Ylang-Ylang is one of my favorites. This post will highlight the top three uses for this amazing essential oil!

Ylang-Ylang is a super popular scent used in perfumes like Chanel No. 5 and an amazing holistic ingredient. It actually comes from the Cananga Tree which originated in Indonesia. It can now be found in the Philippines, Madagascar, and in Malaysia. The Cananga tree is actually a part of the custard apple family! The flowers of the Cananga are distilled and from them comes Ylang-Ylang essential oil.

Some of the most popular benefits of this essential oil are:

• relieving high blood pressure
• normalizing the oils in your skin which is helpful if you have skin problems
• for the same reason as above it is great for scalp health
• powerful antioxidant
• aphrodisiac

The leaves of the Cananga tree.

Positive emotions associated with Ylang-Ylang: Freedom, joyfulness, acceptance, intuition enhancement, playfulness. 

As I said earlier, I love this oil so much it is one of the four in my ApotheKayla Signature Blend It is also in my Love Potion recipe. I hope this post resonated with you and if so I would love for you to share it on your favorite social media pages. Make sure you tag @apothekayla and I will RT, or  share!

Thanks for reading and be well!

psst... send me an email to learn more about where I purchase Ylang-Ylang

I began making this blend over a year ago. Each time I would run out of the perfume I was crafting for myself, I would create a new version with more knowledge about the oils than the previous time. After I changed the main essential oils around and selected the three that I would use, I had to experiment with the amount of each oil; drop by drop.

Part of the reason I took so long to perfect this blend was stubbornness, it was never perfect enough. The other things that factored in were the life events that took place during the last year of my life. It's wild to think about while I'm writing this post, but the photos were taken in our homestead.

When we moved out of our homestead it all happened so quickly that I misplaced my lovely blend. Instead of making a new bottle, I created an alternative version, a mist. I will share both versions with you in this post. The blend and the spray.

The amazing thing is the way I love them both, they are similar but vastly different. A good friend told me once to listen to my body. That I would know when I need something, and usually what it was. I didn't do a lot of research about the effect the oils in this blend have on the mind until after I perfected it.

There have been times when I feel my body craving this blend. I know, it sounds silly but I'm serious. Once I realized the physical, mental, and emotional aspects this blend helped to heal it made perfect sense. So I will share those with you as well.

At one point I thought I would bottle this blend and sell it as ApotheKayla Signature Blend. Instead my friends, I will share the recipe.

Oil Blend

Find a fancy atomizer bottle here.

In a 15 ml bottle fill with carrier oil of choice leaving enough room at the top for the essential oils. I have used both rose-hip oil and fractionated coconut oil.
11 drops of patchouli essential oil
7 drops of wild orange essential oil
4 drops of ylang ylang essential oil

Spray/ Mist
In a 4 oz glass bottle with fine mist atomizer spray attachment fill with witch-hazel.
15 drops of patchouli essential oil
10 drops of wild orange essential oil
6 drops of ylang ylang essential oil
*with the spray version you will need to shake the mixture before you use it each time.

Based on the book Emotions & Essential Oils, which a dear friend sent me, this blend was also developed on a deep level of intuition that I didn't realize I had tapped into. The oils used in this blend are healing for the mind and spirit on an aromatic level. The oils ylang ylang, patchouli, and wild orange all center around self awareness, spiritual healing, and clearing out negative emotions/ energies so you can be the dream version of yourself with new empowering emotions/ energies.

On a physical level the oil is revitalizing for your skin and your energy levels. It is healing for women, with essential oils that heal many known problems that women come across throughout life. It also balances the part of our brains that are known for chemical imbalance, so it is a mood stabilizer.

This blend is very dear to me. Not only do I enjoy the scent all day long, I enjoy the way I feel when I wear it. I love having friends and family say "what are you wearing... that scent is amazing". I also think that some people don't quite understand how excited I get to share a sample with them. I love sharing it with friends so I figured now would be a great time to add it to my blog!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to check out the giveaway I'm hosting at the end of the month!

Until next time, be well!

Do you enjoy the pleasures of homemade soap? So do I!

I have been making my own health and beauty products for almost two years now and I always wanted to make my own soap, but I was afraid of working with Lye. My first tip in this post: Don't let Lye scare you away from making soap.

We have made two different batches now and while there is a science to it, there is also a special sequence of events needed to make the perfect apple pie.

The rewards of making soap are many, and I knew I would love being able to customize my soap with different ingredients and textures but I was so afraid of the Lye. I had my bottle of Lye for at least four months before I attempted making soap. It sat high on the shelf mawking my fears... Okay so it wasn't that bad. We were busy and I knew making soap for the first time would require my full attention and a bit of research.

I am by no means a soap making expert, I wanted to write this blog post though to share the information that helped me when making soap as a beginner.

The first thing you should do is read over this post. It tells you which tools you will need and has a step by step guide for the process. This post does recommend to open plenty of windows for proper ventilation when using Lye but we prefer to take it outside until the fumes die down.

Once you have a good grip on the tools and basic steps you can dive right in to the fun part: choosing ingredients!!

You can use a plethora of ingredients in soap making but you have to start with a few basics. You will need to use a good base oil such as hemp, coconut, or extra virgin olive oil in any recipe you make. My preference of course is hemp and coconut oils but when we left North Carolina I left my hemp oil in my mother's refrigerator so we used coconut and extra virgin olive oil this time. In our first batch of soap we used hemp and coconut oil.

I suggest using this calculator when choosing your base oils to ensure you get the right outcome. This calculator helps you figure out exactly how much Lye and water to use based off of the oils you choose.

You can choose to make a plain, unscented batch of soap and then grate it down later to melt and add scents or you can go all out and add dried herbs, exfoliates, essential oils, and colorants.

I forgot to take photos when we made our first batch of soap, but this time I took some throughout the entire process. For our first batch of soap I used only patchouli essential oil because I wanted to make sure I had the process down pat before I started adding the fun stuff! We wanted to make sure if there were any problems we could easily replicate the recipe and figure out what went wrong.

When I say we I mean my husband and myself. My husband has helped me both times and I strongly suggest having a friend help you as well. Its always nice to have an extra set of hands and someone who can help measure the temperatures when you get to that point.

This time when we made soap, after doing research, I decided to replace water with organic green tea (make sure it has reached room temperature before mixing with Lye). I also chose to add used coffee grounds as a light exfoliant and we used patchouli, ylang ylang, and clary sage essential oils.

One variability that we didn't account for was the temperature differences we go through on any given day while living in an RV. While our soap did set up in the end it took longer than normal and I'm guessing it may take a little longer to cure as well.

Yes, that's right we made soap while living in an RV so if we can do it in our tiny-home you can too!




When choosing essential oils for soap I like to look at their properties before I decide on the scents that I like. That may seem a little backwards but the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of the soap are amazing in the long run.

Once I chose the oils for their properties I took care to blend them properly and make sure I would like the scent. When blending oils you should not just add 10 drops of each oil, you need to blend them in a precise manor.

For essential oil reference I suggest these books: Modern Essentials and Emotions & Essential oils. Modern Essentials is my essential oil bible and I was just recently introduced to the Emotions & Essential Oils book, I love it already.

The soap we made from the recipe above has the physical benefits of healthy cell growth, balance of skin and scalp (helps with healing skin including wrinkles, stretch marks, and dandruff on the scalp), soothes nervous tension, and hormonal balance (men and women).

Along with the physical benefits of the essential oils in this blend there are emotional benefits as well.

Patchouli "supports individuals in becoming fully present in their physical body... patchouli brings confidence in the body, as well as grace, poise and physical strength" (1).

Ylang Ylang is the oil of the inner child. Emotions & Essential Oils says: "Ylang Ylang reconnects an individual with the child self and the pure, simple ways of the heart... this oils allows emotional healing to flow naturally, nurturing the heart through the process" (1).

According to that book Clary Sage "assists in opening creative channels and clearing creative blocks. It eliminates distractions from the mind and assists individuals in finding a state of emptiness where creative forces may be realized" (1).

So... if you are thinking about creating a home made product that can help to restore your mind and body soap should be at the top of your list. Again, there is a science to it and you should make sure you plan research time and adequate prep time.

Making soap on your own is very rewarding and a useful way to be creative. Let me know in the comments below if you have made soap before and which ingredients you like to use!

Looking for essential oils? Send me an email, I can give you all the details!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my DIY pH perfect shampoo!

 Sources:
1:Emotions & Essential Oils (Second ed.). (2013). American Fork, Utah: Enlighten.

To be honest when I first came up with this perfume I was mixing this blend because these are some of my favorite scents. I had no idea that they were so healing and romantically intense!

This spray smells amazing, and you can spray it on your pulse points (neck or the back of your wrist for example) or you can spray it onto your pillows to enhance the "mood" in the bedroom!

The blend is super simple:

Fill your container with witch hazel. Then add 20 drops of Rosemary Essential oil, 15 drops of Ylang-ylang Essential oil, and 10 drops of Patchoulli Essential oil.

This is the blend I use, you can adjust the ratio a little or add in 10 Drops of Clary Sage to change up the scent.

You can wear this as your daily perfume if you like, just because you spritz your wrist does not mean you will have men falling over you at the market.. The best part about this mixture is that it will smell different on each person that applies it.

The essential oils in this mixture work on the aromatherapy level to sooth any emotional tension you have around "love"; whether it is self love, or frustrations in relationships.

If you want to know more about raising your libido and how aphrodisiacs work check out this article.