Black Spruce gives the Koa blend its fresh, clean opening, the coniferous note that comes off first. It's sweet and a little earthy underneath, the part you meet when the blend goes into the air.
White Camphor adds a sharp, cool, camphoraceous edge to the Koa blend, a wood oil steam distilled in China. It keeps the blend crisp rather than heavy, sitting between the fresh spruce and the sweeter oils.
Blue Tansy brings a sweet, fruity, subtly floral note to the Koa blend, with a cool facet of its own. The single oil shows a deep blue color, from a compound called chamazulene. The scent stays soft, a little green behind the sweetness.
Egyptian Geranium rounds the Koa blend with a rich, sweet, slightly fruity floral. It softens the sharper conifer and camphor notes and pulls the sweetness of the whole together.
Frankincense Carterii anchors the Koa blend with a deep, sweet, incense-like resin, the part that lingers longest as the fresher oils lift off. Hydrodistilled from Boswellia carterii in Somalia, this is the frankincense people have burned as incense. On a cotton strip the sweet resin stays after the fresher notes have gone.
The Koa blend arrives ready to use, so there's no measuring and mixing of single oils to get here. The fresh, cool oils and the sweet resin are already in proportion, which is the point of buying it as a blend.
Start with 3 to 5 drops in a water diffuser for a medium room, then add a drop at a time until it smells right to you. The blend carries well, so a little goes a long way. Diffuse for 30 to 60 minutes, then give the room a break for the same time, with some fresh air moving.
Dilute the Koa blend to 1 to 2 percent before it goes on skin, which is 6 drops in 15 ml or 12 drops in 30 ml of a carrier oil. Patch test on the inner forearm and wait a day, since the geranium in it is rich in citronellol and geraniol. We do not use this blend neat, and it is not for internal use.
Because the Koa blend contains camphor, do not use it during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and keep it away from the faces of infants and young children. For a bath, stir the drops into a tablespoon of carrier oil first, since oil and water do not mix, then add that to a full tub.
Tap a recipe to see the full formula and method.
Method. Add the drops to a water diffuser and let it run in a medium room. The frankincense and cedarwood deepen the resin beneath Koa's fresh, cool lift, so the whole thing reads woodier. Air the room out between runs.
Method. Combine the drops with the jojoba in a roller bottle and cap it. Roll it onto the wrists and the collarbone whenever you want the scent close. Keep it out of reach of young children.
Method. Blend the drops into the jojoba in a bottle and roll it between your palms before use. Smooth it over the shoulders and the back of the neck, where the wood sits close. Keep this away from young children.
Every size is the same oil. The larger the bottle, the lower the price per ml.
7 answers drawn from the product specification and our own use of this oil.
Quality ingredients that don't change and that aren't cut with caprylic/capric triglyceride . (somebody please explain how this can improve a blend??) I share this oil with strangers knowing that everyone loves it (so far). Happy to know MB.-- gifted blends!
