I’m a big fan of home made skin care since qualifying as an aromatherapist many years ago, it’s not only easy to do but more importantly you are in control of the ingredients which means you can be sure that your products don’t contain any nasty ingredients such as parabens. It’s important to keep your skin care as natural as possible as your skin absorbs most of what you apply to it and there’s no better way than with aromatherapy as the oils contain many properties that have powerful effects on the skin. Many of the expensive skin creams contain essential oils because of their cleansing and rejuvenating effects so why not create your own at a fraction of the price.
All you need to get started is a base cream and your chosen essential oils along with a container to store the cream in. I recently purchase Baldwins Olive Tree Base Creams in both the light and rich (light being for more oilier skin and rich for dry skin), they penetrate the skin perfectly without feeling too greasy or dry afterwards. These creams are the perfect base for adding your essential oils to.
Here is one of my favourite synergies which makes a good basic skin cream that suits most skin types.
Olive Tree Light or Rich Base Cream – you can use the rich if you want a more nourishing night cream and the light for a lighter weight day cream, or just choose the base that suits your skin type. Using a spoon or spatula scoop out the base cream into your container, make sure you know the size of the container as you will need to know how many drops of essential oil you can add. In general you add 1 – 3 drops of essential oil per 5ml (so make sure you divide this by the number of essential oils you are using, so for example if we are doing a medium strength then it’s 2 drops per 5ml, if the container is 20ml and you are using 4 different essential oils then this will mean 2 drops of each oil totalling 8 drops).
Vitamin E – an antioxidant which helps to heal the skin. Approx. 1 – 2 drops per 10ml
Evening primrose oil – a good anti-wrinkle oil that helps improve cell regeneration. Approx. 1 – 2 drops per 10ml
Eucalyptus essential oil – helps to clear congested skin, prevents bacterial overgrowth and aids the construction of new tissue.
Tea Tree essential oil – a very cleansing oil with antibiotic, antiseptic, antiviral, bactericidal and fungicidal properties.
Lavender essential oil – a good balancing oil for most skin types with healing and rejuvenating properties as it aids the growth of new skin cells.
Sandalwood essential oil – another good balancing oil that’s suitable for most skin types, relieves inflammation and has antiseptic and carminative qualities.
This is another favourite synergy of mine using Jasmine and Neroli essential oils, they are very expensive but worth it for those extra special luxurious face creams and the smell is just amazing, I like to keep this one for use at night.
Olive Tree Base Cream
Carrot seed essential oil – has a toning effect on the skin and due to its action on the epidermal cells it’s said to help keep wrinkles at bay aiding elasticity and removing age spots.
Lavender essential oil – as mentioned above Lavender oil helps to balance the sebum which makes it good for most skin types as well as aiding the turnover of skin cells which gives it it’s rejuvenating properties.
Neroli essential oil – helpful to most skin types particularly sensitive and mature, improves skin elasticity and encourages the growth of new skin cells.
Jasmine essential oil – beneficial to all skin types but its skin softening properties make it a useful tonic for dry and sensitive skin types. When combined with Lavender it increases the skins elasticity and helps to heal scarring.
If your skin needs extra nourishing then try layering your moisturiser with a skin serum underneath such as the home made olive squalane beauty serum.
Ingredients in the Olive Tree Base Creams:
Rich:
Aqua – (water)
Olea europea – (organic olive oil)
Cetearyl olivate and Sorbitan olivate – (emulsifying esters of olive oil fatty acids)
Butyrospermuim parkii – (organic shea butter, skin emollient)
Olea europaea (olive oil) unsaponifiables – (skin emollient)
Cetyl palmitate and Sorbitan palmitate – (stabilizing esters of olive oil fatty acids)
Glycerin – (plant derived humectant)
Tocopherol – (vitamin e, anti oxidant)
Potassium sorbate – (mild organic acid – preservative)
Olea europaea (olive) leaf extract – (organically grown anti oxidant, anti bacterial)
Light:
Aqua (water)
Olea europea – (organic olive oil, emollient)
Prunus dulcis – (organic almond oil, emollient)
Cetearyl olivate and Sorbitan olivate – (emulsifying esters of olive oil fatty acids)
Butyrospermuim parkii – (organic shea butter, skin emollient)
Olea europaea (olive oil) unsaponifiables – (skin emollient)
Cetyl palmitate and Sorbitan palmitate – (stabilizing esters of olive oil fatty acids)
Glycerin – (plant derived humectant)
Tocopherol – (vitamin e, anti oxidant)
Potassium sorbate – (mild organic acid – preservative)
Olea europaea (olive) leaf extract – (organically grown anti oxidant, anti bacterial)
