Ingredient

Mentha Viridis Leaf Oil (Spearmint Oil)

Spearmint. It perfumes your teas, your mojitos, nojitos and your chewing gum –  now making its way into your cosmetics thanks to this fragrant essential oil.

What is spearmint?

Spearmint, garden mint, Mentha viridis, or Mentha spicata… It’s all the same. It’s the most common and well-known variety of mint. A leafy plant that can grow almost anywhere, with its square-shaped stem and fragrant, bright green leaves.

Spearmint has been used medicinally and culinary in all the countries where it’s been grown, although herbalists tend to prefer peppermint. These two herbs have similar properties, but peppermint has a fresher scent and is more potent. At Lush, we use both, each for its own unique qualities.

What are the benefits of spearmint oil?

• Its scent is fresh, sweet, invigorating, and comforting.
• Thanks to its antibacterial and antifungal properties, it cleanses and purifies the skin.
• Its antioxidant activity helps maintain skin firmness and radiance.
• It soothes the skin and scalp.

All these benefits are achieved by the main constituents of the essential oil: carvone and limonene. This is actually the main difference between peppermint and spearmint: the latter contains almost no menthol. But what it lacks in menthol’s coolness, it compensates with carvone’s sweet and almost spicy side.

Where do we source spearmint oil?

Lush purchases Chinese spearmint oil, which is extracted from the flowering tops of the plant by steam distillation.