While you may have heard of moisturizing face oils, they’re somewhat less well-known than your standard cream moisturizer or lotions. However, they’re super effective when it comes to keeping your skin hydrated, free of flakiness, and more.
Let’s talk about moisturizing face oils, how they work, and how to choose the best one for your skin type.
What Face Oil Is Best for My Skin?
When choosing the best moisturizing face oil for your skin type, it’s important to note that there really isn’t any skin type that isn’t compatible with face oil.
Our moisturizing face oils are specifically formulated not to clog your pores so that even the oiliest of skin types can experience the benefits of moisturizing face oil.
Whatever your skin type, let’s talk about which moisturizing face oil will be best for you and your individual skincare needs.
If You Have Normal to Dry Skin
As we get older, our skincare needs to change. With age, our skin may appear less plump, less hydrated, and more prone to fine lines and wrinkles. Aging can even cause a more uneven skin tone than you’re used to.
While it’s all part of the natural aging process and is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s common to look for ways to minimize visible signs of aging, like dark spots or wrinkles, and to start reaching for skin-firming products and active ingredients to help you reclaim glowing skin.
And if you’re on your way out of your twenties or into your thirties and notice fine lines starting to form, starting an anti-aging routine now rather than after those fine lines deepen into wrinkles is crucial.
Our Renew Pure Radiance Face Oil is a luxurious, cult-favorite face oil that gives an off-the-charts, youthful-looking glow. This moisturizing oil does more than just moisturize — thanks to its nutrient-dense, fatty-acid-packed formula, it also helps prevent and tackle signs of aging.
Dubbed “the ultimate no-makeup skincare,” Renew Pure Radiance Oil has been the most in-demand beauty oil by top makeup artists and celebrities for over a decade because it helps skin perform with skin barrier supporting plant actives — and it is Academy Award-winning actor Laura Dern’s favorite moisturizing face oil.
This best-selling face oil is so nutrient-rich in omega-3 fatty acids that it deeply moisturizes and fights signs of aging — it’s clinically proven to outperform a leading anti-aging moisturizer.
Not convinced? After using our Renew Pure Radiance Oil, 100% of women aged 30-60 saw more luminous skin, 100% saw a reduction in the look of fine lines and wrinkles, and 100% saw improved hydration.*
If You Have Oily or Breakout-Prone Skin
As we said, we totally get it if the idea of applying face oil makes you nervous if you already have oily skin. If you have oily skin, you might think adding a layer of oil over the top of your other skincare products will only worsen your oily skin.
Luckily, this isn’t true! A good face oil should be super nourishing and hydrating, but it shouldn’t be heavy.
Using a moisturizing face oil can help support a healthy balance of your skin’s sebum production. This is because the right facial oil will work with your natural oils, not against them.
It’s especially useful if you’re already using more intense prescription breakout solutions for acne-prone skin, which can be super drying and leave your skin feeling dry and irritated. While it may be worth it in the long run for clear, blemish-free skin, if you can figure out a way to keep your skin hydrated throughout the process, you’ll likely have an easier time.
Our Clear Pure Radiance Face Oil uses legendary, antioxidant-rich Helichrysum, which has been used for centuries to help heal wounds, to help soothe skin that has suffered from blemishes, fight signs of aging, and restore glow. Meanwhile, Hemp, Pumpkin, and Jojoba Seed Oils balance sebum on the skin, while Astaxanthin supports the skin barrier with omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. This is Award-Winning Filmmaker and Actor Olivia Wilde’s favorite moisturizing face oil.
Conventional treatments often include harsh ingredients like Benzoyl Peroxide, Alcohol,
and synthetic Salicylic Acid that could disrupt the skin barrier, leaving skin prone to breakouts and very oily as it counteracts the irritated drying factor of those aggressive chemicals. In contrast, our does-it-all moisturizing face oil helps prevent breakouts, fight signs of aging, and balance oily skin because it gets to the root of the problem — it supports the skin barrier for your smoothest, clearest, most gorgeous skin yet.
If You Have Sensitive Skin or Currently Pregnant
Whether your irritated skin is seasonal due to environmental factors, chronic because of your skin type, or due to a specific skin condition, a moisturizing face oil may help.
Many different types of oil can be used in face oil formulations, so in the case of irritated, red, or flaky skin, you will want to look for calming ingredients with anti-inflammatory properties.
Our Calm Pure Radiance Oil features ingredients like Cold-Pressed Cucumber Seed
Oil, Fresh Ginger Root Oil, and Jojoba Seed Oil because they are among the highest quality sources of antioxidants, linoleic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids. These are critical for soothed, glowing skin.
Our oil is specifically formulated for red and sensitive skin and calms irritated skin with the finest Calendula Oil sourced from a nutrient-dense regenerative farm. Additionally, each of the 27 plant actives in this formula is curated from the highest quality sources and features molecular structures that closely mirror the structure of the lipids (oils) naturally produced on the skin, so your skin can easily recognize and use them.
How Do You Work Face Oil Into Your Routine?
The nice thing about adding moisturizing face oil to your routine is that it doesn’t require you to make any changes to your skincare regimen. You can work your face oil into your morning or evening routine or use it as part of both if you prefer.
Start your skincare routine as normal. Cleanse, exfoliate, and tone depending on your regimen. Apply your serums. Then, apply a moisturizing oil like our Pure Radiance Oil, followed by your cream moisturizer like our Chebula Extreme Cream, packed with the highest quality, most transformative ingredients. These ingredients include an exclusive Hydra-Cocktail of protein rejuvenators, humectants, emollients, and breathable occlusives that lock moisture in to maintain the skin barrier.
Using ingredients like Jojoba Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Sea Buckthorn, and Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, it’s a skin barrier cream without the wax. No wax means that anti-aging ingredients can sink deep into the skin to nourish, moisturize, and help strengthen the skin barrier.
By topping everything off with a layer of cream moisturizer, you’re giving all the nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants the best chance to fully absorb and protect all the work you’ve done getting your skin hydrated and glowing.
Next, you’ll want to focus on your delicate eye area with our Renew Resurrection Radiance Eye Cream. This innovative, brightening eye cream features a bioactive moisture retention complex from the Resurrection Plant to help intensely moisturize and dramatically reduce the appearance of dark circles, fine lines, and wrinkles.
This high-performance eye cream is clinically proven to deliver instant and
real, long-term results without any silicones, waxes, shimmers, fillers, or toxins. Our formula uses natural biocompatible ingredients such as Tree Bark to help reduce the appearance of dark circles while Turmeric, Coffee, and Licorice Extracts help depuff and brighten the entire eye area.
A Deeper Dive Into What Face Oils Are Made With
Regarding hydrating your skin, there are three keywords to keep in mind: humectants, emollients, and occlusives. These are the most common moisturizing agents you’ll encounter in the formulation of moisturizers, facial oils, and some hydrating serums.
In order to fully understand how moisturizing face oils work, it’s important to know what each of these components brings to the table.
Humectants
Humectants are a super common moisturizing agent. In fact, your cream moisturizer, or even your shampoo and conditioner, most likely are formulated to take advantage of humectants.
It’s easiest to think of humectants as magnets, but rather than attracting metals, humectants attract water. They pull moisture from the environment around them, which the upper layer of your skin can then use.
One of the most well-known humectants is Hyaluronic Acid, which is used in a wide variety of skincare products, including moisturizers, to help draw moisture into your skin. One-quarter teaspoon of Hyaluronic Acid can hold up to one and a half gallons of water. It’s safe to say that humectants work wonders for hydration!
Other popular humectants include Glycerin, Salicylic Acid, Alpha Hydroxy Acids such as Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, and Sorbitol.
Emollients
Emollients fill in cracks that can result from dryness with fats called lipids, which can result in smoother, more hydrated skin. Emollients are often the first course of action in relieving the symptoms of skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis.
Pretty much any moisturizer is formulated with emollients, which are crucial to keeping your skin plump and hydrated. Emollients work well in combination with humectants, which is why your average moisturizer is likely to be formulated with both.
Popular emollients include Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Mineral Oil, Lanolin, Petrolatum, Beeswax, Coconut Oil, and Squalane.
Occlusives
Rather than attracting water or smoothing your skin with lipids, occlusives form a protective layer over the surface of your skin. By doing so, occlusives help your skin maintain its moisture and prevent TEWL or trans epidermal water loss.
This is a crucial step in keeping your skin hydrated, especially if you live somewhere dry or spend a lot of time in places with heating or air conditioning. Your environment can pull the moisture from your skin, so even if you’ve been religious about applying a moisturizer packed with emollients and humectants, you’re not going to see the full benefit unless you use an occlusive, too.
Not only do occlusives protect your skin from moisture loss, but they can also help keep away external irritants — bacteria, dirt, friction, pollution, and even wind — which may otherwise have harmed your skin. Occlusives can also be used alongside emollients, humectants, and even serums to trap moisture and other helpful ingredients against your skin for maximum effect.
Popular occlusives include Petrolatum, Beeswax, Squalane, Silicone Derivatives, Fatty Acids, Candelilla, Carnauba, and Cholesterol.
In Conclusion
Choosing the best moisturizer for your skin type can be overwhelming. There are so many types of moisturizers out there, and when you add the idea of moisturizing face oils into the mix, it can be hard to choose or determine the best face oils and what’s best for your skin.
Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what moisturizing face oils are and how best to use them to keep your skin glowing and hydrated.
*Based on a 45-day clinical study of 20 women aged 30–60, twice daily use.
Sources:
Emollients and Moisturisers | DermNet NZ
Hyaluronic Acid: A Key Molecule in Skin Aging | Dermato Endocrinology