Star Anise is a sweet smelling essential oil that smells just like black licorice! Since I adore black licorice (I’m drooling right now thinking about salted licorice from Norway), of course I love this essential oil. It’s great for soaps, lotions, scrubs and soaps beautifully in cold process soap (who got one of our bars from the last soap swap?). Below is more information and reasons why you should try the fabulous essential oil.
Star Anise EO (Illicium verum) : Known as star anise, star aniseed, or Chinese star anise. Star anise is a naitive evergreen shub of China. Star Anise essential oil is steam distilled from the star-shaped seeds. The oil is very high in the chemical compound anethol, which is responsible for the distinctive aroma similar to liquorice. It is used to make many liquors, and (warning: random fact ahead!) is also the primary chemical source for the anit-influenza drug, Tamiflu. Some reports claim that over 90% of the annual harvest of Anise goes to the manufacture of Tamiflu.
Star anise can be used in chest rubs to help alleviate bronchitis, coughing, cold and other respiratory congestions as well as rheumatism. It can be used in massage oils to help relieve sore muscles, and works well in bug repellent sprays. It is also a relaxing oil, and helps relieve stress and insomnia. Star Anise blends well with rose, lavender and orange. Our Star Anise is lip safe at 1-3%, and makes a wonderful licorice lip balm!
Anise often arrives “frozen” in colder months. Not sure how to get a solid essential oil back to liquid? Read our handy tutorial here.
Night time blend: 4 parts Orange, 3 parts Anise, 3 parts Cedarwood, 3 parts Neroli, 2 parts Chamomile. Blend with a carrier oil for a massage, or drop into a hot bath.
Anise also blends awesome with Lavender (1:1), Spearmint (1:1), Orange (3:1), Chocolate Fragrance (1:1) and Patchouli (1:1).
Who is using Star Anise Essential Oil? What are your favorite blends?
Karen Orr says
If I was going to use Anise in CP with some orange, how much Anise would I use /lb of oils? Everyone says the scent is very strong, but no mention how much is too much. Love the sound of vanilla & anise as well 🙂
Becky with Bramble Berry says
Good morning, Karen!
The recommended usage rate is around .5-.7 ounces per pound. Or, you could even use the handy fragrance calculator for a more precise measurement. I hope this helps! =)
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
-Becky with Bramble Berry
P.S. If you try out the Vanilla and Star Anise blend you’ll have to let us know what you thought of it!
toya says
Where can I purchase the item from
Becky with Bramble Berry says
Good morning, Toya!
You can purchase the Star Anise Essential Oil on Bramble Berry’s website. Here is a link right to the product:
Anise Essential Oil: https://www.brambleberry.com/Anise-Essential-Oil-P3829.aspx
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Kevin Murnane says
I blend Aniseed with Lemongrass, Geranium and a drop of Benzoin.. Smells like Jo Malone’s Vanilla Anise.
Becky with Bramble Berry says
Good morning, Kevin!
That sounds like a delightful mixture, I think I’ll have to try that out sometime. =)
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Diana says
I blend tangerine and anise
Becky with Bramble Berry says
What a great blend! I’m going to have to try that one out. 🙂
-Becky with Bramble Berry
JoyB says
I love Anise with Rose Geranium;-)
Deb says
I’ve just gotten some of the Anise EO and used it just straight in a lip balm at the special request of my son. To my delight, it was wonderful and is one of my unexpected favorites. I’m going to look for some salted licorice. I’ve never seen it. However, I could get addicted to the black licorice Scottie dogs at Trader Joe’s.
Anne-Marie says
I hope you get to find some of that Salted Licorice. It is SOOOOOO yummy. =)))
TexasJen says
Dearest Anne-Marie- I thought that I could infuse my oil with Hibiscus blossoms to get a pink color to color my soap and it didn’t work! no color at all! Am I in error about Hibiscus? Also, I am beginning to wrap my cured soaps with your plastic wrap method and the heat gun, but I can’t get the wrap to lay down in back ( where the trimmed excess is) and stay together w/o making a hole! I am using the low setting. Would I be better off using the high setting and just hit it quickly then press? I watched your tutorial on this, and it helped greatly- but you’re good at it, and I’m not!! 🙂 Love ya & all your work!!
Courtney says
What’s your infusing method? Did you head it up and let it sit in the oil for a while? You should get some color out of that.
Regarding the wrapping. Keep it on a low setting and do quick bursts with the heat gun. It sounds like you’re holding the heat gun on the soap for too long. Try cutting off a little more of the plastic wrap so it will lay down flat in the back.
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Anne-Marie says
In summary of what I’ve read, use Red Hibiscus flowers, dried and infused in distilled water (hibiscus is highly affected by water quality), as oil seems to have no effect in getting color. The infused water turns crazy green once it interacts with lye and when the oils hit it, the hibiscus turns honey colored/tan. One person claimed as the soap cured, the rosy color started to return, but who know? It would be interesting to see if the infused color would hold in Melt and Pour or lotion. A heat infusion must be kept at a low simmer – too much heat, or prolonged heat will turn the color brown. Hibiscus seems to be a successful dye for fabric.
Here are some links of websites you could research for additional information:
This is a soapers blog post on soaping (CP) with red hibiscus. She has photos from start to finish:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fgEcWyXbDt4J:soappixie.blogspot.com/2010/07/natural-soap-colorant-hibiscus.html+red+hibiscus+as+soap+colorant&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com
Here is a thread on soap dish:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fdntSctO2zQJ:www.soapdisharchives.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php%3Ft34711.html+red+hibiscus+as+soap+colorant&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com
TexasJen says
Fantastic advice, Courtney! And thanks so much Anne-Marie, I will try infusing in distilled water instead of oil. Yes, I very slowly brought low & steady heat to the oil and kept it there for about 4 hours, then slowly cooled down and – nothing, not a tinge of color. But it clicks with me somehow about using distilled water! I improvised and used just the tiniest dot of red colorant- like the amt. you’d use to “blue” clear M&P. It came out the nicest, softest pink- so my flower infusion will be used for my lotions (when I get the hang of it!). Thanks again- I love your work, it really matters to me.
Amy Warden says
I need some good ideas for anise blends. I’ll be watching this thread!
Courtney says
Did you see our blends at the bottom of the post? I’ll be interested to see what others add too.
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Rose Marie Lewis says
Salted licorice – must find some! 🙂
I like the way Anise EO blends with Lime.
Anne-Marie says
It is AMAZING – so delicious … it’s an acquired taste so don’t be surprised if it’s not your fave right off the bat.
kristy schemrich says
Hey you can get salted licorice in Fairhaven at Papa’s Sweets! You can even buy double salt! Yum!
Courtney says
Drooling…that sounds soooo good!
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Helen says
I use it blended with vanilla, its a gorgeous scent, my customers love it!
Anne-Marie says
Almost anything is better with Vanilla … =) Love that idea.
Doreen Fish says
I use it on its own for my “Camouflage” soap…its great for hunters and fisherman as it masks their scent…I am sure u already know this anyway….
I love it and my grandsons love that their soap smells like licorice…I added a brown and army green swirl to it as well….love that its blends well with Lavender as I use lots of lavender is my soaps and creams…thank u!!
Courtney says
Sounds like you’ve found the perfect soap recipe for your boys =)
Courtney from Bramble Berry