Cumin essential oil (Cuminum Cyminum (Cumin) Seed Oil) has stimulating, anti-oxidant and antiseptic properties and is a tonic. Cumin essential oil is also useful as a warming oil (helping to relieve muscular and joint pains) and as an aid for the stresses and strains of everyday life. Cumin essential oil is clear to pale yellow with a characteristic spicy, penetrating scent.
Ginger essential oil has a powerful scent. A drop or two of ginger essential oil will add an interesting tone to mixtures, especially those containing other spicy oils. Inhaling a few drops of ginger essential oil in hot water may help to ease spasmodic coughing. In massage, the warming properties of ginger essential oil can be particularly useful for people who always feel cold. Ginger essential oil has a warm, fresh, fiery and woody-spicy aroma.
Ajwain seeds have a small amount of oil in them known as ajwain oil. The oil contains thymol, a phenol that gives the fruit its thyme-like smell. Thymol is commonly used to treat digestive problems. It also has antifungal and antibacterial properties.
Clove bud essential oil (Eugenia Caryophyllus Bud Oil) or oil of the clove as it is often referred to is highly antiseptic and piercing. Clove bud essential oil is both uplifting and stimulating. It soothes and relaxes the digestive system when used to massage the abdomen. It is a natural analgaesic and antiseptic used primarily in dentistry for its main ingredient eugenol. It has a spicy and slightly fruity aroma. The various basils have such different scents because the herb has a number of different essential oils which come together in different proportions for various breeds.
Cedarwood (cedrus atlantica) essential oil is uplifting and reviving. Cedarwood atlas essential oil has a warm, sweet and camphoraceous aroma with a woody-balsamic undertone. It is useful for everyday stresses and strains. It is also known to be an aphrodisiac.
Grapefruit essential oil is tissue toning and invigorating to tired skin and helps optimise a healthy immune system. Grapefruit essential oil is uplifting, refreshing and reviving to the mind and body. A detoxifying and purifying essential oil, optimising effective elimination and useful for cellulite. It has a fresh, citrus and uplifting aroma.
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).
