Being a bit of a Lush addict and having a close friend who dabbles in bath and body lotions and potions I tend to pick up a few cosmetic and beauty tips and one of them is for the use of the Lemon Essential Oil.

Lemon Essential oil can come in use in a number of ways for skin care as long as it is diluted. I cannot stress enough that you should never put undiluted essential oils directly on to the skin unless the directions say otherwise.

I tend to purchase my Lemon Essential oil from Holland & Barrett which at the moment is on offer at £4.39 for a 10ml bottle.

Lemon oil has a number of uses which a few are:

*Skin Cleanser
*Refreshing fragrance for the home if used in an oil burner
*Excellent for nails and cuticles
*Cleans stained hands

To use diluted it is a case of adding a couple of drops (no more than a couple of drops to a water based solution. If you want to use it as a skin cleanser (which it is fantastic for as it gets rid of spots and oily skin) then all you need to do is wash your face as you would do normally and then add two drops of Lemon oil to the water and mix the water around a bit. Once you have done that it is just a case of dabbing your face with the mixture you have created and then wiping dry again. The lemon oil only works so well on spots and oily skin because it is a drying oil so your face will feel very dry after use so a little bit of moisturiser will be needed though preferably not one that is oily otherwise you will just be wasting your time!

To moisturise dry cuticles and awful looking nails, I add 2-3 drops of lemon oil to baby oil and then gently rub the oil into my fingernails. It feels lovely especially if you hav someone else doing it! I also recommend this is you have acrylic nails which are starting to grow off as the lemon based oil will make them look fresh again and not look so bad in that growing off "I need to be filled" stage.

It is also fabulous for just burning as an undiluted oil in an oil burner. ou need an oil burner and you just pop a little tealight candle underneath and add 2-4 drops of lemon oil depending on how strong you want the scent and just let the oil burn. The smell is very refreshing and leaves the house with a lovely clean smell. It is really lovely.

To use it to clean hands, I tend to mix it with a little bit of dispensible soap for when you just have those awful stains on your hands which will not budge. I add 1 or 2 drops depending on the severity of the stain! But it really works and gets rid of the stain easier than soap does.

As with any product you try. I do recommend that you try a small patch test first to make sure you do not suffer any sort of reaction.

A highly recommended oil