Beauty Oils

Beauty Oils by watereverysunday

Face/Beauty Oils have been around for sometime now and they might be already in your regular beauty routine. In fact, most of my beauty routine includes some type of beauty oils, also for hair and body. Some of you might not like the oily texture or stickiness, or think that oil based products are only for mature skins. However, beauty oils really should be part of everyone's skincare routine since moisturizing is not the only thing that your skin needs. When used correctly, the benefits of face oils are immense. 

Hydrating is one side of story in the skincare whereas the sealing and holding the moisture within as well as feeding skin nutrients and helping maintain its basic structure is another side of story towards beautiful skin and here is when beauty oils step in.

In this blog, we talk about benefits of using face oils and my DIY Face Oil/Night Serum Recipes for you to try. 

FEATURED PRODUCTS in above photo.  

FACE: Origins Face Oil $55 sephora.com; Boscia Tsubaki Beauty Oil $46, ulta.com; fresh seaberry Face Oil $52, fresh.com; Shu Uemura Beauty Oil Elixor $68 shuuemura-usa.com 
MULTIPURPOSE: Aveda Beauty Oil $30, aveda.com; Josie Maran Argan Oil $48, josiemarancosmetics.com
BODY: French Girl Lumiere Bronzing Body Oil $40, frenchgirlorganics.com; 
Victoria's Secret Fragrance Body Oil Mist $8 (on sale) victoriassecret.com 
HAIR: Moroccanoil Treatment Mini $15, sephora.com; Bumble & Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil $22-$40, nordstrom.com

LIPS: YSL Volupte Tint-in-Oil $32, yslbeautyus.com; Lacome Juicy Shaker Lip Oil $22, lancome-usa.com; Clarins Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil $26, clarinsusa.com

Before going into benefit of face or beauty oil, let's look at the structure of our skin. Our skin is made of three main layers: Epidermis, Dermis and Hyperdemis from outer to inner.

OUR SKIN STRUCTURE

Image: google image

Epidermis is the outermost layer that we see with our naked eyes with a waterproof like barrier that also defines our skin tones. 

Dermis is the second layer that consist of tough connective tissues with hair follicles, sweat and oil glands. This is the thickest layer of three, also the layer where all the skin turnover and wound healing happen and the results are the new skin we see on the top layer. 

Hyperdermis is the 3rd deeper layer also called subcutaneous layer. It mainly consists of connective tissues and also where fat and other nutrients are stored. When we are giving any kind of injection we are giving to this layer. If someone is getting liposuction, fat is sucked out of this layer.

So now, if skin products are to be effective for their representative concerns, they need to know which layer they are targeting at in order for the active ingredients to be delivered and work. For example, Let's say your concern is acne, then you need to find a product that works on Dermis where all the respectful glands exist. 

So what are the benefits of using face oils?

SEALS THE MOISTURE 

Image Source: 500px.com

Our skin contains about 64% of water however as we age, our skin start containing less water since our body becomes less capable of retaining moisture and repairing skin damages. Our outermost skin layer - epidermis is a semi waterproof barrier however, over time and by the years of damage, it gets weakened and leaks the moisture. Therefore, applying oil on it would add some coat and provide extra barrier for skin to lock in the moisture, just like you would oil your leather shoes to reinforce its waterproofing barrier. 

DISSOLVES OIL BASED MAKEUP & IMPURITIES 

 Image: pinterest

As our day goes by, we are not only collecting dirts on our skin. All those products that we apply on our skin become waste. Also our skin releases body waste in the forms of sweat and oils through our pores. These impurities and skin waste such as makeup, sweat and body oils are mostly oil based except sweat, and they do not dissolve well in your water based cleansing steps.

Soap based cleansers are not really effective in dissolving these products. We use makeup remover or wipes to clean them off skin and as you might all know already, these removers are basically mixture of toner and some emulsifier, or even parts of straight oil.

Makeups are heavily oil based for the staying power so oil is certainly needed to remove them. Even though a product claims it is water based  they are somewhat oil based in nature. So there why old fashioned cold creams used by our moms in the past days are still effective and around now. Vaseline or baby oil also work well. New and improved versions of cold cream are the cleansing balms. 

Then here come the oil cleansers. They are quite effective like killing two birds with one stone. Oil cleanser is made of a straight essential oil mixture with an emulsifier like polysorbate80. You saturate and massage your face with oil to dissolve oil based products then you add water to emulsify all into milky solution that is washed away by rinsing with water. 

You can actually make DIY Oil Cleanser at home. The simplest way to make this is with Olive oil. Mix Organic Olive Oil and cosmetic grade polysorbate80, 9:1 (volume:volume)). If you like some fragrance, you can add some essential oil to make it more aromatic.

Shu Uemura Oil Cleansers $40-$95, shuuemura-usa.com

Shu Uemura Oil cleansers are the one of the originals in its category and still the one of top and best in its class. My favorite is Ultime8 as it is definitely worth the splurge. I have tried all of its oil cleansers and green is gentle and most comfortable, chroma blue was definitely brightens dark spots during the summer months squeaky clean skin feel while I/O was the most luxe feel during the colder months until Ultime8 was out. 

DETOXIFICATION

Face oil is also used for Detoxification in Ayurvedic practice, also called 'oil pulling' method. The face is saturated with oil and left for overnight or some period of time to dissolve and pull the toxins out of the skin then washed away. Accumulated oil based toxin in the skin or even bacterias have better affinities to the oils and they are pulled from the skin or our system. 

As also mentioned above, our deepest skin layer hyperdermis store fat and other nutrients where oils have most affinities to, therefore oils can travel and penetrate deeper into skin than water based ingredients. Think about the oil waste in your pores to be dissolved and pulled out.

Also while oil travel through our cells, it greases our joints, cleans our lymphatic system and others to improve our overall health. Therefore, getting time to time spa massage does good to our overall health. 

DELIVERS SKIN PRODUCT INGREDIENTS BETTER

Another benefit of using straight oil is that again oil is more transferable in the skin matrix than the water based molecules. The nutrients in the skin products do not absorb well to the skin without oil based and skin friendly molecules carries them to the skin deep. Therefore, after you tone and moisturize, apply oil so that your products can get absorbed better.

Products could have superior ingredients and promise to enhance skin, but without being properly delivered, nothing is in the use.

One way is to do this is add a couple of drop of oil into facial serum, mix them and apply. 

Amaki Japanese Tsubaki Face Oil $23.75, amazon.com 

This face oil is a blend of organic Japanese Camellia Oil (Tsubaki) which is great natural moisturizer with anti-aging properties and other beneficial essential oils such as argan oil, vitamine E, chamomile, Neroli, Lavender, Sunflower, jojoba and rice bran.  

MATRIXYL 3000 + ARGIRELINE Peptide + Vitamin C 4 oz Serum with Organic Hyaluronic Acid $29.90, amazon.com

This large size bottle has it all, fighting wrinkles with Matrixyl & Argireline Peptide while Vitamin C brightens and Hyaluronic moisturizes. 

I have been using these two product combo for several months now and fairly happy with the results as well as with the prices. The serum is in the thin side but well mixes with the face oil which is organic oil scented. After cleansing, take a half dropper of serum with 2-3 drops of face oil and apply over face and neck. 

GLOWING SKIN

A drop of beauty oil add a real glow to your face, whether you apply as basic skincare, makeup base or use in finalizing the makeup, they all help your products set better, stay longer and add subtle glow to the skin. Also make your makeup application goes over smoother since makeups are oil based, it enhances the blending power.

Image Source: pinterest

If you want some sun kissed look, blend bronzer with face oil. This also applies to body. Use body oil with shimmering bronzer. They gives subtle healthy and tanned glow without actual tanning. You can simply mix your bronzer powder with baby oil to make one at home. Just shake or mix well before use. 

ENHANCES EYE, CHEEK & LIP MAKEUPS 

There are tons of tips on using beauty oils in makeup process. Uses are not only limited to foundation but also with eyeshadows, blushes and lips. When you add beauty oils to your eyes, lips and cheeks, the colors become more vibrant as they become saturated in oil. Also it adds shine and staying power as opposed to when water is added where things evaporate and dry out.

If you mix your powder/solid highlighter with face oil, you can make liquid highlighter. Simply blot on your face as you do with a liquid highlighter and blend with fingers. 

REVIVE OLD MAKEUPS

We all know oil removes makeup so it can dissolve and revive old makeup that are dried up or caked. Add a drop or two of beauty oil to dried up foundation/cushion compact to revive them. You can also add to caked mascaras, too. Do not add too much, just a drop or two to the max, otherwise, it will smudge and be runny.

However, all makeups have recommended expirations so use within the expiration.

Image: ogleschool.edu

These are helpful blog to read on Ways to reuse expired makeup and How to tell when beauty product's past its prime. 

PROMOTE HEALTHY NAILS, LIPS AND HAIRS

Yes, nails, lips and hairs - all loves oils - BUT - right amount. Several drops, spread to coat evenly in order to protect and nourish, not grease them up.

MY HOMEMADE FACE OIL/SERUM RECIPES

I have tried the following homemade face oils and just wanted to share!

Sometimes, we just want to use simple and known ingredients, without reading and searching through tons of products that we don't really know the ingredient names, safety or effectiveness unless trying or just hope to work by trying out and see. 

Well, here are some simple DIY recipes that I have tried that worked and at least I know it is safe. They are cheap and easy to follow and the regret is certainly better than $50+ products.

• Vitamin E capsule and Aloe Vera : Just as it says, add several drops of cold pressed aloe vera gel into your palm and add vitamin E by opening a capsule. Well mix and apply on the face. Aloe Vera is known an excellent skin soother and healer but itself alone dries out on the skin. By mixing with vitamin E oil, the mixture spreads better and does not dry out. Vitamin E kind of makes your skin to break out so if you are struggling with acne, try Tea Tree Oil instead. If your concern is dark spot or brightening, Vitamin E and Lemon Juice (Vitamin C) would be the combination to try.

• Castor Oil : Castor oil is a well known carrier oil for many essential oils and popular cosmetic ingredient due to its wonderful skin enhancing and penetrating property. It is also known to dissolve cysts, reduce dark circle & puffiness, soften scar tissue and even treat cataracts, not to mention it grows eyelashes. After night cleansing, liberally spread castor oil on a clean and dry face (3-4 drops). Leave it for 5-10 minutes, it is quite sticky and has unpleasantly viscose texture to give you a fair warning. However, just blot out excess oil on the face with facial tissue and just retire to bed. If you've never used this method, you might be pleasantly surprised to see serious skin glowing in the next morning. You look like you had a great sleep even after a rough night out or hangover - like, wow I look ok?!

  ALWAYS USE COLD PRESSED CASTOR OIL.

• Your favorite Beauty Oil and Serum : If you have favorite face/beauty oil, mix it with light serum. Sometimes, serums are too thin and you feel like you are losing the most of them on in your hands, not much on your face. If you are using some type of serum solutions such as vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, copper peptide and other thin solution types, mix with beauty oil. It would make the application go smoother and certainly enhance skin absorption. My recent finding and combinations are mentioned above.

• Phosphatidylcholine(PC) capsule: Main active in PC is lecithin which is mainly found in egg yolk and soybeans. It is known for its skin conditioning and skin penetrating ability and therefore PC is also commonly found in many beauty and cosmetic products. Also used in injection to liposuction procedure to dissolve body fat due to its fat dissolving property. PC also performed well in acne healing by balancing the sebum production in dermis skin layer. When ingested, PC also helps liver function. I basically crack open one capsule of PC and spread over my face after the night beauty routine and leave for a bit. Blot excess with facial tissue and go to sleep. It is also ok to mix with serum and apply but this oil is quite thick and yellowish so applying alone is recommended. If you have acne issue, do try this oil. Phosphatidylcholine(PC) capsule supplement $23 I use can be found on amazon.com

Hope you enjoy this blog, Happy Beauty Oiling Everyone!