Essential Oils: why all the fuss

Essential Oils

We know what you are thinking - why all the fuss and what's so great about them anyway?

Now we're not going to pretend that we are experts when it comes to essential oils. There are plenty of people out in this world who can share their knowledge and insight into the various essential oils… over 90 essential oils are commonly known and used today! We're certain that at some point in your life you have come across the term ‘essential oils’ whether in your cosmetic products, scented oils for the home, therapeutic oils, and the list goes on...

So what are essential oils we hear you ask?! Well, they are the natural oils found in plants, but at ‘concentrated’ levels. Pay attention to our emphasis on ‘concentrated’ - as wonderful as they are or may be, if used in wrong quantities and applied ‘neat to’ the skin, they can have disastrous effect on the skin… they can be dangerous so be careful when using them and make sure they are always used in safe amounts!

So what about ready-made or off the shelf products? How can you be sure essential oils are safe? Well firstly, be careful about where you buy your products. Is the company legal and do they follow EU regulation No. 1223/2009? (we'll briefly touch on what this is a little later). For example, did you know that all manufacturers of finished skincare products MUST produce a ‘Cosmetic Product Safety Report’ (by a qualified safety assessor I might add)? Okay, more importantly, is unCOVERED Beauty a legal entity? Yep, tick tick. Do we meet EU regulations? Of course we do, triple tick!

‘True’ essential oils (and by this we mean the real deal and NOT absolutes which are similar to essential oils since they are highly-aromatic, concentrated extracts from plants) are extracted from plants; from the bark, flowers, stems, leaves, and roots of the plant by a process known as distillation by water or steam. So don't get confused by absolutes which are extracted using solvents.

And the benefits???

There are many benefits to essential oils, be it therapeutic or medicinal. Though the exact benefit does depend on the essential in question. You'll find that some essential oils have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties while others can affect our mood and memory. Some can even help relief stiff, sore muscles and joints. As you can see, the list could go on and on and on...

Obviously we've selected specific essentials oils for use in our butters (and lip balms - which we promise will come real soon) because of their properties and functions they play. We've decided to take each essential oil in turn, explaining why we've chosen it and the function it plays in skincare. Exciting stuff right? Oh yeah! So each week we'll be sharing with you some insight into the essential oils you will find in OUR products. So which one will we starting with??? Let's go with Frankincense…

Come back in a week's time to learn more about Frankincense, one of the gifts given to Jesus when he was born.

Natural Frankincense