Neroli - A Healing Oil That Becomes An Obsession
Someone asked me the other day why I love Neroli so much. After all, it is not an essential oil that immediately springs to mind when you talk about skin care.
Even trying to describe the scent can be difficult - it seems to change as you breathe it in, different textures and notes to its fragrance coming through as you inhale deeply.
One person might describe it as fresh, the next peppery. Another may say it is bright. For me, it is all of those things, and this complexity is one of the reasons I love it so much - Neroli is a healing oil, and really is a fragrance that becomes an obsession....
Try It Yourself? Neroli Skin Tonic
Neroli Oil - The Legend Behind The Fragrance
Not content to be an aroma that is difficult to pin down, the origins of Neroli Oil is also steeped in a little exoticism.
It was supposedly discovered and made popular by a French courtier in 17th Century Italy, a lady named Marie Anne de la Tremoille. She has a wikipedia page here... and out of interest, just read to the bottom and check out how Wikipedia try to capture the fragrance of Neroli.
Go on, go read it now....
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... funny, isn't it? Wikipedia can't decide what it smells like either.
We did say this healing oil is a complex one!
Are You Ready To Try Neroli For Yourself Yet?
This lady, Marie Anne de la Tremoille, also happened to be The Duchess of Brachianno and the Princess of Nerola. She was obviously a busy lady, but not too busy to notice that the flowers of her bitter orange trees were a beautiful sight. Nor too busy to recognise that, by picking these flowers and placing them into her gloves, they gave off a scent that was pleasant (and, as we know, complex.)
She bathed in this fragrance, she perfumed her stationery in this fragrance, she used it on her clothes - somewhat singlehandedly, she made Neroli Oil popular to her high society colleagues.
Then in 1709, perfumier Johann Maria Farina used Neroli in his popular fragrance 'Eau de Cologne'. We all know and recognise the term 'cologne', but this was the first time it was used to describe a fragrance. Ever.
Can you imagine that?
He actually just named it 'Eau de Cologne' because he was living in the town of Cologne at the time. Then here we are, centuries later, still using this word to mean 'perfume'...
"I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain."
This is how Johann Maria Farina described his neroli based perfume. It still doesn't make the scent of neroli any easier to describe to you, but we hope it inspires you to try it!
So through the Italian-based, French 'Princess', and then the Italian born, German-based perfumier, we now have neroli oil, which these days is obtained by picking the white flowers from the bitter orange tree.
This flower blossom is then steam distilled to extract the oil. Because harvesting such a delicate flower is so difficult, the oil is expensive. But worth it.
How Neroli Oil Can Benefit Your Skin
Neroli oil can benefit your skin in so many ways. It can:
- Help the skin to look fresher, as it stimulates new cell growth.
- Treat acne and spots.
- Improve circulation if massaged onto the body (always with a carrier oil like Almond.)
- Fight lethargy, depression and ease anxiety if the scent is inhaled.
Sounds like a healing oil to me!
Where We Use Neroli Oil
We use neroli oil in two products - our face tonic, where you can get all the benefits of this oil for your skin, and in a face cream.
In the face cream, we mix it with the coolness of aloe. One review we got for this face cream started 'BEST FACE CREAM EVER...'
We hope you will try our neroli oil based products.
It is a wonderful oil to use and will provide you with all the benefits a plant based skin care cream or tonic can give.
Added to that will be the mental stimulation you get, from trying to work out how to describe the scent of Neroli - is it citrus? Or something deeper? Do I detect some spice?
Yes, Neroli really can become an obsession!
- Tags: neroli
- Angela Deavall
