This is not an essential oil and Plant Therapy does not sell it as one. Vanilla beans will not yield to steam, so the flavour houses take them another way: this extract is hydro alcohol distilled from the cured beans of Vanilla planifolia, which is what makes the aroma read sweet, creamy and rich rather than thin.

The beans are sourced from Uganda, where the climate produces a high vanillin content. Three to four drops per 100 mL of water is the maker's diffusion rate, and 2 to 3 percent in a carrier is the topical dilution. It carries Plant Therapy's KidSafe, Nursing Safe and Pregnancy Safe designations, and keeps three to four years.