Peppermint Oil

Essential oil produced by steam distillation of the rapidly dried leaves of Mentha piperita.  The oil is of Indian origin and should not be confused with the (generally considered to be inferior and vastly cheaper) oil produced from Mentha arvensis properly called corn mint but frequently sold in small amounts as peppermint.

So extensively used as a flavouring that almost everyone will be familiar with the smell and taste of peppermint, its use in perfumery is generally in traces to perhaps as much as 1% of a formula.  The main usage is to add freshness and lift, but at the higher end of that range it will impart its own distinctive note and at lower levels there is a delicate sweet, balsamic quality that is difficult to replicate.

Arctander suggests that peppermint oil can be used “in perfumes e.g. in lavender colognes (lift and freshness) fougeres, geranium bases, etc. for its generally ‘lifting’ effects at low concentration.” 

Of the 26 potential allergens that the EU requires to be declared, this oil contains 3.5% Limonene.