TIPS ON HOW TO EXTEND THE USE AND PLEASURE OF YOUR ESSENTIAL OILS & ABSOLUTES OILS, EVEN WHEN YOUR BOTTLE IS EMPTY.
Before discarding your empty essential oils vials, you can still extend the life of the few precious drops that remain. Following are a few ideas, just to get the fire of re-using started:
- Just fill your empty with a carrier oil or neutral liquid soap of your choice. Shake to mix and leave to macerate for 3-4 weeks.
You can now use your infused oil/soap 2-3 drops at a time, to boost or fragrance your body oils creams, lotions, shampoo…
- Fill your empty vial with Sunflower oil or olive oil, to create an aromatised oil. Leave to infuse for a few weeks, shaking your bottle to blend your mix, from time to time.
Use your oil a few drops a time to perfume your sweet and sour sauce or marinades.
- Burry your empty vial in 500gr of plain sugar, or salt depending on the oil and leave it there, to create aromatized sugar/salts that you can then use in your drinks or cooking.
You can do the same with plain grains or cereals (rice for rice pudding, plain oats…).
- Add a few drops of vegetable glycerine or castile soap to your vial, close the cap and shake to blend a maximum of the oils with the bases. Leave this to infuse for 1-2 hours. Add water to your mix and shake again. Use this blend when you need to create an aromatic shampoo, conditioner or washing soap. Add more neutral shampoo, conditioner, or soap.
- Create your own face or hair serum by filling your empty vial with an appropriate carrier oil, aloe vera, vegetable glycerine and hyaluronic acid…
- Fill with a neutral perfume base to create a light perfume.
- Create a mini sanitizer: into a 10 ml empty bottle, add 2.5ml of alcohol, shake, close your vial and leave to infuse for a day or two. Then fill the bottle with water.
- Create a mini reed diffuser: add a few drops of neutral scented (MCT, sunflower…) carrier oil to the vial. Shake the vial to blend the oils. Fill the vial with perfume base and shake to blend and dissolve. Cut bamboo reeds so get 2-3 reeds measuring10-15 cm. Place them in the vial with your aromatized medium. Use in bathrooms and small space to diffuse.
- If you like using the essential oils in diffusers: drown your empty vial in a jar filled with hot water. Close the lid and shake. Oils and water do not mix, and you will find essential oils drops floating on the surface. Only use this aromatized water in your diffuser. You’ll have created many “perfumed” waters to serve as base for diffusing. You could diffuse the aromatized water as it is (light, perfect if kids or pets around) or use it as a base to add more essential oils.