It’s July and the Aroma Share Club theme is vacation time! Our oils this month include one of the eight blends that was introduced in fall 2014, Comfort Touch TM, as well as the singles Cedar wood and Spearmint.

What do these oils have in common? They will help keep your July and every summer from being a “Cruel, Cruel Summer.” (By the way, something you never knew about Liz Leopardi – because, hey, this is my first blog post here – is that I think in songs and lyrics. You’re welcome or I’m sorry, depending on how the songs hit you.)

Summer vacation sometimes packs in unwelcome guests. Some fly in for a visit: ants, moths, flies, mosquitoes* and other bugs. Active little and big people get boo-boos and owies. A wrong turn can add miles, irritation and maybe a headache or four. Few vacation memories are complete without Terrible Tales of Tummy Trouble. A vacation can even include one of those summer bummer colds. (I met my husband when I had...

Woman truly do get a bad rap for all our unruly emotions and hormones, but the truth is ... men have them too. Did you know that according to science, 5-10 percent of women have PMS and that once a month men go through a cycle of their own?
There are realistic and simple answers that can help you in today's mythical emotional land. Actually there is nothing mythical about emotions and hormones! Emotions are real! If they weren't we'd all be brain-dead zombies beating our head into a wall trying to wake up! Wake up, people!

If you see your husband, brother, wife or sister or any friend, or even yourself, battling through something emotional or hormonally charged – lend a compassionate hand, literally, and drop 3 drops of Marjoram, Sweet essential oil into 1 tablespoon of carrier oil, and massage their hands and feet. This is so beneficial for you and the person you have gifted your touch to. Free your mind and theirs of troubles and find the joy and happiness of elevating a...

Can you imagine not loving citrus? Well, I can imagine one person. Marie, the mother of Raymond in the TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, was not a big fruit fan. You either love, don’t love or don’t know this show.

One aspect of the title character is that Ray tried to give gifts – he really tried. However, his parents were not the best at receiving them. The tone for this shtick was set in the pilot. If you’re interested in what could actually stop Marie from talking, check the clip! But I digress. That’s what I do.

Among my favorite scents are citrus. Even the colors are happy. Orange oranges, yellow lemons, various shades of grapefruit are the first that come to mind. As they are known by their Latin names, the Genus and species … Citrus sinensis, Citrus limon, Citrus paradisii, Citrus nobilis … Wait, what’s that last one? Red Mandarin. Not a citrus that comes to mind immediately.

a fruit, it’s also known as a mandarin...

Does this ever happen to you – you hear or see something and BAM! It brings back a memory? Not a déjà vu – when you feel like you’ve seen or experienced something you’ve seen or experienced before. No, it’s more like a “click” – like a puzzle piece fitting together.

I had this experience with Ylang Ylang essential oil, as in, “how do you pronounce this?” Just looking at it, you know it couldn’t be as easy as “WHY-lang” or “why-LANG.”

I have heard Leiann say “uh-LANG uh-LANG ” is an option, but she seems to prefer “eh-LONG eh-LONG.” She mentioned the pronunciation depends on your native language.

For fun, if you really give it some thought, take “e-LONG e-LONG” and put the emphasis on the first syllable. You can make this oil name sound like a donkey. Try it yourself. Out loud. I double-dog dare you.

No matter how you (amuse yourself by)...

I’ll just let this essential oil, Neroli, tell you about itself:

“The bitter orange tree has little white flowers. That’s where I’m from. They can only be picked in late April to early May … only on sunny and warm days … early in the morning ... just when the little white flowers begin to open … and it takes 1 ton of these little blossoms to make up to 2 pounds of essential oil. One tree can yield up to 60 pounds of flowers. But these trees are also the source of two other essential oils – Bitter Orange from the fruit peel and Petitgrain from the leaves."

“I was important to royalty and marital harmony in the late 1600s. Prince Flavio Orsini of Nerola, Italy, made sure I was readily available to perfume the bath water and gloves of his Princess Anna-Maria de la Tremoille Orsini, who was also the Dutchess of Bracciano. I’m named after their village, located near Rome. I am also known as Orange Blossom essential oil."

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I love family traditions. When I was a little girl, my parents would put lots of fun and interesting gifts in our Christmas stockings.

Then there was another family tradition, spring cleaning. Sometimes it was forced, such as the Case of My Little Brother’s Reeking Closet. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the shoes … or the socks. Using her carefully honed skills of Mom-deduction, she super-sleuthed her way to the culprit. It was the Christmas stocking … with an orange stuck in the toe.

I think that was my little brother’s final handmade-with-his-name-on-it Christmas stocking.

Months-old moldy oranges aren’t good for much, but Orange, Sweet essential oil is quite versatile. This juicy little oil is good for some of the fluid in your body, specifically:

• your lymphatic system, where it helps stimulate its functional activity and bring it into balance
• decreasing water retention
• lowering blood pressure

Orange essential oil can help juice up your...

I want to try to do a shorter post. Maybe???

Many times we have people really hammer us on the quality of essential oils. It doesn't matter what company you are with, that company's oils is the best by leaps and bounds. Well, really you should feel that way about the company that you represent. It really presents some serious issues and conflicts in your mind and is irresponsible and irrational to know your product is of a low quality and still promote it and sell it. Part of the process of "proving" your product, (essential oils as far as this discussion is concerned), some so called "facts" are presented as as proof that "your" oils are the best. OK, I can deal with that. Most people can. But is it the truth? That is the question. The facts are only the truth to the extent of and the relationship to the available data that the "facts" are based on.

I will explain in this illustration. My favorite apple is a Golden Delicious. For me it is, without question. That is a fact. As far...

When you think of Lavender essential oil, you probably think of fields of purple. These fields are generally from photographs you have seen. These photographs are generally ones taken in Provence, a region in southeast France along the Mediterranean Sea.

If you’re like me, you work on your fake French accent and say “proVONCE, FRONCE.” Then, if you’re like me, you think of a song. Because that’s what I do. And you already know I’m probably going to come up with one, if you’ve read my blog posts.

So, enjoy Maurice Chevalier singing “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” from the 1958 movie Gigi as you enjoy learning about Lavender … 

I found some interesting details about Lavender, Mailette in the winter, 2000 issue of aroma, The International Magazine for Essential Oils (and yes, they use a lowercase “a” for “aroma”). In the article Cousins and Clones:

“The vernacular term Lavender includes a...

This isn’t your typical fire emergency, but when you're in it you feel like grabbing the fire hose and soaking yourself down to a light simmer. Then it’s a personal emergency.

Menopause happens to everyone (well, except men … who-the-heck named it “men-o-pause” anyway?). You can’t run away from it forever. It has a way of jumping out of the bushes and grabbing you. It says; “Come to my eternal world of hot flashes and random bawling your eyes out at every little kitten. Forget your days of normal mood swings, and swing over here, where our mood swings every day.” Sounds fun, doesn't it?

I can't help you stop menopause, but I’m here to tell you that when you’re having your own personal summer, put your sweaty hands down into your purse and grab the mister bottle with your Fire Out oil in it. Apply to endocrine system areas. Mist your face, neck, armpits and heels. AVOID spraying your hindquarters, please!

Fire Out synergy...

Frankincense – most people know it as one of the gifts the Wise Men gave baby Jesus:

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

The words of the Christmas carol “We Three Kings” explain the spiritual significance of the gift:

Frankincense to offer have I.

Incense owns a Deity nigh.

Prayer and praising all men raising,

Worship Him, God on high.

Other sources mention frankincense as a symbol of holiness and righteousness, as well as Christ’s role as the high priest. It was used as one of the ingredients for a holy incense, the amounts of which were given by God to Moses in Exodus 30:34.

Frankincense has been traded beginning more than 5,000 years ago by people in the Middle East and North Africa, according to an article on www.history.com. The article stated:

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