Essential oils are the fragrant chemical substances extracted from various parts of plants: flowers, fruits, roots, leaves and stems.

Some oils have stimulating effect on the body, mind and emotions, whereas others have a calming influence. They are all antiseptic; some have powerful antiviral or antifungal properties, some antidepressant, digestive, analgesic …the list of properties is long!

Where do they come from?

In most instances essential oils are obtained by traditional, and probably the oldest, method - distillation of raw plant material: flowers, leaves, seeds, twigs, fruits, tree raisin, etc. Other methods are: enfleurage, maceration, expression and solvent extraction.

The quality of an essential oil is influenced by a number of factors, particularly its geographical and botanical source, the prevailing climate, farming methods, the time of harvesting and subsequent treatment.

As the demand for essential oils from food and cosmetic industry is so great, synthetic 'equivalents' of some essential oils or their ingredients are produced for these industries benefit. Each industry that uses essential oils has different criteria in terms of the quality. In aromatherapy, the 'whole' essential oil in its purest form is used to achieve an overall therapeutic effect. This is because the human body appears to tolerate natural substances a lot better than synthetics, there will be fewer side effects and the body will not build sensitivity as it often does with synthetic drugs. In view of that it is wise to obtain oils from specialist shops and reputable suppliers who are able to proof quality and purity of their products.

View the full list of oils.