Organic Helichrysum Italicum Essential Oil

Yes, and the species matters more here than with almost any other oil. This is Helichrysum italicum, the one skincare formulators mean when they say helichrysum or immortelle. It is also sold under the older name Helichrysum angustifolium, which is the same plant.

Watch out for Helichrysum gymnocephalum from Madagascar, which is a different and far cheaper oil sold under the same common name. It smells of cineole, closer to eucalyptus, and has none of the chemistry italicum is bought for. Ours is single-botanical italicum, nothing added, nothing diluted, GC/MS tested.

Skin is what helichrysum is bought for. It is the oil people reach for when skin is mature, uneven in tone, weather-worn or just in need of something more serious than a nice smell, and it is a regular in expensive facial oils for exactly that reason.

How to use it on the face

• The classic serum: 1 drop in 30 ml of rosehip oil, used at night. That is a 0.17% dilution and it is genuinely enough.
• For uneven tone: 1 helichrysum and 1 frankincense in 30 ml of jojoba, used consistently rather than heavily.
• After sun or after shaving: 1 drop in a spoonful of aloe gel or an unscented balm.
• Hands and elbows: 2 drops in 30 ml of a rich balm for skin that works hard.

Always dilute and patch test first. Helichrysum is in the daisy family, so if ragweed, daisies or chrysanthemums affect you, approach it carefully.

This is the question serious buyers ask, and it comes down to one number: neryl acetate.

• Corsican and French: typically 30 to 40% neryl acetate, which makes the oil softer, sweeter and fruitier, with 6 to 8% italidione diketones. This is the type the fine-skincare houses buy and the reason Corsica built a reputation on it.
• Balkan, usually Bosnian or Croatian: typically only 6 to 8% neryl acetate but often over 20% diketones. Sharper and more medicinal in character, and usually cheaper.

Neither is fake. They are genuinely different materials from the same species grown in different places, and a seller who will not tell you which one they have is the thing to be wary of.

So here is ours, measured rather than described. The batch in stock, VR-2025-HI,c/669, runs neryl acetate at 17.30%, which sits between the two profiles above: sweeter and rounder than a typical Balkan oil, not as high as a top Corsican. The full gas chromatography report is in the Documents tab, and you can read the figure yourself rather than take our word for it.

Pale yellow to golden yellow, sometimes with a faint reddish cast. That is the normal range, and it is worth knowing because colour is one of the few checks you can run at home.

• Water-white and colourless: treat with suspicion. Helichrysum italicum is not a clear oil.
• Deep orange or brown: usually age or oxidation rather than quality.
• Pale yellow to gold: what you want.

Colour on its own proves nothing, and the only real answer is a gas chromatography report. But a helichrysum that looks like water is worth a question before it goes anywhere near your face.

Yield. Helichrysum italicum is one of the least generous plants in the still: it takes a very large quantity of small flowers to produce a little oil, the plants grow on poor Mediterranean hillsides, and the harvest window is short. That is why it is sold in 5ml bottles when most oils start at 10ml.

For context, a 5ml of genuine italicum commonly sells in the UK for twenty to thirty pounds, and specialist Corsican oils run a good deal higher. We think ours is keenly priced for what it is.

Bulk: we stock 100ml, 500ml and 1 litre, which are the sizes skincare formulators and candle makers ask for, and the per-millilitre price falls sharply as the size goes up. For anything larger, or for trade terms, email support@ecodrop.co.uk and we will quote on current stock.

Helichrysum is a middle-to-base note with a dry, honeyed, slightly tea-like character, so it sits best with the gentle skincare family and with resins. Lavender, frankincense, rose geranium, German chamomile, rosehip as a carrier, and sandalwood or cedarwood underneath.

Three helichrysum blends

• Night serum: 1 helichrysum, 1 frankincense, 30 ml rosehip oil.
• Calm skin oil: 1 helichrysum, 2 lavender, 1 German chamomile, 30 ml jojoba.
• After exertion: 2 helichrysum, 2 peppermint or spearmint, 30 ml of a carrier oil, massaged into tired legs.

Helichrysum and frankincense is the pairing people ask about most, and it works: the resin gives the honeyed note somewhere to settle, and both are oils you use in single drops.

Immortelle means everlasting, and the name is literal: the small golden flowers keep their colour long after they are picked and dried, which is why the plant is also called the everlasting flower. It is sold as helichrysum, immortelle and everlasting, and all three mean the same oil.

It is also nicknamed the curry plant, because the crushed silver foliage smells remarkably like curry powder. That is a scent resemblance and nothing more: it is not an ingredient in curry, it is not a culinary herb, and this oil is not for eating.

Less than you think, and regularly rather than heavily.

• Face: 1 drop per 30 ml of carrier oil, which is about 0.17%. Daily is fine at that strength.
• Body: up to 1%, roughly 6 drops per 30 ml.
• Diffuser: 2 or 3 drops. It is warm and dry rather than loud, and it holds a room quietly.
• Never neat: always into a carrier oil, and patch test before the first use.

At this price there is no sense in using more. A 5ml bottle holds around 100 drops, so one drop a night is roughly three months of serum.