Ingredient Library
Neroli
Citrus aurantium (flower)
Neroli is a delicate orange-blossom oil that calms and revives while lending a soft floral scent. Soothing and renewing, it suits dry, mature, and sensitive skin.
A natural history
Neroli is the essential oil of the bitter orange blossom, one of the most precious and beloved scents in all of perfumery. The fragrant white flowers are gathered, most often by hand, and distilled drop by precious drop. It takes an extraordinary quantity of blossoms to yield even a little oil, which is part of why neroli has always been treasured.
Its very name carries a romance. The oil is said to be named for a seventeenth century Princess of Nerola in Italy, who so loved the scent that she perfumed her gloves and her bath with it. Orange blossom has long crowned brides as a symbol of purity and joy, from the wreath Queen Victoria wore at her wedding onward.
What it does for your skin
Neroli is a soothing, beautifully fragrant flower oil. In laboratory study, neroli oil, rich in linalool, showed antioxidant, free radical scavenging activity.[1] In further research its blossom oil showed soothing, calming activity in testing.[2] In a formula, neroli lends a soft, comforting, antioxidant character and an exquisite scent to dry or stressed looking skin. That comforting, antioxidant character is documented in laboratory studies of its linalool.
References
[1] Sarrou E, et al. Volatile constituents and antioxidant activity of peel, flowers and leaf oils of Citrus aurantium L. growing in Greece. Molecules. 2013;18(9):10639-10647. doi:10.3390/molecules180910639
[2] Khodabakhsh P, et al. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Citrus aurantium L. blossoms essential oil (neroli). J Nat Med. 2015;69(3):324-331. doi:10.1007/s11418-015-0896-6
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
It is a soothing, antioxidant flower oil with an exquisite scent, used to comfort and refresh dry, mature, or stressed-looking skin.
It takes an extraordinary quantity of hand-picked bitter orange blossoms to distill even a little neroli oil, making it one of perfumery's most treasured naturals.