Basil essential oil has been used for many years in herbal remedies and medicines. Basil essential oil has a warm, spicy-sweet aroma. The wonderfully reviving fragrance of basil essential oil gives the mind strength and clarity whilst helping to combat fatigue. It is liberating, clearing, strengthening and uplifting. Basil contains vitamin A and C, and calcium and iron. Recently, there has been much research into the health benefits conferred by the essential oils found in basil. Scientific studies have established that compounds in basil oil have potent antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-microbial properties.
Camphor essential oil has antiseptic properties. It is particularly useful for oily skin types or in blends for muscular aches and pains. There are anti-itch gel and cooling gels with camphor as the active ingredient. Camphor is an active ingredient (along with menthol) in vapor-steam products, such as Vicks VapoRub. It is also found in clarifying masks used for skin. Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), a large evergreen tree found in Asia (particularly in Borneo and Taiwan, hence its alternate name).
Eucalyptus essential is antibacterial, refreshing and stimulating. The penetrating qualities of eucalyptus essential oil make it useful in massage oil blends for muscular fatigue and ideal for normal to oily skins. Eucalyptus essential oil is useful in inhalations, it is head-clearing and promotes a natural sense of well-being. It has a woody, sweet, camphoraceous and fresh aroma.
Jasmine oil is a sweet-smelling substance that is made from the flowers of the jasmine plant (Jasminum officinale). Widely used in aromatherapy, this essential oil contains the plant’s aromatic compounds, which are believed by some to have various health benefits related to skin care and stress reduction.
Black pepper essential oil has a warm, fresh and spicy aroma. Black pepper essential oil is warming, stimulating, revitalising and a general tonic in maintaining healthy circulation. Used in massage, black pepper essential oil is known to relax tired muscles and ease muscular stiffness after exercise. Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the pepper, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer. Once dried, the spice is called black peppercorn.
Cajeput (Melaleuca leucadendron cajaputi) oil is a versatile antiseptic and clearing essential oil that can also be used effectively as an inhalant during the cold season. Cajeput essential oil has a fresh, camphoraceous-medicinal aroma with a fruity body note and is very similar to eucalyptus, but softer with a hint of herb. This oil has the odor of a mixture of turpentine and camphor. It consists mainly of cineol (see terpenes), from which cajuputene, having a hyacinth-like odor, can be obtained by distillation with phosphorus pentoxide.
Anise star (or star anise as it is otherwise known) has stimulating and energising properties having a particularly refreshing and stimulating action on the digestive and respiratory system when used in massage. It also has emotionally uplifting properties. Anise star essential oil has a strong, sweet, and powerful scent, which smells just like black licorice. Star anise contains anethole, the same ingredient which gives the unrelated anise its flavour.
