Blend-it-yourself beauty oils are here for you to pour all over your life
When it comes to trends catching on, beauty oils really went from zero to 60.
It seems like one day you were steadfastly avoiding oil-based products like the plague, and the next day, your most serenely ethereal and dewy-skinned friend was casually announcing she’d replaced her entire skincare regimen with three kinds of oil you’d normally put on a salad.
If you haven’t tried oils yet, you’re really missing out — there’s a reason why they’re so popular. There’s something magical about rubbing oil into your pores, hair, freshly shaven legs, or whatever other body part you wanna show some love.
Super chic beauty company The Buff is taking the beauty world’s oil obsession one step further with a line of fully customizable oils. They created an exclusive range for Urban Outfitters that you can drop into any carrier oil or product for an instant beauty boost. There’s lemon oil for breakouts, fine lines, hyperpigmentation and skin brightening; frankincense for revitalizing the skin and minimizing scars and wrinkles; geranium for toning and calming red or inflamed skin; and grapefruit for revitalizing and brightening skin or hair.
I’ve been testing the oils and they’re pretty legit — pro tip: if you get irritation in your bikini area from shaving or waxing, frankincense oil will nip it in the bud! See, didn’t I tell you you could pour these things on your entire life?
Read on for an interview with The Buff founder Jasmine Garnsworthy.
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Why are oils suddenly popular?
Both clean beauty ingredients and holistic wellness treatments are experiencing a resurgence right now, making it a great time for all-natural, skin and health-boosting essential oils. Right now, there’s a real movement of women ditching their regular skincare products for natural, clean, safe alternatives–and that’s where beauty oils come in.
It seems like for so long we were told oil-free products were the best, what led to this switch?
In the same way many wellness experts now embrace health in diet, the beauty industry is beginning to understand the nourishing, brightening, calming, and toning benefits that certain essential oil blends can have on the skin when used topically.
The coconut oil craze introduced many would-be skeptics to the benefits of beauty oils. Fans naturally progressed on to faster-drying, noncomedogenic, equally-nourishing oils like jojoba, rosehip, argan, and maracuja. Now, it’s well-known that jojoba oil is a favorite among women with blemish-prone skin, or that rosehip oil is a powerful ingredient in anti-aging skincare.
Can people with oily skin use oils?
Yes. Certain oils, like jojoba, can actually help regulate and balance your skin’s natural sebum production, to help control overall oiliness.
What’s the difference between the oils I can buy at the supermarket or health food store, and oils that are designed to be used as beauty products?
Certain oils are more suited to specific skin types, which is why we offer fully customized face and body oil blends. Oils that you buy in supermarkets, like olive oil or coconut oil, are thick and occlusive. This means they dry slowly, leaving a greasy residue, and may block pores. Try lightweight beauty oils instead like jojoba, rosehip, argan, or maracuja that are anti-acnegenic, lightweight, and able to penetrate the skin to deliver vitamins and antioxidants. Beauty oils are also often spiked with super-potent essential oils like geranium or frankincense that also deliver a host of skin benefits.
You should always look for cold-pressed, unrefined beauty oils to make sure the ingredients haven’t been deodorized or destroyed by heat.
What’s the most common beauty mistake people make when using oils?
It’s a little known secret that you only need a couple of drops of facial oil to see results. Your face oil should absorb within five minutes—if it doesn’t, you’re using too much!
How do you recommend using oils for the hair?
Lightweight carrier oils like argan blended with certain essential oils (like our Beauty Booster in Grapefruit, $12) can be used in two ways. Either rub a couple of drops onto your finger tips and lightly comb through the middle and end of wet or just-styled hair. You’ll be left with ultra-glossy locks.
Or, use hair oil as a deeply nourishing, frizz-fighting treatment. Apply about 7-8 drops all over your scalp, and massage it in using circular motions. Use a comb to brush the oil through your hair, then hold off washing your hair until the following morning. Leaving it on overnight will give hair time to soak up all the good-for-you ingredients while boosting circulation to the scalp for healthy hair growth.
