It will have escaped no one, the oil (or serum oil) for the face is THE texture that has the wind in its sails. With the first frosts, here is the olive harvest of the week's cosmetic novelties, gleaned by Ariane Le Febvre.
Since last year, face oils have been popular. It all started in the winter of 2012 with two luxury treatments, which brought oil texture back to the forefront. Rather"winter" and dedicated to dry skin, they opened the way in perfumery: Absolue Oléo-Sérum de Lancôme (30 ml, 179 €) and Capture Totale Huile Sérum Haute Nutrition de Dior (30 ml, 135 €), a heat insulating oil that wraps the skin in a protective film. "Clarins, like the certified organic cosmetics, Melvita in the lead (but also Absolution, Florame, Phyt's, Sanoflore, Patyka, Weleda, Kadalys… non-exhaustive list!) have long been offering facial care oils.
Face oils are refined
What's new this winter? Face oils are tomorrow's serums. They are aimed at all skin types and take a serious anti-aging turn.
Like the one Guerlain just released (Abeille Royale Face care oil, 28 ml, 82 €). Inspired by Asian rituals, with an amazing water finish, it is the first regalbante oil to offer a lift, firmness and tonicity effect, thanks to Ushant honey, which contains silicon and many amino acids,"major constituents of keratins and collagen that ensure the resistance and firmness of the skin," says the brand. It is also the case of Crema Nera Extrema Elixir High Recovery of Giorgio Armani (50 ml, 330 €), an oil balm, which acts as much on wrinkles and sagging as on pigment spots.
Vichy makes it the youthful ally of mature skin with Neovadiol Magistral Elixir (30 ml, 35 €, from January 2014). The mark indicates that"menopause causes a loss of tissue material. Once it is installed, the skin loses 57% of its cutaneous lipids, and it is the proportion of essential fatty acids which falls the most, with for consequences a very dry skin, less flexible, elastic and resistant, which becomes thin, cardboard and without glare". Thanks to 3 natural oils rich in omega 6 and 9 (safflower, rice bran, shea butter), this global anti-ageing concentrate reconstructs the deficient intercellular cement, restores the structure of the stratum corneum, boosts the synthesis of essential fatty acids and strengthens the fragile skin's resistance against aggressions and inflammation.
The same kind of scenario with La Prairie launching its dry facial oil in February, in order to meet its customers' demand for greater comfort (Ice Crystal Cellular Dry Oil Switzerland, 30 ml, 269 €, accompanied by its little sister in cream: Ice Crystal Cellular Cream Switzerland, 50 ml, 269 €). The dry oil is formulated with vegetable oils (sweet almond, sunflower, sea buckthorn, jojoba seeds) and three plants ultra-resistant to climatic conditions, called"extremophiles" (Purple Saxifrage, Alpine Soldier and Swiss Snow Algae - a lichen to be more precise), which make up the anti-ageing complex, called"Suisse Ice Crystal". With the help of numerous plant extracts (impossible to mention them all here because La Prairie formulas are rich and plethoric!), it strengthens the skin, allowing it to better defend itself against physical, chemical and environmental stress.
But there are face oils more accessible, in large distribution (L'Oréal Paris, Age Perfect Extraordinary Face and Neck Oil, 30 ml, 17,90 €), as in certified organic cosmetics (Melvita, L'Or Bio Extraordinary Oil, 100 ml, 24,90 € ; Kadalys, Huile Précieuse Radiance à la banane jaune, 50 ml, 29 € ; Alorée Élixir Régénérant Skin Rescue, 15 ml, 32 €… to mention only the most recent).
Directions for use
One can modulate, and as one likes, the comfort that these oils bring. Since their texture is now fine, non-greasy and non-gleaming, you can easily enrich your usual skin care cream during the winter. In this case, two to three drops of oil are mixed with a dab of cream in the palm of the hand. It can also be used as a serum, under the cream. Thus the skin will be well caulked to face the great cold! Because they retain water, the oils reinforce the action of all moisturizers and also provide an additional"insulation".
Finally, the oil encourages massage, so beneficial to relax the features and oxygenate the skin. You mustn't deprive yourself of it! Forget the complicated maneuvers of the manuals, we do as we feel. The essential thing is to make gentle gestures in full consciousness, and to be carried by the desire to do good to oneself (the skin is hyper receptive to benevolence).
The oil texture has not finished flowing on our beauty. In 2014, there will still be many oils in all areas (body, hair, sun…). So we'll talk about it very soon.
Ariane Le Febvre
