Face Oils: What Is Their Purpose, Benefits, And How To Apply

A guide on using face oils and how you can benefit from using one.

If your skincare routine is not giving you the results you are looking for, consider adding a face oil. Face oils can elevate your skincare routine, addressing various skin concerns, such as dryness, aging, acne, scars, and redness.

Most skincare brands, such as Sunday Riley, Elemis, Drunk Elephant, The Ordinary, Farmacy, and Biossance, offer face oil in their collections.

Face oils are liquid topicals, different from most serums because they don’t contain water.

Here is a complete guide on the purpose of face oil, its benefits, and how to apply it. 

What Is The Purpose Of A Face Oil?

Face oils primarily give the skin deep hydration and lock in moisture. They are an emollient that helps strengthen the skin’s outer layer, softening, sealing, and preventing skin water loss. Common ingredients in face oils include plant oils like squalane, marula, tea tree, jojoba, argan oil, and rosehip oil. 

Face oils work with your skin’s natural oils. They provide balance and protect the skin from sebum, which can lead to clogged pores and acne. Face oils can cleanse, moisturize, or treat spots depending on the ingredients and formulation. They also contain omega fatty acids, which help give the skin a beautiful glow. 

Other face oils with natural ingredients offer anti-inflammatory and antioxidants that can heal your skin. According to the National Library of Medicine, plant oils such as argan and jojoba can help repair the skin’s barrier, while rosehip oil has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Benefits Of Using Face Oils

Adding a face oil to your skincare routine offers many benefits. All skin types can use a face oil. However, choosing the right face oil for your skin type is crucial to maximize these benefits.

Here are the benefits each skin type can achieve by using face oil.

 Aging-Aging Face Oils

Your skin ages everyday. By implementing early precautions you can help fight against the aging process. High-quality anti-aging face oils hydrate the skin and make the skin appear youthful. Face oils often have vitamins and essential fatty acids that can improve the skin’s elasticity, reduce hyperpigmentation, diminish fine lines and wrinkles, and protect the skin from environmental damage. 

As it ages, skin can become dry and prone to wrinkles and fine lines. Face oils address the aging process and your aging skin’s needs by providing hydration and nourishment, improving your skin’s overall appearance. 

Many anti-aging face oils contain ingredients that target specific aging skin issues, such as dullness, rough texture, and age spots. Common anti-aging ingredients include vitamin C and retinol.

Combining anti-aging face oils with serums can enhance their effects. A face oil helps lock in moisture that a hydrating serum such as hyaluronic acid brings to the skin. 

Here are three good anti-aging face oils: 

  1. Sunday Riley C.E.O Glow Vitamin C + Tumeric Face Oil 

Sunday Riley is known for premium, fantastic skincare. Their face oil is lightweight and infused with an advanced form of vitamin C (THD ascorbate), turmeric, and evening primrose oil.

If you have skin concerns that are dullness, unevenness, dryness, and dark spots, this face oil will help brighten and firm your skin. 

Additional ingredients in Sunday Riley’s C.E.O Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric Face Oil are golden turmeric, a distilled fraction of turmeric oil rich in antioxidants and compounds.

It helps to improve redness and unevenness on the skin’s surface; ginger root extract and bisabolol help to even out the skin tone. 

  1. ELEMIS LONDON Pro-Collagen Marine Oil

Elemis London offers a face oil that uses powerful ingredients from the sea to fight aging skin. This face oil has a trio formulation of marine actives such as Padina Pavonica, Golden Seaweed, and Roaring Water. This lightweight face oil is an excellent option to plump your skin to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. 

In addition to fighting the signs of aging, this face oil helps to bring hydration to dry skin. Ingredients include Abyssinia, a natural-derived survival molecule that absorbs and penetrates the skin for softness and smoothness. Also, White Poppy Seed Oil brings hydration and helps penetrate other active ingredients.

  1.  Farmacy Honey Grail Ultra-Hydrating Face Oil

Farmacy offers an anti-aging face oil with proprietary honey, which is moisturizing and nourishing. In addition, it has Sea Buckthorn Oil, which feeds the skin and is rich in antioxidants. Moisturizing omegas protect the skin from free radical damage and aging. 5 Flower Oil Blend helps to protect the skin’s barrier. 

If your skin appears to be aging and needs rich hydration that doesn’t clog pores, this face oil is one to consider. 

Face Oils For Dry And Sensitive Skin

Finding a face oil that hydrates and soothes dry sensitive skin can be challenging. A face oil for dry, sensitive skin should be gentle, soothing, and have anti-inflammatory properties.

The best face oil for dry, sensitive skin contains natural, nourishing ingredients. You want to stay clear of any face oil with harsh chemical ingredients that can inflame the skin and make dry skin flaky. 

Jojoba Oil is a dermatologist-recommended ingredient due to its gentle anti-inflammatory properties, which calm irritation, redness, and dryness. A face oil rich in oleic acid such as almond oil and marula oils provide intense hydration and locks in moisture.

Rosehip Oil is a plant oil rich in essential fatty acids, such as omegas 3 and 6, fatty omega 9 acids, and antioxidants. Using rosehip oil helps to repair and hydrate the skin. 

Choosing the right face oil for dry, sensitive skin is crucial because applying an oil with ingredients that are not suitable for sensitive skin can cause more harm than good. You could develop breakouts, severe irritation, or an allergic reaction.

Some key factors to consider when looking for a face oil for dry, sensitive skin are:

  • Fragrance-free
  • Pore clogging ingredients
  • Be lightweight and do not leave a greasy residue 
  • Provides deep hydration for dry, dehydrated skin
  • It is suitable for skin issues like Eczema, Psoriasis, and Rosacea, which means it is ideal for the most sensitive skin types. 

Some face oils for dry, sensitive skin to try are:

  1. pai Rosehip Bioregenerate Rejuvenating Overnight Face Oil

This face oil from pai is an overnight rejuvenator made from certified Rosehip Oil. It nourishes the skin and locks in moisture, making it soft and smooth and bringing radiance back to the skin for a beautiful glow.

People with all skin types can use this face oil, and it’s clinically proven to be good for sensitive skin. 

It is a favorite for many face oil lovers, has sold millions, and has many five-star reviews. People with sensitive and irritated skin write in the reviews that it calms their skin and gives it a glow. 

  1. KORA Organics Noni Glow Plumping Face Oil

If your skin is dehydrated, this rich face oil provides hydration from ingredients such as Noni Fruit, Rosehip Oil, and Sea Buckthorn. Noni Fruit has antioxidants and more than 100 vitamins and minerals to feed the skin nutrition for a glow. Rosehip Oil helps soothe the skin with its essential fatty acids. 

Sea Buckthorn brings vitamins C and E and omega-7 fatty acids and carotenoids, which stimulate collagen and elastin to increase firmness and elasticity in the skin. Allure awarded this face oil with a Best of Beauty award. 

  1. Sunday Riley Juno Antioxidant + Superfood Face Oil

If you’re looking for a face oil that addresses dry and sensitive skin and is excellent for anti-aging, this Sunday Riley face oil has it all. It’s called a superfood face oil because it is formulated with an active blend of botanical superfood seed oils. 

The skin is nutrified by vitamins, essential amino acids, omegas 3, 6, and 9, and vitamins C and A. All these ingredients help to bring luminosity and brightness to the skin. In addition, it gets the skin hydrated without causing irritation and dry patches. 

Face Oils For Acne Prone Skin

While oil and acne seem like a bad match, certain face oils can benefit acne-prone skin. These oils can help clear the skin and reduce acne scars.

Choose non-comedogenic oils to avoid clogging your pores. It’s essential to be careful of what you apply to your skin. Avoid oils high in oleic acid, such as olive and coconut oil. Face oils high in oleic acid can worsen acne by blocking the pores, causing blackheads, acne, milia, and whiteheads.

Beneficial ingredients include salicylic acid, rosehip seed oil, argan oil, jojoba oil, and squalane. Face oils with these ingredients will strengthen your skin’s barrier, preventing dryness and worsening acne.

Bakuchiol is an ingredient that has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. It helps to unclog pores and helps the skin produce less oil. A face oil with bakuchiol can also soothe and calm acne. 

Here are face oils for acne-prone skin to consider trying:

  1. bareLUXE SKINCARE Age Support Bakuchiol Serum

This serum serves as a face oil with 1.5% pure bakuchiol, which is non-greasy and fast absorbing. The bakuchiol helps with skin tone and blemishes, a concern for many people with acne-prone skin. In addition to assisting with acne, this face oil is an anti-aging treatment. 

Retinol can be harsh on sensitive, acne-prone skin. Bakuchiol has the same benefits as retinol, yet it is less irritating.

It helps reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Also, it hydrates and brings firmness back to the skin. This face oil helps to bring youthfulness and radiance back to the skin. 

  1. Naturium Plant Squalane Face Oil 100% Sugarcane Derived Squalane

This face oil is on Amazon. It’s an oil that is 100 % natural squalane and is clear with a silky texture. Squalane is great for acne-prone skin, is noncomedogenic, penetrates the pores, and improves the skin’s cellular level. It’s a lightweight, non-greasy formula that replenishes the skin with hydration. 

In this face oil, no harsh chemicals or natural irritants can irritate acne and sensitive skin. In addition to being good for acne-prone skin and hydrating, it helps to soften and smooth the skin and improves elasticity and suppleness. 

  1. The Ordinary 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil

Often, acne-prone skin can dry out from anti-breakout treatments. Hydrating your skin needs to be a top priority when dealing with acne. This face oil is alcohol-free, so it won’t dry out your skin after applying it. 

 This face oil from The Ordinary is primarily cold-pressed rose hip seed oil, which helps replenish the skin, stops pores from clogging, and has anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. In addition, using rose hip seed oil over time can reduce acne scars. 

How To Apply Face Oil 

How you apply face oil is just as important as the type of face oil you’re using. Apply 1 to 3 drops directly from the dropper directly on your face. Gently pat the oil into your skin to enhance the absorption and avoid tugging at your skin.

Regardless of your morning or nighttime skincare routine, serums and moisturizers should be applied first. Then, after absorbing these products, use your face oil. The ingredients in water-based serums and moisturizers, such as hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, ceramides, and peptides, need to soak deeply into your skin.

For your morning routine, use a lightweight, non-greasy oil that absorbs quickly and works well under makeup. For a nighttime skincare routine, use a rich oil with ingredients such as omegas 3 and 6, jojoba oil, argan oil, and rosehip oil to repair and hydrate the skin overnight.

Conclusion

Face oils are a valuable addition to any skincare routine, promoting healthy, glowing, and youthful skin. Choose a face oil that suits your skin type and give you results for improving your skin concerns, and not cause a bad reaction or breakouts.

Trial and error may be necessary. However, with the variety of face oils on the market currently, you should be able to find one that suits all of your needs and helps you achieve your desired results.  

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this blog post are not affiliated with any brands or stores.

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