What is the difference between Botanical Oils and Essential Oils?
Curious about the difference between botanical oils and essential oils? While both are extracted from plants, they have several differences including how they are made, their fragrances, how they are applied, how they feel on your skin and their unique concentration levels.
The difference in how essential oils and botanical oils are made
Essential oils are typically distilled by water or steam from the roots, bark, flowers, stems and leaves of plants. Botanical oils are also obtained from plants but unlike essential oils, they are cold pressed or extracted by heat. In particular, botanical oils are created from the fatty parts of plants including vegetables, nuts, and seeds in addition to roots, bark, flowers and stems like essential oils. This is what makes botanical oils a good source of vitamins, fatty acids and minerals.
The difference in essential oils’ and botanical oils’ fragrances
If you compare essential oils and botanical oils by their fragrance, you will notice a big difference. Because oils contain the “essence” of the plant’s fragrance, they are highly concentrated and aromatic. Botanical oils have a different fragrance depending on which ingredients make up each unique oil blend. Botanical oils may have gentle scents of their own, these fragrances may be earthy, nutty, floral or woodsy depending on which ingredients are found in each particular oil blend.
The difference in the essential oils’ and botanical oils’ level of concentration
Essential oils are high in concentration which often makes their fragrances so potent. Botanical oils are lower in concentration largely due to the fatty ingredients extracted from plants.
The difference in how essential oils and botanical oils feel on your skin
As we mentioned above, essential oils are very high in concentration and should never be applied directly on your skin or scalp by themselves. We always recommend you mix an essential oil with a carrier oil. Contrary, we highly encourage you to apply botanical oils directly to your skin, whether you apply to the skin with your dropper or rub the oil onto your skin after placing the oil in the palm of your hand. You can apply botanical oils directly to your skin because they are fatty and designed with this application in mind.
We are often asked, “Are there essential oils in enmarie® botanical oils?” Yes, we do add essential oils to one product, the enmarie®Not-to-be-Forgotten Nail and Cuticle Oil. This oil blend contains Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, which is rich in vitamins B and C and has a naturally occurring fresh and sweet citrus scent.
Interested in trying an enmarie® botanical oil blend? We have a wide variety of 4 different, soon to be 5, botanical oil blends for you to try. Each oil contains a variety of ingredients, each designed to target specific areas of your skin. You can find the ingredients for each oil under the “ingredients” tab of the specific oil on the product page.
