I have to admit I’m a bit of a frugal mama and if I can make my own ‘anything’ on a budget I will usually try at least once (damn you Pinterest!)

Don’t get me wrong you can blow a pretty penny on a vast collection of essential oils if you want depending on the brand you buy or you can start with a few essentials and build from there. If you are just starting out with your essential oil collection and want to know which essential oils to buy to start you off then keep on reading!

One of the main things I love about essential oils compared to buying scented candles and other fragrance blends is that if you have a few bottles of essential oil you can make lots of differing variations by mixing the different oils and varying the strength of each oil in your diffuser or oil burner. Plus you get so much more mileage out of a bottle of essential oil than you do a candle. I’m going to break this down in detail in the next blog.

A few little tips for beginners and those on a budget.

1. Steer clear of ‘fragrance oil’
   These are normally cheaper and chemical based perfume oils and won’t benefit your health the way essential oils do. Essential Oils should be 100% pure. I’ll talk about Essential Oil Grades in another post.
2. Invest in an ultrasonic diffuser.
   The cool mist helps provide you with the most benefit from the oils compared to heating the oils in an oils burner. I still like to use an oil burner sometimes though as I think the oils smell slightly nicer that way but that’s just my personal preference – please experiment and find out what you like best! You don’t need to buy an expensive diffuser, they start at around £10-£15. A cheaper one might die on you sooner but if budget is tight then just get the best one you can afford. My own first diffuser was about £15 and it lasted 12 months before the ultrasonic plate packed it in, now it’s used just as a night light! There are plenty of blogs comparing diffusers – go search!
3. Make sure that the essential oils you do buy are actually essential oils.
   The plant’s Latin name should be on the bottle and a use by date.
   You can see here on my bottle of Ancient Wisdom Tangerine Essential Oil that it shows the plant name: Citrus Nobilis, its origin: Italy, the plant part used and the extraction method  – that’s how its made. On the side it has the use by date, on mine its March 2018 and underneath you can just see the batch number.
    These things are very important for traceability and so that you can see if its a genuine, pure essential oil or not!

BUT WHERE DO I START WITH MY COLLECTION?

So, which oils to get First? It is of course down to how much you want to spend initially, I started buying 4 oils a month to build up my collection, (I did this as a treat for myself as I decluttered my house – needs done again mind you!) this cost me around £15 each month depending on which oils I bought. after I had what I refer to as my core supplies then I started getting some special oils, ‘treats’ if you will that ranged from £5-£25 per bottle – not many oils cost over £10 but the ones that do are really special like Rose Absolute, Jasmine Absolute, Pure Frankincense and Pure Roman Chamomile… very special oils – more on those later.

So the top 12 best selling oils in my shop are these:

1. Lavender
2. Tea tree
3. Peppermint
4. Eucalyptus
5. Lemongrass
6. Orange
7. Patchouli
8. Rosemary
9. Geranium
10. Ylang Ylang
11. Bergamot
12. Thyme

The first four are highlighted as I cannot live without them under any circumstance! If you can only get four then these are not only some of the cheapest oils but the most versatile and beneficial!

There are endless beautifully scented blends you can make from these 12 oils not to mention the physical and mental health benefits as well. I’ve added a couple of different blends below that you can create using the oils in this list.

If you click on any of the blend pictures you can search diffuserblends.com for thousands of lovely blends by Oil or by Mood or by list such as ‘Holidays’ or ‘Stress Relief’.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any blends and which ones you like!

I will cover some of the properties and health benefits of essential oils in other posts but for now here are some blends for you to put into your diffuser to make your home smell beautiful. And if you don’t have a diffuser, simmer a small pot of water on the stove and add a few drops of essential oil into the pot and your kitchen will smell amazing! Just remember to wash the pot really well or use an old pot you don’t use for food.

***SAFETY NOTICE****

Never use neat oil on your skin – always use a carrier oil using the proper dilution.

Be careful with essential oils around babies and children, they are super concentrated plant essences and therefore toxic to ingest, especially for children – keep them out of reach.

If you want to learn more about essential oil safety or aromatherapy in general you could check out the world’s leading authority on essential oils,   Robert Tisserand’s site or for something lighter check out Crunchy Betty’s list of 21 things you should know about Essential Oils Love Crunchy Betty, seriously have a read!