A Beginner's Guide to Essential Oil Scent Families
You’ve probably noticed the recent popularity of essential oils lately. From people talking about essential oil scent families to the incredible benefits they provide, these natural oils provide us with alternative health resources.
There’s a reason these oils are becoming so mainstream - it’s thanks to the empowering and amazing benefits they offer. People around the world are introducing essential oils into their home and daily routines to increase productivity, improve mood, aid in digestion, and even reduce inflammation.
It’s no secret this world can be a bit overwhelming to a newcomer interested in incorporating essential oils into their lifestyle. The best place to start is by getting familiar with essential oil scent families.
There are eight main scent families of essential oils.
In this article, we’ll dive into each family and profile their unique scents, popular essential oils, and the benefits they provide.
Floral
The floral essential oil scent family is fairly straightforward in its profile and origins. Extracted from flowers, floral scents are often feminine, powdery, and light. Think of a classic sweet perfume, and you’ll find it very similar to a floral essential oil.
Popular essential oils in this scent family include lavender, ylang ylang, geranium, rose, and chamomile.
The floral scent family offers comforting benefits to those who use the oils it contains. It is helpful to balance your mood, aid in rest, and promote sleep. People often use these types of essential oils in the evening to unwind.
Spicy
The spicy essential oil scent family will remind you of cool autumn days, possibly making cookies with your mother or grandmother as a child. These scents are warm and can be very intense. With such powerful fragrances, it’s isn’t uncommon to bring up old memories.
Popular essential oils in this family include cinnamon, coriander, ginger, and clove.
Spicy essential oils are incredibly beneficial to your health and can be experienced via aromatherapy and topical application. They have antioxidant qualities, aid in digestion, boost metabolism, and can even improve skin health.
Citrus
Probably one of the more recognizable and popular fragrances is from the citrus essential oil scent family. Many people describe scents in this family as bright, clean, and mild. These are familiar fragrances to most of us and remind us of cleaning the house on Saturday mornings as they’re often used in cleaning products.
Popular citrus essential oils include lemon, bergamot, grapefruit, and lemongrass.
The oils in this scent family offer both physical and mental health benefits to those who use them. They can help reduce or balance stress and anxiety, promote energy, and create a cleansing sensation while also decreasing blood pressure.
Herbaceous
When you consider the herbaceous essential oil scent family, think of a small garden full of herbs you would find in your kitchen. These fragrances are mostly described as fresh, grassy, and green. They may even remind someone of a crisp spring day.
Popular herbaceous essential oils include rosemary, thyme, oregano, and fennel.
Essential oils in the herbaceous scent family provide behavioral benefits such as balancing emotions, increasing positivity and inducing a calming effect on those who use them. They can also boost immunity and aid in digestion, both vital aspects of our health.
Camphor/ Mint
The camphoraceous essential oil scent family is also known as minty. These scents offer a cool menthol-like scent that is strong and piercingly sharp. People can use these as aromatherapy or apply them topically to their skin.
Well-known and popular camphoraceous essential oils include peppermint, tea tree, eucalyptus, and spearmint.
When one takes advantage of essential oils in the camphoraceous scent family, she can expect to feel motivated and invigorated while experiencing clarity of the mind. These oils are also extremely helpful in easing nausea and improving respiratory problems such as congestion.
Woody
As you can imagine, the woody essential oil scent family has more musky and masculine fragrances. They are often described as deep, warm, and sensual. Some individuals even describe the aroma as the color “brown.”
Scents in this essential oil family include cypress, pine needle, cedarwood, and juniper.
When you use oils from the woody essential oil scent family, you can expect to experience a feeling of security, comfort, and grounding of the mind. They also have a reputation as being aphrodisiacs.
Resinous
Keeping with the more masculine scents, the resinous essential oil scent family offers deep, smoky, and sweet fragrances that are very similar to woody scents. These scents are often described as reminding someone of leather or being in a church.
Popular scents in the resinous scent family include myrrh, frankincense, and elemi.
These essential oils are best used with aromatherapy, especially when meditating or relaxing, as they provide sensations of grounding, uplifting, and intimacy.
Earthy
The earthy essential oil scent family is composed of fragrances that are similar to those in the herbaceous, woody, floral, and resinous families. However, they do have their distinct differences as they can be very powerful scents with hints of floral and sweet yet masculine qualities.
Essential oils included in this family are patchouli, vetiver, and sandalwood.
These powerful natural essences can ease anxious feelings, as well as offer grounding and peaceful sensations to those who use them. Healthwise, these earthy scents can reduce inflammation and relieve painful tension headaches.
Begin Your Essential Oil Journey
The world of essential oils, as we’ve seen above, is overflowing with empowering benefits and vital information that can improve your health and wellbeing. By educating yourself on introducing essential oils into your daily routine, you’ve already begun your journey to improve your lifestyle.
At Magna Dea, we encourage strong, influential women to elevate their mental and physical health, feel more confident, and practice mindfulness and meditation with the help of our robust essential oil collections.
Tap into your inner goddess and do something to benefit your wellbeing with essential oil aromatherapy and topical solutions with Magna Dea.
