Hydrosol Mix of the Week - Neroli and Carrot Seed

It's funny how some hydrosols smell almost identical to their essential oil counterparts, while others are so different you would swear they didn't come from the same source.

Carrot Seed (INCI: Daucus Carrota) and Neroli (INCI: Citrus Aurantium) both fit somewhere in between.

Neroli (also called Orange Blossom) essential oil 

is light and delicate while the hydrosol is heavier, sweeter and – illogically – stronger smelling. The essential oil will happily step into the background of a blend, while the hydrosol is so dominant, it has a tendancy to overshadow everything else in the mix.

Carrot Seed essential oil 

behaves quite similarly to Neroli. The earthy, warm smell of the essential oil is great background material in a blend. However, like Neroli, the hydrosol is very dominating in a mix, stepping right out in front of everything else and staying there.

Creating a Firming Skin Tonic

Both of the hydrosols in this weeks mix offer skin calming properties, but Carrot Seed also brings anti-wrinkle action while Neroli also offers skin softening properties.

My idea of mixing these 2 has had a twofold goal

1. creating a gently firming tonic
2. creating a balanced scent: dampening Orange Blossom's sweetness with Carrot Seed's earthiness. (or lifting Carrot Seed's earthiness with Orange Blossom's sweetness).

After You. No, After You

As both hydrosols usually dominate any blend, it was interesting to discover how they politely 'made room for each other', creating a beautifully-functioning mix.

This combination is great for sensitive, dry, and mature skin. I will continue to work with these 2, tweaking the proportions to see if i can optimize it even more.

Read about Neroli in another hydrosol mix here.