However, I know that essential oils come in different grades, and also that some are really crappy in quality. Enlighten me Dopers who are into aromatherapy: what brands of essential oils do you use, what should I look out for, and what will make me go, “Hey, this is good stuff!”
I’ve been looking particularly at the brands SomaTherapy and Plantlife, have any of you had experience in these two brands? They’re offered on Amazon as well.
For very high quality essential oils for perfumery or therapeutic use, I use Kismet Potions, formerly known as Natural Scents. For cheap essential oils that are okay for teaching or cleaning use, I generally use Aura Cacia.
I scrolled down to Sandalwood on Kismet, and holy mother of pearl that is some expensive stuff.
I expect to pay maybe $10/oz I think, maybe up to $15. Would oils in that range be pretty cheap and just overall sucky, or does it not matter as much since it’ll just be used mainly in aromatherapy?
Generally speaking, when dealing with essential oils, you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t use $10/oz sandlewood on my floors. There’s just no way on earth it’s the real deal. It’s synthetic perfume oil, I guarantee it, no matter what the label says.
Kismet is the cream of the crop; I know the owner personally (she was my first aromatherapy teacher) and she frequently refuses sub-par shipments which other, larger companies would accept and bottle or blend.
Sandalwood in particular is very commonly adulterated with synthetic perfumes or cheaper essential oils. It’s also very common to find “100% Pure Essential Oils” which are only 1% essential oil and 99% jojoba or canola carrier oil. (There’s a loophole in the labeling law which allows this.) Sandalwood is also commonly extracted using solvents, which is not entirely a bad thing, but cheaper versions often don’t have all those solvents properly removed before bottling. This increases the yield and therefore reduces the price, but it can leave you with a product that smells “off”, or even contains poisonous or very irritating chemicals like acetone in the final essential oil.
I trust every single bottle from Kismet because I have had a personal relationship with the owner (I briefly worked for her making her labels, in fact) and I know that she’s on top of all the shenanigans in the field and won’t let any of them into her bottles. But yeah, it means that she only carries the top stuff and has to price accordingly. And she’s a very small business, so she doesn’t get huge volume discounts like Aura Cacia can.
Really, if what you want is a nice smell, work with what you like, whether that’s pure essential oil, synthetic fragrance oil or a blend. If you’re using it for medicine or spiritual practice, get the good stuff.
And remember, you don’t need very much on one of those necklace thingies. I’ve got 10 mL bottles that I’ve been (slowly) using for almost 10 years now!
I’m sorry WhyNot, I didn’t mean to offend you by saying that the Sandalwood oil was expensive. I was just kind of blown away by the price for only 1 OZ of it was $200. I trust your judgment as well as your friend, and meant no disrespect.
I’ve bookmarked both Kismet and Aura Cacia. I’ll only really be using the oils in the necklace, so I’m not sure how the difference will be, medicinally speaking, concerning just using them as aromatherapy to breathe in and hopefully even help when I get migraine headaches.
When it comes to blending scents, is it basically just as easy as take two scents I like, put both in the necklace, and go on my day? Or do I need to blend them using a special ingredient to help them ‘meld’ better?
I don’t feel disrespected, don’t worry. And I completely understand the sticker shock! Sandlewood is one of the most expensive essential oils, actually. There are plenty, even at Kismet, than are less than $20 an ounce…you just have expensive tastes!
Well, if it’s an issue, you can try a cheaper one first and see if it works for you. But I wouldn’t form an opinion on the efficacy of aromatherapy while using less then therapeutic grade oils. That is, if the more affordable stuff works, great! If it doesn’t, don’t give up.
For a necklace, you don’t need a binder or blender or anything. Just put a drop or two on the little pad that comes with it, or use a bit of a cotton ball if you don’t have a pad.
If you’re blending for a perfume or you want a better smelling necklace, here’s a quick way to get started playing with oils: pick one oil that comes from a fruit, one stem or leaf and one wood, root or resin. In perfumery, we talk about “top, middle and bottom notes”, and having all three in a blend creates an attractive scent. Very generally speaking, fruits give us top notes, green herbage and flowers give us middle notes, and wood, roots and resins give us bottom notes. I sometimes fancifully think of my blends as creating a new plant with all the body parts it needs…like the bergamot/chamomile/sandalwood, or my personal favorite, the tangerine/lavender/ylang ylang/sandalwood. When you’re making a blend, add only one drop of essential oil at a time before a test sniff, and keep some coffee beans nearby - a sniff of coffee will clean out your nose when it gets fatigued.
Above all, remember that what’s important is what works for you. Heck, if smelling Pine-Sol is what it takes to get rid of your headaches, then that’s entirely okay! I’m not snobby about oils just to be contrary, only because I’ve been burned (sometimes literally) by cheaper brands myself.
I think Kismet might be the way to go, like you’ve mentioned. I mean, I’d really love the good stuff, and I should learn to use the expensive stuff maybe for ‘special occasions’ if I’m wearing my necklace to an event or something.
Thanks for the tips! Imagining building a plant from scratch helps. So for example, if I wanted something warm and uplifting, but a little sweet, I’d use orange (fruit), cinnamon (bark) and…well, I guess this breaks the rules a bit, but vanilla (pod/fruit)?
This sounds like a ton of fun for me, thinking up ways to mix/match and create. You’ve been really informative, thanks!
