Here's a good article about the oils that you should stay away from with pets in the house. Essential Oils and Pets

Right now I'm trying to find a good brand, then I'll read about each scent I'm interested in. I know not to put oils on pets, and it will be an ultra mild scent. I'm sitting two feet away from the diffuser I made last night and smell NOTHING. lol

The best diffuser IMO is one you plug in and a mist comes out. I’m not sure how you make a diffuser??? Some oils are harmful for animals to breathe also.

I like this product - sold at the natural foods stores here:

Jmck, the oil is new, I got it on Tuesday and it simply doesn't work. I learned the hard way not to over perfume myself. I have asthma and if I wear a light perfume I'm fine. When I was younger, a friend and I went shopping 30 miles away. On the way there I coughed myself to death the whole time, used my inhaler several times, and even took a swig of Robitussin DM which I keep with me just in case. Nothing would work. When we got to the mall and I stepped out of the car, the fresh air made me better.

Both of us over perfumed ourselves. lol

Tina, I think we went over the pet issues.

I Just want a good brand is all and not from a multi-markerter pyramid scheme.

@Oakley, I mentioned pets because you mentioned it further up in the thread. I have used Plant Therapy oils in the past myself and had no problems. I might contact the seller. I have never had an oil that "simply doesn't work". But, I've never used it the way you are.

I always just buy the NOW brand from Vitacost. You can buy it at most health food stores too I believe. I like the peppermint the best for my aroma diffuser, the sort you put water in and some drops of ess. oils and a mist comes out the top. It isn't very strong though and after a while, I don't smell it much but if I go outside and come back in, it does actually smell quite a bit. So there is truth to getting used to it. I have to use about 15 drops of peppermint oil in my diffuser. It is kind of a largish one.

@arkansas girl that's the type diffuser I use. If my allergies are bothering me (which can make me headachey, stuffy) I use a "sinus blend recipe" of peppermint/eucalyptus and lavender oils. It really smells nice and fresh, plus makes my head feel better!! Lavender is also good to help you sleep. My dentist office always has "Thieves" oil (Young Living) and it has a nice, clean scent. It is also supposed to help with immunity (who knows) and I used to diffuse it in my office when I worked. I also love the Thieves cleaner, but lost my contact/seller.

Below is the diffuser kit I bought for myself from Amazon a couple of years ago for the bathroom and every time I'd walk down the hall I got a wonderful scent. I kept the jar and i have other jars to use so that's what i'm shooting for.

With essential oil I believe it's to be mixed with a specific liquid, and I forget the name but you have to order it. I used water and new black reeds. Just a little whiff is all. However, I read where others used water too. I need to do more digging.

OH, a reed diffuser. I have had some of them but none were very good, could hardly even smell them...these were store bought, I think I had bought them at TJ Maxx. I have not made any other than just to put some fragrance oil on some used reeds and put them out. It's a good idea but I haven't found any that smelled enough to repurchase.

I don't care for the reed diffusers. For one thing, too easy to knock over. Possibly they release fragrance more slowly though. For a plug-in, mist diffuser, you use water.

I like NOW products too - the quality is always very good and the prices are usually lower, probably because they don't spend a lot on advertising.

I only buy their lavender oil. It smells better than any of the other brands I've tried.

A word of caution on making your own essential oil spray. I've had it leave brown residue on furniture that I could not remove by the time it became visible.

Reed difusers will defnitely knock over if you don't put it in a secure place, free from elbows and dogs. I've never had one fall over except for the one I hit with my hand. :)

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b that does make sense I guess, since there is oil involved, even a little. I've never made spray.

Carol, I'll take a look at NOW oils. I did find a top rated recipe for the diffuser. I mixed plain water with the oil like some others did and it didn't work. On several sites it said to mix rubbing alcohol with the oil first, blend it well, then add hot water to it and mix. I'll try it tomorrow.

Arkansasgirl, did you flip the reeds over? That helps.

I'm just looking around at pictures of reed diffusers and found this.

Bob Vila? Who knew? I do like the look of reed diffusers, a bit elegant, imo. I'm going to put my first working diffuser in the entryway.

Cheap vodka is a better alcohol to use than isopropyl, since it has no odor of its own.

My favorite essential oil brands are Now and Aura Cacia. I use a mist diffuser, and it works well.

Yes to cheap vodka above... I've used that successfully for sprays. But I've never created a mix for a reed diffuser.

Oakley, the Nest reed diffusers scents are strong and carry well. I've had the grapefruit and another holiday scent diffusers and were really happy with them. I no longer use them just because I prefer my mist diffuser.

How far in the air does the mist go?

Carol, no need for Vodka, I couldn't smell anything this morning from the diffuser I set out in the smallish entryway. But I did smell that nasty dog scent again.

Yestery I bought some Arm & Hammer extra strength carpet eliminator with oxyclean, and thought I'd give it a shot instead of regular baking soda. Whoa, the scent was almost over powering and after an hour or so it settled down into a obvious but light scent. The box says it vacuums up more dust and dirt and I did notice more dirt in the dustbin on the vacuum.

This is interesting, the other day the dog smell came back and it was from the dogs swimming in the creek but I didn't know about it until later.

I was outside this morning and when I came inside I didn't smell anything, good or bad, but I did check on the diffuser sitting on the table in the entry way. I put it to my nose and the reeds reeked of dog smell! I flipped them. lol