Aromatherapy and essential oils

Aromatherapy has been increasingly popular as the interest in natural and holistic therapies is on the rise. It uses essential oils derived from plants and flowers for the unique massage, relaxation and beauty experience. Each of those essential oils has specific properties for our body and also mind. Aromas can either energise or calm us down. I remember one phrase from some aromatherapy book noting “healing intelligence of essential oils”. Just loved it and slowly but surely started using essential oils in my home beauty treatments.

Just wanted to share some of my uses of essential oils in my daily beauty treatments. My regular one is lemon essential oil as I have a soft spot for lemons. I use it every day in the face massage blend just by mixing some jojoba oil with few drops of lemon essential oil. I smooth it on my hair after wash for an extra shine and lightening properties to my honey blonde hair. Lavender essential oil is another must have for clay face masks, the oil cleanser or soothing warm baths. Every time I make a body scrub I am adding either some citrusy ones like grapefruit essential oil ( great for cellulite ) or warming like black pepper, sandalwood or ginger. I usually mix 2 or 3 of them and go wild! You can make your own unique blend, just see what you like and what goes well together. My latest discovery is manuka essential oil with strong pungent smell, use it sparingly for spots and all blemishes. Works wonders!

I also like warm, feminine and sensual ones like rose, vanilla, ylang ylang, jasmine. I learnt to like geranium essential oil as it was always too strong for me, but it is very beneficial for women, balancing and uplifting at the same time. I have even started growing my own geranium flowers in the pots. I love smelling them now. Also, worth mentioning is clove essential oil, warming and soothing, helps relieve toothache.

 

Still, so much to learn about essential oils and their fascinating properties. I want to remember all their latin names, it must be a hidden botanic geek in me. 

Next time then do not forget to stop and smell the roses.   

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Lavender clay mask

Sometimes, our skin suffers from spots or blemishes and green clay is very good for all impurities. I use to mix a bit of green clay just with a drop of water and treat any spots with that paste. Green clay eases the inflammation and helps the spot to disappear. This simple mask will help to bring shine and smoothness to your skin as well as will clear it from any unwanted “surprises”.

I use lavender flowers in this mask, but you can use any dry flowers you have, camomile would do the job too. Grind lavender flowers, add 1 spoon of honey, few drops of Vitamin E and mix it with water. Then gradually sprinkle 2 spoons of green clay, adding some more water if necessary. Try to get a consistency of a smooth paste, not too thick. Apply to your face, avoiding eye areas. Don’t let the mask to dry out too much on your face and rinse it off with lukewarm water.

Lavender face scrub

I never liked lavender and its strong soapy smell…until I came to London, discover lavender and fell in love with it!

Lavender grown in England is widely used in cosmetics, house decorations even in tea bags!

You can see beautiful violet bushes growing around the houses filling the air with lovely aroma. So being more convinced and then mad about lavender, I started to look out for lavender products, soaps, mini-cushions filled with lavender flowers and oils which I burn in my ceramic burner.

Lavender is famous for its calming and relaxing properties so nothing work better for your beauty than that!

Here is a recipe for a lavender face scrub.

Using pestle and mortar, grind dry lavender flower until almost powder consistency. Add honey, few drops of lavender essential oil and a bit of water to make a paste. you can enrich this scrub by crushing few dry rose petals and adding few drops of rose essential oil. Imagine that smell! Apply to your skin in circular gentle motion, then rinse off with warm water and finish with a cold splash to close skin pores. Your skin will smell amazing and leave you feel relaxed and good.