While the humble, sweet almond oil works very well in massage, there is now a cornucopia of new massage oils available on the high street. All of the oils in this collection will tune-up your senses of touch and smell and all are good. But there are some striking differences between them:
1. The Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden oil (150ml, £6.95) claims to contain a blend of nourishing oils which suggests that the oil is feeding the skin (it is not). The inclusion of almond oil is standard, but I liked the scent of rosehip.
2. Neal's Yard Geranium and Orange oil (100ml, £10) is the only oil that claims to be 100% organic. The geranium and orange scents are pleasant, but fairly standard.
3. Origins Ginger Touch oil (100ml, £17.50). I love the inclusion of ginger - a jazzy and arousing smell.
4. Salcura Sharshapadee Ayurvedic Herbal massage oil (100ml, £14.99) has a distinctly dark, herbal odour.
5. The Body Shop Spa Wisdom Monoi Miracle oil (150ml, £10) is dissolved in Brazilian Babassu oil together with fractions from coconut oils. The beautiful fragrance of Tahitian gardenia flowers is so expensive that I wonder how much of it is natural.
6. Johnson's Baby Oil gel with camomile (200ml, £2.99) is the only product claiming to be clinically proven. It makes no pretence to be natural - just effective.
7. Elemis De-stress massage oil (100ml, £28) comes in a nifty bottle, but contains a mixture of relatively mundane essential oils.
8. Aromatherapy Associates Enrich massage and body oil (100ml, £26) claims that one of its carrier oils (an extract from the macadamia nut) promotes skin cell regeneration. I'm not so sure, and the smell is only mildly appeasing.
9. Dr Hauschka Birch-Arnica body oil (100ml, £18) This comes with a distinguished pedigree. It includes the oil from arnica, which does have healing properties.
10. Aveda Blue oil (7ml, £9.50) contains a synthetic blue pigment and is applied to the skin using a roller ball. It relies on a strong peppermint oil odour which, like ginger, is potent and arousing.
· George Dodd is the director of AromaScienes (aromasciences.com)
