It’s that time of year again!  We’re rushing round trying to get all our Christmas presents bought and, in the process of running round the retail outlets, burning ourselves out – this often becomes more about commercial gain than being really meaningful!  But what if there was a more natural way to ‘do Christmas’?  Why not remind yourself of the true meaning behind this season and add a bit of authentic love (of yourself and others) and presence back into your presents?

Relax – we’ve got it covered.  Chill yourself out with some aromatherapy this festive season and then - from your place of bliss - create thoughtful and personalised handmade gifts that you can make yourself, and which also happen to have a therapeutic effect!  Read on for our top tips on making your own aromatherapy diffuser blends this Christmas.

First of all, look after you with candle burners & vaporisers

Firstly, we need to love ourselves this busy period before we can start to think about others; if you’re not feeling centred and healthy, you just can’t give to others.  What better way than to diffuse some lovely essential oils in either a candle burner or electric vaporiser?  Try the below blends, mixed in water, to practice a bit of self-love this Christmas, whilst entering into the festive mood!

Keep Calm Festive Blend

It’s a stressful time of year, so it’s obvious that, at times, we might need a blend to help us keep calm.  Try diffusing this blissfully calming blend.:

2 drop Rose essential oil, 3 drops Sweet Orange and 2 drops Myrrh.

Become 'present': Drop into 'now'

Sometimes, we are looking forward to Christmas Day so much that we just spend the whole of December in the future and forget the place we are in now - in this moment.  Drop into the present with this Christmassy meditative blend, and practice some mindful gratitude for every little detail.  It couldn’t be more apt a blend to remind us of the spirit of Christmas, mirroring the Three Wise Men’s gifts (if only Tangerine were gold!).

3 drops Myrrh essential oil, 2 drops Frankincense and 2 drops Tangerine.

Get gifting: making your aromatherapy reed diffusers

When you’re finally feeling calm and centred, you can start to think about others again; it’s time to get gifting!  A really nice Christmas present you can make, very simply, which can be easily tailored for each recipient, is an aromatherapy reed diffuser!

Base Formula’s Augeo Clean Multi Diffuser Base can be used with any essential oil blend to create naturally fragrant, therapeutic and personalised Christmas gifts.

Firstly, get all of your equipment together:

1. A pretty bottle with a lid – perhaps around 50ml, smallish, short with a narrow opening
2. Decorations for the jar – labels, twine, any other accessories, etc
3. Augeo Clean Multi Diffuser Base
4. Reed diffuser sticks
5. Hydrolats (optional) – Rose  Otto or Orange Flower Hydrolat are great
6. Your favourite selection of essential oils – of course!
7. A safety note: saying not to let the mixture get in contact with their skin!

Next, decorate your bottle!  Personalise it for your friend or loved one, however you like!

Pour your Augeo Clean Multi base into a measuring jug (how much you need will depend on the size of your diffuser bottle). We are using 50ml of base for the suggestions below. You can either use the Augeo undiluted, or if you want to try something a little different you could mix with hydrolat for an extra burst of aroma!  We used 30ml of Augeo and 20ml of hydrolat as our base - but the choice is yours!

Next choose up to 3 essential oils that your friend will like - this is the fun part!  You can get really creative here - just smell the essential oils in their bottles initially and all of the bottles together to see if they smell nice when combined.  Note what scents the recipient usually likes – the ones they like are usually the ones they need.

You might have a specific therapeutic objectives in mind so you can select oils accordingly – for example Rose is very relaxing and calming, and great for releasing emotions, whereas Lemon is uplifting and energising.  If you're unsure you could use one of the vaporising blends from above or one of our suggested Reed Diffuser blends below.

Christmassy: Cinnamon, Fir Needle and Mandarin

Comforting: Ylang Ylang, Geranium and Lavender

Uplifting: Lemon, Tangerine and Sweet Orange

Alternatively, for an easy solution, you could try one of our pre-blended essential oils.

When you’ve decided which aromatherapy oils you want to use, simply add them to the diffuser base as follows. 

We recommend adding between 15-25% of essential oils to your base. Working on 15% dilution this equates to 30 drops of your essential oil blend per 10ml of base (so, if you've got 50ml of base, you can 150 drops of essential oil). If you want to use 25% dilution then you can add 48 drops of your oil blend per 10ml of base (or 240 drops in 50ml of base).

To me, as an Aromatherapist, these quantities were initially mind-blowing because we usually tend to work with 1-2% dilution. My advice is to play around with your oils and dilution rate to see what smells best for your chosen oils.  When I tried, I found that 30 drops of essential oil per 10ml of base worked very well, but it’s personal, so have a play and increase or decrease accordingly!

Safety note: DO NOT get this highly concentrated mixture on your skin, wash hands immediately if contact occurs.

All that’s left to do then is to mix thoroughly, carefully pour your diffuser base into your diffuser bottle and secure the lid. Attach your safety note, and package up beautifully along with some of our reed diffuser sticks.

On Christmas Day, your friend or loved one can pop the reeds into the diffuser bottle to fragrance their home with your lovely blend!

So, when you’re looking for the perfect gift this Christmas, remember, it is inside of you all along! Give a little bit of yourself this year, with a personalised, handmade aromatherapy reed diffuser!

A gift that is truly 'scent' with love!

Nicole Barton
Consultant Aromatherapist

Disclaimer & Safety Advice

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