Fragrance Your Home, Naturally

I love having beautiful Aromatherapy Oils, burning away gently in a diffuser, filling the house with a delightful scent. I use them all the time to change the mood, reduce stress, help with sleep or enliven when there is lots of work to be done.

For some you might be tempted to get out the can of Air Freshener from the supermarket and and have a quick spray around, but really all you are doing is adding more chemicals too your home with the synthetic scents that they are created with. When I have a sniff and smell session in the supermarket, I am always disappointed with what is on offer, even when the ads on TV talk about aromatherapy and essential oils being used to create the products, they still smell ‘fake’ to me.

Even though I have a huge selection of Pure Essential Oils on hand to play with, if you don’t have any it can be a daunting task to start collecting as good oils are not cheap to buy. Please don’t be fooled into purchasing the ‘Fragrance Oils’ in the discount shops as they are fakes and will have no theraputic effect. Some recent studies have seen links between pregnant women who regularly used commercial air fresheners, were more inclined to suffer from depression and their infants had increased levels of ear infections.

My favourites are the citrus blends including lemon, mandarin, orange, bergamot and tangerine. Gently difussing these oils really help to lift the spirits and invoke a feeling of happiness. The French love using mandarin around children and call it ‘happiness in a bottle’.

For calming and sleeping you simply cannot go past lavender. Place in a diffuser 30 minutes before heading off to bed, put 3 drops in a nice warm bath before retiring for the night, or put 3 drops on a tissue and slip into a childs pillowcase to help coax them into sweet dreams and peaceful sleep.

The simple rules for using an oil burner is to use soy or beeswax tealights if possible as the cheaper commercial ones are also paraffin based and release chemicals into the air when burned. Fill the bowl with water and add 6 drops of the Pure Essential Oil into the water and let it gently burn away. Please ensure you keep the burner away from ‘little fingers’ and in a safe spot, so that it is not likely to be knocked in anyway. If you leave the house or head off to bed, please ensure you extinguish the flame.

If you have a collection of Pure Essential Oils hiding in the cupboard, today would be a great day to get them out of the box and put them to use. Some of these blends below are favourites that I use regularly, enjoy!

STUDY/CONCENTRATION BLEND

• 3 drops basil
• 3 drops lemon

ANTI DEPRESSANT

• 3 drops bergamot
• 2 drops geranium
• 1 drop rose

SWEET DREAMS

• 2 drops lavender
• 2 drops marjoran
• 2 drops chamomile

If you have any favourite blends, please feel free to share!