Spirit of Oil

Oil is where I am – an Interview with Dr. Isabelle Krause of Spirit of Oil

The WIEN PRODUCTS platform is growing – the brand Spirit of Oil joined the meanwhile 60 members in 2018.

I meet founder Dr. Isabelle Krause at her experimental workshop to get a glimpse of her work and passion. “In times of social media and online shopping, a physical shop is not that important anymore,” explains the trained aromatherapist – “the oil is where I am.”

This sounds exciting and I would like to know what it is that distinguishes her Spirit of Oil products from other essences and aromatic oils available and how she got into this business.

She laughs and tells me that she already began experimenting as a child and that this passion is responsible for the quality and diversity of her products. It is impossible to count the articles in her product range, as her customers often request individual mixtures.

The online shop on her new website is limited to 40 products at the moment – time and demand will certainly extend the range.

There are shower oils, body oils, oils especially for women and for babies, massage oils and – the latest in the range – a series of body splash sprays in beautiful bottles with elaborately designed labels.

What they all have in common is that their ingredients are subject to strict standards – Dr. Isabelle Krause uses only very high-quality oils and makes sure that the individual ingredients come from certified organic farms or have been harvested sustainably. This and her excellent sense for perfect mixtures — as well as 15 years of experience — make her products so special. The products are bottled in small containers. Their shelf-life is shorter than that of conventional cosmetics, as no preservatives and parabens or similar ingredients are used.

This is quite a lot of important information – I am interested in finding out which oils she likes to use and am confronted with a list of exciting names, such as candlenut oil, tamanu and pomegranate seed oil, cacay, amaranth, evening primrose, rose and argan oil. Wow, I haven’t even heard of some of them and my puzzled face seems to give this away. Dr. Krause says that these high-quality oils have special properties and that she uses them in a highly concentrated form.

When she talks you can hear her conviction to produce only the best products for skin and well-being – some of the items have already been around for 15 years. “I am basically the niche in the niche – she explains to me – natural cosmetics are already a niche in the cosmetics industry, and I found a niche within natural cosmetics. My products are freshly made and hand-bottled – I want to make sure that my customers get the best – after all, they invest more in these products than into conventional cosmetic products.”

So, who are her customers and where do they come from, I wonder and the answer is straightforward: 90% of her customers are from Austria and especially from the metropolitan area of Vienna and its surrounding regions – individual customers have their favorite products sent to them or come and pick them up when they are in the city. In addition, therapists and midwives value their collaboration with the aromatherapist and her individual mixtures for special situations.

Do you need special sources of inspirations when working with such unusual and diverse oils and creating so many fragrances? I ask.

“Everything can be an inspiration – cooking and traveling – as little as a trip to my favorite garden center or my own garden with its early blossoming plants that are just starting to bloom and give my bee colonies food. I always think of new combinations and carry the ideas around with me. I develop them in my mind and experiment until everything is perfect. The final bottling of the product is not that spectacular.”

Now, I know why the brand is called Spirit of Oil – inspiration and spirit are part of each product.

I say goodbye to Dr. Isabelle Krause and leave her laboratory. The quality of the Spirit of Oil products is definitely worth a virtual tour through the online shop.