Singing Flower Studio Blog
Orange Raises Spirits and Soothes the Winter Blahs
Essential oils from citrus fruits are created by cold-pressing the rinds of the skin. Neroli, the flower of the orange tree, has an intoxicating fragrance often used in perfumes. If you are lucky enough to visit an orange orchard when it is in bloom,...
Pamper Yourself With Self Care
In this time after the holidays, when the rush is over, take time to care for yourself. This year most of us will be happy to see the end of 2020 and the arrival of 2021. But we still need to be cautious and take care of ourselves and our families. Try some of these...
The Uses for Pine Essential Oil
As the leaves fall away from our deciduous trees, it’s the evergreen trees that hold our attention. But they are quite different, and the essential oils from the different varieties of evergreen are also quite different. Cedar, Cypress, Pine, Juniper and Fir are the...
Pumpkin Pie Spices
As I was making the Apple-Pumpkin Sugar Scrubs, I purchased a little bottle of pumpkin pie spices in the spice counter of the local grocery store. I was very surprised to discover that the bottle was not required to list the actual spices that were in the bottle. It...
The Benefits of Ginger
It is reassuring to find spices in our spice closet that are healing and that promote a strong immune system. Ginger is an important one, and in addition to the powdered spice rack, can be found easily as a fresh tuber (root) on our grocery...
Focus on Jasmine Essential Oil
We all know jasmine as that seductive fragrance from the evening blooming flower used in Hawaiian leis and in expensive perfume. Although there are about 200 species of jasmine, only 2 of them are used frequently to make essential oils or create fragrances...
Helichrysum Essential Oil Benefits
Helichrysum italicum Helichrysum is often referred to as “strawflowers.” Where I spend summers in northern Wisconsin, I see Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis nubigena) growing along the roadside. They make lovely winter nosegays, because, when dried, they...
Why is Galbanum Essential Oil in Our Insect Repellent?
Galbanum (Ferula galbaniflua or Ferula Gummosa) essential oil has been harvested in Iran for several thousand years by collecting the gum resin exuded when the plant is injured. The plant heals itself by producing a gum resin to seal the wound. It is an umbelliferous...
The Benefits of Pink Grapefruit Essential Oil
Citrus fruits make wonderful refreshing essential oils. The essential oils areproduced by cold pressing the rind of the grapefruit. This is a little different from essential oils that are distilled. It is also unusual for the fruit of a plant to be used for the...
The Benefits of Orange and Neroli
Santa Claus used to leave an orange in the heel of my stocking on Christmas morning. Oranges occupied a special space with candies and nuts. Now that they are available in grocery stores everywhere, they seem more commonplace and less cherished. Though...
Did you Know That Vanilla Comes From an Orchid?
Finally a Vanilla Lotion. One of my Florida customers would ask me when she walked by my booth on Saturdays, “ Have you made the Vanilla Lotion yet?” I tried some different brands of vanilla essential oil and finally settled on awonderful vanilla absolute. This is a...
Making Rosewater from Old Fashioned Roses
What is the Difference between Rose Absolute and Rose Essential Oil? Our farmhouse in northern Wisconsin came with some beautiful fragrant roses out front. They are pink and the petals are very dense. When they bloom for two weeks the fragrance is marvelous and...