Valentine's Day Essential Oils Gift Guide

Add some oily goodness to your Valentine’s Day with our Young Living Valentine’s Day Gift Guide. Our team came up tips and tricks to treat yourself and everyone in your life to a scent-sational (see what we did there?) holiday. If you’d like to take an even deeper dive, we just hosted a Facebook class complete with even more DIY recipes and videos. Like our page to check it out!    

Fun Fact: Smell is the sense most closely linked to memory. Let’s make some good ones this year!

Fun Fact: Smell is the sense most closely linked to memory. Let’s make some good ones this year!

Treat your Partner: Massage + DIY Colognes

The gift of touch is especially sweet on Valentine’s. To spice things up on the big day, check out our handpicked V-day massage must-haves. Your sweetheart will thank you.

Vitassage: Enhance the Experience

Just turn it on for relaxing, essential oil-infused vibrations.

Just turn it on for relaxing, essential oil-infused vibrations.

This cool gadget offers a effortless way to give your sweetheart (or yourself) a relaxing massage. You can add up to 3 2-ml bottles of your favorite oils. Try something like lavender for relaxing experience or create a romantic mood with his and her oils.

  • His Oils: Frankincense, Shutran, Valor

  • Her Oils: Joy, Nutmeg, Clary Sage

Young Living Massage Oils

Young Living has also created massage oils that make treating someone you love to a foot or back rub almost effortless. Each bottle comes with a convenient pump, lasts longer than the pure oil bottles and can be used with oils to help them absorb into the body. Today, we’re focusing on Valentine’s musts. Check out the video on Facebook for the rundown of each massage oil Young Living has to offer.

Massage Oils for Valentine’s Day

  • Relaxation: Treat your loved one to a soothing massage before bed or after a long week.

  • Sensation: Set the mood with this floral blend. Sensation includes love oils like Ylang Ylang, Jasmine and Geranium.

    Pro Tip: If you still want to try your hand at DIY massage oils, reach for V-6 Oil.

DIY Cologne

Good smells make us happy! Infuse this Valentine’s with confidence and beauty with these easy DIY colognes. We suggest using a roll-on bottle and adding 100 proof vodka to top off your recipes.

Ditch expensive department store colognes with DIY goodness!

Ditch expensive department store colognes with DIY goodness!

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Treat Yourself: Valentine’s Essential Oils + DIY Bath Soak

Sometimes V-day is all about showing yourself some love. Check out our list of great oils to wear on this emotion-focused (and sometimes nerve-inducing) holiday. Then you can pick your favorite and try your hand at our easy DIY Bath Soak!

Great Essential Oils for Valentine’s

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Whether you’re feeling nervous, stressed or romantic, there’s a Valentine’s-worthy oil for that.

  • If Valentine’s Day plans have you feeling nervous, reach for Valor or Highest Potential to help calm nerves in an unsure situation.

  • If you’re ready to set the mood, reach for Ylang Ylang or Joy, these “Love Oils” will do the trick!

  • If your to-do list includes one too many class parties, reach for Peace & Calming or Lavender to bring on the calm.

DIY Bath Soak

Supplies:

  • Glass Jar

  • 2 Cups Plain Epsom Salts

  • Add 8 drops of your favorite essential oils

To Do: Shake to mix. Easy!

Pro Tip: Put an empty oil bottle in your bath salt jar to get every last drop of goodness.

Treat Your Family: Kid-Friendly Roll-Ons

Roll-ons are super convenient, especially for moms on the go! Put out hints to your partner and kids that this is the oily treat you desire! You can also share the love and gift these small, but mighty bottles to someone special.

  • Valor: Great before heading out to support self-esteem, courage, strength, positive outlook and good attitude

  • Stress Away: Great before and after school for peace

  • Rutavala: Sleep oil (roll-on exclusive), don’t use unless you have 8 hours! If the smell is too strong, roll on feet.

  • Tranquil: Great for “me” time before bed

Do your Valentine’s Day plans involve oils? Let us know!

Top Essential Oils for Men

Men + Essential Oils. It’s not an oxymoron. And we’ve got a top oils for men list to prove it. Here are just a few of the Essential Oils, supplements and products that work especially well for you, burlier sex.  

Men: Shutran makes it easy to smell woodsy while being in the woods. (All without harsh chemicals). 

Men: Shutran makes it easy to smell woodsy while being in the woods. (All without harsh chemicals). 

Exercise Smarts:

The Warm Up: Nitro is an energizing supplement designed to boost your morning run or legs day at the gym. And it’s easy: the tubes are small enough to stash in a gym bag. Just add to 4 oz of cold water for the best workout, every time.

The Cool Down: OrthoSport is a must for a post run (or legs day) massage. Powered by Wintergreen, Peppermint, Thyme, and Oregano, this fast absorbing oil supports tired muscles. Add a drop or two of PanAway for extra tingle and benefit.

Beard Care & Grooming:

Shutran Essential Oil blend was designed with men in mind. If you like masculinity and confidence, you’ll like Shutran and the products that make personal grooming quick, easy and naturally good for you:

Grill Perfection:

Make it simple to master the grill with vitality oils like Lemon, Black Pepper & Lime. Add a few drops to meat or veggie marinades for knock-it-out-of-the-park flavor.

Outdoors Enjoyment

Whether you’re into camping in the backyard with the kids or mountain biking with the guys, you’ll want to repel any uninvited guests and protect your skin. We’ve got new convention products for that, too! Check out the new natural Insect Repellent and Mineral Sunscreen + After Sun Care.

Guys, any favorites we missed?

Essential DIY Recipes: Deodorant Powder

We’re back with another essential oil-infused DIY recipe: Deodorant Powder. While ditching commercial hand soaps or toothpastes is often no sweat (hello there, Thieves line), finding a natural deodorant you love can be tough.

We get it. We don’t like to mess with BO or skin sensitivity, either. But we also don’t like to mess with applying harsh chemicals on our bodies, especially so close to lymph nodes and breast tissue. Making your own deodorant helps you ditch no-no ingredients like aluminum and Fragrance and switch to essential oil-powered freshness you can feel great about.

Simple instructions, common supplies, power to personalize...what are you waiting for? This DIY deodorant power is amazing! 

Simple instructions, common supplies, power to personalize...what are you waiting for? This DIY deodorant power is amazing! 

Supplies & Ingredients

Supplies

  • Glass Mixing Bowl
  • Measuring Spoons and Cups
  • Mixing Spoon
  • Storage Container (like a salt shaker or baby powder bottle)

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch*
  • 10 drops of your favorite Essential Oil

Tree of Life Fresh Favorites: Our team loves adding Purification, Stress Away, Lavender, Cedarwood and Shutran to this natural deodorant recipe. Mix, match and experiment to find your signature scent.

*Pro Tip: We usually prefer arrowroot over cornstarch. Cornstarch can cause skin sensitivity and yeast growth. Test both and find what works for you!

How It’s Done

  1. Combine all ingredients in your glass mixing bowl.
  2. Store in your chosen container.

Use Today

Apply under arms as needed.

Need Extra Protection? You’ve Got it!

If you feel like you need even more BO warding power, you have a few options:

  1. Layer: Apply a few more drops of your favorite scent on top of powder.
  2. Spray:  Or, make a water and purification spray in a glass spray bottle to spray on top. This method is another Tree of Life favorite!

Share!

Are you planning to make your own Deodorant Powder? Share which signature Essential Oil scent you’ll add to your DIY recipe in the comments!

 

Young Living 2016 Christmas Catalog: Season for Sharing

We will return to our regularly scheduled Fall Favs series next week, but we just couldn’t help sharing a bit about the Young Living Christmas catalog today. Why? Well, we happen to have two great reasons:

  1. We’re excited. There are some great kits, oils and products to give (and receive) from this year’s catalog.

  2. If we wait any longer to share, you may not get your chance to shop!

Pro Tip: Holiday exclusives go fast!

So without further ado, we broke down the catalog by some major (fun) themes. Shop right from our post, or browse through the online version here. Either way, a warm beverage*,  festive tree scent and some jolly tunes may be in order.  

*speaking of warm beverages, get cozy with this Thermos + Peppermint set

Young Living 2016 Holiday Catalog: Season for Sharing

Sharing

The Holiday Season is all about sharing: laughs, moments, food. And, of course, if you’ve fallen in love with Essential Oils, your Young Living favorites. We love how Young Living makes sharing must-have oils easy with kits like these, complete with helpful booklets. Perfect for the oily beginner in your life!  

Eating & Drinking

Vitality oils make spicing up seasonal favorites easier than ever before, and Young Living released 15 new dietary blends just in time for your Holiday feasts. The Ningxia Red holiday set, a must for keeping those wellness goals this time of year, includes 5 greeting cards and a $5 donation to the D. Gary Young, Young Living Foundation!

Pampering

The New ART Care System is designed to cleanse, tone and moisturize your face naturally. Order before December 31 to bring that spa-life to your home with a Young Living spa headband. And, it’s ok to pamper the men in your life too with Shutran Aftershave Lotion and Shutran Bar Soap. The woodsy scent meets a plant-based formula for a good-for-you clean.  

Stocking Stuffing

Skip candy in favor of Wolfberry Crisp Bars this year in their stocking for healthy snacking at it’s finest. And the 2016 Lipbalm set of 4 (including Holiday-Exclusive Vanillamint) is a little treat that always brings (and protects) big smiles.  

Nurturing

We love these two sets for the kids and grandkids in your life. Give the gift of natural cleansing and wellness support with Kidscents.

Maintaining  

The holidays are much more enjoyable if you and your family are staying well and fit. Check out these sets for a little proactive (and priceless) peace of mind. 

Stay Tuned

We’ll be back next week to reveal another Young Living product we can’t live without this time of year. See you soon!

 

Essential Oils and Travel: Preparing Your Own Oily Travel Kit

Over the past several years our family has spent time on mission trips out of the country, primarily in Haiti and most recently Ecuador and Uganda. These trips require quite a bit of planning, and, most importantly, quite a bit of oily preparation! 

My older daughter in Ecuador. 

My older daughter in Ecuador. 

In May, my older daughter spent time in Ecuador while my younger daughter and husband spent time in Africa. On our trips to Haiti we traveled as a family, sharing oils while away. The May trips were different! Each person needed his/her own “oily travel kit.” Since I prepared three of these kits, I thought I would share what my oily travel kit includes.

Travel-Worn Bottles = Healthy Bodies 

Beware! These are pictures of actual oil bottles that have traveled out of the country several times. They are NOT pictures of pretty little oil bottles! As much as I LOVE getting pretty, new oil bottles in the mail, I have conceded that ugly oil bottles are a byproduct of healthy bodies.

Keep in mind that these are merely the basic oils our family needs on trips. We also take additional oils used for specific purposes that are part of our daily oily routine such as Progessence Plus Serum, Shutran, Clary Sage, Endoflex, Sacred Frankincense, and others.

Plane Travel & Essential Oils

Carrying On Essential Oils

Although most of our essential oils are in our checked luggage, we make sure we have a few oils with us on the plane. Who knows when the checked luggage will really arrive?!?

Airline travel with oils is relatively simple. Your airline-authorized quart-size liquids bag can accommodate MANY 5mL or 15mL bottles of essential oil. We have never had any airline representative question our inclusion of essential oil in our liquids bag. Our liquids bag always includes peppermint, Thieves, and lavender essential oils as well as a bottle of Thieves spray and a few Thieves lozenges

Top Three Essential Oils for Every Plane Ride

Carry On Essential Oils: Peppermint, Lavender & Thieves.

Carry On Essential Oils: Peppermint, Lavender & Thieves.

1. Peppermint

Inhaling peppermint instantly calms my stomach when air turbulence unexpectedly strikes. 

2. Lavender

Lavender can aid in relaxation for those 17-hour international flights! 

3. Thieves

Once we have boarded the plane, we immediately reach for Thieves for immune support. Since we travel with flip flops or Crocs for easy security checks, it is important to slather those feet with Thieves and put socks on for the plane ride. Thieves spray comes in handy to spray in our throat or on our hands for extra protection. 

My Essential Oil Travel Kit

My travel-worn oily travel kit. 

My travel-worn oily travel kit. 

Oils in our checked luggage (aka our Oily Travel Kits) include:

  • Valor
  • DiGize
  • R.C. or Raven
  • PanAway
  • Immupower
  • Oregano
  • Purification
  • Frankincense
  • v-6
  • Extra Thieves, lavender, peppermint and lozenges.
  • We always travel with NingXia Red packets and NingXia Nitro, too.

This might seem like a lot, but we want to be prepared for anything! I make sure we have empty capsules to make our own immune-supporting concoctions of oregano, Immupower and frankincense. We all have those days when we are not feeling our best. 

Top Travel Tips:

  • R.C. stands for respiratory/congestion which keeps our respiratory systems in tip-top shape.
  • DiGize works well for all things digestion related that can (does) occur when traveling out of the country.

We are THAT Family: Healthy, Happy Travelers

We rely heavily on our oils. So much so, that we are known on every trip as THAT family! Usually as the week begins, we quietly go about using Purification to help repel insects, Thieves for immune support, lavender to promote good sleep, daily NingXia packets and Nitro, peppermint for head discomfort, etc. 

My husband and daughter in Uganda. 

My husband and daughter in Uganda. 

Usually by the end of each trip, almost everyone else has noticed that our family is energetic, rested, and well. Predictably, they begin asking questions. That’s all it takes for me to share oily goodness and share the oil love with the rest of the team members! I have team members from all over the United States whom I met on international trips. It is always a blessing to bless others.

In May, my older daughter was known as the “alchemist” on her trip to Ecuador as she shared oils with her team members, and my younger daughter left most of her oils in Africa to bless the mission families who serve in Uganda.  

Time to Start Your Journey!

I am all about education and all about oils, so post a comment or question, and I’ll be happy to help!  When you are ready to start your oily journey, you can join the Tree of Life team by joining me at Oil Together Now, here. I’d love to share oily goodness with you, too!

Oily Travelers, What’s in Your Kit? Share in the Comments!