With the onset of summer upon us, lavender is in full bloom and is ready for harvest for the creation of Lavender Essential Oil, one of the most popular and versatile of all the essential oils. With a scent that is soft and floral, fresh and herbaceous, yet with a touch of sweetness, it blends well with a variety of other essential oils, making it a popular choice for use in perfume. It also has a long history of use for wellness and healing purposes due to its versatility for treating a wide variety of healing properties. It also can be used directly on skin without diluting it, unlike most other essential oils.

Healing Properties of Lavender Oil

Antiseptic/Antifungal/Antibacterial: These properties make it ideal for dealing with all sorts of skin and bodily issues, including, acne, burns, athlete's foot, insect bites, cold sores, cuts/wounds, lice prevention, etc, and is ideal for use in germ prevention strategies.

Calming Effect on Nervous System: Widely used for this characteristic in treating headaches/migraines, stress/anxiety, insomnia, hyperactivity (ADHD), depression, nervousness, etc.

Improves Circulation: This property makes Lavender effective for boosting immunity, reducing foot/leg swelling, treating hemorrhoids/varicose veins, etc.

Helps with Breathing Issues: Lavender is used for a wide variety of respiratory disorders, including coughs/colds & flu, asthma, snoring, sinusitis, etc.

Anti-Inflammatory, Pain-Relieving: This makes Lavender a good choice for soothing muscle soreness, joint sprains/strains, arthritis, fibromyalgia, etc.

Helps Facilitate the Digestive Process: Great for easing nausea, colic, abdominal cramps and indigestion.

Lavender Oil in Escents

Due to its versatility, you'll find Lavender Oil in a vast number of Escents products. It is an ingredient in wellness products such as our Natural Headache Relief Roll-on, Blemish B'Gone Acne Treatment Gel, and Stretch Mark Prevention Oil. You'll also find it in a variety of calming essential oil blends, including Relaxation, Soothe, Blue Water, and Lavender Meadow. And because of it's beautifully versatile scent, you'll find it in a number of our most popular signature essential oil blends, including Matcha Tea, Red Rose, Verve, Willow, Chic, and Coast.

I use Lavender practically every day, whether it's for relaxation, healing, or in my bath and body products. What's your favourite way to use Lavender?

Jacqui MacNeill

Escents Aromatherapy staffers have all happily adopted using our Thera-Skin line since it debuted last summer; we regularly share stories and photos of our young-looking skin with our spa estheticians, thanking them for making us look so great.

Many of our customers find us through our website, so recognizing it's sometimes difficult to know what to use on your skin, we've added some tools to help youdetermine your skin type and get on the right track to take care of your skin with only a few minutes a day.

We are also proud to give you a real-life example ofThera-Skin in action! Monica is a loyal Escents Aromatherapy fan who was suffering from various skin issues. Here's what she shared with us:

I think my skin is primarily oily although sometimes there are dry areas. In the morning it feels slightly oily. After washing with just water, probably pretty normal (I never wash with just water so not sure!) but I think would feel tight if I didnt moisturize. It definitely feels tight after washing with cleanser until I moisturize. Breakouts are usually linked to my cycle and I get one or two per cycle every other month or so, although I was recently subjected to a severe breakout, most likely due to stress. The doctor wasnt sure if it was acne or rosacea.

I have pretty large pores which I hate and would love to be able to do even a little something about. I have freckles and burn moderately easily but wear sunscreen daily. I would not describe my skin as sensitive.

Over the next several weeks, Monica will use a skin care regime of Thera-Skinproducts specifically chosen to address her concerns. We'll follow her as the appearance of her skin changes and present a final Before and After photo for you to see.

Here she is, bravely posing, with a completely naked face:

Rajanne, our Head Esthetician, recommended that she use these products:

To cleanse

Muti-Vitamin Purifying Face Wash - this will address her combination skin, hydrating the dry areas. Her skin feeling dry after washing indicates that she may have been using the wrong products previously.

To tone

Visibly Moist Facial Toner - this will both hydrate her skin and prepare it to absorb her moisturizer

To moisturize

Moisture Replenishing Face Cream - this is a light moisturizer that is great for combination skin. We also provided her with Continuous Moisture Cream, which is another great option.

To exfoliate

Crystal Clarity Microdermabrasion Cream - this will be used once or twice a week and will help with sun damage and acne scarred skin; it reveals new skin and minimizes pores as well.

To treat

Instant Calm Ultra Skin Treatment - this will help with rosacea (using it twice per day) and sunburns, and will also help control signs of irritation.

Monica has been using her products for 4 full days, and here's her feedback so far:

I tried the micro-dermabrasion stuff and I had no idea how good my skin could feel!

First impressions are very good. The products are pleasant to use, smell good and feel wonderful on the skin. After applying the moisturizer my skin feels like velvet. So far not seeing a big difference in my skin texture or appearance but its only been 4 days. Hoping to see more as time passes. I also like that a little bit of product goes a long way.

We invite you to follow Monica as she uses Thera-Skin to keep her skin healthy and glowing.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your before and after photos from using Thera-Skin and be entered to win - check out the detailshere. We're giving away Thera-Skin prize packs, Escents Aromatherapy shopping sprees and a glamorous weekend in downtown Vancouver! Send your entries to sales@escentsaromatherapy.com.