Blending Essential Oils

Essential oil blending is an art of its own, and learning how to combine essential oils for perfume, skin care and healing applications requires good understanding of the nature and properties of each plant.

In skin care products, which include among others creams, lotions, body butters, balms and salves, as well as bath, beauty and massage oils, essential oils are added to complement and enhance the active "healing power" of a naturally wholesome base. In this section, we invite you to approach essential oil blending for skin care applications, based on skin type and desired effects.

Use the chart below to decide which essential oils are best suited to your needs, and remember that the quality of the essential oils is the most important factor in determining whether your blends will be successful and skin friendly. In skin care applications, only natural plant essential oils should be used; and if some of the essential oils listed below seem to be more expensive than you are prepared to pay, remember that replacing them with cheaper replicas (e.g., rose fragrance oil instead of Rose Otto essential oil, or commercial grade rose geranium oil instead of Geranium essential oil) might jeopardise the results of your efforts, and even cause your lovingly prepared skin care applications to spark irritation or allergic reactions, instead of delivering the good effects they promise.

Essential oil usage ratios

Only very small amounts of any essential oil, or essential oil blend, are added to skin care applications. Usage ratios that are generally considered safe go from 0.75% to 3%.

Lower usage ratios (0.75% to 1.5%) are best suited to those skin care applications that are used regularly and on extensive areas of skin (such as body lotions), and also in situations where excessive use of essential oils might compound the problem, rather than give relief. In particular, lower usage ratios should always be used in skin care applications for children, pets and for those who suffer from chronical skin conditions. In extreme cases (for instance, when eczema or psoriasis are present), essential oils, as well as any other type of fragrance, are best avoided altogether.

Higher ratios (1.5% to 3%) can be used in applications that are used less frequently or on smaller areas; these include soaps, facial creams and intensive skin care treatments spanning over a limited period of time.

Essential oils by skin type

When deciding which essential oils to add to your skin care preparations, remember that usage ratios should always be kept to a safe minimum. Refer to the Essential Oil Usage Basics section for further details.

Skin type or condition

Suggested essential oils

Normal to dry
Australian blue cypress, carrot seed, Chamomile (German and Roman), elemi, frankincense, geranium, lavender, lemon, neroli, nerolina, palmarosa, patchouli, petitgrain, rose, rosalina, rosemary, sandalwood (santalum spicatum, s. album)

Normal to oily
carrot seed, Roman chamomile, cypress, frankincense, geranium, jasmine, juniper, lavender, lemon, lemon myrtle(*), marjoram, neroli, orange, palmarosa, patchouli, peppermint(*), rosemary, ylang ylang

Combination Australian
niaouli (melaleuca quinquenervia C), calendula, chamomile (German and Roman), carrot seed, geranium, lavender, palmarosa, rose, rosemary

Mature skin, wrinkles
Australian blue cypress, clary sage, elemi, frankincense, carrot seed, geranium, nerolina, orange, palmarosa, sandalwood (santalum spicatum, s. album)

Sensitive
Australian blue cypress, German (blue) chamomile, carrot seed, geranium, lavender, rosalina

Broken capillaries
Australian blue cypress, carrot seed, Roman chamomile, geranium, nerolina, rose, sandalwood (santalum spicatum, s. album)

Acneic, young skin
Australian niaouli (melaleuca quinquenervia C), clary sage, eucalyptus radiata, frankincense, juniper, lemon tea-tree(*), rosalina, tea tree (melaleuca alternifolia)

(*) Do not use at more than 1% concentration

 

Nequid nimis (which translates as "no excesses", or "everything in moderation") is the Temperance motto in the Pythagorean Tarot, and summarises in two words a concept many of our contemporaries seem to have long forgotten in many areas of their existence. In the past, when times were tougher, temperance, or the ability to use and consume commodities in moderation, was highly valued, and the skill of never using more than strictly necessary passed down from generation to generation. Out of necessity, our ancestors were applying a safety rule that effectively protected them from over-exposure to potentially allergenic and sensitizing substances, such as for instance unhealthy foods, or perfumes and fragrances.

Excessive use of fragrances in personal care products, as well as spraying perfumes in our homes to cover the stench of pollution, are just small examples of how we often avoid looking at the implications of our choices, and end up actively making the problem worse

So before deciding usage ratios for essential oil blends in your skin care applications, let us stress once again that less is always best. If you really think good soap, creams and lotions need to be strongly scented, and 3% fragrance is the very minimum amount you will use, please take into consideration the possibility you have been overexposed to fragrances, and might benefit from a detoxifying plan before judging subtler scents as "not strong enough". Your health, your purse and the whole Planet will thank you for this!