We all want that signature scent that people know us by, whether you’re a lover of florals or a French vanilla kind of folk.
Earlier this year we delivered some bad news, though: most perfumes have ingredients not listed on the label, many of which are harmful to your health. You can read about that here.
Now the good news, which is that essential oils are a natural way to smell amazing.
Truthfully, they can do more than just smell great. Many essential oils have aromatherapeutic benefits that can uplift your mood and mindset, making them a beautiful and powerful way to shape how you show up in the world everyday.
There are lots of scientific studies that support this, though traditional cultures have known of these benefits for centuries.
Like all of our products, we kept this in mind when creating Vibrance, the first essential oil blend we created. We wanted the aromatherapy of Vibrance to be uplifting and calming at the same time. And of course, it needed to smell amazing—to you and your skin.
Here is a list of 5 of the skin-nourishing essential oils that made it happen:
Lavender Essential Oil
We knew we wanted to include lavender in Vibrance because of its amazing, gentle benefits. Lavender promotes a peace of mind (and if you don’t need more of this in your life, I want to know your secret!).
There are tons of ways to use the herb—in a tea, in your bathtub, even as a supplement. When lavender is in season, we include a sachet of lavender in each of our orders, which many of you have told us you love receiving.
Our resident herbalist, Aubrey, wrote a great article about the myths about lavender and the real benefits it provides.
Jasmine Grandiflorum Essential Oil
If lavender is the friend that gives you a comforting hug after a long day, jasmine is the friend who convinces you to dance with that cutie at the bar.
In other words, jasmine heightens passion. Think spring fever.
In creating Vibrance, we were imagining something that would ground you and help you feel at ease, while also sparking your spirit and getting you excited about each day. Jasmine brings a passionate energy to this blend.
Bergamot Essential Oil
Aromatherapists have long been using bergamot to help create a feeling of positivity. It helps to build confidence, uplift mood, and calm a bought of tension.
In Vibrance, it balances out the florals with its clean citrus scent.
Ruby Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapefruit essential oil is a great addition to cleaning solutions. In skin care it’s helpful for oily skin formulations.
As far as its aromatherapy, grapefruit is said to calm emotions. It’s an enlivening scent that helps wake you up. Think half a grapefruit for breakfast.
We love what it does in an essential oil blend. It mixes really well with other scents while adding its own distinct component.
Lemon Verbena Essential Oil
With a scent so subtle that it’s hard to reproduce synthetically, lemon verbena essential oil has special qualities. This magical oil is said to provide uplifting clarity while also calming and boosting sensuality. This makes it a great essential oil to diffuse throughout your room at night to promote love, restful sleep, and maybe even some vivid dreams.
Try Vibrance
Vibrance isn’t drinkable, but it’s ideal for your pores and scattered among your pulse points (wrists, neck and temples). A few drops of our blend in an oil diffuser will refresh any head space or living space, whether in the office, the studio, or the cramped apartment compromised by messy roommates.
Out here in Berkeley and elsewhere, we’re thinking that the Vibrance blend is a reminder of sorts—to take a hike. Smell the roses, then wrinkle noses at the mulch.
New to essential oils? Please read this article by our herbalist, Aubrey, on how to use them safely!
What are you experiences using essential oils? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for the awesome post, really such an amazing information. I personally use the natural lavender oil on my skin, it gives proper relaxation or transform my mood completely as you have described in your post.
This is for Rachel F: Rachel which brands do you use? I have recently tried ananda apothecary with good success. But I’m always looking for alternative brands. Your suggestions would be of great service to us all since you are aware of the various tests for purity.
There are many reputable resources for essential oils. Young Living, DoTerra, etc do not have the market cornered on “the best essential oils”. They are MLM companies and do what they do best — product positioning and marketing. Please don’t be mislead into believing they are the best simply because of price, slick marketing, etc. They do offer good products but they are not the end all be all. In fact these companies have been warned about their product claims, usage suggestions, etc. For example internal usage is not recommended unless under the supervision of an aromatherapist. Using oils “neat” (without dilution) can also lead to skin irritation. Any sales person who is suggesting internal or “neat” usage is ok is not current on the product recommendations. “Therapeutic grade” is a marketing term and is not a regulated term.
There are many wonderful, quality essential oil companies out there. Just as there are companies who offer synthetic. Ask to see the GC/MS report, GC=Gas Chromatography , MS = Mass Spectrometry, and do some homework.
Sounds lovely, thank you! I personally dislike the scent of both rose and geranium, so I am not sure if this scent is for me. Are there any plans to expand to other essential oil blends? I love the scent of the acne prone/oily skin product, would love an essential oil blend of this scent! 🙂
Hi Dee!
Yes! We will be adding more blends to our line soon. 😉
I have spiritual blends that bring forth the encoded message or frequency carried by the DNA of the herbs to activate the blends. See my site. The herbal health glycerites work the same way.
Hi, I’ve just started using essential oils in the last 3 or 4 months. My daughter had told me how she was using them to help with her allergies and I was eager to try them. I had some issues with taking them internally, probably the peppermint, but anyway I started reading up on them and some of the benefits seem magical. I listened to a webinar by Josh Axe on the 10 best essential oils and learned about vetiver. My husband does not sleep well, never has. He probably has post traumatic stres from a rough early life, abuse and being victimized by others. Plus he has stomach issues that make it difficult for him to digest things and he wakes up at night with gastric distress and peripheral neuropathy.
I have had sleep issues waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep from menopause. So I started using vetiver on us both at night. A couple drops on the temples and side of neck. It is amazing how well this works for me and more amazingly for him. He sleeps deeper and longer and wakes up feeling rested and relaxed, not so hyperactive as before. I even suggested it for a friend who has a blood disease and she has had some luck with it as well. It is amazing and I never want to run out of vetiver again. it is the most helpful thing we’ve used thus far and although we also use magnesium often to combat restless leg, the vetiver works and seems to help the body get back into the rhythm of the right type of sleep at night. I rarely wake up sleepless now and my husband sleeps deeper and doesn’t need to take naps during the day. Plus his headaches have become less frequent. So I am a big fan and am trying other essential oils for other things. But Vetiver ROCKS!
Holly
Just received my sample of Vibrance- Oh my it smells like something I have been waiting for for a long time and just didn’t know it. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t stop my dog from licking my wrist where I tried my first little sample! I guess she knows “:the good stuff” when she smells it! Can’t wait to place my order for a full size in September. This is an amazing scent!
This sounds very promising. I’ll have to place an order asap. Now the only problem is choosing what I would like to try next…the new scent free oil, perhaps, just for balance ;-)?
I have used Annmaarie’s skin care & have been amazed at the beautiful products. You truly have an Aromatherapy experience every time you use the products.
I was truly excited to see this new parfum blend. Because I have been using essential oils for over 40 years, I’m quite familiar with them, their properties, benefits, uses, etc. I have to say that I was quite disappointed when I saw Aura Cacia being represented as either a reputable source of information about Grapefruit Oil or worse yet THE source Annmarie chooses to use for her EO’s. It has brought questions into my awareness about the source of all her other products. She has consistently talked about having pure, clean ingredients in her products that you can safely use without any of the “bad” stuff. If Aura Cacia or any other “store brand” of EO’s is used in her products I will be horribly disappointed & feel quite duped, honestly. I hope this was truly just a reference for information & not a resource for EO’s in her products. Please let me know so I know whether to continue ordering or not. Thank you.
Hey Toby,
We just referenced Aura Cacia’s site for this article. They are not the source we use for our essential oil blend.
Thanks for checking!
Hi Toby, I read your comment about Aura Cacia, and was curious to know what your doubts were about that brand of essential oils, and what brand of essential oil you recommend if not that? I use A.C oils as they always say “100% Pure Essential Oils” on their labeling. I have also used Aroma Force. I am in Canada and many places that used to stock Aura Cacia have replaced it with a brand name “NOW”. I find Young Living oils reputable but too highly priced. Would love to get your thoughts behind your comments. Thanks,
Yes Cecilia, Young Living Oils are the best, therapeutic-grade oils around (you can even ingest some of them because of their high quality/purity) and they are pricey, like you say. Given that they are the Rolls Royce of oils, sometimes it’s worth spending the bit extra for something that is really beneficial and not harmful (even some of those that claim to be 100% EO have not been extracted/produced in the best way and for this reason they can be harmful).
I hope you find the right one for you 🙂
What is the source of your essential oils?
Thanks!
Jane
It seems as though the biggest difference in many of these brands is just the price. http://www.nourishingtreasures.com/index.php/2013/04/17/essential-oils-testing-and-the-results-are-in/
Hope this is helpful reading.
I can’t wait to get my order with the sample to try. Sounds amazing! I love essential oils.