Five things you should know about using oils in your skincare routine

1. They can be used on oily skin. THIS is the buggers myth I hear that oils cannot be used on oily skin, as an oily skinned gal for the most part I can assure you this is not true. It truly depends on the oils selected and the final formulation. There are several non-comedogenic oils (will not clog your pores but instead clarify). If formulated correctly facials oil will help balance oil production, help reduce the over production and give a youthful glow. Go for marula, Kalahari desserts seed oil, plum oil, jojoba oil, hemp seed oil, rose hip oil, grape seed oil as good examples to look out for. The list is really quite endless but these are good places to start, my advice is go for products with a few ingredients to make sure you get the full benefits of your chosen oil. I have formulated our enzymatic facial oil to include plant-derived hydrating squalane to trap moister in the skin. This is also a good ingredient to look out for in your facial oils! 
2. They work - the truth is our ancestors were not wrong. Most cultures have oils that have been used for thousands of years and the results show. Oils are full of antioxidants, essential fatty acids that is great for keeping your skin looking young, tight and subtle. I see it whenever I travel that places those simple skincare rituals passed down through generations stand the test of time. Focus on a simple routine that you build up from there, focus on cleansing properly and moisturising (using an oil on its own or my favourite way is adding a couple drops of my favourite oil into the moisturiser to make it more nourishing). There are also several oils with proven anti-bacterial activity so for those with acne prone skin or blemish prone skin there are several oils that can help the healing process (example such as Moringa, Tamanu etc)
3. They are versatile; oils can be used as a facial moisturiser, body moisturiser but also as a cleanser. Several brands now offer oils with an emulsifier (attracted to both water and oils) which means the oils turns milky when you add water and makes the rinse off process very easy (this is normally the slightly annoying this with using pure oils – you need a flannel to properly remove the oil from your face)
4. They can be full of active ingredients; there is wide range of oil soluble ingredients that can be added to facial oils to give you tangible results. I love adding different African plant extracts (botanicals) so when I was formulating the enzymatic facial oil I selected a plant extract from the South African Acmella plant, which acts as a natural alternative to Botox to instantly, and noticeable smooth skin. I also added papaya enzyme to exfoliate by removing dead skin cells. To provide antioxidant protection and brighten skin I added an oil soluble form of vitamin C. All these ingredients are oil soluble, this is just a small selection of the range of options available and for me this is what makes formulating fun. I want to provide a natural product that gives you tangible results, it sometimes takes longer to balance out the formulation but I think the final product formulation speaks for itself!
5. They are not made equal. Oils are great products but the manufacturing process used by the supplier will determine the quality of the product and if you are getting all the natural goodness. The extraction and filtering process can damage some of the skin benefits of the oils so I would always focus on products where the oils used have gone through use of raw unrefined cold-pressed oils. This means the key nutrients are not damaged or reduced during the process of producing the oil. I really focus on selecting ingredients be cold-pressed unrefined oils so you get all the bio-compatible skin nutrition goodness of Marula seed, Kalahari Desert seed and Avocado seed oils. This means the raw ingredient is more expensive but your skin will thank you for it.

I love using facial oils and will be detailing how I build a skincare routine using facial oils. 

If you have any questions of comments drop them below!