Rowan & Thistle

PLATE No. 040

Ingredient Collection

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavandula angustifolia

Botanical plate of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): a clump of slender gray-green stems topped with purple flower spikes, beside a single flowering stem, a close view of a flower spike, individual flowers and buds, dried flower buds and a pale drop of essential oil.

Figure Key

  • Fig. 1 Flowering plant
  • Fig. 2 Flowering stem
  • Fig. 3 Flower spike
  • Fig. 4 Flowers & buds
  • Fig. 5 Dried flower buds
  • Fig. 6 Lavender essential oil

The Ingredient

Lavender essential oil is steam distilled from the flowering tops and contains naturally occurring aromatic compounds that help support skin and scalp comfort while providing antioxidant support. Its distinctive floral, fresh, and herbaceous aroma makes it useful for both its functional benefits and natural fragrance.

From Plant to Ingredient

  1. Lavender Essential Oil, step 1 — Lavender Plant: a lavender plant with narrow gray-green leaves and purple flower spikes.

    1. Lavender Plant

    Lavender grows as an aromatic evergreen shrub, sending up slender stems topped with purple flower spikes.

  2. Lavender Essential Oil, step 2 — Lavender Flower Spike: a single dense spike of purple lavender flowers.

    2. Lavender Flower Spike

    Each spike is made up of many small flowers, where much of lavender's familiar aroma is concentrated.

  3. Lavender Essential Oil, step 3 — Steam Distillation: a tied bunch of flowering lavender with curls of steam rising through it.

    3. Steam Distillation

    Steam passes through the flowering plant material, carrying its aromatic plant compounds with it.

  4. Lavender Essential Oil, step 4 — Lavender Essential Oil: a single pale golden drop of oil.

    4. Lavender Essential Oil

    As the steam cools, the essential oil separates and is collected as a concentrated aromatic ingredient.

Why We Chose It

Lavender lets us combine natural fragrance with an ingredient that has a useful role beyond scent. We particularly like it for products intended for sensitive, stressed, or uncomfortable-feeling skin and scalp, where its gentle botanical character and antioxidant support make sense alongside the rest of the formula.

What You'll Notice

  • Skin Comfort — Well suited to products designed for skin that feels stressed or uncomfortable.
  • Scalp Comfort — Useful in gentle scalp-care formulas where comfort and balance are priorities.
  • Antioxidant Support — Helps defend against everyday environmental stress that can contribute to visible skin damage.
  • Botanical Fragrance — Provides a naturally complex floral, fresh, and herbaceous aroma without relying on conventional synthetic lavender fragrance.

Botanical Profile

Scientific Name
Lavandula angustifolia
INCI Name
Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil
Plant Part Used
Flowering tops
Final Ingredient
Essential Oil
Origin
Multiple growing regions

A Closer Look

What we casually call a lavender “flower” is actually a flower spike made up of many individual blossoms arranged along the stem. Look closely and you'll see flowers at different stages, from tightly closed purple buds to tiny open blossoms. That familiar purple wand isn't one flower at all, but an entire collection of them.

An illustrated guide to the botanicals, ingredients, and materials that shape Rowan & Thistle

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