You drop a little oil into the pendant before heading off to work. On the train, there's a lovely little wave of scent. But then you sit down at your desk and nothing. Don't worry! The necklace is still there. What's not is the scent.
Almost nobody explains this part. Buying a necklace that diffuses essential oil is easy and wearing one is easier, though the filling, the refilling and the choice of oil decide how much you get out of it.
This guide covers all three, along with the questions people ask us most often about essential oil jewellery after a week of wearing one.
What Is an Aromatherapy Necklace?
An essential oil necklace goes by several names. Aromatherapy necklace, aroma locket, diffuser pendant. All of them describe the same object, a pendant that holds oil and lets it out slowly while you wear it. Two designs dominate.
The first holds a small absorbent pad, felt or cotton, that slots into the locket and takes up the oil. Others hold a tiny glass vial, so the oil stays liquid and releases through the opening.
Our Cone Aroma Necklace uses the pad method and arrives with eight to ten spares, since pads are meant to be swapped as you change scents.
Proximity is the point of either design. A pendant hangs a few centimetres from where you breathe, so the scent finds you and nobody else in the room has to share it.
How to Fill an Essential Oil Necklace
Under a minute, start to finish.
- Open the pendant. Designs differ across the range, so follow the care card that came with yours. Slide the felt or cotton insert out if the design allows it, since adding oil to an exposed pad is tidier than dripping into a closed locket.
- Add one or two drops. No more than that. Our own guidance is a couple of drops inside, and a soaked pad does not smell stronger for longer. It smells stronger for the same length of time, then leaves residue behind.
- Give it a minute. Let the pad take the oil up before you close the pendant. Anything that has not soaked in will find your skin or your top.
- Close it and wear it. Done.
People tend to overfill on the first attempt, usually because two drops look like nothing on a felt pad the size of a five cent piece. Resist it.
Which Scents Last Longest
This is where most of the disappointment comes from, and it has nothing to do with the pendant. An essential oil necklace releases whatever you put in it at the speed that oil evaporates, and oils differ enormously on that count.
Essential oils evaporate at different speeds, and perfumery sorts them into three groups by how quickly they lift. Our piece on the three note rule explains how that system works.
| Note | Examples | Roughly how long it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Lemon, orange, bergamot, lemon myrtle | A few hours, with traces sometimes lasting longer |
| Middle | Lavender, geranium, rosemary, chamomile | Several hours to a day |
| Base | Sandalwood, frankincense, vetiver, patchouli | A day or more, with the scent potentially lingering on the pad for several days |
If you want an essential oil necklace that still smells of something later in the day, start with a base note. Sandalwood and frankincense tend to remain on an absorbent pad much longer than citrus oils, and traces can linger for several days even after the stronger initial scent has faded.
A middle ground works nicely too. One drop of a base note and one drop of something brighter gives you a lift in the morning and something steady underneath it once the top note has faded.
Why Your Necklace Stops Smelling by Lunchtime
Four things cause it, and only one of them is the oil itself.
You chose a top note
Covered above, and it accounts for most cases. Citrus is the first thing people reach for and the first thing to disappear.
Your nose has adjusted
Scent worn close to your face stops registering after fifteen or twenty minutes. That is your sense of smell filtering out a constant signal, not the oil running out. Other people can still smell it perfectly well.
The pad is saturated with an older scent
Pads hold onto whatever went in before. A pad that has had lavender on it for three weeks releases lavender with a hint of whatever you added this morning.
It is warm
Heat speeds up evaporation. A necklace worn against skin on a hot Australian afternoon empties faster than the same necklace worn over a jumper in July.
How to Change Scents Without Mixing Them
Change the pad, or clean it. Our care guidance is to clean the felt or cotton pad between significant scent changes, which stops yesterday's oil colouring today's.
Keeping a couple of pads in rotation is simpler again, with one for daytime and one for evening. There is a reason the Cone Aroma Necklace arrives with eight to ten pads. One was never meant to do the whole job.
Two oils from the same family, sandalwood and frankincense, for example, can share a pad without issue. Going from citrus to something grounding is where a fresh pad earns its place.
Looking After the Pendant and Chain
Oils and metal finishes are not always friendly, and plated pieces mind it more than solid silver does. Small habits keep an essential oil necklace looking like jewellery instead of equipment.
- Keep oil off the chain
- Wipe the locket weekly
- Remove before swimming
- Keep it out of sunlight
Daily wear suits sterling silver, and a soft cloth brings it back. Our sterling silver range is made from hypoallergenic silver, which matters a great deal if costume metals leave your skin itchy. Plated and Murano pieces want a little more care, mainly keeping the oil inside the locket where it belongs.
If you are new to wearing scent instead of diffusing it, our guide on the rise of wearable aromatherapy in Australia covers why so many people have made the switch.
Wear It, Then Adjust It
Nobody gets the oil right the first go. Base note, two drops, a spare pad in your bag, and a week before you pass judgement. The pendant is the easy part. Learning which scent carries you through your particular day takes a fortnight and is worth the fortnight.
Amrita Court Global designs its aromatherapy essential oil diffuser necklace range in Australia and our essential oil blends for the same are well formulated under our chief aromatherapist Ron Guba.
Our essential oil jewellery covers Murano shell pendants, zodiac designs and crystal pieces in hypoallergenic sterling silver. On the days you forget to add a drop, it is still a necklace worth wearing. Browse the aroma jewellery collection and start with the pendant you like the look of. Scent is the easy part to change later.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I wear an essential oil necklace every day?
Yes. The oil stays inside the pendant and off your skin, so daily wear is fine. Swap the pad every few weeks and wipe the locket so old scent does not build up.
2. Do essential oil necklaces work, or are they decorative?
They work in the sense that you smell the oil throughout the day. Treat one as a personal scent delivery method, not a treatment, since the effect reaches only the wearer.
3. How many drops go into a diffuser necklace?
One or two. More does not last longer, it only leaves residue inside the locket and increases the chance of oil transferring onto your clothing or skin.
4. What if I am sensitive to scent at work?
Use a base note at one drop, or remove the pad and wear the pendant empty on heavy days. Scent close to the face is hard for colleagues to escape in shared offices.
5. Do the crystal pieces hold scent the same way as a pendant?
Our crystal aroma bracelets work on the same principle of a small dose held close to you. Pendants sit nearer your breathing, so most people notice the scent more from a necklace.
6. Will the pendant leak oil onto my clothes?
Not if you let the pad absorb for a minute before closing it. Leaks almost always come from overfilling or from wearing the necklace immediately after adding drops.
7. Does an aroma necklace make a good gift for someone who does not use oils?
Yes, and it is one of the easier wellness gifts to give. The pendant stands on its own as jewellery, so it still works if the recipient never adds a drop.