The secret of (really) getting to know your essential oils

Do you find yourself getting confused about which essential oils to use in your skincare products?

You can read so much about the wonderful benefits of so many oils, that it leaves you even more confused about what to use!

Here is a secret….reading about essential oils will only get you so far.

To really get to know them, learn their properties and benefits and choose what to use in your skincare products with more ease and clarity you need to remember one thing.

The secret to really getting to know your essential oils is so obvious it sounds silly even saying it. But it is so often overlooked.

Ready for it?

The secret is to smell them!

Not just have a quick whiff and decide if you like it or not but to take your time really experiencing the aroma.

Notice how the oil makes you feel. What it reminds you of. What associations you make. How you would describe the aroma.

When we ran live classes, we always carried out this exercise with students and they were amazed with how much they could learn about an essential oils just from the aroma!

We don’t run live classes anymore BUT we have found a way to bring the same experience to you online and we’re offering you the chance to do so for free (more on that in a moment).

Why only reading about essential oils is holding you back

Thanks to the growth of aromatherapy and natural skincare, we are armed with large sources of information. We know the names of many essential oils, can find out about where they come from, how they are extracted and also from books or courses, we can also find out about the many therapeutic properties they possess.

The thing is, despite this huge amount of information how much do we actually, truly and honestly know about essential oils?

Can you tell from a textbook which ones you like? Can you tell how they make you feel or what they remind you of? Do you feel confident using them? Can you remember what each of them is good for? Chances are you don’t.

5 benefits of learning about essential oils through smell

If you want to truly get to know essential oils, you need to spend time exploring, enjoying and getting to their aromas. It is from this point that we’re able to truly know and therefore also work with essential oils.

1) It brings the oil to life!

You know what it actually smells like and how it makes you feel. The benefits to the mood and emotions that essential oils offer are huge but very difficult to understand just by reading about them.

2) You start to build a relationship with them rather than reciting facts you have read.

When you know what it smells like you know if you like it or not and how much. A book will give you logical reasons about why you should use an oil. But a human is not solely a being of logic but also of emotion, thought, feeling and spirit…sometimes the logical answer isn’t always the right one! The only way you will ever know if an essential oil is right for you, is to smell it. If a book recommends a certain oil with an aroma that you dislike, it will not be the right one to use.

3) It helps you choose what to use in your products.

Essential oils are in used in skincare products for two reasons, their therapeutic properties and to provide a fragrance. Therapeutic properties can be looked up in a book but in order to become skilled at selecting which oils to use you need know what they smell like too.

4) You can start to build more complex blends.

You can’t learn to blend oils purely through reading about them.

5) It makes learning and remembering information about the oils so much easier.

Your sense of smell amplifies your ability to store and recall information about the oil. Smell is controlled by the limbic system, which is the oldest known part of the brain, and the place that stores our memories. Therefore smelling the oil will trigger your memories of what you’ve learnt.

Join our bonus Getting to know your essential oils class!

Put your books down, dust off your essential oil bottles, and discover the only true way to really get to know your essential oils with our Director Gareth Després, a skilled and experienced aromatherapist.

This an experiential and fun class and challenge that is designed to help you get to know a selection of essential oils by experiencing them first hand for yourself, rather than just reading about them.

Gareth will take you through his tried and tested techniques which you’ll be able to continue to use to help you experience the magic, awe and wonder of any other essential oil and really get to know them like you’ve never imagined.

How to take part

Join our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products and you’ll receive the worksheets and audio class FREE!

What people said about the last class

“I really enjoyed this activity. I started making my own creams only recently and stuck with just a couple of oils that I liked. But this activity encouraged me to play with different oils and now I feel much more adventurous!”
– Mehroo

“I loved this activity! It made me really stop and think about each oil as well as look into some I may have bypassed before. I ordered some new oils just for this task which I now love but know I would not have considered before.
I loved the feeling of group participation. I feel closer to members of the group and it feels more like a face to face course rather than online.”
– Hayley

“I’ve really enjoyed it too. It was a chance to swot up on the things I’ve learned and learn new stuff too, plus read about other’s impressions. It reminded me of how just a small range of oils can offer a lot of variety”
– Wendy

We look forward to seeing you in class!