Fresh, green and instantly uplifting, spearmint is a botanical that has an effect on you almost as soon as you encounter it. This month, we're exploring why we use it so often at Bramley, from handbag to bath side essentials and even around the home.
That cool, green scent clears the head and wake up the senses, a little like opening the windows first thing in the morning and breathing in the garden outside.
It's a botanical we've used for years at Bramley and one you'll find woven through more of our products than you might realise. Its versatility is exactly what makes it so interesting. Spearmint can feel cleansing and invigorating in skincare, fresh and restorative in the bath, or bring a wonderful green brightness to the scent of a room.
Why Spearmint?
Spearmint, or Mentha spitcata if we're being botanical about it, belongs to the mint family and gets its name from the distinctive pointed shape of its leaves. Native to Europe and Asia, mint has been grown and used for centuries in bathing, traditional herbal preparations, cooking and fragrance.
Compared with peppermint, spearmint has a softer, sweeter character. It still gives you that familiar sense of freshness, but without quite the same sharpness. This makes it a particularly useful botanical when we're creating products that need to feel fresh and invigorating while remaining beautifully balanced. Its one of those ingredients that connects very naturally with our surrounding here in the British countryside. Crush a mint leaf between your fingers and you get that immediate rush of green fragrance.
Spearmint for your Skin
Our Spearmint Invigorating Face Wash is the best way to experience it.
We use spearmint for its naturally refreshing and cleansing qualities, creating a face wash that thoroughly cleanses while leaving skin feeling comfortable rather than stripped. Its fresh scent also gives the formula its wonderful invigorating character.
Its especially lovely first thing in the morning with its fresh botanical fragrance and a few quiet minutes at the sink can help awaken your senses for a new day. Or, try it on a hot summers day and splash some cool water on your face, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh scent of the face wash.
Spearmint also appears elsewhere across Skin by Bramley, including our Walnut Shell Revitalising Face Scrub, Magnolia Soothing Bath, Body & Shower Oil, Geranium Uplifting Bath, Body & Shower Oil and Sunflower Replenishing Body Balm.
What we love is that it doesn't perform exactly the same role in every formulation. We blend botanicals and essential oils carefully so that they work together, both for the skin and for the way a product makes you feel. In some blends spearmint brings freshness, in others it lifts floral notes or adds a clean, green edge.
A botanical for more than your skin
Spearmint has also found it way into some of our most-loved Bramley products.
It's a hero ingredient in our Hand Sanitiser, where its naturally refreshing character makes something functional much more pleasurable to use. Rather than the harsh, alcohol-heavy scent we often associate with hand sanitisers, spearmint gives ours its wonderfully fresh, garden fragrance.
And it seems we're not the only ones who notice the difference.
"I was using hand sanitiser regularly long before COVID made it a “thing” and this is a really nice product. It seems less harsh than some and it smells divine (as opposed to pure alcohol!)" - Sue J. Verified buyer ★★★★★
You'll also find spearmint in our Bath Salts and Soap Bar, and scenting the home through our Room Spray, Soothing Diffuser, Uplifting Diffuser and Home Candle.
It shows just how versatile one plant can be. Used one way, spearmint feels bright and invigorating. Blended differently, the same note can help a room feel calmer, fresher and closer to nature.
Bring a little spearmint into your day
Start with the Spearmint Invigorating Face Wash on a sleepy morning. Add a handful of Bath Salts to the tub when you need to switch off. Keep our Hand Sanitiser in your bag for a little botanical refresh while you're out, or fill the house with one of our essential oil blends at the end of the day.
However you encounter it, spearmint has a wonderful way of bringing you back to the present. Fresh, green, uplifting and rooted in nature, it's a small reminder of just how powerful plants can be.
