Rapture Bath Salts
A refreshing blend to add to the bath whenever you need a pick-me-up.
500g fine sea salt
10 drops pure pine essential oil
10 drops pure cedarwood oil
6 drops pure petitgrain oil
10 drops pure lavender oil
8 drops pure bergamot oil
Few drops of food colouring
Put the sea salt into a large glass jar. Add the essential oils, screw on the lid and shake well. Leave the jar to stand for 24 hours, by which time the aroma will have permeated the salt. Keep this mixture in the bathroom and use 2-3 tablespoons in each bath. A few drops of food colouring may be added if you wish. Stir it around with a spoon to give an attractive marble effect.
Alpine Foot Powder
This refreshingly-scented deodorant foot powder is based on rice flour which leaves skin feeling silky smooth. Rice flour is available from health food shops, though cornflour is a good alternative.
50g rice flour (or cornflour)
10 drops pure pine oil
10 drops pure cedarwood oil
5 drops pure clary sage oil
5 drops pure lavender oil
Sieve the flour well until it is completely free of lumps, then spoon carefully into a wide-necked jar. Add the essential oils, then screw on the lid and shake well. To ensure that the aroma is evenly dispersed, allow the powder to sit for 24 hours before use. Apply using a powder puff or cotton wool balls.
Ascent Shower Gel
A refreshing and invigorating gel to use all over for an energy boost.
30ml unperfumed bath gel
4 drops pure pine oil
2 drops pure peppermint oil
4 drops pure lemon oil
2 drops pure clary sage oil
2 drops pure lavender oil
Mix together all the ingredients well, then pour a little of the blend on to a body sponge. Massage all over your body while enjoying a warm shower.
Ice Maiden Body Oil
A cooling blend which is guaranteed to revive your flagging spirits on a hot summer day.
10ml carrier oil
5 drops pure pine oil
1 drop pure sandalwood oil
1 drop pure clary sage oil
Add the pure essential oils to the carrier oil and shake well. Smooth into your skin immediately after a lukewarm shower.
Pine Reviver
Begin by giving yourself a sea-salt body rub, followed by an aromatic vinegar bath. These two blends are excellent for recharging yourself at the end of a hectic day. Sea salt is good for sloughing off dead skin cells, softening skin and removing flaky patches on elbows and heels. Cider vinegar added to bath water helps relieve tired muscles. The essential oils contribute to the refreshing and energising effect of the treatment.
- Sea salt body scrub
- Before filling the bath, wet your body under the shower or use a damp sponge. Rub handfuls of sea salt all over your body, but avoid the more sensitive skin of your face.
- Aromatic vinegar bath
- Add 8 tablespoons of cider vinegar to the bath after it has been filled. Add the following essential oil blend, swishing the water so that the oil forms a film on the surface.
- 2 drops pure pine oil
- 1 drop pure juniper oil
- 2 drops pure grapefruit oil
- 1 drop pure petitgrain oil
Pine Incense
The word 'perfume' comes from the Latin per (through) and fumum (smoke) and was originally applied to incense, whose fragrant fumes have been used throughout the centuries to scent and purify the air. Incense is made from many substances including dried pulverised herbs, flowers and roots to wood shavings and bark.
It's easy to make your own incense, in powdered form, at home - tailor-made to your own requirements. This mixture, where pine predominates, has a lovely clean, fresh scent.
- 4 tsp pine resin powder
- 2 tsp frankincense powder
- 1 tsp orris root power
- 10 drops pine essential oil
- charcoal disks as heat source
- Mix the powdered ingredients together, then stir in the essential oil. Put into a glass container and store in a cool, dark cupboard for 4-6 weeks for the scent to mature.
- Light a charcoal disc with a match, or by holding it with steel tongs in a gas flame for a few seconds. When the charcoal is glowing, put it in a heat-proof container and sprinkle with incense. Alternatively, light several pieces of barbeque charcoal in a tin tray. When they are smouldering hot, sprinkle the incense over them.
Pine Cone Tree
- 32cm-high cone of dry oasis
- 40-50 pine cones in assorted sizes
- 20-40 dried poppy seed heads
- 8-10 stems of dried Nigella orientalis
- Glue gun
- Small terracotta pot
- Stick the pine cones to the oasis with a glue gun, applying a circle of glue to the base of each cone before pressing it into place. Start at the bottom of the oasis with the bigger cones, working round in circles, building up the layers and putting the smaller pine cones at the top.
- Fill in the baps between cones with poppy heads and Nigella. Stand the finished arrangement in a terracotta pot.