I have several face oils floating around my bathroom. Everything from resurfacing oils to homemade body/hair oils. Face oils have had a huge surge in use during the last couple of years but people are still using them inefficiently.
I started using more face oils last year after realizing that my skin was indeed drier than the Sahara Desert. I have used them as my entire moisturizing routine and that’s just not the most effective way to use them.
- Face oils should not be a stand alone moisture routine.
- Anyone can use a face oil
- Face oils don’t cause acne unless used incorrectly
- Face oils are most efficient when used with cream moisturizers.
There’s nothing that says you can’t use face oils as your only moisturizer. I still saw improvement in my skin’s moisture but it doesn’t penetrate as well as it could.
Remember our skin produces oils naturally. Oily skin produces more oils, drier skin types produce less. Adding oils to the skin routine, especially normal to dry skin types, can help to make up that lack of moisture. Oily skin requires lighter, thinner oils and less of it than drier skin which can use heavier oils like Argan Oil and typically requires more of it. For pure Argan Oil, which is very heavy, my dry skin needs no more than 3 drops in my moisturizer.
When using face oils the most efficient method to use them is as a moisture booster either with or immediately before your cream moisturizer. In fact, if you look at Dior’s skincare routine (which I’ve been testing) their own line suggests using their face serums (which include some oils) mixed with their cream moisturizer. I’ve been doing this all summer with lighter oils and lighter moisturizing creams. So it isn’t just Dior trying to sell another product, it really is the best way to penetrate the skin with those face oils.
When oil is produced it sits atop the skin. Although out skin is designed to absorb those oils it does so slowly. Enter moisturizing creams. Those oils are emulsified in that cream and absorbed into the skin more efficiently. Adding face oils to those cream moisturizers creates a super moisturizer combo that can greatly plump the skin.
If you’re use to using a heavy cream and are looking to adding a face oil I’d suggest starting off with a lighter oil. Clarin’s Lotus Face Treatment Oil was designed for oily skin, Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil for normal/dry, and the Santal Face Treatment Oil for dry skin types. I’ve used the Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil and reviewed it last year. That review can be viewed here. Those oils seems heavy but the Lotus Face Treatment Oil really isn’t. Also Lancome’s Bienfait Multi-Vital Daily Replenishing Face Oil is a very thin oil that absorbed well this summer and didn’t leave a heavy oil residue.
I’ve also tried all of Herbivore’s face oils. Some are hits and a lot are misses. Their oils were designed to be used alone according their own press releases. I have never seen good absorption with any of the oils when used alone. I’ve also tried them with moisturizers or before I sheet mask with my heavier sheet masks and it still didn’t seem to absorb much either. I do like their Emerald Face Oil. Having a hemp oil background, this is going to contain Omega-3,6,and 9 fatty acids. In particular Omega-3 has been shown to decrease sun damage and aide in wound healing such as acne scarring.
Stay Gorgeous
-XOXO-
Andrea
