Member Reviews

Great book for us beginners wanting to learn more about essential oils.
The author gives simple instructions an directions.
I got some ideas on what I’d like to make on my essential oils journey.

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Essential Oils for Beginners is a great little primer for those just getting into essential oils. I like that the author really drives home the warnings on some of these oils. Another great beginner's book from Llewellyn.

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Essential oils have gained in popularity in the last few years. When I was first introduced to them, there was little in the way of available resources to help me use them.

While there have been many books (and ebooks) written on the topic, I really like Kac Young's approach in this title. Unlike some authors, she is not advocating for willy nilly usage (e.g. ingesting with water) that I've seen in some self-published books.

Overall, a good beginner resource to help you learn how to responsibly use essential oils.

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“Essential Oils for Beginners” is one of a series of books published by Llewellyn Publishing . I enjoy their books and series . Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

This was a excellent guide for beginners and avid regulars of essential oil use. I highly recommend this book for all levels of essential oil knowledge. I enjoyed the layout, the well researched information and especially the carrier oil. information. This will be a book I will buy in hard copy and add to my essential oil library and refer to often. The author has included many receipes you can try with mixing oils that are delightful. I found much here that is new to me information and new oils to try that I will incorporate into my personal use . I enjoyed reading this very much and highly recommend this book for all that want to increase their knowledge or begin using essential oil

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This is one of the best books on Essential oils. The author has a very comprehensive knowledge of not only essential oils but also of Ayurveda, chakras and the Chinese system of healing. The book follows a holistic approach to healing by essential oils. The emotional aspect and effects of essential oils are also dealt with. The recipes developed by the author can be very useful for beginners in essential oils. The book takes you back into the history of essential oils in a very interesting way. Overall it is such a good book that anyone interested in Essential oils will refer it again and again.

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Between this book and discovering the world of Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Soap I have begun making my own body care and cleaning products. It’s rewarding, sustainable, enjoyable, affordable, and I’ve even given out my sugar scrub in repurposed jelly jars as gifts. If you are looking for a new hobby, this is it.

That said, I am fully vaccinated and get my flu shot every year. I feel the need to point this out because the crazy lady on Pandemic was into essential oils.

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"Essential oils for Beginners", by Kac Young is a comprehensive guide about everything you would want to know about essential oils. From the science behind what an essential oil is, to how it is made and used.

I was very pleased to find so much detail on the numerous varieties of oils and the best ways to use them. This book is not only for people wanting to explore the benefits of essential oils but also a valuable reference guide to keep with your oils.

I found the chapter on carrier oils to be very helpful, as it gave a list of a variety of oils to mix with your essential oils to use for a specific purpose, such as aging, burns, acne and so much more."Essential oils for Beginners", by Kac Young is both medicinal and magical and is a great addition to my library. For those of you who are wanting to use essential oils, but not sure where to start, this is a book you will want to have.

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I knew nothing about oils, but recently I have been into oils and their combination to help with headaches. I think this is a great beginner's guide to understanding the combinations.

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This was a very great book to start out with. I haven't dealt with oils in ages and reading this was like coming home. It gave me the kick start I needed to remember things that I already knew. Those looking to get into dealing and working with oils will get a lot out of this title. Those who are like me that haven't worked oils in sometime and are just coming back to it will also learn a lot from this book.

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Essential Oils for Beginners: A Guide to What They Are & How to Use Them by  Kac Young is a great starter book to get to know essential oils. This book explains the benefits of each oil and how to use it, along with safety guidelines. This book also includes how to pair oils, and provides recipes. I highly recommend this book for any one interested in essential oils and how to enhance your spirituality, happiness, beauty and fortitude.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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4 Stars

“Essential Oils for Beginners” is one of a slew of titles in the “For Beginners” series published by Llewellyn Publishing by Kac Young. I love this particular series and am happy to see titles like these showing up in an already successful line for Llewellyn.

I thought this was a very comprehensive book speaking not only to the new age crowd in the latter parts of the book but to all those people who want to get into essential oils and don’t know where to start. This is like your starter kit. They give you the best 20 oils to put into your collection and speak to any number of things these specific oils can do for you, heal for you, etc.

This is one of those books that you will need to keep on your reference shelf to refer back to often. I decided to try the pairing of lemon and peppermint. I don’t think I would have thought those two scents went together but they blend beautifully and promote a sense of awake-ness and rejuvenation. Love it so much! I have wanted to experiment with essential oils for a very long time yet didn’t know where to start. This is helping me to open up to all the possibilities that oils can bring to my life and my health.

If you love books in the “For Beginners” series, definitely check this one out too! You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

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A really great beginner's guide to essential oils that anyone can follow and learn a lot from. I loved the different sections on the various oils, their history, and different ways for usage. A great resource!

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I liked the fact that cautions are in the introduction to this book about allergy testing and about not putting oils on children and pets, but I would have taken it a step further and pointed out that pets lick foreign substances off their fur and some things perfectly okay for humans can be lethal for pets.

The first chapter gives a history of essential oils going back to Ancient Egypt and is followed by a chapter about what essential oils are and the various methods of extraction. There's a lot of repetition about how good they are for health, balanced against the usual legal warnings, but there is also good information.

The third chapter really impressed me. Rather than vague safety warnings, it went into detail about how oils affect the body and which can be potentially dangerous, exactly what can happen if you don't dilute properly and ratios of essential oils to carrier oils for safety in different age groups. I haven't seen this kind of information in previous books I've read on the subject.

Next we learn about carrier oils in more detail than I've ever seen. This is followed by segments about each of 20 popular essential oils, covering their scent, their uses, what they mix well with and any special cautions. This is where this book excels, giving the reader a real feeling for the oils and carriers that could only be improved by waving a bottle of the stuff under your nose. It has given me the confidence to try some experiments and see how close I can come to duplicating some very special oil mixtures that I can no longer find for sale.

The author did get a little airy-fairy when talking about Melissa Oil, but a lot of good information is included in these segments and she seems very knowledgeable.

I was especially interested in the chapter on how to actually blend oils! She goes over details of the technical side as well as information on top notes, middle notes and base notes. She also explains how to use the scents in perfume, cologne, hand sanitiser, roll on or inhaler, as well as various forms of diffusers and room sprays. Using it in jewellery to diffuse was an interesting approach. Adding to cosmetics, like moisturisers is also included.

She then gives recipes for some of her own blends, while encouraging the reader to experiment and explaining how to do it safely. The medical uses give me mixed feelings. She makes a good point that anything you rub onto the skin is absorbed into the body and can even affect internal organs. I can definitely see how certain scents can help clear congestion. Some of the more internal healing claims hit my scepticism, but I'd try some of them. The important thing is that full instructions, including cautions, are in the book.

The psychological uses I find easy to accept as scent has such a mood shifting influence. I'd like to see if it actually does help depression and other major conditions, but certainly relieving stress and tension makes perfect sense. The book finishes off with a chapter on ritual where the woo comes out, followed by a glossary of terms.

Regardless of the reader's beliefs, from a purely scent oriented interest in the subject I've never seen a better instructional book on making essential oils. The descriptions of the different oils make me feel as if I'm familiar enough with them at least enough to know which I want to buy and the details about amounts of carrier oils and which to choose are unequalled in anything I've seen before. This may be one I need to buy in paperback to keep on my shelf for frequent reference.

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***I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

I found this to be quite an enjoyable read, especially since I would probably be the target audience for this type of book. There was a lot of information regarding the history of essential oils which I don’t usually see. The information regarding the properties of the oils was well presented and easy to follow. I believe that this book would be a nice addition to a reference collection.

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I know a bit about essential oils but really wanted a good basic primer, this helped full in the bits I wasn't aware of. Easy to understand and read.

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I loved this book. It was full of basic and refresher information about using oils, where they come from, purposes, warnings and more. The 20 oils they focused on had a lot of information with good readability. Anyone new to oils or who would like a handy reference should own this book. I definitely will be referencing it in the future.

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I've been getting into Essential Oils since my daughter's speech therapist told me about them. She said she used them to help keep her kiddos from getting sick during the winter. Since my daughter gets a cold every single month of the school year, I jumped onto it. What did I have to lose? So when I saw this on NetGalley, I snagged it!

This book is idiot-proof. It has the history of essential oils. What part of the plant that the 'oils' come from. Safety and how to use. It talks about carrier oils and even has a nice little chart on how to dilute if you're going to use it on your skin. It also goes over 20 essential oil and tells you everything you could ever want to know about them.

It's well written and so easy to understand that I loved it so much. Really, it's perfect for a newbie like me. Now if only I could find a way for it to actually keep my daughter from catching so many colds...

Will go live on the blog: 11/24/2019

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I've been wanting to learn more about essential oils. This was the perfect book to get started! I really look forward to using some of this information to bring essential oils into my daily life. The images are bright and it brings great information for a beginner like me!

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Good starting information about 20 basic oils. Great information to start - safety, blending and some recipes. A nice jump off point.

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This is a great starter book on essential oils for beginners. I think it will definitely be helpful for a lot of patrons, who are just now starting to request information on the essential oils, so we will be buying a couple copies. Thank you so much!

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