Getting Started with Essential Oils

outfit details

maternity jeans // sweater (use code morganbullard15 to save 15%!) // monogram necklace – XL yellow gold 16″ // bedding // snow leopard throw blanket // headboard // lip color in ‘dolly’ // all essential oil products

All Featured Essential Oils + Products that I have & love

Premium Starter Kits – comes with all of the above products shown + I have the Desert mist diffuser) // Lavender // Lemon // Peppermint //Thieves Household Cleaner // Tea Tree Oil // Desert Mist Diffuser // Claraderm Spray // Rose Ointment // Shop all Oils + Diffusers Here // Blush Pink Rollerballs // Massage Rollers (love pitting lavender and coconut oil together for a back or neck massage!) // Spray Bottles for Thieves Cleaner and Homemade Air Freshener Spray

–Written Feb 2018 and updated Jan 2019–

Hey y’all! If y’all watch my Instagram stories, you saw that I started using essential oils a couple of weeks ago! It’s been something that I’ve *really* wanted to start and learn more about for a really long time now. With our baby’s arrival quickly approaching (seriously, how am I 38+ weeks pregnant?!), I couldn’t think of a better time to start.

Getting started with essential oils

I’ve been using my Young Living essential oils now for 4 weeks and already have a few favorites! I will share how I use them, why I love them, and any other info about each type of oil. The easiest and most affordable way to get started is by getting the Young Living Premium Starter Kit – I have the Desert Mist Diffuser Kit! You save nearly 50% starting off this way, and it’s a great way to try out a bunch of the oils to figure out what you love!

Why Young Living?

For me, I really want to diffuse my oils, use them topically, and be able to ingest them. Young Living Young Living has a Seed to Seal guarantee for all of their products, ensuring only the highest standards of planting, harvesting, distillation, and testing. They don’t use toxic pesticides and they hand weed their crops! For me, the peace of mind knowing what I am putting on my skin + using in our home is totally worth the price. To me, essential oils are like anything – you get what you pay for. I do not have to worry if what I’m using is safe or not, because I know for a fact that I can trust every Young Living essential oil + product that I use. A lot of the oils you can find online aren’t guaranteed and actually can contain harmful toxic fillers. I just can’t knowingly use them in my house if there’s a chance they may not be safe or may not be what it actually says it is.

How I use my oils: diffusing

Starting off, diffusing your oils is the easiest way to start using them in your home. My favorites to diffuse are lavender, stress away, peace and calming, lemon, tangerine, citrus fresh, thieves, and purification. I love the citrus scents in my kitchen, especially in the morning as it’s where I’m working and spending a lot of my time. To me, citrus/lemon just smells clean and it’s an energizing scent for me. 🙂 Any time there’s sickness going around (like the flu season right now), I will mix a couple drops of thieves with any oil I’m diffusing for immune support. Another good one for around the house is purification – it helps eliminate stinky smells and I love the way it smells! I use the Desert Mist diffusers in our bedroom and in the baby’s nursery. The Desert Mist Diffuser runs for 8 hours and I love the different light colors you can choose from. In the kitchen I use the Dew Drop Diffuser, and love how powerful and concentrated it is. It runs for about 4 hours! 🙂 I’ve been diffusing 3-4 drops each of the lavendar + stress away before bedtime, and it’s such a nice way to wind down with Drew every night. Plus, it makes our room smell absolutely heavenly!

How I use My Oils: Topically

I’m still learning on all of the benefits of using oils topically, but have loved everything that I’ve tried so far. My interest in essential oils actually started from being able to use them topically before, during, and after labor. I’ve read some amazing things about how essential oils have been very helpful for mommas in labor and in the recovery process. I will definitely share what I used during my labor experience after our baby girl is here, and my thoughts! Right now I have a really hard time falling asleep, and Drew has been so sweet and has been giving me nightly neck/shoulder massages. To me, I love using the lavender essential oil mixed with the V6 oil. It’s perfect for massages and the smell is so relaxing for me. I will also rub a drop of lavender on my wrists before bed to help me sleep as well! My second favorite essential oil for night-time/relaxing is stress away. It smells absolutely AMAZING and I love applying this one on my wrists at bedtime as well.

oils I want to try next

I’ve been *dying* to try dream catcher. One thing that I haven’t shared with y’all before is that Drew has struggled with night terrors, basically his entire life! As he’s gotten older, they’re a lot better than they used to be. But, they’re still very scary for me when they happen. He never remembers (probably a good thing), but I definitely do. I have read Dream Catcher essential oil actually encourages positive dreams. It’s been out of stock for the longest time (because everyone loves it!), so I can’t wait for it to be restocked! Rose is another on my ‘wishlist’ but it’s very expensive as it takes 22lbs of rose petals to make 1 5ml bottle! OMG! Rose is one of my favorite scents in the world. Joy is also on my wishlist, as it combines a a few of my favorite oils – rose, ylang ylang (a great beauty oil), lemon, tangerine, and geranium.

Other Young Living products I’m using + loving:

Like I mentioned earlier, a huge factor in getting started for me is the soon arrival of our baby girl! I got the Claraderm spray as I’ve heard AMAZING things about the benefits of using it before after labor. It supports and soothes tender lady part before, during, and after delivery. Another new-mama related product I have and love is the rose ointment. It smells like a bed of roses (literally) and will last a very long time. I’ve read and heard that it’s amazing at soothing breast-feeding mamas. It’s generally good for any dry or cracked skin in general. I’ve actually applied it to my lips a few times at night when they feel chapped, and I wake up and they feel so much better! They don’t burn or feel super dry anymore. The rose ointment is also great for keeping your baby’s head soft and moisturized. 🙂

my favorite oils so far

lavender

Lavender essential oil is just one of those scents that I LOVE. It’s so relaxing to me and is seriously one of my favorite smells ever. I love diffusing it, using it on my wrists before bedtime, and adding it to a bath! Baths have been such a life-saver for me lately being so pregnant, and the lavender makes my bath smell heavenly! It’s just such a wonderful and calming scent. It’s also a good one to rub on your hands and then rub lightly on your pillow or favorite blanket at bedtime to help you relax too. 🙂 Drew has been giving me nightly massages and uses the lavender essential oil mixed with the V6, and it seriously helps me relax so much. I always feel like I can fall asleep so much faster from the leftover aroma of the lavender. It’s such a fun little routine and it’s so sweet.

lemon

Lemon just smells clean to me. I’m not talking about the fake lemon cleaners, but REAL lemon. If you’ve never smelled lemon essential oil and you like lemon scents in general, you will be so obsessed. I love diffusing it in my kitchen/living room in the morning as that’s where I spend a lot of my time working! I feel like it helps wake me up and feel energized. It’s just such a refreshing scent that makes me feel happier just smelling it. 🙂 In the late afternoon/early evenings I love mixing lemon + lavender on my kitchen as they smell so amazing together!

stress away

This is my favorite to diffuse nightly in our bedroom. I love our night-time routine that we’ve started using stress away + lavender. We will put 3-4 drops of lavender with 3-4 drops of stress away to diffuse every night at bedtime. We start it about an hour before we want to go to bed, just as we’re winding down in bed for the night or watching tv! We will let it run all night and it seriously smells so amazing. The stress away scent is just very light and relaxing. I love the subtle notes of lavender and vanilla – 2 of my fave scents! It also has lime in it as well, which I also love how refreshing it smells. I mix the pure lavender with the stress away in our diffuser to intensify the lavender aroma even more. Stress away is another amazing one to apply topically, and I know a lot of people like applying it with a rollerball!

thieves + thieves cleaner

The thieves essential oil is a favorite of mine for many reasons. I love the scent – it smells like cloves and lemon to me. This is a great one to keep in your house over the winter months. With all the yucky stuff going around,  I’ve been diffusing this downstairs with my lemon or citrus to help support my families immune systems. 

I also have the thieves cleaner, which I’ve been loving! It’s a general cleaner, degreaser, kills germs, and can even be used as a carpet cleaner or carpet refresher! I love to use it on our granite countertops, to clean all glass surfaces, and to clean our mirrors. It actually works better than Windex and gets rid of all grime with one spray + wipe! The bottle is actually highly concentrated, so you only put 1 capful if the thieves cleaner in a 16oz spray bottle, and fill the rest with water. It lasts FOREVER! The thieves Household Cleaner is plant and mineral based with no toxic chemicals. I put mine in a glass bottle that I bought online! 🙂

purification

We have a guest bedroom that doesn’t really get used a lot, so it gets really stuffy in there. I let my diffuser run with purification in for a few hours last week and it helped so much! This week room still smells just clean, almost like nothing! It is also a good one to run in your kitchen after a stinky (or just strong-smelling) dinner! You can also use it to de-stink shoes, laundry, anything really! It’s also amazing for spraying in a room that’s had a dirty diaper in it or even directly in the trash can or diaper pail. 🙂 You can even put a few drops of these on a cotton ball and put it in your dresser, closet, car, or anywhere you want to stay smelling fresh and clean. I love how versatile this oil is.

frankincense

Every time I hear frankincense, it automatically makes me think of the birth story of Jesus! Does anyone else think that too? If it’s good enough for Jesus, I know it has to be special. 🙂 Frankincense is amazing for your skin and is said to make you feel uplifted! I’ve also heard it’s a great one to use during labor and delivery – that’s why I wanted to try it. 🙂

panaway

This one is like a bottle full of wintergreen gum. It’s very minty/menthol-y, but feels so good on tired muscles. My lower back was *killing* me last week, and sweet Drew rubbed my lower back down with the Panaway +the V6 mixer oil. It felt nice and cool on my back and really made it feel so much better.

citrus fresh

I just love how clean and refreshing this oil is. It’s the perfect mixture of lemon, grapefruit, orange, tangerine, mandarin orange, and spearmint! 🙂 This one is amazing to mix with water and spray on your linens to refresh them. My favorite way to use this oil is diffusing it in the mornings, like I do the lemon.

tangerine

This smell is also just very clean and uplifting for me. Tangerine is said to make you feel happy and feel refreshed. I great one to diffuse in the morning to get your day started. 🙂

gentle baby

I haven’t used this on our baby yet, but am so excited to once she’s here. I’ve heard this one is amazing to put a drop or 2 in her bath, and will help her feel relaxed  and calm! I’ve allso heard this one is amazing to diffuse during labor and delivery as it’s very calming scent. I plan on applying this to my neck/collar bone area when nursing baby girl, as it will help calm and relax her. 🙂 I’m really excited to learn even more ways to use this oil! I know it will be an instant favorite once our baby girl is here! When she’s really small, she will be sleeping next to my bedside in a bassinet. We will be diffusing this every night to help her sleep! Once she’s in her nursery, I will diffuse this in there too while she’s napping or sleeping for the night. 🙂

my recommendations on getting started with essential oils

If any of the way I use my oils sound like something you’d like to try, I highly encourage you to start using them now. 🙂 I wish we would have started sooner, and I’m so glad that I did. Like I mentioned above, getting the premium starter kit is the easiest and most affordable way to get started.

Premium Starter Kits start at $160. They each contain a diffuser, 11 5ml essential oil bottles and some sample products. The difference between kits is simply the diffuser that you choose. I have both the Desert Mist and the Dew Drop and shared pics of them together to show the size differences. The desert mist diffuser is my fave & runs for up to 8 hours (which is why I love it in the bedroom). The dewdrop diffuser runs for up to 4 hours which is why it’s great for downstairs/the kitchen!).

You get so many amazing oils to start off with and it will help you choose your own favorites and start learning how to use them in your own life. 🙂 I would love for you to be a part of my Young Living team and help get you started with essential oils! You can check out my young living page and learn more here!

Some helpful articles I’ve loved reading in order to learn more about oils

For mamas/pregnant mamas/nursing mamas

Essential Oils Guide By Trimester – which oils to avoid + best oils for each trimester

Pregnancy Essential Oils

For babies

 Using Essential Oils in the Nursery

For pet lovers

Essential Oils + Pets: How-to use on pets & pet-safe oils