Essential Oils

My last blog on essential oils was quite brief and more of an overview, let’s look at some recipes and practical tips for the use.
I also forgot to mention the quintessential vanilla, how could I omit this lovely smell.
Used forever in our food, as you bake with it the scent wafts from the oven, both sweet and spicy. That is the vanilla from the pod, the seeds imparting the fragrance. In the essential oil it is usually a co2 method of extracting, so it becomes a resin. Wonderful as a massage oil, you can add a little to your favorite carrier oil ie almond sesame or you could use your girlfriend, but noted because we use coconut oil as our base, you will compete with the smell of coconut!!!! Not a bad thing.
A quick perfumery lesson. In perfumes there are high notes, middle notes and lower notes. The coconut is or can be dominant so I would consider it a high note. Therefore a little more vanilla in your mix would need to balance out. Experiment!!!
Vanilla is also food grade and can, therefore, be used on your private parts. It is one of the few we can use safely internally…. note well, this is why at girlfriend we are very careful as to what we include in our product.
You can experiment with all of the aphrodisiac oils as massage oils. That is external.
I keep a little spritzer of a mix in my car. I use a mix of water, essential oils and a tiny bit of alcohol… yes vodka will do fine.
I love adding peppermint to this and maybe a little lavender…. it is such a wonderful cooling mix in the heat of summer. One could also use the essential rose and use it for the face, but I would omit the alcohol and keep in the fridge.
I use lemon or sometimes bergamot or grapefruit on my wood furniture… makes the home smell delicious and your wood will appreciate.
Perhaps finally I will share with you my homemade toothpaste… I mix coconut oil, unrefined and organic, with baking soda. To this, I add neem oil. Now this is one powerful essential, coming from the neem tree growing in India. To me it has a noxious smell, which is why it is used as a bug spray. It is a powerful antibacterial. To this I add peppermint which covers the taste of the neem and leaves the mouth feeling fresh and clean. Small batch is best. Used daily it really helps with oral care.
So for the ambitious out there you have some basic recipes to play with…
Enjoy