7 Face Oils for Wintertime Skin
Our pick of super-natural oils aren’t just hydrating, they’re packed with lots of extra benefits, creating an excellent first line of defense against the chill.
Oh, winter! Your biting temperatures and harsh winds give our skin the blues and sabotage even the best skincare routines.
How to fight back? As any self-respecting New Yorker knows, the best tactic for staying comfortable in the winter is layering. The same goes for your skin.
Using an oil over a moisturizer by day and a serum at night is a crafty cold-weather strategy for preventing water loss and smoothing the skin. BWB’s go-to super-natural oils aren’t just hydrating– they’re packed with lots of extra benefits that provide an excellent first line of defense against the chill.
Give the gift of skin protection to a loved one this holiday season!
Clever Multitasker: LOLI Beauty Plum Elixir
This rich, amber-toned elixir is a combination of plum-kernel, pomegranate, tea-seed, and sea buckthorn oils. It naturally and effectively plumps up the skin with vitamins A, C and E plus a mega-dose of fatty acids. A great multi-tasker, this oil (which has a subtle almond aroma), can soothe chapped lips, tame frazzled tresses, or calm dry skin.
Great For Teens: India Lee Squalane Facial Oil
This unscented oil boasts an ultra-light texture and a swift rate of absorption. It’s non-irritating (great for those with sensitive skin) and can help regulate sebum production (great for those with oily skin). It’s non-comedogenic and also mildly antibacterial, so it can a helping hand with breakouts. Squalane is the stabilized form of squalene (in this case, derived from olives), which is naturally present in our own sebum. This ingredient makes it a particularly harmonious oil to apply to skin.
One & You Are Done: Saint Jane Luxury Beauty Serum
From the black, matte glass bottle, to the transporting aroma, to the luxurious velvety texture, Saint Jane is the hit of the year for a reason. It rocks inside and out. The secret to this product is a high-quality CBD oil that hits all the bases: anti-inflammatory, super-hydrating, and naturally loaded with antioxidants. A growing body of evidence shows CBD oil is a powerful tool for skin soothing, fighting free-radical damage, and even regulating sebum production. This medium-weight serum penetrates, yet leaves a pleasant dewy glow. (Pair it with their body serum for a serious act of holiday kindness.)
Glow Givers: Maya Chia The Super Couple and Supercritical
The heart of the Maya Chia brand is a tiny powerhouse – the chia seed. These formulations – The Super Couple is best for combination skin, and Super Critical ideal for dehydrated, dry skin – harness the potent Omega 3 oils inside chia. The Super Couple combines it with astaxanthin, an antioxidant derived from algae that contains 65 times the antioxidant levels of Vitamin C and gives it a vivid orange color. The nose has subtle notes of rose, sandalwood, and suitably, given the season, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Supercritical (named after the special, natural process used to extract and stabilize the oils and minerals present in chia) combines the oil with a delicate combination of essential oils including mandarin and neroli.
Combination Skin: La Bella Figura Barbary Fig Seed Oil
This oil is the go-to gift for people who think they will never, ever, use facial oil! It’s light, absorbs speedily, and doesn’t upset sensitive skin. It’s even good for those managing breakouts. This innovative product harnesses Prickly Pear seed oil, the hero ingredient in many of La Bella Figura’s products. It’s high in vitamin E, betalains (a powerful antioxidant), and linoleic acid, which strengthens the skin’s barrier. The company has not added any perfumes or other essential oils, and the oils natural scent is slightly nutty.
Boutique Brand: La Belle Lune Organic Skin
As the name suggests, this is an entirely organic skin oil. UK-based Annabelle Powell, founder and creator, devised the product in response to her own skin journey. Having suffered with acne through her teens and into her 30s, she found, to her surprise, that cold-pressed seed oils teamed with essential oils can actually help balance and improve skin tone. That said, this is a medium-weight oil and better suited for nighttime use (a day time elixir is in the works). The product uses a combination of oils – Rosehip, Milk Thistle, Sweet Almond, Sea Buckthorn – and adds lavender, rose and frankincense – the aroma is addicting. To ensure the product stays effective, it’s housed in a special, miron-glass bottle (used by many of the top oils) to prolong product potency.
Perfect Makeup Primer: Kjær Weis The Beautiful Oil
Created by Danish-born make up artist Kirsten Kjær Weis, this brand is known for creating high-performing, luxury make-up that’s both organic and sustainable. Skincare is very much on their radar. Enter The Beautiful Oil, which combines many of the best essential oils – Rose Hip, Olive, Sweet Almond and Jojoba, combined with Dioscorea Batatas (Chinese Yam), which has powerful antioxidant properties. The smell is subtle yet, frankly, divine. A great base for make-up – warm in in the hands before applying, and let it sink into the skin for a couple of minutes before applying your foundation.
British-born Rachael worked in the UK as a researcher and reporter for the BBC Food and Drink program and in print journalism as an editor at Time Out London and Elle UK, before she moved to the US. She has freelanced for titles including Food and Wine, Elle Decoration, Time Out NY and The New York Times. Most recently, she has written for Edible Westchester. And when she’s not writing articles, she’s a fan of meditation and writing poetry.
As any self-respecting New Yorker knows, one of the best tactics for staying comfortable in the winter is layering. The same goes for your skin.
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