An essential essential oil! (Holland and Barrett Lavender Pure Essential Oil)

Member Name: RU5H1NG

Product:	Holland and Barrett Lavender Pure Essential Oil
Date:	08/11/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Healing, anti-viral, soothing, antiseptic, and so on...

Disadvantages: Made overseas, not organic

**THE PRICE**
I purchased a 10ml bottle of lavender essential oil for £3.99 from Holland and Barrett alongside some throat lozenges on a buy one get one half price offer that they are doing across every product in store at present. You can purchase Nofolk Lavender essential oil (reputed to be top quality) from www.neoils.com for £3.50 per 10ml which is slightly better value although harder to get hold of on the high street and you would need to pay P&P.

**THE PACKAGING**
It comes in a small brown glass bottle inside an orange box accompanied by a leaflet with information about the different applications of the oils that they stock. Being a pure essential oil, it is suitable for vegans. The bottle has a dropper inserted ensuring no wasted product and ease of measuring.

**THE PRODUCT**
Lavender is possibly the most versatile and talked about essential oil. Whenever searching for natural remedies for a variety of ailments on Google, you can bet that lavender will not be far away. It can also be used for creating a relaxing atmosphere at home with an oil burner, and adding to the hoover or washing machine to deodorise them.

**MY EXPERIENCE**
My preference is to add a few drops to my bath water when suffering from a cold or influenza as one of its many wonderful qualities is anti-viral. I am prone to these conditions as I have an underactive thyroid and so using anti-biotics continuously is not an option - I like to tackle illness with natural products wherever possible. I believe that my fast recovery from illnesses can be attributed to this oil. I have also found it is handy to freshen the toilet without harsh chemicals.

**ITS QUALITY**
Most lavender essential oils are not much different from each other - this one is no exception, it has a nice strong, evocative and slightly antiseptic smell to it and you only need to add two drops to a deep bath for it to work its magic. A downside is it is made in the USA, I am sure this does not affect the quality in any way but it does increase its carbon footprint making it less ethical than say a British equivalent. It is also not organic which loses a star too.

Summary: Just your basic lavender oil, no frills.