What are “notes”
Whatever you are planning to do with your essential oil, it is important its scent is balanced. This is where notes come in. Notes refer to the oil type and its smell, with different kind of notes suitable in various quantities with other notes. There are three main kinds of notes – top, middle and base. Essential oils with “top notes” are known for evaporating quickly. They are usually light and fresh. Some examples are the citrus oils such as lemon, lime, and sweet orange as well as peppermint and lemongrass.
Middle notes give body to a blend and are suitable for balancing a mixture. They are normally warm, soft fragrances, such as cajeput, nutmeg and rosemary.
Base notes are usually heavy oils with a strong scent that slow down the evaporation of other oils and are typically used to overpower or mask other strong smells in a formulation. The smell is intense yet relaxing and base notes are often the most expensive to buy. Some examples include frankincense, patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver.
Blending with Shea and Cocoa butter
Essential oils can be used to give fragrance and aromatherapy characteristics to body butters, skincare lotions and creams amongst many other applications. If you prefer to use unrefined shea and cocoa butters instead of the refined deodorised versions, you will need essential oils with base notes to mask the strong smells of the butters particularly the unrefined cocoa butter whose smell is especially overpowering.
Multiple uses
You can use essential oils in a wide array of applications. Skincare products, cleaners, air diffusers and household products are just a few different uses. The most important thing is to ensure the mixture is balanced.
For more advice on blending essential oils or creating a Shea butter or cocoa butter mixture with essential oils, talk to the friendly staff at N-essentials. You can also order essential oils by visiting their essential oils category right now.