3 DIY Aromatherapy Products for a Holiday Season full of Calm + Peace

Aromatherapy
Written By wendy johnston

Set Yourself Up for a Peaceful Holiday By Making + Using These 3 Calm-Inducing DIY Products.

When the hustle and bustle of the holiday season becomes overwhelming, what we really need is to press the pause button and take a moment for ourselves. In this Blog Post, we will create our own DIY aromatherapy products to provided us with a season full of calm and peace.

The winter holidays can be such a stressful time of the year from some people. This time of year, our public spaces are full of bright lights, festive music, crowds of people, and lots of family. For some people, this is nothing but fun, but for others this is very stressful.

If you are among those, who find the holidays to be a bit on the stressful side, this Blog Post is for you. Aromatherapy is such a great tool to ease the body into calm. I like to think of aromatherapy as a reminder, if you will. A reminder that when I am using it, I think of nothing else. I do nothing else. Just this one moment. A Moment For You.

Just stop everything you are doing. Find a calm, quiet place. Close your eyes. Apply the product or light your candle and just breathe. Enjoy this calm for 5 minutes and then return.

And one last thing, before we get to making…the Holidays are such a feast for the senses: not just our tastebuds, but also our eyes, ears, and olfactory system. This time of year, our public spaces are full of not only the bright lights and festive music, but perfumed everything. Unfortunately, those expensive store-bought candles, diffuser oils, and room sprays are often made with synthetic ingredients that aren’t a healthy choice, no matter how much they promise to imbue us with the spirit of evergreen forests, candy canes, and homemade pumpkin pie.

These synthetic ingredients can be stressful for our nervous system and respiratory system. Using products with natural essential oils—at home, at work, or in your car—is a wonderful alternative to scent your space with seasonal aromas as you decrease your stress level.

We chose these 4 holiday-inspired, DIY essential oil blends to reduce your stress, so that you may find peace of mind and enjoy your holiday season. So, let’s get making!

WHAT WE WILL MAKE:

* Candle
* Roll-on Calming Oil
* Sugar Scrub


DIY Candle Making

Winter Bloom Candle

Makes one 9 oz. candle.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pour water into double boiler base and put metal double boiler insert or glass measuring cup in. Bring water to a simmer.

  2. Add beeswax or carnauba wax and coconut oil to the double boiler insert. Heat the wax/fat blend until just melted together.

  3. Insert a candy or instant-read thermometer in the center of the mixture to monitor temperature. If you are working over an open flame, it's important to know the flashpoints in order to avoid dangerous combustion, particularly for beeswax. The flashpoint for beeswax is 200° F, coconut oil has a flashpoint near 350° F, and carnauba wax doesn't combust until about 570° F.

  4. For beeswax candles, once melted, dip a wick end into the melted wax (this only works for beeswax) and place in the center of your jar or tin. Press to the bottom of the container (use a utensil for pressure if needed). The beeswax will solidify and hold your wick in place. For carnauba candles, secure the wick end with a piece of tape or pour a bottom layer of wax to cover the wick end and allow it to cool while you hold the wick in place.

  5. Center and suspend the wick in the middle of the container by wrapping the excess length of wick around a pencil or skewer and balancing that horizontally across the jar opening. 

  6. While the wax/fat blend is melting, pre-mix your essential oils. 

  7. While the melted wax blend is still on the heat source, right before you pour into your candle containers, add the mixed essential oil blend. Stir in quickly and thoroughly.

  8. Pour wax into containers, leaving roughly 1/2 inch of room at the top.

  9. Set aside to solidify.

  10. Once the wax appears to be solid (this can take 30 to 60 minutes), you may notice that some candles have caved in slightly on the top. You can reheat any extra wax/oil mixture and top them off, leaving 1/4 inch of room at the top.

  11. Once completely cooled (overnight is good), remove wick holders and snip wicks to 1/2 inch.

  12. Light and enjoy!



Pro Tips

  • Using a bent paperclip to secure the wick to the pencil ahead of time helps to keep the wick centered.

  • To clean up, cover a pan with aluminum foil or wax paper and place on the bottom rack of your oven. Put wax-coated glass jars or the metal boiler insert upside down on the top rack. Turn oven on to 180° F and allow to sit for an hour or so. All of the wax will melt down onto your pan, mess-free! This is also a good method for prepping your used candle containers for reuse once you've burned them through and are ready to make more! 



DIY Roller Bottle

Makes one 10 ml Roller Bottle

SOOTHE THE STRESSORS

Ingredients

Blending & Bottling

Directions.

  1. Using a small funnel, fill the bottle with neutral-scented carrier oil of choice, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at top.

  2. Add desired essential oil blend from choices above.

  3. If space remains, top with carrier oil to fill bottle.

  4. Snap roller ball lid onto bottle. Roll bottle between palms to evenly mix oils.

Pro Tip: If you would like to use a larger glass roll top bottle, choose a 1 oz. bottle and double the listed ingredients, then proceed as normal.

This lovely little bottle is compact and secure enough to carry in your purse or bag, so you can reapply it throughout the day! I have a collection of these little roll on blends conveniently located on my desk, which are not only useful, but also nice to look at!

DIY Sugar Scrub

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

  • 1/2 cup white sugar (or 1 full cup of brown sugar)

  • 1/2 cup coconut or olive oil

  • 20 drops vanilla essential oil

  • 30 drops benzoin essential oil

  1. Add the sugar, the oil and the vanilla to the bowl and mix together with a spoon. Immediately your senses will fill with the scents of brown sugar and vanilla. You’ll have to fight the urge to lick the spoon!

  2. Once the mixture is combined place it in a jar or container for storage.

  3. Shower or bath, as usual. After washing with soap, use the scrub. This really boosts the exfoliation power. Work in small circles. I prefer to do this during bath time, when I can take more time to scrub well.

Pro Tip: Germs will shorten the life span of your scrub, so use a spoon or scoop to dispense.

wendy johnston
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