Ingredient Library
Sweet Orange
Citrus sinensis
Sweet orange is a bright citrus oil rich in antioxidants that tone and uplift dull skin. Refreshing and cheerful, it suits dull or tired skin.
A natural history
The sweet orange is one of the world's most beloved fruits, and a quietly remarkable one: it does not grow wild anywhere. Every sweet orange descends from an ancient garden cross of the pomelo and the mandarin, carried westward along trade routes and cherished wherever it went as a symbol of warmth, sunshine, and good fortune.
So precious were orange trees in cooler Europe that nobility built grand glass houses, the orangeries, just to grow them through the winter. The most famous of all, the Orangerie at Versailles, once held some three thousand trees to perfume the halls of a king. From sunlit grove to gilded hall, the orange has always carried an air of brightness and abundance.
What it does for your skin
Sweet orange peel oil is a bright, antioxidant citrus. In laboratory analysis, cold pressed orange peel oil, rich in the compound limonene, showed real antioxidant, free radical scavenging activity.[1] Its uplifting aroma has substance too: in a clinical study, the scent of sweet orange helped ease anxiety, an effect strongest in women.[2] In a formula it lends a fresh, brightening, antioxidant character and a naturally uplifting scent to dull, tired skin.
References
[1] Yang C, et al. Antioxidant and anticancer activities of essential oil from Gannan navel orange peel. Molecules. 2017;22(8):1391. doi:10.3390/molecules22081391
[2] Czakert J, et al. Scenting serenity: influence of essential-oil vaporization on dental anxiety, a cluster-randomized controlled study. Sci Rep. 2024;14(1):14143. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-63657-w
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
It is a bright, antioxidant citrus oil with a naturally uplifting scent, used to lend dull, tired skin a fresh and refreshed character.
Sweet orange peel oil is much lower in the furocoumarins that make oils like bergamot sun-sensitizing, so it is among the gentler citrus oils, though sun care is always wise.