Your lemon and lime friends are sparkling, confident and positive. Their energy and enthusiasm are irrististable. They uplift your emotions and revitalise your outlook on life.

Lemon and lime have similar therapeutic properties, although lime is gentler in action and often chosen over lemon for this reason. Both are powerful-acting essential oils.

Skin care oils

I prefer skin care that is gentle-acting and which works with your skin rather than against it. Lemon and lime essential oils – and bergamot – are too harsh for my skin except in very low dilutions, although others may tolerate them.

Lemon and lime are antibacterial, antiseptic and astingent – excellent properties for treating oily skin, spots or acne. Lemon can cause skin irritation and worsen your skin condition, so anti-inflammatory lime may be the safer choice. Lime oil is helpful for over-production of sebum and can help to prevent or treat acne.

Both lemon and lime essential oils should be used sparingly on skin and in dilutions of 1% or less. Patch test a blend that has lemon or lime before general use on skin.

Lemon and lime are also toning to skin and anti-aging, but there are other essential oils that have anti-aging properties and which are safer to use on skin, for example: lavender and tea tree.

Lime facial wash

If you are experiencing over-production of sebum that is making skin oily and spot prone, wash your face every morning with this lime facial wash:

• 3 drops lime
• 6 drops lavender
• 6 drops geranium
• 30ml unfragrance cleansing gel or lotion (available from aromatherapy suppliers or health food stores)*

*Try this DIY cleansing gel base. Blend 2 parts aloe vera gel to 1 part olive oil. Whisk with a hand blender in a bowl until a white creamy gel forms. Transfer to a dark glass jar and add essential oils of your choice, stirring in with the handle of teaspoon.

Lemon treatment for warts and verrucae

Patricia Davis states that lemon oil can be used neat for warts or verrucae applied directly to the spot with a cotton bud. I recommended this for a colleague who had a stubborn verruca that had persisted for a year. Within three days the verruca had shrunk half in size, it was gone within a week and, as far as I am aware, has not recurred. Use this treatment with care – apply only to the wart or verrucae and be careful not to apply to unaffected areas of skin.

Phototoxic oils

Both oils are thought to be phototoxic – they may cause skin reaction in sunlight. For this reason it is best to use lemon and lime in low dilutions, or not at all, 24 hours before exposure to strong sunlight. If you are prone to hyperpigmented skin conditions or burn easily, avoid using these essential oils in spring and summer.

Stimulating and uplifting

Lemon and lime have are energising and reinvigorating. Both oils are ideal for a tired mind and may also be helpful for anxiety and depression. Burn two drops each of lemon and lime in an oil burner for a revitalising and uplifting room fragrance.

Lemon oil is also thought to stimulate the immune system, which makes it a useful oil to burn during winter months to stimulate the body and strengthen it against colds and flu.

This post is dedicated to Sophie – who is sparkliness and sunshine personified

Profile of lemon:

Latin name: Citrus limon
Plant family: Rutaceae
Plant type: citrus
Perfume note: top

Botany and origins: small, thorny evergreen reaching 6m with serrated oval leaves and sweetly fragranced flowers; unripe fruit mature into yellow
Extraction: cold expression of the peel
Chemical properties/active components: high in monoterpenes (87%) which are antiseptic, analgesic and rubefacient; a key constituent is limonene (a monoterpene)
Blends with: benzoin, citrus oils, chamomile, eucalyptus, fennel, frankincense, geranium, lavender, lavandin, juniper, neroli, sandalwood, rose, ylang ylang
Key actions: anti-microbial, antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, astringent, bactericidal, detoxifier, diuretic, clarifying, lightening (to skin and moods!), toning, strengthening
Common conditions: colds, flu, fever, infections, bronchitis, thought to stimulate immunity by promoting production of white blood cells (although unlikely to do this through inhalation alone, and concentrations required on skin to achieve this effect would be high risk), observed in vitro to kill Diptheria bacteria in 20 minutes at 0.2% dilution; cellulite, obesity, acne, oily and congested skins, over-production of sebum, aging skin, boils, warts, verrucae; tones blood vessels, varicose veins, broken capillaries, nosebleeds, poor circulation; throat infections, bronchitis, catarrh; rheumatism, arthritis; lifts the spirits, mental fatigue, mentally stimulating, aids decision making, relieves stress
Contraindications: slightly phototoxic – do not use in concentrations of more than 2% if exposed to sunlight 12 hours after application; can cause irritation, inflammation and sensitisation; avoid in first three months of pregnancy
Further reading: This profile is based on my own experience and knowledge of using this essential oil. Other aromatherapy texts will list a wider range of properties and uses. The most comprehensive essential oil profiles that I have read are given by Salvatore Battaglia’s The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Second Edition, published by Perfect Potion, 2003, Australia. ISBN:  0-6464-2896-9

Profile of lime:

Latin name: Citrus aurantifolia
Plant family: Rutaceae
Plant type: citrus
Perfume note: top

Botany and origins: small evergreen reaching 4–6m with wide canopy of 7m and irregularly spaced branches with drooping short spines (some cultivars are spineless); Key, West Indian and Mexican cultivars, and Persian limes; it is native to northern India and Burma, and is thought to have been transported to Central and South America by migrating Polynesian tribes via the Pacific Islands
Chemical properties/active components: high in monoterpenes hydrocarbons (72%) of which its key constituents are limonene, camphene, cymene, sabinene, myrcene; these are analgesic, antiseptic, anti-viral, decongestant, general tonics and stimulating, and also thought to have hormone-like actions
Blends with: benzoin, citrus oils, chamomile, eucalyptus, fennel, frankincense, geranium, lavender, lavandin, juniper, neroli, sandalwood, rose, ylang ylang
Key actions: anti-microbial, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, astringent, bactericidal, calming, decongestant disinfectant, insecticide, refreshing, sedative, stimulant (mood and appetite) tonic, uplifting,
Common conditions: fluid retention, cellulite; varicose veins, nosebleeds, arthritis, rheumatism, poor circulation; over-production of sebum, oily and problem skins, brittle nails, boils, chilblains, corns, cuts, insect bites, skin infections, herpes, warts; throat infections, catarrh, bronchitis; fatigue, apathy, anxiety, depression
Contraindications: very phototoxic – do not use in concentrations of more than 2% if exposed to sunlight 12 hours after application; expressed lime is more phototoxic than any other citrus oil due to chemical constituent bergaptene; avoid in first three months of pregnancy
Further reading: This profile is based on my own experience and knowledge of using this essential oil. Other aromatherapy texts will list a wider range of properties and uses. The most comprehensive essential oil profiles that I have read are given by Salvatore Battaglia’s The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, Second Edition, published by Perfect Potion, 2003, Australia. ISBN:  0-6464-2896-9

Image (lemon): Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image (lime): Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net