This past weekend I Ied a fun, if chaotic,  workshop where we made five really great skin-care items.  

I did a good bit of research and testing before the workshop.  Many of the recipes I found on-line (from trusted sources) or in books were either just not exactly what I was looking for, too complicated or I felt could be ramped-up just a little. What I eventually ended up with -- all five skin care items -- are products I'd stand up against any $100+ department-store brand.  Mine are chock-full of protective ingredients.  Each ingredient serves a crucial purpose to protect and hydrate skin. 

I really love the products we made and use them daily.

What great gifts these would make (Mother's Day ... anyone?)!

Here's some general tips to keep in mind as you make your own skin care:

• Start with clean hands and work-space.  You want to avoid contamination.
• Use the best, most pure and potent essential oils (yeah, I went there).  See below for more info about my favorite brand.
• Use organic ingredients without additives if possible.  Aside from my essential oils, I bought pretty much everything on Amazon or through a co-op I'm in.
• Easy double boiler:  Fill a medium-sized pot about 1/4 full of water.  Place a one quart Pyrex glass measuring cup in the pot -- with the handle on the outside of the pot.  Bring water to a bare simmer.  Don't let water get inside the Pyrex cup.  Add ingredients to the Pyrex measuring cup. 
• Avoid using water, and if you do choose to, use distilled water.  Water shortens the shelf-life of the products you make. I learned that aloe vera gel makes a good substitute for water and also has anti-microbial properties. Jojoba oil (actually a liquid wax) and beeswax are very shelf stable. 
• Rose hip oil will go rancid quickly.  Refrigerate it.  I actually refrigerate all my left-over ingredients.  Place them in a plastic bin together for easy "inventory control"!
• Since you are making all-natural products without chemical/synthetic preservatives, refrigeration of your finished products is optional but probably a good idea.
• Vodka or grain alcohol that's at least 10% alcohol content is a natural preservative.  Used in tiny amounts, it will not be drying to your skin.  Vitamin E is also a preservative.
• Use clean fingers to dip into your jars.  A good lotion should last at least 4- 6 weeks out of the refrigerator under normal conditions (under 75 degrees F, dim, dry and clean) and at least 3- 6 months in and out of the refrigerator (clean fingers).
• Beeswax is crucial for emulsifying the recipe.  It keeps the ingredients from separating.  It is also protective to the skin. Use the pelleted form for quicker melting and add it first. 
• Make small batches. Use jars that are 1/2 ounce to one ounce in size.  Stash any extra jars of cream in your fridge.  Use glass jars or PET plastic BPA-free containers.  I like plastic for bathroom situations (tile floors!) but it's a personal choice.

Note that the recipes I'll share are not aromatherapy, per se.  I've chosen ingredients because they are skin-care workhorses that are enhancing to health, protective, sun-screening, and hydrating.  These skin care items will smell okay but are not blow-you-away-wow-this-smells-amazing-! products. A bonus: when you use my favorite brand of essential oils in your skin care,  you may find you experience other therapeutic benefits besides beautiful, glowing skin!

This recipe is totally customizable.   The only non-optional ingredient is beeswax.  If you want a lighter cream, use more aloe and less of the butters/oils.  If you want more/less/different essential oils -- be free!  Have fun!

I'll share the five recipes in five blog posts.  Here's the first -- the BEST eye cream you'll ever use.

Best eye cream

• 1 tsp beeswax
• 1/8 cup shea butter
• 1/8 cup coconut oil
• ½ teaspoon Argan oil
• 1 Tbsp avocado oil
• 1 Tbsp jojoba oil
• 8 drops rosehip oil
• 4 drops vitamin E

Melt these together in a double boiler, remove from heat and add:

• 1/3 cup aloe vera gel

• 3 drops carrot seed essential oil
• 2 drops cedarwood essential oil
• 4 drops frankincense essential oil
• 2 drops myrrh essential oil
• 2 drops sandalwood essential oil
• 3 drops geranium essential oil
• 5 drops lavender essential oil
• 3 drops cypress essential oil
• 2 drops melaleuca essential oil
• 2 drop Helichrysum essential oil
• 2 drop Clary sage essential oil
• 1/4 tsp Vodka (optional – preservative)

Whip with an electric mixer until it is smooth.  
Once well blended, transfer into jars (1/2 or 1 ounce).
Use every morning and night around the eyes.

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If you are wondering how to buy dōTERRA and get your own wholesale shopping portal and password for 25% off, click here.

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​Look for me over on Facebook -- Hope Bennett Reese -- for daily tips and current specials.

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Do you want to know what the BEST and SMARTEST way is to start with essential oils?  Here it is ... with me and my awesome team!  We will give you tools to get started, plus on-going support through classes, *private* on-line support groups, team-only emails and more. A trusted, guiding hand is so important when you're just getting started learning how to take control of your health.

Thanks to the wonder of the internet, it really doesn't matter where you live -- our help is right at hand! You'll become an essential oil expert with our assistance.

And please, please remember -- One of the most vital things you must know about essential oils is not all essential oils are created equally. Many - if not most - brands should not be ingested as they are not tested for purity.  In fact, most of them are worthless to your health and often synthetic.

We're in part three in our series about how to choose essential oils.  In Part One we discussed the broad idea of quality and trust.  In Part Two we delved a little deeper into why sourcing matters.

In this post, I'd like to talk about two of my favorite aspects of doTERRA:  our commitment to the farmers we work with and our charitable work.  These go hand-in-hand.  The video, above, shows both parts of our initiatives -- Co-Impact Sourcing and our Healing Hands work.  Have some tissues handy!

World-wide sourcing

At the very heart of doTERRA is the commitment to provide the highest quality essential oils in the world.  To do that, they research and identify the best sources of these oils -- all over the world, to the ends of the earth!

This leads them to basil, grown in America ... and to frankincense, grown in Somaliland.  I learned recently that one of their newest hires is a botanist who is an ex-Navy Seal!  He has to go into some dangerous places to identify farmers and artisans to produce our oils.

They find experts who have built their lives around their precious plants—many of whom have been doing so for generations. That expertise is irreplaceable, and sets our products apart from every other product out there.

Commitment to farmers

With over 100 essential oils on the market,  we source our oils from 40 countries. Of those countries, 23 are developing countries that do not enjoy many of the basic amenities that we so often take for granted. In these cases, and in many cases in developed countries, our need for essential oils is elevating communities out of poverty and desperate need. 

We are doing so much more than finding and producing oils. Rather, we develop long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships. We help to provide the resources and education needed to improve the economy—and even sometimes create an economy—in these communities. Jobs are created as the need for an essential oil is met. Additionally, farming and distilling equipment as well as training are also provided. Additionally, farmers and distillers enter into agreements that assure them of fair and timely pay that they can rely on.

Read more about Co-Impact Sourcing here

But that’s not all.

Commitment to communities

doTERRA has a non-profit, charitable organization, too -- Healing Hands. This foundation steps in to help the rest of the community through humanitarian projects, hands-on service projects, donations, micro-loans and more: providing education, building schools, and working to provide the necessities of life, such as potable water and needed infrastructure.

This commitment to not only source the highest quality essential oils but to also improve the lives of the communities results in a great deal of trust. As we have grown, that trust has resulted in many essential oil cooperatives entering into exclusive agreements with doTERRA. Word has also spread, and many more farmers and distillers are beginning to reach out to us to enter into their own agreements. 

Changing lives

Throughout it all, our commitment has remained the same—changing lives throughout the world with the precious gift of essential oils. 

I've written a little bit about why the brand of essential oil you use matters.  In Part One, we discussed a little bit about the broad ideas of quality and trust.

In this post, we'll get a little more specific and will venture into the fascinating world of indigenous plants and why their use should matter to you.

"Indigenous plants" means that doTERRA uses oils garnered from plants that are grown in the region where that have grown for many (sometimes hundreds, if not thousands of) years.  In a nutshell, doTERRA's scientists have learned that:

• The composition of the plant AND therapeutic quality of the resulting essential oil will vary greatly based on the location, climate, and environment where the plant is grown.
• The most chemically complex and potent oils come from plants that are from their native regions.  

Potency begins with the (right) seed    
The proper seed variety and even chemotype for particular plants is carefully selected so that the distinct molecular profile of the aromatic compounds produced by the plant is achieved.

Example: There are many different plant varieties and chemotypes for rosemary. The chemotype depicts the level of particular compounds within the oil composition which will determine specific health benefits. doTERRA chose to offer Rosmarinus officinalis, chemotype 1,8 cineol because we appreciate the benefits this specific composition offers for respiratory support. 

 ... and continues with harvesting the right part of the plant
The environment plays a key role in the therapeutic value of the plant. Growing season, elevation, climate, moisture, soil, terrain, and pH all factor into the potency of the essential oil produced.  It is also essential that the right part of the plant be harvested. For example, the aromatic compounds from the leaves of the plant will differ from what is produced in the flowers.

Example:  We only use the yellow flowering tops of the Helichrysum italicum plant wild-crafted from Corsica for the most dependable benefits.  But many producers will harvest the leaves and stalks as well to increase the oil yield of this delicate crop.  They will often dilute this oil with cheaper essential oils or synthetics (despite what their labels say!). This increases their profitability, but radically changes the composition and therapeutic value of this precious essential oil.

... then ultimately is proven by results
Right region + right plant + proper harvesting = superior oils and better results
Plants grown in indigenous environments yield better results because the natural elements specific to that region promote a more therapeutic profile of the aromatic compounds produced by the plant.

Example: Our fabulous Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil is indigenous to the Provence region of France and to Bulgaria. The high altitudes at which lavender is grown results in the plant having higher ester and sesquiterpene alcohol content, thereby increasing its therapeutic benefits. You simply cannot duplicate the rocky soil and Mediterranean growing conditions that are specific to this region anywhere else.  Although lavender grows readily in the United States, the therapeutic values are not as beneficial because the growing conditions that exist in its native land cannot be duplicated. 

Where your oils are sourced matters.

Years of experience + knowledge + commitment to excellence =
​the most potent and pure essential oils possible
Producing essential oils that meet our standards is a skill requiring years of experience. It takes the work of a dedicated artisan at each step, from growing and harvesting to fine-tuning the distillation process, We partner only with the best.

Part Three - here.

Have you heard of Trim Healthy Mama (THM)?  It's a crazy-successful way to eat that helps to balance blood sugar and aid weight loss through combining foods in certain ways.  In a nutshell, you don't want equal amounts of the two primary fuel sources in the same meal.  So you'll have an "S" (Satisfying) meal that is based around healthy fats OR an "E" (Energy) meal that's more centered around healthy carbs.  There's tons more to it than that, but that's the big idea.

If you want to learn more, the two charming sisters -- Pearl and Serene (aren't those the best names??), who developed the THM plan and recipes -- have a fun website where they have more info, videos and sell their books; and they also have a Facebook page.

One of their famous recipes is called "Skinny Chocolate".  It's made with three main ingredients: coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, a sweetener  plus a tiny pinch of salt.  People love it.

Me, not so much.  It's a little bland and not creamy enough to really get me to chocolate happy-ville. (Sorry, THM'ers who love this stuff!!)  I love all the recipes I've tried so far and practically live on their Lazy Lasagna, but I had to create my own go-to for my chocolate fix.

So I've played with the recipe over the months and looked on Pinterest -- tons of variations out there!!  I love to bake and have learned a few tricks along the way.  One chocolate-maker's trick is this secret ingredient:  for deeper, more complex chocolate flavor, add instant espresso powder. 

mmmmm ... let chocolate harden and store in freezer (a good idea -- that way they are out of sight or I'd eat the whole pan!).  

No sugar, easy to make -- guilt-free chocolate!  Try it and let me know what you think!

Patchouli is a bushy herb from the mint family with stems reaching two or three feet in height and bearing small, pink-white flowers. Easily recognized for its rich, musky-sweet fragrance, Patchouli is regularly used in the perfume industry as well as in scented products such as laundry detergents and air fresheners.

Patchouli is beneficial to the skin in many ways. It is often used to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, blemishes, and minor skin imperfections and to promote a smooth, glowing complexion. The fragrance of Patchouli provides a grounding, balancing effect on emotions.

PRIMARY BENEFITS

• Grounding, balancing effect on emotions
• Promotes a smooth, glowing complexion
• Reduces the appearance of wrinkles, blemishes, and skin imperfections

USES
• Combine with Peppermint and apply to the forehead, temples, or back of the neck after a long day of work.
• Apply one to two drops to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, blemishes, or problem skin areas, or add to your favorite moisturizer.
• Combine with Vetiver and apply to the bottoms of feet to help calm emotions.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE
Diffusion: Use three to four drops in the diffuser of your choice.
Internal use: Dilute one drop in 4 fl. oz. of liquid.
Topical use: Apply one to two drops to desired area. Dilute with Fractionated Coconut Oil to minimize any skin sensitivity. 

Experienced essential oil users were asked how they use Patchouli.  Here's some responses:  

• In my daughter's playdough! She loves the smell and with these benefits who would argue including it?!
•  Mix with women's blend for perfume. 2 drops blend to 1 drop patchouli. Also mix with orange and ylang ylang in diffuser.
• My favorite and most-used diffuser blend is 1 drop of patchouli and 3 drops invigorating blend. I love a dab of patchouli over my heart.
• My all time fav! I put one to two drops in my moisturizer as well as diffuse and wear as a perfume.
• Lavender lotion with a drop of lemon and patchouli. My friends say I smell like a hippie...don't care I love it!!
• Love using it with my mineral stone deodorant, feels great on my shoulders to support them after a workout. Smells wonderful diffused with Bergamot. 
• Oooo! One of my favs!! A couple drops in the diffuser with a couple drops Clary sage at bedtime. Or patchouli, lavender, and bergamot in FCO as a body oil!!
• Have always loved Patchouli! Great for diffusing and my skin..... and I put a drop on my bristle hairbrush.....my hair smells divine!
• I put it in my hair with a little almond oil.
• I diffuse it with Grounding Blend for the smell of a rain forest smile 
• My son and I use it for a focus blend!!
• On my face at night with juniper berry & coconut oil. Ahhh
• Diluted in coconut oil to support healthy skin for our little guy. Works better than anything I've tried.
•  I put a few drops of this and Vetiver in a bath to relax.
•  I use a couple drops of it and ylang ylang on a cotton ball with apricot kernel oil on my face 2x daily.
• I like to mix with lavender in my necklace diffuser and people compliment my scent often. 
• Straight over my heart to keep me from going crazy!
• I made some homemade soap with patchouli and ylang ylang in it.
• I love it with lavender and wild orange on my diffuser necklace!
• I rub two drops on my wrists and behind my ears for perfume. 
• Dab a little on my temples with grounding blend every morning and I get so many compliments. ...love it!
• Rub on earlobes for a great nights sleep
• I put it on the soles of my feet when I know I've got a stressful day ahead of 
• I mix it with vetiver and rub on my feet. I also love to diffuse it by itself.
• I like to put a couple of drops in the bath with Clary Sage