Buyer BEWARE!

Last night I decided to do a search of essential oils on etsy.  First I want to say that I'm horrified at how many essential oil sellers are still selling pure essential oils with the rubber dropper top bottles.

Do NOT buy essential oils that are packaged in this type of bottle!  The oils will eat through this rubber and your oil will be contaminated!  Next time you are trying to get an adhesive label off of a bottle, try using an essential oil instead of goo gone or rubbing alcohol-it will get the adhesive off much faster than any solvent.

Now to my main point in this post.  I usually don't call out sellers by name but this time I want to warn people about a new shop I found last night.  Here is the shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/loverain7fc.  Just for funsies I sent this convo:

These are NOT essential oils!!! Change the names to fragrance oils before you hurt somebody. This is false advertising. There is no champa oil for $4 for 5 ml and lavender oil is not purple. There is no such thing as essential oil of apple, pear or strawberry

Here is the response I got back:

This is essential oil, some our oil diluted with ethyl alcohol
ethyl alcohol is just regular rubbing which is safe to use on skin
This essential is made in thailand

Thank you

THIS IS A LIE!  I can prove these are fragrance oils just by the pricing.  ALL of them are $4 for 5ml and if you buy 3 you get 1 free.  And, as I pointed out to the seller, Lavender oil is NEVER purple!  Even if you make an infusion of fresh lavender it isn't purple.  In water, it's brown.  In oil, it's green.  And how do you make essential oils from plants and fruits that don't contain essential oils?  How do you make essential oil of apple, pear, strawberry, OCEAN?????  Please warn everyone you know about sellers like this.  There is NO SUCH THING as champa or frangipani for $4 on a 5 ml bottle!  Even at wholesale pricing you are looking at over $500 an ounce on frangipani absolute, so for $4 you get to take a whiff from the bottle-that's it.

Do your own research!  Never take the sellers word for anything!

And the Winner Is..................

Dana was the winner of the Flowers For Mom giveaway.  Congratulations!  You have 2 packages in the mail-I know you'll LOVE them!

Flowers For Mom Giveaway by Glory Be Herbals and Adirondack Aromatherapy

It's here!  The giveaway for Mother's Day is finally here and I have teamed up with Gretchen from
Adirondack Aromatherapy for this one.  I LOVE her products and you will too! 

Gretchen is giving away a bottle of her Monoi de Tahiti (coconut oil infused with Gardenia flowers), a bar of her Perfect Peace crystal gem soap, a 5 ml bottle of her Victorian Flowers perfume oil (Lemon Verbena, Lavender, Geranium, Rose and Violet leaf-a personal favorite of mine) and a wooden soap deck (keeps your soap dry between uses so it won't melt away).

I am giving away a set of floral based creams to keep your Mom's skin glowing all packaged up in a vinyl travel bag for convenient storage and travel.  This set will include a jar of my best selling cold cream (made with chamomile infused oil), Stephie's Rescue Cream (a medicated cream made with Lavender infused oil and Lavandin essential oil), a bottle of Calendula and Rose calming lotion, and a jar of my new Lavender body butter.  I haven't even listed the body butter yet but it is made with Lavender infused oils, Lavender hydrosol and High Altitude Bulgarian Lavender essential oil!  I have been using this on my hands before I go to bed and it soaks in quickly, makes my hands soft and helps me sleep soundly.

The combined value of this giveaway is at least $75-we want one lucky winner's Mom to have a FABULOUS Mother's day!  This will end at midnight on May 4th and the winner will be contacted on May 5th.  We hope to hear from the winner right away so we can get it all in the mail to you in time for Mother's Day (you will be receiving 2 packages).  To enter simply leave a comment and let me know why you think your Mom is the best!

Visit my store or Gretchen's store for more beautiful all natural gift ideas for Mom.  Open to the US only.

Giveaway?

I haven't had a giveaway in ages but I'm thinking about a Mother's Day giveaway.  What do you think?

I Think Spring is Finally Here

The plants are tired of waiting and they are shooting up like crazy!  All my potted plants made it too including my Artemesia, pictured above.  This is also known as western sage.

If you look closely in the middle you'll see my bloodroot starting to make an appearance.

Mugwort.  This is the first time I've had my mugwort come back.  It's a weed so I don't know why I have such a hard time growing it.

A fresh flush of sweetgrass in the midst of last years' dead grass.  And most exciting of all.............

I bought 3 rosa rugosa plants from horizon herbs last year and planted them.  That was the end of May or beginning of June, then it was way over 100 degrees the entire month of June and no rain.  I had a hell of time and really thought I would lose these precious babies.  Not only did they survive they are raring to go!

Clearance Specials!

I have some clearance specials in my aromatics store. I want to change it over to a natural perfumery shop so I am getting rid of all my old soaps that were made with fragrance oils and the fragrance oils themselves. If you know anyone who could use them please steer them here. It's a great deal!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/126016802/soap-clearance-handmade-soaps-with?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/126015829/fragrance-oil-surprise-package-clearance?

Why I Will NEVER Use Young Living Essential Oils

Some of you  may be shocked or offended but the title of this post (and it's gonna be a LONG one) but there is so much mis-information out there and I am hell-bent on educating the public about safe use of essential oils, so this post has been a long time coming.  What has put me over the edge was reading a blog post from a YL rep about natural eye drops using essential oils.  Please read this!  I have years of training and experience with using essential oils safely and what I know is scientific.  I get none of my information from a multi-level marketing company that only cares about making money from the gullible.  Many of the reps for Young Living (and Do Terra) are like brainwashed cult members who receive all of their "training" from the company. 

The oils are drastically overpriced.  Yes, good essential oils are going to cost more money but in this case you are NOT paying for better quality.  You are paying for layer upon layer of commissions for the reps and recruits.

They claim to be the only company with pure therapeutic quality essential oil, therefore making them safe to be used undiluted on the skin.  I'm not even sure where to start with this BS!  First of all, there are LOTS of companies who sell pure, high quality essential oils and even have them tested to prove it.  Second, there is no such thing as "therapeutic grade".  Who is grading them?  There is no certifying body for essential oil quality.  As far as using oils undiluted, or "neat" on the skin-well, that depends on the oil.  Very few can be safely used this way (lavender, tea tree, rosalina, MQV and not much else).  Their claims with this are all over the place.  They say if you experience burning with anybody else's oils it's a sign that they are contaminated.  If you experience burning with their oils it's a sign your body is detoxing.  Well, how convenient.  Sorry to burst your bubble but if an essential oil burns your skin it's because of the chemistry of the oil.  If you put straight cinnamon or oregano oil on your skin it WILL BURN.  I say if it doesn't THAT is a sign it isn't pure, no matter whose oil it is!

Young Living claims that their steam distilled Frankincense contains boswellic acid.  No it doesn't.  That molecule is far too heavy to be carried over in a steam distillation.  If you bother to do any honest research on essential oil chemistry you will find out that diterpenes are the absolute heaviest molecule that can be carried over in steam and even at that not many oils contain diterpenes.

Young Living promotes dangerous practices.  He recommends all of his oils and blends for internal use.  I am NOT opposed to internal use of essential oils but, here, you need to understand the chemistry and what you are ingesting.  Some of his blends contain Tansy oil.  Which one?  The safe annual kind (AKA Blue Tansy) or the very toxic perennial?  I can't emphasize enough that a substance isn't safe just because it's natural.  Petroleum is natural-would you drink oil?  Poison Ivy is natural-would you roll naked in it?  Would you let your child eat all the pokeberries they want or let your dog chew on the Christmas poinsettias?


We live in the age of the internet and we have more information available to us than ever before in the history of our species.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people are too lazy to find information for themselves.  I absolutely believe in the power of aromatherapy but I also understand it has its limits.  It is NOT a magic bullet for all of your problems.  And you certainly MUST learn how to use them SAFELY and with RESPECT.  You shouldn't put straight orange oil on your wood furniture and you sure as HELL shouldn't put rosemary oil IN YOUR EYES!

Here are some important links I want everyone to look at.
http://www.naha.org/rdt_statement.htm
http://www.facebook.com/EssentialOilUniversity?fref=ts

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/young.html

 

The FB page for Essential Oil University is run by Dr. Robert Pappas who has an actual PhD in chemistry.  Not a mail-order degree, and actual degree and he is an actual college professor and works as a chemist in real life.  He tests essential oils for various companies, including Young Living.  He is currently testing samples of frankincense to prove the boswellic acid thing.

 

In short, I won't use Young Living oils because they are MASSIVELY overpriced, and no matter how good they are, I will not put one penny in the pocket of a man who I consider to be unethical and dangerous.