I tend to talk about the same handful of essential oils, don’t I? I’ve made my love for geranium, lavender, cypress and carrot seed essential oil pretty apparent! I thought today we would explore a 6 essential oils for beautiful skin that you might not have thought of! These oils have wonderful effects on the skin and would be great additions to your DIY serums, creams and toners!
Patchouli Essential Oil:
Despite the hippie stigma attached to this oil, Patchouli is a wonderful oil for achieving beautiful skin. It is helpful when applied to slow healing wounds as well as fungal infections, i.e. acne. Patchouli promotes cell growth which supports your skin’s natural process of renewing itself every 30 days or so, revealing new healthy skin. It also helps speed up healing of even scars! It is also a powerful anti inflammatory which calms skin conditions and reduces redness. Patchouli can be helpful for dry skin as well. As a side note, patchouli is also helpful when it comes to getting rid of bugs!
Patchouli can be used NEAT (undilute) and mixes well with Geranium, Lavender, Roman Chamomile, Myrrh, Ylang Ylang. Patchouli is great in all DIY skin care products!
Sandalwood Essential Oil:
Sandalwood is a powerful anti aging oil that helps restore the skin’s natural oil as well as helping the skin retain moisture. It can be very helpful with smoothing the complexion. It also helps normalize the skin-I can’t express how important this is. So many skin issues come from skin being out of balance. For example-when I let my skin get too dry, I actually get blackheads. So weird, but once I properly moisturize, my skin completely clears. Sandalwood is also an anti-inflammatory which helps many skin disorders. I keep mentioning anti-inflammatory because it is such an important part of anti aging. Inflammation is probably the number one cause of aging.
Sandalwood can be applied NEAT (undiluted) to the skin. Sandalwood would be a luxurious addition to a serum. It is well worth the money if you are looking to make a pure, yet effective serum to support healthy, balanced skin.
Grapefruit Essential Oil:
Grapefruit Essential Oil is one of my favorites. Granted, it is a citrus oil which means it could cause you to be sensitive to the sun. This means it needs to be used in the evening about 12 hours before you plan on being in the sun. That being said-let me tell you why I still love it for skin. Grapefruit eliminates toxins in the body – synthetic drugs included. It is an excellent cleansing tool as well as toner. It’s antioxidant levels are very high. It improves dull skin and help reduce the appearance of large pores. What I love is that it helps reduce water retention-perfect for the under eye area. This is why it’s also useful in combating cellulite!
Grapefruit E.O. can be added to any recipe and it also can be applied NEAT(undiluted to the skin). It pairs well with Bergamot, Clove, Frankincense, Lavender and Ylang Ylang and can be quite energizing in a diffuser!
Clove Essential Oil:
Clove oil is very controversial because it’s a very “hot” oil. If you were to put it straight on your skin you would burn your skin badly. It must be diluted greatly. The reason I use it in some skin care products is because of it’s antioxidant level. It has the highest antioxidant level of any essential oil EVER. I say this all the time but let me reiterate-Antioxidants fight free radicals. Free radicals attack our collagen production among other things. They come from the environment, bad nutrition, bad habits etc. The more antioxidants, the less free radical attacks and the more collagen. Collagen=Healthy, youthful skin.
I add Clove to my Detox Oil Cleansing Cleanser but only 3 drops per 4 ounces. It can be added to any recipe, just very sparingly! Clove pairs well with Bergamot, Roman Chamomile, Lavender & Ylang Ylang.
Juniper Berry Essential Oil:
Juniper Berry helps with detoxing the skin. It also is a powerful toner. The best part about juniper is that it revs up circulation substantially. In fact, it gets the blood flowing to the skin so well that it can make your skin red-that’s just due to all the blood just below the surface. I swear by exercising for beautiful skin-getting that blood pumping in your skin renews the cells and oxygenates them, leaving skin radiant-Juniper oil is the next best thing-it kick starts your cells to work hard for a beautiful complexion! It is also helpful with acne, eczema and helps with inflammation!
This oil can be used NEAT (undiluted) or can be added into your DIY skin care. I also love the smell and enjoy diffusing it as well! It pairs well with all my favorites, lavender, geranium, cypress and grapefruit!
Helichrysum Essential Oil:
Helichrysum is a very expensive oil and would make a powerful addition to a carrier oil like Rosehip Seed Oil or Sea Buckthorn Oil to make a serum. Helichysum is incredibly healing even to scars and stretchmarks. If you are looking to heal and reduce the appearance of wounds, scars or stretchmarks, this oil is it. It’s one of the few essential oils that contain “diketones,” which help reduce scar tissue and stimulate the growth of new skin tissue. Because it is extremely gentle, it is perfect for sensitive skin types that are suffering from rosacea and dermatitus. It will help fade redness and soothe dryness thanks to it’s anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties.
Helichrysum can be applied NEAT (undiluted). Because it is so expensive, I would let it stand alone in a serum.
So there you have it-6 oils off the beaten path. I encourage you to get creative-make a serum with one or several of these oils! It’s good to mix up your skin care routine and introducing new essential oils can really kick your skin into gear!
xx, Jenni