What’s better than freshly squeezed orange juice? Or, for us essential oil nerds, pure orange essential oil? We all love oranges for their health (and skincare benefits) but today we wanted to educate you about orange blossoms, and the exquisite oil they produce called neroli. Those beautiful white blooms are not just good for decorating, they hold the secret to your best skin ever, which is why neroli was the oil of choice for Italian royalty at bath time. We include it in several formulations here at UMA and it’s one of the standout ingredients in our newest anti-aging product (stay tuned friends)!
Its History:
Oranges and orange blossoms have always held an allure throughout history; symbolizing luxury and indulgence. Orange trees are native to parts of India, East Africa and the Himalayas. In Ancient Egypt, neroli oil was used as a spiritual and physical healing ingredient. Other cultures used it to fight illness.
Brought over to Florida by the Spaniards in the 15th century, citrus farming has been a thriving industry ever since. Around the same time, the oil became popular among the Italian royalty as well as the French royalty, who frequently used it as a type of perfume.
How It’s Made:
Let’s start at the beginning: producing neroli essential oil is quite a labor intensive and expensive process. It takes over 1,000 orange blossoms to produce just one pound of neroli oil. You can imagine how expansive the resources need to be in order to grow and collect all the blossoms. Thankfully, at Uma, we’ve mastered sustainable growing on the estate’s lands – ensuring high quality neroli – all from one source.
Now that’s not the half of it! At Uma we extract neroli via steam distillation. This incredibly temperate and time sensitive process isn’t easy, but it ensures a higher quality product by using a much gentler mode of extraction.
Skincare Benefits:
So what’s the obsession about? You may have already guessed it, but orange blossoms are chock-full of benefits for your skin. Neroli oil is a natural choice when the goal is to boost luminosity and promote a natural, healthy glow. Nutrient rich, neroli oil aids in the natural regeneration process of the skin which, in turn, leads to healthier, younger looking skin. This turnover also makes it an excellent choice to fight stretch marks and reduce scars. It also helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, making it an prime anti-aging ingredient. A lesser known benefit of neroli is that it acts an antiseptic; fighting bacteria that can cause breakouts and unsightly blemishes.
Its Look, Feel and Scent:
Orange blossoms naturally produce a sweet and floral aroma when neroli oil is extracted (it’s no surprise the French would use this as a perfume!) We love the scent too, which is why it is our one of our favorite aromatherapy oils. It naturally relieves stress and anxiety, calms heart palpitations as well as insomnia and shock. Essential oils often come out differently when extracted (which is why sometimes our oils turn slightly different shades from batch to batch) – so neroli oil can resemble anything from a dark brown to a pale yellow color. Whatever the color, we’re always so pleased to smell this oil in our products. We feel a little like we’re holding luxury in a bottle.
