Lavender essential oil is generally regarded as the most versatile essential oil. Lavender essential oil has antiseptic, balancing, soothing and rejuvenating properties. The soothing properties of lavender essential oil make it an ideal oil for use in body skincare preparations for everyday problem skin. It is suitable for all skin types. Lavender essential oil is also widely used for relaxation and in promoting a restful night. It has a sweet and floral-herbaceous aroma with a woody undertone.
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.
Cardamom oil has a spicy, fruity, warm and balsamic aroma. It is clear to pale yellow in color and slightly watery in viscosity. A perennial, reed-like herb, Cardamom grows wild and is cultivated in India and Ceylon. It grows up to 4 meters (13 feet) high and has long, green silky blades, small yellowy flowers with a violet tip and a large fleshy rhizome, similar to ginger. Oblong gray fruits follow the flowers, each containing many seeds. Cardamom was well known in ancient times and the Egyptians used it in perfumes and incense and chewed it to whiten their teeth, while the Romans used it for their stomachs when they over-indulged. The Arabs ground it to use their coffee and It is an important ingredient in Asian cooking.
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.
Geranium essential oil (Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil) has stimulating and regenerating properties making this essential oil wonderful as a body skincare product for all skin types.Geranium essential oil is very useful for normalising excessively dry or oily skin. It is balancing and stabilising to both mind and body. The balancing and emotionally harmonising properties of geranium essential oil make it an excellent womens oil, especially during menstruation and the menopause. It has a powerful, sweet and floral aroma with a fruity undertone.
Frankincense essential oil is a lovely warming essential oil for tired muscles and for soothing everyday aches and pains. The balancing, rejuvenating and skin tonic properties of frankincense essential oil make it useful to help maintain good circulation and optimise healthy digestion when used in a massage oil. Frankincense essential oil has a rich, woody, sweet aroma. Its quietening properties also make frankincense essential oil popular for use in meditation.
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.
