FACIAL OILS TO TRY FOR AUTUMN / WINTER

Face/facial oils have been slowly coming into their own for a while now. Adding oil to your skin care regime could have a huge difference on the appearance and wellbeing of your skin. If you have oily skin do not fear! You can definitely still use oils as part of your routine, it might just be the case that you need to find the one suitable for you and it may even help repair your skins barrier resulting in less oily skin. I have an oily t-zone with sensitive/ combination skin elsewhere, sometimes it’s dry others it’s normal. It’s changeable depending on a whole host of factors, like most of us. I use oil every night and I don’t find it exacerbates oiliness, in fact my skin is much more comfortable and less oily throughout the day. Now that we’re moving into the harsher months a bottle of face oil might just be the perfect thing to help your skin cope with the cold weather and central heating.

Apparently, oils are lipophilic. This means that they pass through the lipid layer of the skin helping to retain moisture and plump up the skin. Oils also help other active skin care ingredients such as retinol and glycolic acid move deeper into the skin. So adding an oil before you put on your targeted skin care products should help boost their performance. 

To apply you only need a few drops, oily skin types may want to start with one or two then build up. Oil spreads easily across the skin so as another added benefit your face oils will last for ages. Or alternatively you can add a few drops into your skin care for a boost of hydration. Here’s a few of my favourites:

Trilogy’s Rosehip Oil is a good oil for all skin types especially sensitive. I find this a good all-rounder, it soothes, calms and hydrates. Drier skin types may need something extra over the top of this in the evening. 

The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil* is my current favourite and the one I use every night.  It contains a blend of three oils renowned for their repairing and regenerative qualities. I gently massage a few drops into my face in the evening and my skin has been looking much better since I’ve been using this. I also use the gel cream in the day which is perfect for oily/combination skin types.  I reviewed the range here. 

Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate is a cult classic, and rightly so. Everytime I use this, which is a few times a week (when I remember) or when my skin needs a quick pick me up I always turn to this. My skin seems to drink this up. It’s a deeply hydrating mix of omega-6 fatty acids, evening primrose oil, squaline and essential oils. It’s not cheap though and I think some of the cheaper oils do just as good a job. It is a lovely treat though.

Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil is a little bit different from the others. It’s a targeted treatment depending on your skin type. The Lotus oil is designed to help rebalance oily skin types. Made from essential oils and plant extracts each different rebalancing oil is created with different needs in mind. There’s Blue Orchard for dehydrated skin, Santal for dry skin, or the Lotus oil for combination skin. Clarins Treatment oil aims to hydrate, brighten and refine skin texture. When I first started using this I was so pleased with the results then it seemed to stop working. I’m not entirely sure what happened so maybe you’d have better luck than me in the long run but it’s a really lovely skin care product.

Do you use an oil? Or are you thinking about adding one to your routine?