Wax tarts are like drugs (or pokemons), you get one and you gotta get 'em all (proof #1 & #2). They smell like heaven (or fresh snow/honey glow/vanilla ice cream) and they are not terribly expensive. At least at first sight. I tend to pop into a store with Yankee candles every other week or so and pick up about £5 worth of tarts. Using them sparingly - little chunks at the time, doesn't make it that much of a difference though, I spend at least a tenner (realistically probably twice as much) a month and they are gone oh so quickly! Essential oils, I found out, are quite a smart (and rather obvious - oil burners, doh!) alternative which costs you half the money & does more good to your body than wax tarts (they say). 

I remember when essential oils used to be the thing - I was about 6 years old & my mum & dad had two oil burners - one in their bedroom (where we all used to watch telly anyways) and one in our open plan kitchen. They smelled like Christmas to me, even though they probably did have some regular plants or herbs in them, not just a liquefied Christmas tree. Those were lush times! And you know what? My flat now smells just like that - although my nose is now able to tell different scents apart so it's not uber Christmassy here every day (boo!). The ones I've been using are Melissa, Jasmine, Amyris & Cypress. The main difference between aromatherapy oils & wax tarts is that the former is beneficial to your health - each and every oil targets one key (troubled) area of your body (and also that they last for absolute ages because you're only using a few drops at the time!). For instance the Melissa oil smells really minty (a little bit like Vicks) and helps to de-phlegm (yuck) your nose & airways. Amyris, on the other hand is a tad sweeter and calms your mind. Jasmine improves skin elasticity (when used in a bath tub) and eases muscular tension (when used in an oil burner). My kidneys & liver have always been playing jokes on me therefore I've been using Cypress to keep them in bay. The truth is that essential oils might not be as exciting as wax tarts (cypress, meh versus fresh linen, mmmm) but when diluted in water and warmed up in an oil burner, they release a stronger but less headache inducing scent.         

 The essential oils I've been using are from G Baldwin & Co (do ya remember their skin toner? I bloody loved that thing!). Check out their essential oil body map below - I'm definitely going to be stocking up on some more oils for winter - Roman Chamomile for ear ache and Benzoin sound right up my snotty winter alley, hey! G Baldwins & Co offer the widest range of essential oils in one place I've ever seen (over 100 different oils! click here to check them out). 

Have you tried aromatherapy before?
If yes, where do you buy your essential oils from?


Disclaimer: G Baldwins & Co kindly let me pick some of their oils based on the essential oil body map & helped me understand a bit more about the benefits of aromatherapy. Thank you!