ESSENTIAL OILS IN COSMETICS
Article update: 14.11.2022 (We have updated this article with more useful and interesting information regarding essential oils. You can find the extension in the second half of the article).
How to store essential oils
How and in what to store essential oils? On the market you will find essential oils packaged in different bottles. What packaging is best for storing essential oils?
Glass bottle - although transparent, colourless bottles do not cause damage to the oil, they do not prevent the penetration of UV rays, which damage the quality of the oil. Therefore, dark colored, ideally amber glass vials are recommended.
You can also get essential oils in such bottles from our shop.
Aluminium containers - these are only suitable if the inside of the bottle is coated with epoxy resin. In that case, they are suitable for shorter-term use and are the ideal choice for transporting essential oil.
Metal or stainless steel containers - stainless steel has a definite YES in this case.
Plastic containers - again, a definite NO here - this is because the petrochemicals contained in the plastic can work negatively with the essential oils, and the essential oils tend to absorb into the plastic, so you will then find it very difficult to wash the plastic off.
The EXCEPTION is already diluted essential oils in the form of moisturizers or massage oils, where storage of such blends is allowed to a certain extent and time.
Once you have safely stored your essential oil, it is important to choose the right place for it.
This is VERY IMPORTANT information: Do not store essential oils in hot, bright or humid places, such as in the bathroom, near radiators or stoves, on window sills or otheror other sunny areas, and in places where the temperature fluctuates constantly, as these temperature fluctuations in the room can cause the oil to deteriorate, or the quality of the oil to deteriorate. significantly accelerate its ageing.
In such cases, the oil is often unusable sooner than indicated on the product label.
Let's summarise:
So what significantly affects the product's life?
HEAT
Because essential oils are flammable, they should never be stored near open flames or other sources of heat or fire, such as sunlight, candles, and radiators/stoves/burners/stoves. Each essential oil has its own unique temperature at which it will ignite, so by exposing it to high temperatures you are both accelerating the oil's deterioration and, more dangerously, risking it catching fire.
SOURCE
Essential oils exposed to air (oxygen) oxidise and their volatile components fade, which means, among other things, that the intensity of the fragrance and, of course, the level of nutritional benefits are reduced. It is therefore important to seal the containers immediately after use.
Note: you don't have to throw away oils that oxidise, as long as they are the kind that can be used for household cleaning. For this purpose, their oxidation does not interfere. They should be avoided when applied to the skin or in aromatherapy.
LIGHT
If you use a glass container for storage, it should be dark coloured to prevent UV light from penetrating - brown vials are ideal, but you can also use blue or green vials. In addition to a dark bottle, you must also choose a dark place and not expose them to direct sunlight, which heats up the bottle and the oil. This is doubly true if you choose metal containers.
MOISTURE
Moisture can penetrate oil bottles very quickly if left uncovered for long periods of time. As a result, the oils look cloudy or water beads form inside the bottles.
As well as the smell, you can also visually assess whether the quality of the oil has deteriorated - the oil is not clear, but sort of hazy and may also look like it has thickened. However, it may be that the oil will not show any of these signs.
TIP: If you really only use your oils a couple of times a month, you can store them in the fridge. The quality will not be reduced, on the contrary, the oil stored in the right container and sealed properly will extend its warranty.
Is there anything else that can affect the shelf life of an essential oil?
yES. It is the essential oil itself. Because essential oil is extracted from plants through the process of steam distillation, it is not a standardized product. Each plant is specific.
Thus, oils break down (in other words, undergo a process of oxidation) differently according to their specific properties. For example, oils from citrus fruits oxidise significantly faster than oils with a woody or earthy aroma (such as sandalwood). Even patchouli, for example, acquires a more pronounced aroma just by maturing.
So how long can you store them open?
Essential oils can basically be divided into 5 groups according to this characteristic:
Citrus - these are fresh, energising scents such as lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, bergamot - 6-12 months
Herbaceous, warm, slightly spicy, slightly sweet, slightly floral or woody, camphor scents - these are uplifting deodorizing scents such as eucalyptus, tea tree, frankincense, pine, fir, rosemary, lemongrass, ravensara - 1-3 years
Spicy, sweet, woody - balancing, invigorating, cleansing scents such as basil, cedarwood, sage, lavender, lavender, palm, thyme, rosewood - 2-6 years
Fruity, floral, woody to spicy - balancing, inspiring and calming scents such as clove, straw, chamomile/chamomile, jasmine, wintergreen - 3-7 years
Woody, earthy, warm, spicy - grounding, calming scents such as ginger, black pepper, myrrh, patchouli, sandalwood, ylang-ylang - 4-15 years
For essential oils, sellers are required to state a standard minimum shelf life. However, as you can see, with proper handling and storage, you can extend the life of your essential oil by several months or perhaps years.
It is therefore important that you write down when you purchased your essential oil and keep track of its consistency and aroma, so that on the one hand you avoid applying oxidized oil, but on the other hand you may not be unnecessarily throwing away oil that is still usable.
Essential oils and photosensitivity
When using essential oils you may come across the term photosensitivity. What does it mean? It refers to the ability of some essential oils to potentially cause skin irritation if these oils are exposed to sunlight after application to the body.
Not to worry though, this only applies to a small group of essential oils that may contain such ingredients. These are primarily citrus essential oils. These contain substances - furanocoumarins - that increase the skin's sensitivity to UV rays.
Application of products with these oils to the skin, especially during the summer, may cause increased sensitivity of the skin to UV rays. However, there are a few tips to avoid these unwanted effects.
- Prioritize photosensitive essential oils in rinse-off products such as shampoos or shower gels. This way, they won't stay on the skin and cause possible sensitivity.
- If you have a favourite cream or toner with these oils, apply it to your face in the evening. This way, you won't expose your skin to UV rays.
- It is also possible to apply products with photosensitive essential oils to skin covered by clothing, etc. Therefore, it is preferable to keep these essential oils in products for the winter season when we wear thicker layers of clothing.
If you experience an allergic reaction or redness on your skin, whether due to photosensitivity or just a common allergy, start rinsing your skin immediately under a stream of running water.
After a few minutes, it is a good idea to wipe off any excess essential oil or product containing it with a clean tissue/ cotton swab containing a vegetable oil that you tolerate well. Then rinse the skin again under a stream of cold running water.
Essential oils and IFRA
It is also a good idea to follow IFRA standards when preventing allergic reactions. This is the International Fragrance Association, which makes recommendations, recommended limits or bans the use of certain fragrances in the cosmetic and food industries.
The IFRA standards regulate the use and maximum doses for essential and fragrance oils in various products with regard to the health of users and the protection of the environment. Some fragrance ingredients can be irritants in higher concentrations and compliance with them their recommended limits in cosmetics, you can prevent possible irritation or allergic reactions on the skin.
To find out what the maximum recommended dose of essential oil is for your product, you need to know what the type of product, or whether you will be making a shampoo, a lotion, a baby balm or a lip product such as lipstick. IFRA currently divides cosmetic products into 12 categories according to their use. For example, these are products applied to the lips; rinses for the hands and body; products applied to the hair, etc. A complete list of each category can be found on the IFRA website with detailed descriptions.
Once you know the category of your product, you can sometimes find out the maximum dosage of fragrance oil directly from the information provided by the manufacturer of the product. For each product category, there is a maximum dosage percentage that says that tells you how much of the total weight of the product can be made up of that essential or fragrance oil.
Essential oils and perfume production
Did you know that you can use essential oils to make your own custom perfume? In order to achieve a harmonious combination of scents every time, it is advisable to mix essential oils having top, bottom and middle perfume notes.
Knowing the art of combining essential oils appropriately will make it easier not only to make perfumes, but also to create new essential oil blends for diffusers, aroma lamps or ordinary cosmetic products.
Top notes
The subtle top notes or head of a fragrance is the first thing you smell when you use a perfume or scented beauty product. These are usually fragrances that are light, but at the same time, these notes are quite strong to sharp so that you notice them first. These are scents that wear off fairly quickly, you can smell them roughly 5 to 10 minutes after applying the product. To detect them in your favorite products, smell the product as soon as you open it.
Common essential oils that are considered top notes include citrus essential oils, especially lemon, orange or lime, or bergamot. Among other essential oils you can find peppermint, tea tree or eucalyptus. Lavender is usually included in this group, but it can also be described as a middle note. However, you can't go wrong with lemongrass, verbena or thyme as top notes.
Middle notes
The next scent you'll smell after the top notes in your perfume is the middle notes, or the heart of the perfume. It is these ingredients that make up the main part of your perfume and can last up to several hours, usually two to three hours. Especially popular are the various floral fragrances that combine well with lighter citrus top notes and woody bottom essences.
The classic middle notes include mainly floral fragrances such as lavender, geranium, ylang ylang and lemon balm. You can also find some spices in this group such as cinnamon bark or leaf essential oils, coriander, clove and sage. Coniferous essential oils such as fir or pine are also included here.
Bottom/base notes
The last scent you will smell in your perfume or beauty product is the bottom notes. These scents start to appear a few hours after you apply the product and can last all day, allowing you to enjoy the scent of your perfume for a longer period of time.
Bottom or base notes are primarily stronger, heavier scents, which are often characterized by essential oils from various woods. Thus, you can find essential oil from cedarwood, rosewood or sandalwood. Other base notes include black pepper, vetiver or frankincense, myrrh or patchouli and juniper.
Essential oils and seasons
We have prepared an overview of essential oils for each season. This allows you to create your own essential oil blends for diffusers or aroma lamps and change them depending on the season.
Essential oils and spring
Many people associate spring with fresh scents, and this is also true when using essential oils. Floral and subtle citrus essential oils are especially good for scenting your home.
Try geranium essential oil, for example, with its pleasant floral-musk scent with calming effects. You can also reach for an absolute classic - lemon essential oil, which combines beautifully with other oils.
If you want a slightly sweeter citrus scent, reach for a mandarin essential oil such as clementine. Be sure not to overlook tea tree essential oil, which is great for cleaning as part of cleaning or laundry products.
You can also reach for soothing and cleansing essential oils such as rosemary essential oil or sage or mint essential oil.
Try a blend of equal parts peppermint, lemon and lavender essential oils. A walk in a freshly blooming garden will remind you of a blend of geranium (3 drops), coriander (3 drops) and orange (2 drops).
Essential oils and summer
You can enjoythe scents of your summer holiday all year round with the pleasant smelling essential oils that many of us associate with summer. This definitely includes the scents of lavender, sweet orange and spearmint. Ylang ylang or cedarwood or juniper essential oil can also evoke the atmosphere of summer.
Try a tropical blend of 4 parts patchouli, 2 parts red orange and 1 part ylang ylang. A sweet scent that brings a positive mood is a blend of equal parts orange, frankincense and bergamot. Another interesting combination reminiscent of exotic cocktails is a blend of 2 parts grapefruit and sandalwood with 3 parts orange.
Essential oils and autumn
Essential oils can also be used to remind you of walks through the woods through the fallen leaves or an evening with a book in hand by the fire. The sweeter, heavier essential oils are particularly popular. These are mainly different woody and earthy scents such as cedarwood or fir. You can also reach for rosemary or cinnamon.
Try a pleasant blend of 3 parts orange combined with two parts coriander and cinnamon. A chai latte will remind you of a blend of equal parts coriander, cinnamon and black pepper essential oils. You can also try a blend of equal partsrosemary, clove, lemon and eucalyptus essential oils .
Essential oils and the cold
You can also conjure up theChristmas spirit in your home using essential oils and cosmetics made with them. Traditionally, you can reach for cinnamon bark, clove and coriander essential oil or wintergreen. Fir essential oil, myrrh, red orange and frankincense are also associated with Christmas.
Winter Woods will remind you of a blend of equal parts wintergreen, vetiver and fir essential oils. You can create a Christmas atmosphere by combining equal parts of clove, cinnamon and orange essential oils. The smell of home after baking Christmas cookies can be conjured up with a blend of 2 parts fir and orange essential oils and 1 part lemongrass and lemon essential oil.
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