My Favorite Facial Oil

Oils.  Have you noticed the advertising of facial oils has been blowing up over the past year??  I walked by Sephora and the big window advertisement is now focusing on oils--it is finally being given its 15 minutes of fame!  The funny thing is, the use of facial oils has been around for a long time.  I myself started looking into facial oils about a year ago, even though I was deathly afraid to try them--I have sensitive, acne-prone, dehydrated but oily skin (I know I'm painting a pretty picture for myself here) which I have to manage very carefully.  Putting oil on an already oily face seemed counterintuitive to me, and it was not something I was willing to do….until I started doing more research.  

Here are some of the things I learned about oils:

1. Some oils have antioxidants and can protect your healthy cells from damage caused by free-radicals. 

2. Oil can help re-balance your skin.  My oily skin was oily because it was dehydrated underneath.  I spent so much time trying to dry out my skin to stop the blemishes that my skin was trying to compensate by creating more oil.  When you apply oil to your skin, your skin won't feel as parched, thus decreasing oil production.

3. Oil allows for deeper penetration of skin care products into your skin.  

4.  If you chose the right oil for your skin type, it will NOT cause breakouts.  

I read 15 more articles on the benefits of oils before I decided to take the plunge and give it a try--the inner product junkie in me won out over my fear of breaking out and I started researching different brands.  I decided to start with Argan oil and  I noticed there was one brand of Argan oil that both consistently got good reviews AND all the reviewers indicated they didn't get a break out.  This was my first foray into face oils:  Kahina Giving Beauty Argan Oil.  I tried several different types of oils (Fresh's Seabuckthorn, Meadowfoam oil, and Rice Bran oil) and these all caused me to break out.  I'm trying out some One Love Organics oils as well, and the jury's still out on the results.  I'm giving it a few more tries before I write a review. 

Back to Kahina's Argan Oil--from the first time I used it, I got no breakouts, which is HUGE for me!  I'm pretty sensitive (read: breakout prone) to most products, but not the case with this oil.  It didn't cause any breakouts, and the next morning, my skin looked smoother and less oily.  I've been using this oil in the evenings about 2-3x/week for the past 8 months and I still love it!  It comes in a nice black, thick glass bottle with a dropper.

How I use the oil:
-Cleanse face
-Leave face damp with water or a misting spray (this step is ESSENTIAL, as oil does not spread well on dry skin and may cause you to break out).  The spray that I use is from 302 and it's called "Calming Mist Rx."
-Put 2-4 drops of oil on your palms and rub your palms together to warm the oil
-Pat oil on to face
-If you need additional moisture, feel free to add.  I don't use anything afterwards, but skin is individual and you know your skin best!  However, for the first week of use, I wouldn't recommend using anything on top of this oil, just to figure out if it works for your skin or causes a breakout. 

Additional things to note:
-I did get a small spot/zit or two when I first started using the oil.  Not a major breakout or crazy, angry pimples (the red giant ones).  This typically happens to me when I first start using any new product, so this didn't scare me.  Now if you break out all over, I would not continue using the product. 

Pros:
-does not clog pores
-skin tone seems improved
-less oil production (this may not apply to everyone, but this helped me because my skin type was on the oilier side)
-wake up to skin that seems better than it was the night before
-certified organic and fair trade 

Cons:
-some may find it to be pricey ($36 for a 30ml bottle)
-glass bottle may make it heavy for travel

Information from EWG/Skin-deep:
Hazard Score: 0; Data Available: Limited

Click here if you want to see the ingredient hazard information from EWG/Skindeep:  Argan Oil

If you want to read more about oils, here's an interesting link I found!

My daily skin care regiment

**Update: I've updated my skincare to only use more natural products, so this regiment is null. Click here if you'd like to see my current regiment!**

I've gotten a request to blog about what my current skin care regiment is, so here it is.

**I did want to say that this regiment may be changing, as I'm currently looking into healthier, synthetic/preservative free cosmetics that score low on the EWG.org/skindeep website.  I'm doing lots of research, ordering samples of stuff and trying them out, and seeing what the effects will be before I write about them. =)

Morning:
-Cleanse with Benefit Clean by Cosmedix (I like this because it cleans well and doesn't irritate my skin)
-Tone with Mystic by Cosmedix (it's supposed to be a hydrating spray treatment, but i spritz a cotton pad 3-4x with this stuff and use it as a toner--has witch hazel in it which has some antibacterial properties!)
-Apply 3 drops of Obagi Vitamin C serum 10% all over face
-Moisturize with Emulsion by Cosmedix
-Apply DermaDoctor Wrinkle Revenge eye cream with your fourth finger (this actually has a lot of parabens in it, which is a preservative, but I already bought it and have been using it for a month. I'll have to find one with no preservatives very soon.)
-Apply Reflect SPF 30 sunscreen from Cosmedix.  This comes in a spray form so I spray it into my hand 3-4x and apply to my face.   **This sunscreen only contains Titanium Dioxide, and may not protect you from longer UVA rays.  I'm currently looking for a good sunscreen with Zinc Oxide in it to protect me from long UVA rays.  I'll let you know how that goes.)


Image from Graphicsfactory.com

Evening:
-If I wore face make up, I remove my makeup with a CVS makeup removing cloth prior to cleansing with Benefit Clean by Cosmedix.
-Tone with Mystic by Cosmedix
-Apply less than a pea size amount of Define by Cosmedix (this is my lactic acid and retinol over night treatment) on problem areas.
-Moisturize with Emulsion by Cosmedix
-Apply DermaDoctor Wrinkle Revenge eye cream

So you must be wondering....why is everything I use from Cosmedix?  I started off by purchasing a starter kit from them when I went to this esthetician in Newport Beach.  She convinced me into starting a retinol treatment at night instead of using my salicylic acid on blemishes at night (this left my skin really dry).  I was super scared to because I didn't want to deal with the purge period (where it brings out your zits before it starts making your skin better), but I never had that problem with Define.  Just make sure if you start it, you start slowly.  Apply 1x every 3 days for the first week, then apply 1x every 2 days for a week, then you can try applying it every evening.  But if your skin gets sensitive or reacts to it, I would lessen the number of days you use it.  I really liked Define and the Benefit Clean, so I tried the lotion and the sunscreen because none of it made me break out.  A lot of other products I've tried either broke me out or just weren't doing anything for me.  I've had this routine for about the past 1.5 years and it's really been working for me.  Benefit Clean scored a 3 on the website, which isn't that bad.  So I may keep that.  The define scored a 5 or 6, but any retinol product will get you at least that score, because retinols are a pretty strong chemical.

Healthier skin care product reviews to come!!