Valor is an essential oil blend designed to promote feelings of confidence, calm, and emotional grounding. Made by Young Living, it combines black spruce, frankincense, blue tansy, and rosewood (or camphor wood) in a carrier oil base. People use it primarily for stress relief, relaxation before sleep, and as a personal ritual before nerve-wracking situations like job interviews, public speaking, or the first day at a new school.
What’s in the Blend
Valor contains four essential oils suspended in a neutral carrier oil. Black spruce provides the woodsy, forest-like backbone of the scent. Frankincense adds an earthy, resinous warmth. Blue tansy gives the blend its distinctive deep blue color, thanks to a compound called chamazulene that forms during the distillation process. Rosewood (or camphor wood, depending on the formulation) rounds out the aroma with a softer, slightly floral note.
The blend has gone through a few reformulations over the years. The original version, created in 1990, used rosewood. When rosewood became endangered and harder to source, Young Living introduced Valor II with substitute ingredients. The current formulation lists camphor wood in place of rosewood, though the intended effect remains the same.
How People Use It
Valor is used in three main ways: applied to the skin, inhaled directly, or diffused into a room.
For topical use, 2 to 4 drops can be applied to the wrists, chest, base of the neck, bottoms of the feet, or over the heart. Many people dilute it with a carrier oil like fractionated coconut oil or jojoba before applying, especially if they have sensitive skin. A popular routine is massaging it onto the neck and shoulders before bed to ease tension and wind down. Foot massage with Valor before sleep is another common practice among regular users.
For aromatic use, you can inhale it straight from the bottle, rub a drop between your palms and cup them near your nose, or add it to a diffuser. The scent is often described as deep and grounding, with the spruce and frankincense doing most of the heavy lifting aromatically.
Emotional and Stress Support
The blend’s original purpose was rooted in the idea of building courage. Young Living’s founder, Gary Young, developed Valor during a difficult period in his life when he felt he needed strength. He based the formulation on historical writings he encountered at a Hebrew university describing how Roman soldiers would bathe in plant extracts as part of a multi-day ceremony before going to war.
Whether or not the Roman connection holds up to historical scrutiny, the blend has developed a loyal following among people who use it as a grounding ritual. Users commonly reach for it before stressful events, during anxious moments, or as part of a morning routine to set an intentional tone for the day. The act of pausing to apply an oil and breathe in its scent can itself serve as a small mindfulness practice, regardless of the specific oils involved.
Skin and Physical Benefits
Young Living markets Valor as improving the appearance of skin when applied topically. Frankincense has a long history of use in skincare for its skin-smoothing properties, and blue tansy’s chamazulene content is recognized by the American Chemical Society as having anti-inflammatory qualities. Black spruce oil is rich in compounds called alpha-pinene and beta-pinene (making up roughly 75% of the oil), which give it that fresh, clean forest scent and contribute to its use in massage for muscle comfort.
That said, Valor is primarily an aromatherapy product, not a skincare treatment. The concentration of any single oil in the blend is relatively low. If you’re looking specifically for anti-inflammatory skin benefits from blue tanzy or skin-smoothing effects from frankincense, a dedicated product with higher concentrations of those individual oils would likely be more effective.
Making Your Own Version
If you want to recreate something similar at home, the basic ratio for a 5 ml bottle is approximately 30 drops of black spruce, 15 drops of frankincense, 12 drops of blue tanzy, and 4 drops of rosewood or ho wood essential oil. For a diluted roll-on version (10 ml), cut those amounts roughly in half and fill the rest of the bottle with a carrier oil. Ho wood is a common substitute for rosewood since it has a similar scent profile and is more sustainably harvested.
Safety Considerations
Valor is generally well tolerated when diluted, but a few things are worth keeping in mind. Blue tanzy is sometimes confused with common tansy, which contains a toxic compound called thujone. They are different plants. The blue tanzy in Valor (Tanacetum annuum) is the safe variety used in aromatherapy.
As with any essential oil blend applied to the skin, do a small patch test on your inner forearm before using it on larger areas, especially if you have reactive skin. If you’re pregnant or nursing, check with your healthcare provider before using essential oil blends topically, as some individual oils have specific cautions during pregnancy. Store Valor away from heat and direct sunlight to preserve the integrity of the oils, particularly the blue tanzy, which can degrade with light exposure.