Make Your Own Nourishing Facial Serum

When it comes to skin care, it seems the face gets the most attention - and for good reason! Your face is the feature which best distinguishes you as a person. It can also reveal a lot about your emotions, lifestyle, and your health. So, here's a recipe for a skin serum that helps your face radiate beautiful health!

Serum vs. Cream

Traditionally, a serum is water based.  Serums leave out the oil-based thickening, lubricating fillers found in creams and lotions (which are often petroleum-based ingredients like petrolatum - not good). So, the result is a higher concentration of active ingredients in a serum, and only a few drops of are needed for an application to the face. The active ingredients in a serum also penetrate your skin faster and more effectively. 

My facial serum recipe below is slightly different in that it uses a light, natural carrier oil as its base.
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​Beautiful Oils for the Face

For your serum, pick a carrier oil that nourishes your skin with natural nutrients and provides moisture and healing properties.  I love to use either organic tamanu oil or rosehip seed oil.
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The tamanu tree.

Tamanu oil surpasses most, if not all, modern day skin care products. It's made from the kernels of the tamanu tree, which is indigenous to tropical Southeast Asia. Natives believed the tamanu tree was a sacred gift of nature and that gods hid in its branches. Tamanu oil has an incredible ability to heal damaged and scarred skin and has regenerative properties. This is because of its anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antioxidant qualities. It also has the ability to reduce or remove age spots. The oil is especially rich in fatty acids, too.  It comes in dark glass bottle and the oil itself is a dark greenish-brown color. Tamanu oil has an ewg.org Skin Deep rating of 1 (the best)!  

Rosehips, usually collected in late summer and autumn.

​Rosehip seed oil  is perfect for all fine skin care recipes.  It is a rich, amber colored organic oil from the ripened fruit of the famed rosehip (the fruit of wild rose bushes, know to be especially rich in vitamin C). ​Rosehip seed oil is the only vegetable oil that contains natural Retinoic acid (vitamin A acid). It is also the best vegetable source of omega-3 fatty acids. Rosehip seed oil is known to regenerate the skin and reduce scars. It is a great emollient and hydrator for dry or mature skin.  (It may not be the best of you are acne prone.) Rosehip oil is considered a “dry” oil, meaning that it soaks into the skin easily, and does not leave a greasy residue. The best rosehip seed oils are cold-pressed and require refrigeration.
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​Info sources: 

• Primal Life Organics 
• Mountain Rose Herbs

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Essential Oils for Skin Care

Essential oils are the natural oils obtained from botanical plants. They harness the incredible power of nature in a little bottle!  Essential oils can
help promote a clear-looking complexion, soften the appearance of signs of aging, and help protect and revitalize the appearance of your skin for a more radiant-looking you - with Mother Nature as your biggest helper!  ​

My post The Top 10 Essential Oils for Beautiful Skin lists them (in no particular order) as:

• lavender
• geranium
• rose
• cedarwood
• frankincense
• elemi
• patchoili
• ylang-ylang
• myrrh
• tea tree

​Use the essential oils in your serum that suit your particular needs.
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Facial Serum Recipe

1. Start with a 4 oz. dark glass bottle. 

2. Add in 4 Tbsp of your favorite carrier oil(s).

3. Add in approximately 80 drops total of your personal selection and proportion of essential oils.  Gently mix.

In case you're wondering, the essential oils I use in my facial serum with my age 40+ combination skin are: frankincense, rose, myrrh, and lavender.  -Jenny

4. After cleansing in the morning or at night, put the serum, which is nice and light, on your face, neck, and decolletage (upper chest) and let it work its magic. Rub any excess on the back of your hands, too. (Always be careful to avoid the eyes when using essential oils.)

​A little bit goes a long way!

​It's just that easy to make a facial serum for youthful, beautiful skin! 

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