The present invention relates to liquid antimicrobial composition, particularly to liquid antimicrobial composition in a stable micro-emulsion form and a method for disinfecting external surfaces of human or animal body, for disinfecting soft and porous substrates like fabric or for disinfecting hard surfaces. The present inventors have found that increasing the amount of lower molecular weight alcohol or electrolytes does not solubilise higher levels of essential oils to form a micro-emulsion composition. It is thus a challenge to formulate an aqueous antimicrobial composition that includes high levels of essential oils while still having a transparent/ translucent appearance. This problem has now been solved by the addition of polyphenols with atleast 50% catechins in an aqueous antimicrobial composition having essential oil actives. It was surprisingly found that polyphenols with atleast 50% catechins cause a significant increase instability of aqueous cleansing compositions containing high levels of essential oil actives.
