Ingredient Library
Geranium
Pelargonium graveolens
Geranium is a balancing flower oil that tones and refreshes while helping even the look of skin. Uplifting, it suits combination and mature skin.
A natural history
Rose geranium is a fragrant little shrub from South Africa whose soft, velvety leaves carry, surprisingly, the scent of roses. When it reached Europe it captivated the perfumers, who distilled its leaves for a lovely rose like oil, and it has been a treasure of fine fragrance ever since, prized for a rosy sweetness that belies its humble leaf.
It earned a charming nickname along the way: the poor man's rose. Because its leaves give up their rose scented oil far more generously, and affordably, than the petals of a true rose, geranium became the gracious stand in, lending its balancing, rosy character to perfumes and skin care alike.
What it does for your skin
Rose geranium oil is valued for its balancing, antioxidant character. In laboratory study, geranium essential oil showed real antioxidant, free radical scavenging activity, the kind that helps support skin against everyday oxidative stress.[1] A detailed analysis confirmed the oil is led by the rosy compounds citronellol and geraniol and carries antioxidant activity.[2] In a formula it lends a balancing, rosy, refreshing character to combination or stressed looking skin. That balancing, antioxidant character is documented in laboratory studies of its rosy compounds.
References
[1] Lohani A, et al. Cosmeceutical potential of geranium and calendula essential oil: determination of antioxidant activity and in vitro sun protection factor. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2019;18(2):550-557. doi:10.1111/jocd.12789
[2] Kacaniova M, et al. An in-depth study on the chemical composition and biological effects of Pelargonium graveolens essential oil. Foods. 2023;13(1):33. doi:10.3390/foods13010033
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
It is a balancing, antioxidant, rose-scented oil used to lend combination or stressed-looking skin a fresh, even, comforted character.
Its leaves yield a beautifully rose-like oil far more generously than true rose petals, so it has long been a gracious, affordable stand-in for rose.