are hundreds of pure essential oils, all of them with different properties that do different things. Below are those most commonly used as aromatherapy essential oils. If you see one you’d like to try in a soy candle that is not currently in my aromatherapy candle list, please Contact Me with your request.

GLOSSARY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

Basil essential oil sharpens your senses, improves memory, lifts your mood, relaxes you, helps you sleep, helps you dream, helps you meditate and improves digestion. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Basil essential oil also cools the skin and lessens pain. Basil essential oil is extracted from all parts of the bushy basil plant, which is native to Africa and Asia.

Bergamot essential oil (not to be confused with the herb of the same name) relieves anxiety and nervous tension, improves mental clarity, lifts your mood, relaxes you and helps you sleep. As a natural disinfectant, Bergamot also purifies. Bergamot essential oil is extracted from the peel of the green and yellow fruit of the tree, an evergreen citrus native to Asia that grows to around 15 feet.

Cedarwood essential oil helps you meditate, relaxes you, helps you sleep, helps you dream and helps you breathe easier by opening the sinus passages. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Cedarwood essential helps relieve chest congestion and lessens pain. Cedarwood essential oil is extracted from the sawdust and wood chips of the red cedar tree, which is native to North America and grows up to 100 feet.

Citronella essential oil repels insects, lifts your mood and improves mental clarity. Citronella essential oil is extracted from the entire Citronella plant, an aromatic tall grass that is native to Asia.

Clary sage essential oil calms you, helps you sleep, lifts your mood and improves digestion. It also serves as an aphrodisiac, increases sexual strength and helps to regulate the female reproductive system. Clary Sage essential oil is extracted from the pink, white or blue flowers of the plant, which is native to Europe and grows about 3 feet high.

Eucalyptus essential oil improves mental clarity, energizes you, stimulates the nervous system, improves circulation and helps you breathe easier by opening up the sinus passages. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Eucalyptus essential oil cools the skin and relieves pain, aches and sore muscles. As a natural disinfectant, Eucalyptus essential oil also purifies. Regarded as a cure-all during the 19th century, eucalyptus essential oil is extracted from the Eucalyptus tree, which is native to Australia and grows to a height of over 300 feet.

Frankincense essential oil helps you meditate, lifts your mood, relaxes you, helps you sleep and helps you breathe by opening sinus passages. When rubbed on the body or added to a bath, Frankincense essential oil also soothes and heals inflamed skin, bruises and burns. Frankincense essential oil is extracted from the bark of the frankincense tree which is native to the Mediterranean and grows up to 20 feet tall.

Juniper berry essential oil improves mental clarity, improves your memory, lifts your mood and relaxes you. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Juniper Berry essential oil also lessens pain. As a natural disinfectant, Juniper Berry essential oil also purifies. Juniper Berry essential oil is extracted from the berries of the plant, an evergreen bush that can live to be 2000 years old.

Lavender essential oil relaxes you, helps you sleep better, lifts your mood and balances mood swings. As a natural disinfectant, burning Lavender essential oil also helps purify the air and your skin. Lavender essential oil is extracted from the lilac-colored flowers of the plant. Native to the Mediterranean, the Lavender plant is an evergreen that grows to approximately 3 feet high.

Lemon essential oil sharpens your senses, improves your memory, lifts your mood, relaxes you and helps you sleep. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Lemon essential oil also cools the skin and cleanses the tissues. As a natural disinfectant, Lemon essential oil also purifies. Lemon essential oil is extracted from the peel of the fruit from the lemon tree, an evergreen citrus native to Asia.

Lime essential oil lifts your mood, strengthens your nerves, reduces stress, improves mental clarity and sharpens your senses. As a natural disinfectant, Lime essential oil also purifies. Lime essential oil is extracted from the peel of the fruit of the tree, an evergreen citrus native to Asia that grows about 10 feet high.

Marjoram essential oil relaxes you, helps you sleep better, promotes easier breathing by opening up the sinus passages and improves digestion. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Marjoram essential oil is also warming, which improves circulation and relieves tense muscles, aches, pains and inflammation. As a natural disinfectant, Marjoram essential oil also purifies. Marjoram essential oil is extracted from the flowering tops and leaves of the marjoram plant, which is native to Spain and the Mediterranean.

Nutmeg essential oil lifts your mood, stimulates your mind, improves mental clarity, helps you sleep, helps you dream and improves digestion. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Nutmeg essential oil also is slightly warming, loosening tight muscles and relieving sore muscles and menstrual pain. Nutmeg essential oil is extracted from the seeds of the nutmeg tree, which is an evergreen native to the Molucca Islands and grows 60 to 80 feet tall.

Palmarosa essential oil relaxes you, reduces stress and lifts your mood. When rubbed on the body or added to a bath, Palmarosa essential oil moisturizes, regenerates and warms the skin, improves circulation and helps relieve aches, pains and inflammation. Palmarosa essential oil is extracted from the entire plant, a fragrant grass native to Asia that grows as high as 9 feet.

Patchouli essential oil serves as an aphrodisiac, lifts your mood, stimulates your nerves and prevents sleep. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Patchouli essential oil heals the skin. Patchouli essential oil is extracted from the leaves of the plant, which is native to Asia and has light purple or lavender flowers.

Peppermint essential oil increases physical strength and endurance, improves mental clarity, improves concentration, stimulates the brain and the metabolism, lifts your mood, helps you breathe better by opening sinus passages and improves digestion. It also serves as an aphrodisiac. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Peppermint essential oil also cools and relieves itchy skin, and relieves pain and inflammation. Peppermint essential oil is extracted from all the parts of the plant, including its purplish stem and pale violet flowers.

Rosemary essential oil improves mental clarity, improves your memory, lifts your mood, stimulates your metabolism and all other body functions, helps you breathe better by opening sinus passages and improves digestion. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Rosemary essential oil is also warming, which improves circulation. As a natural disinfectant, rosemary essential oil also purifies. Rosemary essential oil is extracted from the blue flowers and needle-shaped leaves of the Rosemary plant, an evergreen shrub that is native to the Mediterranean.

Sandalwood essential oil relaxes you, helps you sleep better, helps you dream, helps you meditate, lifts your mood and soothes breathing passages. When rubbed on the body and added to a bath, Sandalwood essential oil also heals and moisturizes the skin. It also serves as an aphrodisiac. Sandalwood essential oil is extracted from the inner wood of the sandalwood tree, an evergreen native to Asia.

Sweet Orange essential oil relieves emotional tensions and stress, relaxes you, lifts your mood, improves mental clarity, helps you sleep and purifies. Sweet Orange essential oil is extracted from the peel of the fruit of the tree, an evergreen citrus native to Asia.

Tea Tree essential oil lifts your mood, improves mental clarity and helps you breathe easier by opening up the sinuses. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Tea tree essential oil also relieves pain and heals the skin. As a natural disinfectant, Tea Tree essential oil also purifies. Tea tree essential oil is extracted from the leaves and twigs of the Tea Tree, an evergreen native to Australia that grows as high as 10 feet.

Ylang Ylang essential oil relaxes you, helps you sleep better, lifts your mood and serves as an aphrodisiac. When rubbed on the body and when added to a bath, Ylang Ylang essential oil also loosens tight muscles and helps relieve pain. As a natural disinfectant, Ylang Ylang essential oil also purifies. Ylang Ylang essential oil is extracted from the large yellow flowers of the ylang ylang tree, an evergreen native to Asia that grows as high as 100 feet.