Summer is probably the best time to write, not only because I have the time to do it, but also because I am currently packing all my stuff. In case anyone is wondering, I am in international student in the UK and after I graduate, I will return home to the land of good food and humid hot SPF-necessary-weather that is Malaysia. While packing, I am also sorting my humble collection of skincare and make-up. I imagine the whole process to be methodical -- sort, take picture and write about them on this blog.
When asked what have I learned in the past 3 years of my undergraduate degree, I succinctly responded with "Loved my subject, learned to develop good relationship with people I care about." In the spirit of "what have you learned", I thought of sharing several things I've learned in my journey to understanding my own skin and defining my own standards of beauty. For this particular post, I want to talk about facial oils!
Some oils are my best friends, others just do not work. My first encounter with using (essential) oil was tea tree as a spot treatment, then with rosehip oil to help my scarring. I still use tea tree oil, but I have learned that using the oil directly on my spots is too drying so now I use a mix of tea tree and a carrier oil. Rosehip oil is BS for my face. The different brands I've tried always feel heavy and uncomfortable. Although for my body, it is perfect.
I use my 70% almond oil, 30% tea tree oil blend as a spot treatment and I feel that it is the strongest, compared to my two other spot-treatment options: Himalaya Acne-N-Pimple cream and La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I. Himalaya is more of a soothing product (also the weakest), and in my opinion, does nothing to my spots. LRP brings my spot to a head, but at a much slower rate than tea tree oil.
Next, facial oils. I recently purchased Korres's Wild Rose Brightening Facial Oil, after having loved its peeling mask (another review for another day) and a half-off sale on Amazon. I was also on the hunt for good Vitamin C-based serums (the oil does claim it has Vitamin C), and decided maybe an oil instead of a serum is not a bad alternative. Of course, it doesn't sink in as quickly as a serum, but for an oil, it sinks in pretty quickly and is light on the face. It also has a pleasant rose scent that disappears after about 5 minutes. Also, yes, there are dried rose petals in the bottle -- which reminds me of potpourri.
Another personal blend of facial oil which I have used religiously for months prior to Korres is my mix of sweet almond (50%), geranium (20%), bergamot (15%) and ylang ylang(15%). I use my fingers to lightly pat the oil on my skin after my toner and serum, and this blend sinks in well but not as quickly Korres. It is also feels marginally thicker. I didn't expect miracle from my own DIY blend, but I surprisingly loved it and more interestingly, found geranium to be a pleasant, comforting scent.
One thing that didn't work out for me was avocado oil, which I feel is very heavy. Of course, it might also be due to it being mixed with rosehip, and together with the scent of lemon oil -- the final scent is not pleasant. To make this work for me, I add it with a very light, watery serum to lessen the heavy feel and told myself to "Just bear with it," with regards to the scent. Suffice to say, this was not a successful blend. I am still giving avocado oil another go -- as a body oil. 65% avocado oil, 15% geranium, 10% bergamot, 10% ylang ylang. (If you're guessing my geranium-bergamot-ylang ylang mix is my safe scent mix -- you're partially right. I also don't have other essential oils to play around with and have no intention to purchase more for now)
All of these oils generally work in similar manner for me : nourishing and moisturizing. On most days, I skip moisturizer and use only oil. In fact, I think I much prefer oils than moisturizers, both creamy and quick-sinking ones -- quite a claim, especially coming from an oily-combination skin type. But truthfully, I think oils nourishes my skin instantly and I love such instant gratification. Yes, there is that "oiliness" but that is nothing a blotting paper and powder can't fix. Additionally, I do feel my skin is brighter (especially with Korres), but in terms of other benefits (anti-aging, hormonal balance, etc etc), I am very skeptical. For example, I don't think any of these significantly improve my acne-scar fading process -- and over the years, I just grew comfortable with how slow it is for my skin to lighten my hyperpigmentation (also, that's what concealers are for?!). Therapeutic? Yes, in a way. I just associate geranium to getting ready in the morning, and rose to going bed at night. I imagine these things do help me to get my day started or help me relax in bed -- but again, I am skeptical. These are correlations, not causations.
