Geraldine Howard, the co-founder of Aromatherapy Associates, shares her favourite essential oils and how to use them.
'My two favourites are rose and frankincense. Rose is fantastic for the skin: it works on the circulation and helps the general health of the skin by getting into the blood stream and speeding up the cell renewal process. It helps keep everything moving and flowing.
'You always need to dilute essential oils with vegetable oil. You want the ratio of about 1 per cent [essential] oil to a drop of vegetable oil base. Rose is the most expensive oil ... it takes about many rose petals to make one drop. It is highly concentrated but really effective. You can use it on your face, your body and hair.
'Frankincense is very tightening for skin. You can mix it with evening primrose oil, peach or almond oil [for the base]. Although essential oils have physical effects on the skin, it's the aroma that works ... on the limbic system, which controls your moods and emotions, and the hypothalamus that controls the endocrine system which controls hormones.
'It's a 'feel-good' thing. Frankincense is known as a meditation oil as it helps you breathe more deeply. Aromas are partly to do with memory. The sense of smell is the most primitive of all our senses. It's pretty difficult to be angry when you're walking through a rose garden.'
Aromatherapy Associates is available at the Mandarin Landmark spa and Sense of Touch spas.