I have been using essential oils for several years, making my own skin care products, and sharing products with friends. I live in a small town and we all shop from the internet or drive 3 hours to Vegas to get what we need in the home. We were spending a lot of money on personal care items so I decided to get more informed on making my own lotions and fragrances. Colleen Dodt's book is a must have in my library! I would love to meet her as her personality jumps right out of this book. There are so many things to learn from this book. For those novice and experienced users of essential oils, this book is a wealth of information. It is fun to read and has not made it to the bookshelf yet!! Thank you,Colleen, you did a great job!!! JLO

This is a good quick review short version to get started but I personally perfered a more in depth book.

This is a great read. It gives alot of useful information in a smaller book. A lot of fundamental essential oil information. Great for someone just starting to explore and a must have to keep around for the experienced with all her great blend recipies.

Creating Personal Blends for Mind & Body wasted to many pages basic introduction of essential oils.

Creating Personal Blends for Mind & Body wasted to many pages basic introduction of essential oils.

This is a fun book packed with ideas for using essential oils! I read it when I first started using the oils and am still using it 10 years later!!

I'm wondering if the previous reviewers did any online research on the subject before purchasing the book & giving it rave reviews. There's very little information in the book that I can't easily find online. A good/reputable essential oil supplier's website would contain much more information than this book. The descriptions of only a handful essential oils are also extremely lacking. Somtimes she'd say, this oil is usually good for xxx, but I tried just the opposite and it still worked well (paraphrase). But she offers absolutely no explanation why it still worked for her when the oil is typically used for something else. She casually uses her own experience as examples frequently, but offers no detailed explanation. Often she just says, I like this, or I don't like this. Again, no reason why she liked or disliked something. She simply doesn't sound like a professional writer to me (almost airy), and I expected a lot more from the book, especially after reading the other rave reviews. There are many books out there not even specifically focused on the subject of essential oils, but still contain much more useful & detailed information than this book. Total disappointment. Unless you're too lazy to do any online research and only want to touch the surface of what essential oils are, then this may be the book for you. Afterall, it does contain a small amount of information in an organized fashion, but I could've written this book in a week. Otherwise, don't waste your money.

How our sense of smell works; exactly what is an essential oil (some are not oils at all); how to blend oils for aroma, beauty, and health ---ALL these are covered in this easy to read resourse.
A wealth of information for beginners and others well versed in this wonderful world of scent.

I like this set of books on aromatherapy and essential oils. They explain the whys and hows of aromatherapy in an easy to understand way and give you cool recipes for potions. Good for the beginner and a great reference.

This is a good book. I'm a beginner but have read about 6 books and watched 1 dvd on aromatherapy. This book is upbeat, reasonably comprehensive and a joy to read. Highly recommended.

I was looking for a straightforward book with recipes to get me started with aromatherapy and this one was a good place for me to start. It has an intro section on precautions of using essential oils (they're intense :) And then goes into descriptions and uses of all sorts of oils which will be useful to me once I get better at this. For now I enjoy the recipes that are in the last half of the book - especially the baths. There are also recipes for dryer scenting, floor cleaning solutions and other applications that I haven't tried yet but sound neat - especially the dryer scents!

I got this book as a Christmas present and today's the 27th but I've read most of it already. GREAT book -- it's like a cook book. Given my undergrad work in biochem, it's just the right positioning for me. Tells how the chemical work together(carriers, bases, high notes...) and has a good variety of recipes for toiletries to make yourself: bath soaks, facial oil, and best of all, YOUR OWN PERFUME! Seeing as I'm working on distilling all those rose petals, scented geranium leaves, lavender, ginger and jasmine from my garden, I can become an amateur perfumer --!... It's great fun.

I own many books on this subject, but I find myself pulling this one off the shelf time and again. It offers a lot of basic information in an easy to use format. There are more complete lists of oils and their propertiesout there, but I like this book because it also includes recipes and advice, and inspires me to create my own blends. I recommend this to anyone looking for a basic reference or informational book on essential oils.

I purchased this book for the purpose of getting advice on creating my own blends using essential oils. The recipes included in this book are versatile and provide enough background info to enable the reader to achieve this goal. The author transmits friendly excitement about integrating essential oils into our daily routines. Her writings act as a guide to the beginner and encourage him/her to look for new uses.

I purchased this book for the purpose of getting advice on creating my own blends using essential oils. The recipes included in this book are versatile and provide enough background info to enable the reader to achieve this goal. The author transmits friendly excitement about integrating essential oils into our daily routines. Her writings act as a guide to the beginner and encourage him/her to look for new uses of aromatherapy.

I had the pleasure of attending an aromatherapy class by Colleen Dodt and found it very interesting and inspiring. The book is even more inspiring! Many wonderful "recipes" for making your own personal cologne, scenting your home naturally and using aromatherapy for personal beauty routines. Wonderful to read, entertaining and so much fun to learn about and try out the ideas in the book! Go out and buy it!

I was very disappointed in this book after a friend told me to buy it.There are many better books out for a person to learn.

I purchased this book in 1997 and devoured it, I found the soap recipe very helpful in understanding how to use essential oils in soapmaking. I host a chat on AOL for Aromatherapy weekly and had the extreme pleasure of interviewing Colleen K. Dodt about her Natural Baby Care book. She is a very knowledgeable author on the subject of aromatherapy and herbal use.

Along with a lot of practical examples for aromatherapy, this book is really comfortable for eyes; sky blue letters are printed on somewhat beige recycled paper. I also liked her own approach to aromatherapy; different from conservative british aromatherapists, she really enjoys and loves herbs, essential oils, and her life.

This was my first book on aromatherapy and after reading all the "recommended and required" books by various certification courses and classes I've taken, I always go back to Colleen's book. It is clear, concise and very easy to use for beginners. I always recommend this book to friends who want to learn more about aromatherapy and essentials oils.

I have approximately 30 books on the subject, and whenever someone asks which book to begin with I always tell them about this one. It is easy to read, gives great recipes, good safety information (always important) and does not complicate the beginner's life with chemistry or spiritualism (valid subjects but not what the beginner is usually interested in). If you are a beginner to the subject and don't know where to start, then start here

Colleen's book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in aromatherapy. I have read many aromatherapy books in the past few years and Colleen's is the cream of the "lavender crop"! She shares all of her secrets and the book is filled with tons of household tips. She is the reason my house smells like lavender everytime I do the laundry! Imagine what other treats I've discovered. Indulge in the wonderful world of aromas

By just looking at the cover of this book I could tell it was going to be fun, what with it's matte finish and recycled pages, and I wasn't disappointed! Ms. Dodt has executed an easy to comprehend book that is good for beginners and those that are past the beginner stage,but not ready to croos the line into advanced aromatherapy. The blue "idea" boxes scattered throughout the book contain great "at a glance" information and her oil descriptions are well done. All of her receipes contain oils that most folks should have in their aromatherapy kitchen, unlike other books I have read that have oils that are either extremelly expensive or hard to obtain. I especially appreciated her clear and concise definitions of measuring dilutions, since so many aromatherapy books skip right over this or don't explain this concept clearly. The packaging,labeling, and gift ideas she describes are wonderful, especially for those of us may creative with oil blends but lousy with packaging! What a treat to read