The Best Essential Oil Blends for the Winter

In this post, I want to share with you my best essential oil blends for the Winter. The new season brings the sound of snow falling, the scent of sleeping nature, and a feeling of new beginnings that I absolutely love. However, the Winter season can also be a challenging time when we have to face our New Year resolutions and tackle new projects with just a few hours of daylight.

That is why I love to use aromatherapy and essential oils to enhance my mood, lift my spirit, and sometimes give me an extra dose of energy. Although I like to play around with my own concoctions, I wanted to share with you my favorite organic essential oil blends that I use during the Winter.

EO Aromatherapy Blends: Uplift

As I was born and raised in Spain, I am used to having more sun hours during the winter. And as much as I love living in New York, every time the new season rolls in I get a little depressed, and that has to do with the fact that I grew up in a country with more hours of light. In the winter, it will get dark around 6 pm. In New York, it can be as early as 4.30 pm. And that truly affects my body.

As I am aware of the effect that the new season has in my body, I try to compensate it by eating more nutrients rich in Vitamin D and using essential oils with mood-lifting properties. The Uplift aromatherapy blend handcrafted by EO is a happy composition that combines very elegantly the crispy and fruit notes of grapefruit and orange with cedarwood, ylang ylang, frankincense, and lavender. It instantly lifts my mood, and although by no means I am suggesting this can be a cure for any mental illness such a depression, in my case it helps to alleviate the symptoms of my seasonal blues provoked by the lack of light. As always, if you feel down and suspect that it might be something deeper than a seasonal change of mood, don’t hesitate to ask a doctor. Mental health is important!

This 100% natural and undiluted formula is great to use in a room diffuser and to make your own “happy” bath salts. You can follow my easy bath salts recipe here and change the essential oil portion for a tablespoon of fractionated coconut oil (or any other carrier oil) and 5 drops of EO Uplift blend. 

Aura Cacia: Putting a Spring on your Winter

I have to confess that I adore bears for the simple reason that I would love to hibernate with them. The changes in daylight literally throw away my circadian rythm (as in my internal body clock), so at the beginning of the season I feel sluggish, groggy, and irritated. It is in those days when my hangry (hungry+angry) moods get the best of me.

Aura Cacia Pep Talk ($10.99) is an essential oil blend that awakens my sense of excitement when my energy levels seem to be a bit off. With the uplifting effect of peppermint and the citrusy crispness of lemon and orange, this well-rounded composition makes me feel that life is just going to be OK. What I love most about the composition is the unexpected cardamom scent, which is a very overpowering spice but somehow gives the perfect spicy balance to the blend. A fifteen-minute diffusion while I am preparing breakfast usually does the trick.

On the other hand, Aura Cacia Inspiration ($10.19) is great to capitalize on that recovered energy and promote creative thoughts. With a savvy blend of lemon, bergamot, balsam fir needle, sweet basil and rosemary essential oils, it is the best blend to diffuse in a work setting as it is gently uplifting and, in my case, helps with my creative writing. I personally love the forest-y touch of balsam fir needle and the gentle and sweet smell of basil. They simply work wonderfully together!

Both blends are wonderful in diffusion or even to create your own portable aromatherapy aid (as in putting a couple of drops in a cloth tissue that you can always smell when you need an extra boost in your day.) I haven’t personally tried diluting and using them topically because I want to double-check a couple of ingredients that I have never used before, but I will update this information with my experiments.

Wally’s Natural: Portable Energy

Wally’s Natural has created an USDA Organic certified roll-on that is ideal to take on your purse. The Energy blend ($9.99) is created to stimulate and energize your senses with cedarwood oil, bergamot oil, spearmint oil, sweet lemon oil, grapefruit oil and peppermint oil already pre-diluted in carrier oils. 

To use, you can apply the oil up to four times a day in any of your pulse points and inhale deeply (this is, the inside of your wrists, inside of your elbows, or the back of your neck.) I personally love to use it when I am riding the subway and the lack of personal space gets a bit too much. It immediately makes me feel energized and hopeful that my stop will come soon!

How Do Essential Oils Work?

Essential oils (and any volatile scents from plants) literally shoot straight up to the amygdala, a part of the brain situated in the lymbic region. As the University of Maryland Medical Center puts it in this great article about aromatherapy, “When you breathe in essential oil molecules, some researchers believe they stimulate these parts of your brain and influence physical, emotional, and mental health.”

It is true that a scent has the power to evoke good and bad memories instantly, and that has to do with the unique connection between our nose receptors and the amygdala. That is why I love to use essential oils either topically by diluting them in a carrier oil or by diffusing them to get their benefits. 

Also, please note that this post does not constitute medical advice. You should always talk to a doctor prior to using essential oils, especially if you are pregnant, lactating, or have any health condition for which you are taking any medication, including supplements.