Creative Ways to Use Botanical Oils in Your Home

| © leonori/Shutterstock

“Creating custom scents are tools we can use to manifest the change we’d like to see in our lives—who wouldn’t want to do that?”

Certified aromatherapist Aba Gyepi-Garbrahshares, founder of Aba Love Apothecary in New York City, shares her tips on how to work with botanical oils, their properties and healing benefits, and the secrets to making your own custom blended perfume at home.

Know the differences between a top, middle, and base note

Top Notes: “Top notes are the first notes you discern and the first notes to evaporate.”

Base Notes: “The longest lasting and/or fixatives in your formula. These will anchor your blend and linger the longest on the skin. Best to begin formulating from the base and work up to the top notes.”

Learn the properties of each oil

• Black pepper has an earthy, woodsy scent and curbs addiction, promotes stimulation, and blends well with jasmine.
• Coriander is a top note but works well as a base, too. It has balsamic, citrusy and tart characteristics, and blends well with ylang ylang, bergamot, and ginger.
• Basil is a top note with a minty, citrusy smell and is a clarifying, cooling oil that helps with strength.
• Ginger has juicy, warm characteristics and helps with creativity.
• Ylang ylang is considered the “poor man’s jasmine,” has a peppery, floral scent and blends well with jasmine and patchouli.

• Jasmine absolute has a soft, calming floral scent and blends well with patchouli.
• Rose is a middle note great for emotional healing and has a soft, well-rounded scent.
• Violet is a base note and has an earthy, mulch, fresh scent that blends well with ross and moss.
• Tobacco has gourmand, leathery characteristics, blends well with rose and patchouli, and is known as a “conduit of spiritual knowledge,” particularly the ancient knowledge of ancestors.
• Vetiver is a grounding oil, relieves anxiety and hysteria, and blends well with rose.
• Lime is an uplifting top note that relieves anxiety and blends well with patchouli.
• Lavender absolute is a complex heart note with mineral qualities and blends well with cardamom, vetiver, and ylang ylang.

There’s a difference between Essential Oils, CO2 extracts, and Absolutes

Essential Oils: “Essential oils are volatile fluids extracted from plants through steam distillation, and can be [taken] from leaves, bark, flowers, and resins.”

CO2 Extracts: “A CO2 extract uses carbon dioxide at a high pressure to extract a dense component that is neither a solid nor a liquid, [resulting] in a more full-bodied oil.”

Absolutes: “Absolutes comes from volatile, aromatic fluids extracted from plants using solvents such as hexane, ethanol, or methanol [and] differ from essential oils in that they contain a higher density of colorants and waxes, but make a highly concentrated aroma.”

Aba’s Blending Techniques

After you’ve decided what scents are synergistic with your energy, begin pairing and blending. “Begin from the basenotes and build up. Keep it simple with 3–5 notes [oils],” she says. Slowly add just one drop at a time to your vial (roughly 12 drops total for a 10ml blend) and then fill the rest with organic jojoba oil (Aba’s go-to oil).

Try oils for their therapeutic benefits

“It’s ideal to have at least one roller of diluted essential oil to apply quickly to pulse points or behind the ears or temples whenever something is ailing (stress/nausea/sleeplessness). I personally do this every afternoon when I am trying to kick that ‘3pm slump’, and it works!”

Know the spiritual properties of each oil

Here are some of Aba’s tips on the “best” oils to use in your blends:

Best/your favorite oil to attract love: “Patchouli with a blend of citrus, or jasmine sambac. Both are very aphrodisiac. And for self-love and heart healing, always rose essential oil.”

Best oil for protection: “Copal is a fierce protector, hands down. I’ve mostly burned it’s incense or resin form.”

Copal

Best oil for spiritual enlightenment: “Frankincense. It’s reminds me of churches. This is one that can also be burned in incense form. Let it smolder and watch prayers be carried up through the smoke.”

Best ‘power woman’ oil: “Clary sage. This is THE woman’s oil.”

Best oil for creativity: “Galbanum or blue lotus, both will support an inspired state of mind.”

Best oil to promote peace & tranquility: “A blend of vetiver + lavender would be the ultimate de-stressers! If there is a headache, always peppermint! For jet lag, frangonia!”

Create your own “Instant Spa” or a self-massage

“Simply use 2–3 drops on the (hot) shower floor of a favorite essential oil and the shower experience is completely transformed!” For the self-massage you can dilute your favorite oils and massage under the feet, neck, shoulders and tummy.”

Incorporate Essential Oils in Your Daily Routine

Use oil in your morning ritual:
“Choose a method that would blend seamlessly into a specific routine. For example, if you already journal, meditate or stretch in the morning or evening, start with 1 essential oil blend and anoint yourself and breath deeply while performing those activities.”
Use oils in your night routine:
“While you’re getting ready for bed, mist an essential oil in [your]space to set the mood and enjoy winding down for the evening.”

Going camping? Bring along some lavender & cedarwood

“Lavender and cedarwood are great bug repellents, so if you’re planning on going into the woods, bring along these oils.”
Want to learn more about the art of aromatherapy and customizing your own perfume? Read the full editorial here.

Visit Keenobby.com to enroll in Aba’s “Botanical Perfuming” workshop and other creative workshops around New York City.

landscape with balloons floating in the air

KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

Connect with like-minded people on our premium trips curated by local insiders and with care for the world

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.

Winter Sale Offers on Our Trips

Incredible Savings

X
Edit article