The Best Relaxing Essential Oil Blends For De-Stressing Your Day

Essential oils are so versatile that they alleviate all sorts of physical and emotional ailments: from calming skin inflammations, uplifting spirits, and purifying the environment to combating everyday negativity. 

There is an essential oil to turn to for every situation. The good news is that you can create your powerful blends by tailoring your specific needs with your taste and preferences.  

Here, we explain everything you need to know about essential oils: from choosing the right combination and techniques to the best essential oil blends for de-stressing your day.

Why blend essential oils? 

The saying “Two heads are better than one” applies to essential oils too. Experts say a blend of two to five essential oils in the right combination may be more potent than a single oil. 

Oils work in tandem to better target specific health and wellness issues. And what can be an overpowering scent on its own can then become more balanced when mixed with other oils. 

How do you make an essential oil blend? 

This is where your taste and preferences come into play. There are various scents often used to alleviate different issues. First, determine which one you need. The easiest way to do this is by fragrance or by effect. 

1. By effect (Therapeutic properties):

Ask yourself how you want the essential oils to impact your mood? Specific oils can improve your mental focus, help to ground or calm you down. 

• Energising oils can lift your mood and invigorate senses – so try bergamot, lemon, peppermint.  
• Relaxing oils can calm you down, choose chamomile, geranium, lavender, basil, patchouli. 
• Cleansing oils like citronella, grapefruit, lime detoxify the body and clear the mind.  
• Grounding oils help connect to the healing energy of nature and the earth, so cedarwood, sandalwood will help when you’re feeling disconnected, lonely and inspires a sense of belonging. 

2. By fragrance (Scent properties):

The most popular essential oils categories are Floral (think rose, lavender), Earthy or Woody (think cedarwood, pine, sandalwood), Herbal (think rosemary, basil), Minty (think peppermint), Spicy (think cinnamon, black pepper) and Citrus (think lemon, bergamot).  

Test your blend: Use cotton balls or fragrance testing strips to try out your scents – your brain and body will subconsciously lean towards a particular need. 

How to use essential oils? 

The best way to use essential oils are either by inhaling or topical application.

Essential oils require dilution to prevent adverse reactions. Therefore, as a rule, you should keep concentration levels of essential oils below 5%. 

1. Inhalation

There are many ways this can be done: by covering your head with a towel and placing your face over oil-infused steam from the bowl. 

Rubbing oils into the hands and using breathwork

Using a dedicated electronic diffuser or simply adding some drops in a tissue or cotton pad, let it evaporate and inhale deeply. 

Multiple studies have proven inhaling essential oils has psychological benefits, including lowering stress and anxiety levels and promoting comfortable relaxation, reducing inflammation and irritation, and pain relief. In addition, they fill your home with desirable and uplifting fragrances, boost immunity and enhance your mood. 

This is because inhalation carries sensory information through the olfactory nerve, connecting the nose directly to the limbic system – the area of the brain that regulates emotions. Once this area is stimulated with scents, our sense of emotional wellbeing gets a big boost. 

2. Topical

While inhalation is common, you can also reap benefits with a topical application. However, this must be done with caution, especially if you are keen on using pure essential oils. 

Dilute it with a carrier oil, such as olive, jojoba, hazelnut, coconut oil, as applying directly to the skin can cause irritations. 

Always do a patch test on your skin to see reaction and sensitivities. 

Thankfully, there are a plethora of ready mixed essential oil blends for face and body oils in the market that could take out the guesswork – so there’s no need for weighing or measuring – you apply directly onto bare skin. 

The best relaxing essential oil blends for de-stressing your day 

Clarins’ Essential Oils contain 100% plant extracts. They all include hazelnut oil, which means they are safe on the skin and fast-absorbing. In addition, a whopping 84% of surveyed women who used the product say the aromatherapy fragrance lifts their mood.

1. Relaxing essential oil blend recipe:  

(Geranium, petitgrain, chamomile and basil)

Geranium oil promotes relaxation and alleviates depressive mood. 

Petitgrain oil helps ease anxiety and high-stress situations. 

Basil oil has a warm, spicy, yet herbal aroma that reduces feelings of anxiety. 

Chamomile oil helps with depression, anxiety, and sleep.

This essential oil blend is found in the Relax Treatment Oil. Not only does it help to relax, but it also helps soothe tired and tensioned muscles. Use on damp skin. Apply a small amount to the whole body or areas of tension such as the neck and back. 

2. Detoxifying essential oil blend recipe:

(Broom, geranium and marjoram)

Geranium oil helps to detoxify the body. 

Broom oil is known for giving warmth and softness to body muscles.

Marjoram has been traditionally recommended for treating muscular tension.

This essential oil blend is found in the Contour Treatment Oil. For days you want to detox your mind and body, it helps eliminate toxins to streamline skin and prevent the body’s sponginess. Broom essential oils are also proven to banish mental fatigue, while marjoram treats nervous headaches. 

You can also add some drops on a tissue and let it evaporate on top of the heater to fill the room with the aromatic scent. 

3. Calming essential oil blend recipe:

(Rosemary and Mint)

Rosemary Oil: helps reduce nervous tension, boost mental activity, encourage clarity and insight. It is used to improve alertness, eliminate negative moods, and increase the retention of information by enhancing concentration.

Mint oil: Due to mints’ naturally refreshing properties, studies show that it can relieve stress, anxiety, depression, and mental exhaustion. 

This essential oil blend is found in the Tonic Treatment Oil. These wellness benefits are an addition to their firming and toning properties. 

Word of Caution: Never ingest essential oils. Doing so may cause organ damage and adverse reactions. 

Read next: The Best Essential Oils for Good Skin