Stacy asked:
I have a 3 month old baby and it’s caused me to rethink my use of perfume. Do you know of any natural ways to smell beautiful?
Essential Oils! Pick your favorite scent and apply a dab to your neck and wrists and away you go. Essential oils, especially scents such as sandalwood and lavender, are very fragrant and you only need a drop on your finger to give you a lovely fragrance. You can really just choose your favorite essential oil fragrance and stick with that, or you can also combine scents for some intoxicating perfumes. I found a few homemade natural perfume recipes online. Check out these ideas!
Or you can find an array of combination’s of natural perfumes on the market. Mountain Rose Herbs sells some lovely aroma oils combination’s as well.
Orient Nights Perfume – a combination of sandalwood, musk and frankincense!
Rose Blend
How to Make Your Own Perfume with Essential Oils – a helpful tutorial and guide by Wikihow
This is a guideline of each essential oil’s scent provided by WikiHow:
* Earthy Scents: patchouli, vetiver.
* Floral Scents: geranium, jasmine, neroli, rose, ylang-ylang.
* Fruity Scents: bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange,lemongrass.
* Herbal Scents: angelica, basil, chamomile, clary sage, lavender, peppermint, rosemary.
* Spicy Scents: black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger, juniper, nutmeg .
* Woodsy Scents: cedarwood, cypress, pine, sandalwood.
For the best prices on essential oils, check out Vitacost.
Do you have any recommendations?
You should not be putting most essential oils on your skin without first diluting them in a carrier oil (like grapeseed). Also there are some oils that pregnant women or people with certain medical conditions should avoid as they can lead to complications. mountainroseherbs.com and naturesgift.com have good info.
been following your blog for 3 days now and i must say i am beginning to like your post. and now how do i sign up for your blog?
I found this article very interesting. Thank you
It may be useful to go on a perfumery course.
They will teach you about the different “Notes” and “Chores” involved when creating perfumes.
If you have the opportunity you could visit a very good course in the cotswold. (Cotswold Perfumery)
I'm so love this blog, already bookmarked it! Thanks.
Hi Lindsay…it’s Heidi (I met you at your Pampered Chef party…I’m a friend of Autumn’s) I just found this post today while looking at your blog (by the way…you’re still doing such a wonderful job since having little Titus…good for you). I’ve been using essential oils for health and beauty purposes for years now and just love them!! I can honestly say that I’ll never use commercial perfume again…and why should I when essential oils smell so wonderful?!? I know that your family is in Vancouver…so I thought I’d pass on my favorite store to you. For years now I’ve purchased essential oil blends from a place in Portland called Escential. They’re in the Hawthorne Dist and can be found online at escential.net. They’re prices are great and they have wonderful…high quality oils! In fact…they get most if not all of their oils from another fairly local place (in Oregon City) called Liberty Natural…also online at libertynatural.com. Hope you’re able to check them out and that you enjoy them as much as I have!! Take care
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what a smart idea. i gave up perfumes years ago because of cost. but i love fruity smells. as we have started making more and more home made things i collect more oils. i love this idea and can not wait to try it
My two favorite combinations are (approximately:)
2 parts lavender with 1 part neroli (a fresh, cool scent I use in summer)
2 parts amber and 1 part orange (a warm, cozy scent I use in winter)
I love using EOs as perfume! My favorite scents are Jasmine, Rose, and Ylang Ylang (I usually buy the Aura Cacia brand.)
Seriously, a drop or two is enough for your entire body, and the scent lasts for several hours. And I love how they smell so naturally beautiful!
Thanks for a wonderful blog, Lindsay! You always have great advice and information.
God bless!
It is important to put an essential oil in a carrier oil such as a good quality olive oil, jojoba or almond. Essential oils can cause a reaction if put directly on skin. There ARE some essential oils that should not be used in pregnancy (such as rosemary, if I remember correctly) so make sure you study up on the affects of each oil before you use it in pregnancy.
Thank you so much for this! I always love to smell good, but I don’t like wearing the same perfume as everybody else. Not a lot of people hit the essential oil market, and you’ve reminded me to attempt it. Especially with our first baby on the way (who has a delicate health issue upon arrival), I want to make sure that even my perfume is natural and okay
Thank you!
I purchase my oils from Texas Natural Supply as they have a wide variety of products and I’m always looking for something new to try. I’m fairly new to using essential oils, but I’ve found that the price of the oil depends on the type of essential oil. Some are more “precious” than others (such as Jasmine or Rose Absolute) and therefore cost more. My husband’s favorite scent is pine, which is fairly inexpensive. I read somewhere that you can also blend a little essential oil with a carrier oil, like jojoba or sweet almond, and apply it to your skin to dilute any potentially uncomfortable side effects.
http://www.naturesgift.com/essential/descriptiona-b.htm
I’ve found the above site to be very informative on uses for essential oils, tips on how to blend them, and any warnings about specific oils (such as which are most likely to irritate your skin).
YAY! Thanks for responding! I’m so excited to get started and smell wonderful w/o worrying about harming my baby!
Thanks again,
stacey
Great post Lindsay! We should strive and eliminate all chemicals from our skin care products- especially when you care for babies and children. Essential oils are the key word to look for in all the baby lotions- not mineral oil! A galon of essential oil costs about $300, a galon of mineral oil $1 – that should tell us something about a quality of such oil! Besides when you know ou use something natural, you even feel better. Love your blog!
Good morning Lindsay, Thanks for this post and the link I love oils and we use them all the time especially when the girls are sick. I was told that you really have to be careful the brand you buy because some of them are not pure. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on that?
I just look for 100% pure brands, such as Aura Casia or Nature’s Alchemy.
Where can I purchase essential oils? Are they very expensive?
You can purchase essential oils through vitacost for the best price. They range in price from $4-12 dollars, depending upon which fragrance you choose. Choose the 100% pure versions, such as Aura Casia.
I love this! Any thoughts on using essential oils as a fragrance during pregnancy?
If you mix it into a good quality vodka if makes a great body spray and it doesn’t do anything to your skin as putting essential oils directly on your skin can have a particular and unwanted effect which for the life of me I can’t remember :S Sorry! But yeah essential oils in vodka is what I use and no you don’t end up smelling like you’ve just left a bar as the alcohol dissipates
Hi Lindsay,
I frequently read your sight, it’s one of my favorites. I recently received a Kreativ Blog Award for my blog and one of the “rules” with it is to nominate someone else’s blog, so you’ve been nominated! I really don’t know much about it, was a little hesitant to even carry it out on my own blog so I’m not offended if you just dismiss it, but thought I’d let you know that you’d gotten the “award”. It’s mentioned on my site at http://www.isitlupus.com. Thanks for taking the time to share a part of your life with us readers. It’s awesome to see the platform that the Lord has given you to be used by Him.
I’ve been interested in using rose water in my skin care, and also as a “perfume”. Does anyone have experience with rose water or rose oil?
I use rosewater in my handwash and facewash and stuff.
Have a look here – http://www.simplehomekeeping.blogspot.com under Skin or Toiletries
There are some lovely essential oil fragrances at the most health food stores.
Essential oils smell wonderful, but are very strong and can burn the skin. I added too many drops to a large bath one time and as soon as those oils touched my skin, I started to feel a chemical type burning sensation. I had to get into the shower and scrub them off, to stop the burning.
I still use them, but only in the right amounts! The only essential oils that I know can be used directly on the skin are Lavender and Tea Tree Oil.
If you are wanting to learn about essential oils the best book I have found is: The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood.
It covers essential oils for body, bath, children, home, pets, and how to use them medicinally.
Great site! Are you in Seattle? I am and love these topics! Will definitely add you to my blogroll now. Thank you! Can’t believe I haven’t seen this site before.
No, we are in Vancouver, WA. Thanks for visiting!