Produced from the peel of the orange fruit, orange essential oils are well known for their bright and fruity scents. Popular in a wide variety of projects, orange essential oil is commonly used in cleaning products. Bramble Berry carries four varieties of orange essential oil: Orange Valencia Essential Oil, 10X Orange Essential Oil, Red Brazilian Mandarin and Tangerine Essential Oil. All are fantastic, but have various properties that make them distinct.
Orange Valencia Essential Oil: Citrus sinensis ‘Valencia.’  Two clinical studies found that orange essential oil reduced anxiety and improved mood (2005 study of 200 patients; 2000 study of 72 patients). Best used in melt and pour, room spritzers or sprays as it does not hold up well in cold process. It is distilled using the cold pressed method.
10X Orange Essential Oil: Citrus Sinensis. A great option for cold process soap, this essential oil is extremely concentrated. When used in cold process, it turns soap a beautiful orange color. It is produced from the orange peel using a cold pressed and fractional distillation method.
Red Brazilian Mandarin Essential Oil: Citrus Reticulata. Produced by cold pressed distillation in Brazil, this essential oil has a slight bitter note.
Tangerine Essential Oil: Citrus Reticulata. Slightly sweet, this essential oil is produced in the USA by cold pressed distillation of the outer peel. While it does not stick well in cold process soap, it’s wonderful in other wash off products.
Orange essential oils are considered a strong photosensitizer. This means when applied to the skin, it becomes more sensitive to ultraviolet UV light (sunlight). This causes the skin to burn and become damaged more easily by the sun, or other source of UV light. Because of this, use extreme caution if using orange essential oil in lip balm, lotions or other leave-on products. Sunburned skin is no fun! Other essential oils that may cause phototoxicity are lime, lemon and bergamont.
The Juicy Orange and Sweet Rose Cold Process Soap uses 10X Orange Essential Oil because it’s extremely concentrated and appropriate for cold process.Â
When using orange essential oil in cold process soap, the best option is 10X Orange Essential Oil. Why? 10x Orange Essential Oil is incredibly concentrated, and is able to hold up in cold process soap. The term, “10X” actually means, “ten fold,” which refers to how many times the oil has been concentrated.
Our 10X Orange Essential Oil is folded via fractional distillation, which filters out unnecessary components and concentrates all the “good smelling” components. In the Juicy Orange and Sweet Rose Cold Process tutorial, 10X Orange Essential Oil is used to create a soap that smells bright, cheery and juicy! We recommend using .7 to 1 ounce 10X Orange Essential Oil per pound of cold process soap.
Orange essential oils are brightly colored, so be sure to take that into consideration when using them in your projects. Shown above is Red Brazilian Mandarin Essential Oil; notice the beautiful orange hue! Using 10X Orange Essential Oil, and Red Brazilian Mandarin Essential Oil results in some discoloration, as shown below.
Have you used orange essential oils in your projects lately? I love the bright, happy scent it gives!
