five best facial oils

There are many reasons to love facial oils. Your skin needs its natural oil, and applying a facial oil will encourage a healthy oil environment to repair damage and give your skin the moisturizing and hydrating support it needs. Without the need for synthetic preservatives, stabilizers, absorbency enhancers and things that typically make a cream a cream, you get pure unadulterated botanical oils to which additional actives can be added to provide a bounty of nutrients, fatty acids, antioxidants or free radical scavengers. Facial oils have been trending this year with a new one coming out practically every week. So here is my selection of tried and tested Five Best facial oils.

  • VOYA My Little Hero Face Serum

    VOYA My Little Hero Face Serum ($102) is a great oil for very dry skin or those with delicate skin preparing to be ravaged by winter weather. Non-greasy and easily absorbed, its moisturizing effects last all day. VOYA is a seaweed spa on the Irish coast, and their products are made from organic, hand-harvested ingredients, and, as you would expect, seaweed extract is the signature antioxidant. It is given a boost by rosehip, avocado and coriander.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Your Best Face Private Reserve Antioxidant Oil

    A perennial favorite, Your Best Face Private Reserve Antioxidant Oil ($75 in the shop) is the first oil that got me to like oils. In this less-is-more formula, the two antioxidant ingredients come in potent concentrations. They are spin trap and Lipochroman-6, and they are signature Your Best Face. Spin trap is a busy little molecule that stops free radicals in their tracks before they spin out of control and do no end of damage. Lipochroman-6 is a radical scavenger that is even more powerful than resveratrol. This oil comes in a choice of three scents.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Sevani Serum Vitale Essential Nutrient Oil

    When I look at the ingredients list for Sevani Serum Vitale Essential Nutrient Oil ($65 in the shop), which has only good things in it, I just think omega fatty acids. So many of these oils are just brimming with them - olive, rosehip, argan and sea buckthorn. Pomegranate brings antioxidants, and research has shown that it can prevent sunburn. Evening primrose has its share of fatty acids as well as gamma linoleic acid, which enhances the epidermal barrier.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Elizabeth Dehn for One Love Organics Active Moisture Vitamin B Cleansing Oil & Makeup Remover

    There’s a cult following for the Elizabeth Dehn for One Love Organics Active Moisture Vitamin B Cleansing Oil & Makeup Remover ($38 in the shop). Make no mistake, this is not a mere cleanser, but an experience. Loyal users do the whole spa thing by leaving it on covered by a hot wash cloth. The more cerebral amongst you can simply wipe away makeup with a cotton ball. The key oils are pumpkin seed oil (which is rich in vitamin B, plus vitamins A, C and E), and papain and carica papaya or papaya seed oil (also rich in vitamin C and minerals) provides antioxidants and fatty acids. All three are a natural enzyme exfoliant.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients

  • Osmotics Skin Rescue Nourishing Oil

    Osmotics Skin Rescue Nourishing Oil ($58 in the shop) is a concentrated and multitasking oil that acts as a moisturizer, skin repairer, cuticle nourisher, body oil (the bottle is a generous size and a little goes a long way) and even a cleanser. Of the eight oils, the strongest are organic coconut oil, red raspberry oil with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and evening primrose oil, which is rich in linoleic acids and gamma linolenic acids to increase skin elasticity, soothe redness and irritation, and fight free radical damage.

    Read the full review and learn about the ingredients