Essential oils have been around for centuries, and today, they are one of the must-have items in your daily self-care routines for numerous reasons. They are famously known for offering a range of potential benefits going beyond just having a delightful smell. Popular essential oils like bergamot oil, rosemary oil, and lavender oil are well-known to help reduce anxiety. Meanwhile, peppermint oil helps boost memory and alertness, while ylang-ylang oil promotes calm.
Many of us add essential oils to our daily routine to pamper our skin and aid in mental health. Apart from the many known advantages of essential oils, these are the major benefits that you can expect from using essential oils:
- It helps reduce acne and acne-related scarring
- They are known to help tighten the pores and bring out the subtle glow
- Aids in calming down and releasing stress hormones
- Helps in relieving anxiety while boosting mood
- Restores damaged skin barriers caused by pollution and other factors
- Soothes muscles and improves the quality of sleep
- Enhances blood flow, which in turn, could help greasy and dry hair
- Helps irritated and inflamed skin
Best Essential Oil Brands
Moksha Lifestyle
Moksha brand was launched in 2005 in Austria and its headquarter is set in New Delhi, India. This brand is becoming fairly well-known in India for its essential oils, apart from the other products they manufacture, because of its cost-effectiveness. Today, they have more than 100 different highly concentrated essential oils on their website, made with top quality.
Khadi Naturals
Khadi Naturals brand has already made a name amongst its consumers, and that is not a surprise. Launched in 1963, this brand has proven its value over the years and is now one of the most trusted brands that deals with skincare, body care, and hair care. They are best known for their shampoos, conditioners, lotions, massage oils, and essential oils. The best part of Khadi Naturals is, they stick to being all-natural, which means, all the essential oils are professionally tested and cruelty-free. The brand claims that its products are manufactured under the supervision of certified Ayurvedic doctors, making them the perfect choice to go for if you are looking for a cost-effective essential oil today.
Organic Harvest
Organic Harvest is another Indian brand that is fairly new to the market but is garnering attention for its high-quality essential oils. This brand is famous for crafting its products organically with chemical-free ingredients. Their essential oils are safe and potent, with long-lasting benefits. They have various types of essential oils offered on their website, which can be used for many different purposes.
Soulflower
The Soulflower brand is India's first Farm To Face Beauty Brand, that focuses on cruelty-free, preservative-free, high-efficacy skin and hair care solutions. This brand centers its focus on creating premium organic essential oils that are potent, aromatic, and perfect for your self-care routines. One interesting fact about Soulflower is that they manufacture their products by incorporating botanical chemistry with modern science to deliver the best possible effects.
St. Botanica
I'm pretty sure the name St. Botanica is not new to most of us. With just a few years old, it is one of the most popular and leading brands in India today. The brand proudly holds the crown of the Economic Times Best Brand Award 19-20 in the Personal Care Category. As the brand claims, its essential oils are ethically sourced, offering natural, safe, and skin-friendly outcomes. Moreover, their essential oils also passed the quality tests by CTFA, the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrances Associations of the United States.
Good Vibes
Launched in 2018, under Purplle, Good Vibes has been receiving a lot of attention from Indian consumers and gaining popularity. A few years after the brand started, it has become one of the top-selling brands in India. The essential oils are said to be highly effective although it is not as potent as other brands in the market. However, Good Vibes essential oils are a great choice if you have sensitive skin. The essential oils are paraben-free, cruelty-free, sulfate-free, and mineral oil-free, making them an excellent option if you are looking for an essential oil today.
Forest Essentials
Forest Essentials was founded in 2000 by Mira Kulkarni, and today, it is one of the best luxury Ayurvedic brands in India. The brand offers an amazing collection of essential oils with a focus on premium quality and stunning packaging. The brand's essential oils are mostly demanded by those who give high importance to their mental health and well-being. Although the product prices may be a little higher compared to other brands, Forest Essentials have its reasons. The essential oils are manufactured with a unique blend of naturally grown ayurvedic herbs, providing an immediate effect post-application.
Kama Ayurveda
Kama Ayurveda is a personal favorite brand on the list. This brand is known for producing top-quality essential oils that help in relieving stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues. One of the many reasons I love Kama Ayurveda is because the essential oils are packed with antioxidants and other eminent properties, which help us in achieving flawless skin. At the moment, they have a total of 14 different essential oils on the website.
Juicy Chemistry
Juicy Chemistry is another popular Indian brand started in 2014, that focuses on skincare, haircare, body care, and personal care products. Their essential oils are made with the highest quality raw materials and contain no synthetic additives or preservatives in their formulation. The Juicy Chemistry products are certified by ECOCERT. The brand's essential oils are constructed highly potent and proven to be noticeably effective on the skin and hair.
What to Look for When Buying Essential Oils
Essential oils are widely known as a product created from raw materials either by filtering or mechanical processes. You must have some basic knowledge of the uses of essential oils and their varieties. These are what you should be looking for when you buy essential oil.
Ingredients
One of the most crucial points to remember when buying essential oils is the ingredients the brand uses to manufacture the product. The ingredients label is usually located on the back of the packaging. When you use the oil on your skin or hair, the product must be alcohol-free, paraben-free, cruelty-free, or free from any harmful chemical substances to avoid clumping. While most of these brands' products are dermatologically tested, you never know what you might discover if you do a little bit of research and thus, prevent any allergy reactions.
It is also very essential to learn how the brands are sourcing their essential oils and where the raw materials come from. Do they go through quality testing? Is the company transparent and ethical? This is because the raw materials used in manufacturing a product make a substantial difference in the final productivity. Also, one of the main reasons why some essential oils are more expensive than others.
Fragrance
The most salient use of essential oil is its aroma. Fragrance plays an important role in impacting significantly the overall performance of essential oil. The aroma of essential oils is the main benefit and aim of its usage. There are a plethora of aromas to select from available on the market, like lavender, tea tree, jasmine, and rose. However, each different scent works for different functions and benefits. The most common and popular fragrance is lavender, which is known for reducing anxiety. Another option is the peppermint scent, which helps ease headaches and migraines. To summarize, the most-loved fragrances in essential oils by Indians are citrus, woody, and floral.
Quality
As much as the above points are valid and important when buying essential oils, remember to also look for the quality of the product. There are some brands out in the market that uses chemical fillers, additives, or synthetics, which are harmful to your skin. Therefore, before you purchase, get to know if the company or the brand goes through third-party lab tests like GC/MS (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) test. Quality assurance can also be detected by the source of raw materials the brand market from, and the process of production. Respectable brands maintain stable relationships with their suppliers by regularly visiting them to ensure the integrity and quality of raw materials supplied.
Variety
There are a plethora of essential oils available in the market for different reasons and usage. Take your sweet time to research and get to know what each type of essential oil is used for so that your money spent is worth it. For cooling and calming effects, we recommend chamomile, lavender, rosemary, ylang-ylang, vetiver, frankincense, and rose. For rejuvenation, essential oils like grapefruit, wintergreen, spearmint, cedarwood, orange, and peppermint are great options. You can also incorporate essential oils with other ingredients for your mental health. For instance, a blend of vetiver root, rosemary, patchouli, and lemon is great for concentration.Clove bud, oregano, eucalyptus, tea tree, and cinnamon are excellent to boost your immunity.
This is a quick guide to choosing the right essential oil according to your skin type:
Oily skin:
There is a negative notion or stereotype that oily skin people cannot use oils or moisturizers since the skin produces enough oils already. However, that is not the case. Whether you have oily skin or not, it is important to moisturize your face daily, and adding essential oils to your daily skincare routine is a huge plus point and beneficial for you. For example, Jojoba oil, Aloe vera, or Tea tree essential oils are some great options to control the moisture on your skin.
Combination skin:
People with a combination skin type should be more careful about what they put on their skin compared to the other skin types because this type of skin tends to be more complex to manage. This type of skin is also more prone to breakouts. The best type of essential oils for combination skin is Bergamot, Chamomile, Sandalwood, Lemon balm, and Patchouli Oil.
Normal skin:
If you have a normal skin type, essential oils that deliver healthy and glowy skin are the best. Oils like Ylang Ylang, Neroli, and Carrot Seed oils are some of the recommended ones. It is also proven that orange essential oils are gentle on the skin and help in hyperpigmentation, giving a subtle glowy effect.
What are essential oils?
Essential oils are obtained through distillation or mechanical processes and are mainly used in aromatherapy to boost health and well-being.
What are its uses?
There are many health benefits of essential oils. It is primarily known to relieve stress and anxiety, headaches, migraines, insomnia, reduce inflammation, etc. Additionally, some people even use it as a scent in their homes or to freshen up things like laundry.
How do you use essential oils?
Essential oils are normally used in diffusers or dilute in carrier oils for topical use. When used in diffusers, the air that emits helps in relieving stress, migraines, hydration, etc, or even used as a home fragrance. The oils can be used in heat, evaporative, nebulizer, or ultrasonic diffusers, and although heat diffusers are the most inexpensive alternatives, they can cause essential oils to break down and may decrease the concentration of beneficial compounds. Today, people experiment with different methods to make use of essential oils. You can either smell them directly or by using a diffuser. Essential oils can also be applied directly to your skin, however, do be careful when applied as it can cause skin irritation. Another method is to mix essential oils with water and use it as a room spray or freshener. Did you also know that some essential oils are also used for cooking? You just need to check if they are food-safe though.
Where can I find pure essential oils?
Many online shopping sites sell pure essential oils today. Read the label to know if the product is made of pure essential oils. It is usually specified on the label that the product is made of '100% pure essential oil'. If you see it written as 'essence oil', that means the product is not made of pure essential oil.
Which essential oils to choose according to your skin type?
Before choosing essential oils for your skincare, it is important to know what skin type you have. There are normally four skin types- dry, oily, normal, and combination. All of these skin types differ broadly, so likewise, just one type of essential oil will not work the same for all. Based on whether to have dry, oily, combination, or normal skin, essential oils will benefit you more or less.
