I saw Miley Cyrus and Here's What Happened

I've always been starstruck.  Seeing celebrity makes my heart beat a little faster.  Living here in the midwest, my opportunities for seeing celebrities is limited.

I am also noticing that I am starting to worry a bit more about safety. Especially when I am with my kids.  Yesterday, my kids and I were at Los Angeles International airport waiting to go through security.  The lines were long, long, long and actually snaked through an entire hallway and down the staircase.  It was unbelieveable. Tempers were high as people feared they would miss their flights.

We finally reached the security checks.  People were putting their bags on the rollers to go through the xray machines.  I looked around and noticed an extremely scuzzy looking guy with a baseball cap and three cameras with zoom lenses.  What can he possibly be taking photos of I wondered?  No one else seemed disturbed. When I presented my license to the security guard, I asked who is that person taking pictures.  I also wondered why he was being allowed to do so. The answer was that he was a paparazzi. Miley Cyrus was just a bit ahead of us in line.  Sure enough there she was a darling looking young woman.  I pointed her out to my boys who recognized her but told me they wished she was a pokemon. 

In the interim, I was quite frightened of the paparazzi that I thought was up to more nefarious dealings that I felt my anxiety levels grow and grow and grow. When we exited the security area, my heart was really beating up a storm -- that old fight or flight syndrome.  Fortunately, I had a teeny little vial of lavender with me in purse that I was using on my dermatitis that I picked up on the beach.  I breathed in the lavender aroma with deep breaths and I could feel my heart beat slowly returning to normal. Essential oils work. They work everytime.  Contact us at http://www.omstonearomas.com/ for more details.

Why Have Sex? Get Motivated with Ylang Ylang

Why Have Sex?  That's a good question.  Especially if you have been in a long term relationship, sex seems like one addtional chore or obligation that one needs to make time for in their busy life. Its really easy to loose interest in it, once it becomes same old, same old.  Agreed?

Well, having sex is a good idea merely because it is a good way to burn alot of calories fast. It is also  a good way to keep your relationship on track.  What can you do if you simply don't feel like it?  ever...?

Counseling is out of our realm but Ylang Ylang is one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs and can help you get motivated for the big 15 minutes or so you will need to be engaged. 
Ylang ylang is a gentle oil that is rich in esters.  It sooths the nervous system and allows you to relax.  Another reason it is not a whole essential oil, meaning that it is processed differently from other essential oils. In a 2005 study ylang ylang was found to reduce the pulse rate while at the same time increasing alterness and arousal.  All good conditions for having sex. 

So now we've established that we must have sex for diet and for our relationship.  We've established that ylang ylang works on relaxing the pulse rate as well as the nervous system while at the same time increasing alertness and arousal, so how do we use this very powerful smelling oil?

It can be used in an inhaler along with other essential oils.  The chemicals of the scent will travel immediately to the brain and into the limbic system where ylang ylang will begin to do its work.  Ylang ylang can also be added to a lotion along with other oilsin a blend that it won't over power.  Check out http://www.omstonearomas.com/ for intstructions on how to blend. Happy Luvin!

Beauty and the Bitch: Self esteem and essential oils

Girls can be cruel to each other.  Especially girls in middle school. There are more ways to bully and taunt someone than ever before. 

Being bullied can have  life-long implications.   In addition to damaging self-esteem it may impact the way a girl communicates and interacts with people for the rest of her life.  There is no logical reason that bullying should continue to be accepted as a rite of passage. 

Why does it happen? There are many theories and thoughts as to why.  My opinion is that this goes much deeper than a mere power struggle.  I believe bullying has to do with survival of the fittest. The very essence as to what makes us tick as human beings, the inate instinctual desire to reproduce and the desire to attract more male partners to help acheive that desire.

There are cases where a girls between the ages of 11 and 13 are ostracized or teased because they arer "weird."  No one should be bullied because they march to a different drummer, however, this is the nature of the beast.  Thre are some really smart, attractive nice girls that find themselves on the recieving end of the bully's stick.  Generally, she is victimized by the queen bee a little bitchy girl who feels threatened by her sweeter kinder rival.  In evolutionary terms, the queen bee or bitch as she may be subconciously feels that her ability to attract the interest of the boys is being impeded by this start up rival who is equally attractvie. 

Damaged self-esteem is the upshot and aromatherapy can help both the "bitch and the beauty" by offering a feeling of confidence and calm.  Oils suggested are neroli for confidence, rose for comfort and ylang ylang for acceptance.  Essential oils could be combined in an aloe gel for a perfume that all the girls would wear.  The perfume would create a bonding, plus it would lower tensions as the girls began to accept each other and feel their self-esteem and confidence rise.

There's What in My Face Cream?

There's What in my face cream?  That's what I would like to know.  Today there seems to be an abundance of exotic ingredients that don't make alot of sense to me. 

I am not referring to modern break throughs such as peptides (you can actually feel those working) but it would be nice to understand the difference between pentapeptides and hexapeptides and other peptides?   Other categories of ingredients such as anti-oxidants are critical for skin health but is a goji berry really better than a blue berry?  If so who says and why?  There is also Retin A, Retinal, Retinol, Retinolic acid, Retinaldhydes and vitamin A derived from natural products.  So what's the difference? A good place to start looking for answers is http://www.skinactives.com/.  Not only can you find out the answers to these questions but you can purchase these actives as well.  

But what I find so alarming are some of the more unique ingredients found in todays creams and body lotions.  I  wonder what is the exact purpose and how are they really working.   Check out http://www.beautybrains.com/ for a detailed explaination of how and why snail oil is supposed to work.  Then there are those who swear by Emu oil and animal growth factors.  I'll take essential oils any day.  They are fresh, vegtarian and they smell great and a little goes a long way. 

I think many manufacturers of skincare products and skin professionals who are out to make a name for themselves are looking for a hook - a way to depart from the accepted practice of  breaking down the skin by exfoliating to bring out brighter, new skin. I for one am not convinced that galvanic and electrical treatments to the face are anymore effective than a good 30% peel.  I am open to changing my mind so feel free to post your comments.

Lavender Fatigue

Oops!  I've gone ahead and said it. Lavender Fatigue.  Do you have it?  I certainally do.  It is probably the most over used oil I've come across.

Yes, its chemical properties make it a popular oil.  Its calming and disinfecting and nice for linen closets and your unmentionable drawer.  Its good for the skin.  Its got a gentle aroma.  Yet not only is it over used,  it is used for people who really don't understand this oil and think it smells good with mint or that it is excellent and calming for babies.

Lavender is not good for everyone.  Those with estrogenic based cancers should not use lavender products. My thoughts are that pregnant women and nursing women should not use essential oils and I would not use them on babies.  I am always surprised when people who say they would never, never vaccinate their kids, start plying them with oils and herbs from a very early ages. Vaccinations are at least regulated.  Essential oils are not.

In any case, although I myself like lavender combined with oils such as eucalyptus radiata for massage or bath salts, or even with peppermint, I think it would be nice for those of us in the aromatic world to venture out and try other oils that may offer up some new scentsations! 

How about palmarosa?  This gentle oil has a rosy, slightly grassy scent, which is calming and excellent for skincare.  The oil is well priced and offers up a whole new world of blending possiblities. There's also grapefruit, which is calming and gently stimulating and it can add a devine scent to your laundry.  There's sexy patchouli the scent of the 70's. For other floral scents there is ylang ylang, heady but seductive.

So next time you are thinking up mixing up an interesting synergy leave out the lavender and explore new options.

For fine customized lotions, skincare visit http://www.omstonearomas.com/