Pinus sylvestris
Scots pine
- alpha-Pinene / carene type
Scots pine is the conifer most widely sold as "pine needle oil" in Europe, and it is the cheapest way to put a forest note into a blend. It is also…
Quick reference
Essential-oil safe dilution chart
Rows are the carrier-oil volume, columns are the dilution, and each cell is the number of drops. Everything on this site uses one convention — 1 ml ≈ 20 drops — so this chart and every per-oil dose matrix can never drift apart.
| Carrier oil | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 3% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 ml | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 30 ml | 3 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| 50 ml | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 |
Pregnancy, children under 6, and rooms with cats or dogs — read the matching contraindication row before you blend.
Six hard ceilings
- Never exceed 3% total essential oil in a leave-on blend, whatever the recipe says.
- Add the drops to the carrier, never the carrier to the drops. Counting into an empty bottle is how 3% becomes 9%.
- Citrus peel oils that are cold-pressed carry furanocoumarins. Keep them at or below 0.5% if the skin will see sun within 12 hours.
- Phototoxic oils never belong on the face, neck, décolletage or the backs of the hands, at any dilution.
- Undiluted essential oil on skin is a chemical burn risk. There is no oil that is safe neat except as a pinpoint on a wart or a cold sore, and that is a clinical decision, not a home one.
- Aromatherapy here is informational. It is not medical advice and it is not a treatment for any condition.
Ceilings across the published library (32 oils)
One row per oil with its adult topical ceiling, converted at the same convention. A ceiling is a body figure; facial and long-term daily use always drops to 0.5% — 1 drop per 10 ml.
| Oil | Chemotype | Ceiling | Per 10 ml | Pregnancy | Pets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinus sylvestris | alpha-Pinene / carene type | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
| Origanum vulgare | Carvacrol type; CT thymol and CT linalool exist | 2% | 4 | avoid | avoid |
| Thymus vulgaris | Thymol type (CT thymol); CT linalool and CT thujanol differ | 2% | 4 | avoid | avoid |
| Coriandrum sativum | Linalool-dominant (distinct from the leaf oil) | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
| Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce | trans-Anethole / fenchone type (dulce = low fenchone) | 2% | 4 | avoid | caution |
| Helichrysum italicum | Neryl acetate / italidione type | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
| Juniperus communis | alpha-Pinene / sabinene type | 3% | 6 | avoid | caution |
| Piper nigrum | beta-Caryophyllene / limonene / sabinene type | 2% | 4 | caution | caution |
| Elettaria cardamomum | 1,8-Cineole / terpinyl acetate type | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
| Zingiber officinale | Zingiberene / sesquiphellandrene type | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
| Chrysopogon zizanioides | Khusimol / vetiselinenol sesquiterpene alcohol type | 2% | 4 | caution | caution |
| Santalum album | alpha-Santalol / beta-santalol sesquiterpene alcohol type | 3% | 6 | caution | caution |
Most recent monographs
Monographs go live on an editorial calendar. The facet links below are plain text and switch by CSS :target — there is no scripted filtering and no filter dropdown.
- 13
- alpha-Pinene2
- Limonene-dominant2
- Linalool2
- alpha-Santalol1
- alpha-Thujene1
- Benzyl acetate1
- beta-Caryophyllene1
- Carvacrol type1
- Carvone-dominant1
- Citronellol1
- Eugenol-dominant1
- Furanosesquiterpene type (furanoeudesma-11
- Himachalene1
- Isobutyl angelate1
- Khusimol1
- Limonene1
- Limonene-dominant with nootkatone trace1
- Linalool-dominant (distinct from the leaf oil)1
- Linalyl acetate1
- Menthol1
- Neryl acetate1
- Patchoulol1
- Terpinen-4-ol type (ISO 4730)1
- Thymol type (CT thymol)1
- trans-Anethole1
- Zingiberene1
Origanum vulgare
Oregano
- Carvacrol type; CT thymol and CT linalool exist
Oregano is 60% carvacrol, the strongest phenol load on this site, and it is the oil most often recommended online at dilutions that would burn. It…
Thymus vulgaris
Thyme (thymol chemotype)
- Thymol type (CT thymol); CT linalool and CT thujanol differ
Thyme is the standard teaching example of why chemotype is a safety field and not a marketing one: CT thymol is 42% thymol with a 2% ceiling, CT…
Coriandrum sativum
Coriander seed
- Linalool-dominant (distinct from the leaf oil)
Coriander seed oil is 68% linalool, which makes it far closer to lavender than to the herb of the same plant. It is cheap, it is one of the…
Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce
Sweet fennel
- trans-Anethole / fenchone type (dulce = low fenchone)
Sweet fennel is 68% trans-anethole, which puts it in the same chemical group as anise and star anise and gives it the same avoid rows. It is the…
Helichrysum italicum
Helichrysum (immortelle)
- Neryl acetate / italidione type
Helichrysum is the most expensive oil in common aromatherapy use after rose, and it is sold on claims about bruising and skin repair that no…
Juniperus communis
Juniper berry
- alpha-Pinene / sabinene type
Juniper berry is 40% alpha-pinene, which is why it smells like gin — it is what gin is flavoured with, and the oil is a distillation of the same…
Piper nigrum
Black pepper
- beta-Caryophyllene / limonene / sabinene type
Black pepper oil is 30% beta-caryophyllene and 18% limonene, and it contains roughly 0.1% piperine — the pungent alkaloid is almost entirely…
Elettaria cardamomum
Cardamom
- 1,8-Cineole / terpinyl acetate type
Cardamom oil is roughly a third 1,8-cineole and a third terpinyl acetate, which makes it a warm spice with a cool top note — and it puts it…
Zingiber officinale
Ginger
- Zingiberene / sesquiphellandrene type
Ginger is distilled from dried rhizome, and the resulting oil is 32% zingiberene — a sesquiterpene, not the gingerol that makes fresh ginger hot.…
Chrysopogon zizanioides
Vetiver
- Khusimol / vetiselinenol sesquiterpene alcohol type
Vetiver is distilled from washed, dried roots, and it smells like it — smoke, wet earth, grapefruit peel and old wood. It is also the most…
Santalum album
Indian sandalwood
- alpha-Santalol / beta-santalol sesquiterpene alcohol type
Indian sandalwood is the most counterfeited oil on this site. Santalum album is a hemi-parasitic tree that takes 15 to 30 years to produce…
What this site does not do
No blend recipes, no top-heart-base pyramids, no candle or diffuser craft instructions, no therapeutic claims. It does one thing: it sets out each single oil’s dilution ceiling, contraindicated groups, oxidation behaviour and patch-test steps, with every number derived from the single 1 ml ≈ 20 drops conversion.