Steam-distilled from the leaves and young twigs of Citrus aurantium var. amara, the Seville bitter orange. Green, woody and softly floral at once — one of the most distinctive and most useful oils in perfumery.
One tree, three completely different oils
The bitter orange is unique in giving three separate commercial essential oils from three separate parts, and knowing this makes the whole family make sense:
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Neroli — from the flowers. Intensely floral, and one of the most expensive oils in the world, because it takes an enormous weight of blossom to make a little.
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Petitgrain — from the leaves and twigs. This bottle. It shares a real part of neroli's character — the same green-floral thread — at a small fraction of the price. The name means "little grain", from the days when the oil was distilled from the tiny unripe fruits.
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Bitter orange — expressed from the peel. Sharp and bitter, and unlike petitgrain, phototoxic.
Petitgrain is steam-distilled from leaves, so it is not phototoxic — there is no sun restriction on it, which makes it far easier to use in a body oil or a summer blend than most citrus-family oils.
What an essential oil may and may not claim
Petitgrain is commonly sold on the promise that it "settles and comforts the mind when emotions are running high", that it "can help with blemishes and oily skin", and that it is "a gentle ally for soothing an unsettled stomach". None of that appears here. Claims about emotional state, about treating skin conditions and about digestion are health claims, and none is authorised in the EU for any essential oil.
Petitgrain does not need the help. It is a beautiful smell and one of the genuinely great perfumery materials — it has been in classic eaux de cologne for two centuries and it is the reason many of them smell the way they do.
How to use it
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Diffusion: a few drops in a ventilated room, twenty to thirty minutes. It is superb with bergamot, lavender, rosemary, cedarwood, vetiver and neroli — and it is the oil that makes a citrus blend smell expensive rather than simple.
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On skin: one to two per cent in a carrier oil (6–12 drops in 30 ml). Patch test and wait 24 hours.
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Make your own cologne: petitgrain, bergamot, lemon and a little rosemary in alcohol is essentially the classical formula, and it is a genuinely rewarding thing to do with an afternoon.
- Not around babies, young children, pregnant women or pets — cats especially.
Storage
Cool, dark, tightly closed, upright. Petitgrain keeps considerably better than the expressed citrus oils — being distilled rather than pressed, and richer in linalyl acetate than limonene — but oxidised oil still irritates skin more than fresh oil.
Safety — the essentials
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Never swallow essential oils without the direct supervision of a qualified health professional.
- Keep out of reach of children, in the original bottle with the child-resistant cap.
- In eyes: flush with plain vegetable oil rather than water.
- Accident or swallowing: in Portugal call CIAV on 800 250 250 — free, 24 hours. In an emergency, 112.
Propos'Nature
Propos'Nature
Propos'Nature
