I have to apologise. I’m using a new platform for sending out my emails. While they will hopefully look the same to you, the back end is quite different. Last week, the email I sent out was meant to have your name in the subject line. But unbeknownst to me, I’d selected the wrong field, and everyone (yourself included) received an email saying “Jeremy, I shouldn’t be telling you this…”

Oh no!!! I have been pouring Forgiveness oil on myself ever since. It was a great lesson, and one of those examples of learning the hard way.

But it got me thinking about my journey with essential oils. As much as I love to share about all the positive experiences I’ve had with essential oils, there have also been many examples of me learning by trial and error. I decided this week to bring some humour to my sharing…because after all, when we make a mistake we can either beat ourselves up, or laugh about it.

So enjoy reading about the many bloopers that I and my team have experienced over the years. Hopefully these will help you to avoid making the same mistakes yourself, or at least to know you are not alone.

How to take revenge on your husband:

Bec C. writes: I received my Young Living Peppermint shower steamers as a bonus with my essential rewards order. I put one on the floor of the shower, so that it would steam up when the water hit it. A little later when my partner was in the shower, I had the thought, “Should I tell him that they are steamers, not soap?” but then thought surely he won’t pick it up off the floor and think it’s a soap….Anyway, when he came into the lounge room smelling very fresh, he said, “That thing in the shower isn’t

a soap, is it?” In fits of giggles, I explained what it was….and he told me, “My arse is on fire….lucky I didn’t start with washing the front of me!!!”

Margaret J. writes: My friend Bara had borrowed Shutran oil from her husband’s oil collection in the bedroom, so she could show it to a friend. Her husband keeps several oils at his bedside besides Shutran, and another one is Thieves oil. This particular evening, he grabbed the oil he thought was Shutran and put several drops into his palms. Then he rubbed it over his face and chest, and all the way down to his inner thighs.

He soon realised that the feel of the oil was different to normal. His scream was unforgettable.

“What have you DONE, woman!!!” he yelled.

Bara rushed out and got some V6 oil for him, and he soon calmed down.

Nicole Y. writes: When I first got the oils, my husband used Peppermint oil, went to the bathroom and all I could hear was “AHHHHHHH” and I instantly thought, “Oh, I forgot to tell him to wash his hands first!!!”

Kylie B. writes: We were fairly new to oils, and my husband Glenn had a tight hamstring so he was applying some Lemongrass oil to help relax it. Then he went to the toilet with Lemongrass oil still on his hands. I saw him dashing down into the kitchen (naked) to grab a good bottle of olive oil that I was going to use for dipping with Dukka. I complained he was wasting it trying to dilute the essential oil. “You don’t understand the pain!” he said. I’m a woman, so no I don’t.

Hot to trot:

Lorna R. writes: It was Christmas a few years ago, and I decided to get into the spirit of the day. For some unknown reason I applied some drops of Christmas Spirit to my face! I was red in the face for hours!

Karen B. writes: We were on holidays and I had Lemongrass and Frankincense oils in the bathroom. Both have pink labels. I wasn’t wearing my glasses, and I put Lemongrass oil on my face instead of Frankincense.

It stung so badly that I had to use a cold flannel on my face to cool it down.

Note from Artemis: Whenever you put a hot oil on your skin and it starts to burn, always use Young Living’s V6 oil or coconut or olive oil (ie. a good quality vegetable oil) to dilute it, rather than water. It’s like when you have eaten a hot chilli. Water drives the heat in and makes it burn more, whereas vegetable oil dilutes the heat and the discomfort should disappear within 30 seconds to a minute. If it doesn’t, just use more vegetable oil, and keep applying until there’s no irritation left.

Beady K. writes: When I learned about the amazing effects of Oregano, I thought I’d put a couple of drops directly on my tongue as a breath freshener. After all, how bad could it be? Believe me when I say that my head exploded, and I haven’t been quite the same since!

Note from Artemis: I love using Oregano oil when I’m doing oil pulling. I put 3 drops in a tablespoon of coconut oil, and swirl that around my mouth for 20 minutes. Oregano oil is wonderful for this purpose, but only if it’s heavily diluted because it’s one of our hotter oils.

Kathelijne V. writes: When my Cassia oil arrived, I was so over-excited to have some stronger ‘cinnamon flavour’ that I opened the bottle, took a very deep sniff and put 1 drop on the back of my hand and licked it off. Immediately my nose, mouth and hand burned. I took my V6, put it in my nose, plenty in my mouth and on my hand, and had to redo that after a while. I had a red mark on my hand for hours. So don’t try this at home or wherever!!!

Note from Artemis: I have to say that of all of my essential oils, Cassia is the one oil I will always dilute before using. It’s what I consider the hottest of all of our oils. If I put it on my skin without diluting it first, my skin turns red very quickly. I can only imagine how hot this must have felt in your mouth!!!!

Getting oils where the sun don’t shine!

Artemis writes: Some oils, especially citrus oils, are photosensitive. This means that when they are put on our skin, they make it more sensitive to sunlight and UV light for 24 to 48 hours. These oils need to be applied to skin that will be covered by clothing or hats if we are going into direct sunlight or UV light, or put in a location where the sun “ain’t gonna shine”.

Once I was making up my Red Drink, and without realising I’d used my finger to wipe some Lime oil off the neck of the bottle.

I wiped my finger down my thigh, then went for a beach walk and beach swim. I came out of the water, and noticed this ugly red mark on my thigh, like a birth mark. It felt hot and irritated, and took over a month for the red mark to disappear (although it slowly faded).

Sue P. writes: My biggest blooper was applying Peppermint oil to my temples for head tension, then going to the toilet not long after. I definitely wouldn’t recommend doing this! It worked wonders for the head tension though, lol..

Sarah L. writes: Worst ever blooper with my oils. I’d just finished putting Thieves oil under my feet. I went to the toilet without washing my hands first, then dried my “important little places” with obviously not enough toilet paper. Ouch!!!! Definitely not recommended!

Hot and Steamy:

Adam J. writes: Panaway oil is amazing for tired and aching muscles. The bottle takes pride of place in my gym bag. However, I quickly learned that “time and place” is paramount for this powerful potion, and it is best not applied to my lower back just before going into the gym steam room! Without being too graphic, I’ll simply mention a famous Johnny Cash song, “Ring of Fire”!

Tip from Artemis: When the pores of our skin are open (such as in a sauna, or on a hot and sweaty day), our essential oils will feel hotter than normal. I still remember receiving a Raindrop Technique when it was almost 40⁰C and very humid. Those oils that normally were warming became quickly unbearable, and I needed to be lathered with V6 oil before I hit the ceiling!!!

What if I get essential oils in my eyes?

Tip from Artemis: Essential oils are not designed to go into our eyes, but occasionally accidents happen. I was once putting some Lavender oil on my head, and it ran down into my eye. I was in a hotel room at the time, so didn’t have my V6 handy. So I rang room service to bring me some olive oil (which I poured into my eye). It stopped the burning within a minute, thank goodness!

Mart V. writes: My bottle of Thieves was almost empty, so I used the cap to remove the dropper insert. A little leftover oil splashed into my eye. If there’s one oil you don’t want in your eye, it’s Thieves!

Julia P. writes: I had some tight neck muscles so I rubbed some Aroma Siez oil into my neck. Then without thinking, I rubbed my eye. The good news is my neck feels great. The bad news was the pain was then in my eye!

Bernie G. writes: My worst essential oil blooper was not long after I received my first Young Living oils bundle. My husband said he had a headache, and I was sooooo confident that Peppermint Wellness oil would help him. I was so chuffed with myself as I explained to him what I’d learned, and gently massaged it into his temples. All was great until he scratched the area then rubbed his eye. OMG, of all the people to do this! Panic, yelling, burning, and I’m trying to calm him down and find the vegetable oil, then fighting him off as I’m rinsing his eye in the sink. It did settle down, eventually, and our family are still in love with our oils.

Always check your stopper!

Artemis writes: Occasionally we’ll get a bottle of essential oil where we take the lid off, and the stopper comes out with the lid. It very rarely happens, but it can. I had a really embarrassing moment with a friend who was interested in ordering some Young Living oils.

I wanted to show her the taste of Tarragon oil (as it’s great in food recipes), so I went to put a drop under her tongue.

Little did I know that the stopper had come out of the bottle. She didn’t just get one drop, she must have received 10-20 drops. Thank goodness she forgave me, and is in love with essential oils to this day (but has probably never used Tarragon again since!).

Christina S. writes: I had a couple of my team over to watch an online Young Living zoom session. During the presentation we were encouraged to get our Peppermint oil and put a drop in our hand to inhale. I’d forgotten that I’d taken the stopper out of mine when I was putting oils in my diffuser, and I basically poured a whole bottle of Peppermint oil into my friend’s lap. Ooops!

Read your labels!!!

Sarah L. writes: I have a collection of oils in my bathroom, including Lavender oil which I use as a deodorant. I was heading to a high tea in a very nice venue. They had a flower theme and we were all so lovely and dressed up. I was running late and grabbed what I thought was Lavender oil for my deodorant, and used quite a lot of it under each arm. As I was doing that I thought, “Wow, that Lavender smells odd, surely it’s not gone off?”

It turns out it was Clary Sage oil. My friends are all great huggers, and they must have thought I smelled like an old hippy. Clary Sage is a wonderful oil with many benefits, but it’s not particularly fragrant like my beautiful Lavender oil.

Ruth S. writes: I went to put a drop of Peppermint oil directly under my tongue, only to find I had grabbed Oregano oil by mistake! Let’s just say I felt it all the way down!

Jacqui O. writes: I was putting Nutmeg oil on my back (near my adrenals) as I do every night at bedtime. But after trying to get to sleep, this awful smell was keeping me awake. My bedding, my pyjamas, everything had this yucky, overpowering smell! Yes…. I’d picked up Valerian oil by mistake! OMG, the smell hung around for days!!! Although I have to say, I slept like a baby that night!

Kristyn H. writes: I made my Red Drink, added Sulfurzyme and what I thought was Lime oil (except it was Stress Away). I could not drink that one!

Cooking with oils – one drop makes such a difference

Lou C. writes: I was making a frittata using one of Chef Kate’s recipes and it called for one drop of Oregano oil. Thinking “That can’t possibly be enough”, I added two drops instead of one. Needless to say, I was left to eat the whole frittata by myself!

Katie K. writes: I made myself a gin and tonic. I usually use some rosemary from the garden, but since I had Rosemary oil I was like, “Yep, I’ll place a drop of the oil in my gin and tonic.” I couldn’t drink it, it was like eating rosemary!!!

Tip from Artemis: When I’m using oils as a flavouring agent, I always teach to start with 1 drop and build up to taste. Subtle essential oil flavours in food are divine…but when you add one drop too many it can turn a dish from being delicious to being inedible. Sometimes, even 1 drop can be too much. That’s when we’d use a toothpick in the bottle of essential oil to pick up just the subtlest amount of essential oil, and that will produce the perfect amount of flavour.

Here’s how to order…

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