This has been on my ‘DIY beauty’ wish list for a while now. A home-made anti-ageing rosehip facial oil. As a huge fan of Trilogy’s nourishing elixir and subsequently Boots’ Botanicals range budget version, rosehip oil is my ‘go-to’ booster for adding a bit of ‘oomph’ for winter skincare. And it seems I’m in good company, as everyone from David Gandy to Miranda Kerr swear by its skin-boosting properties.
With a very haphazard approach, I figured using a known anti-ageing carrier oil, Apricot Kernel (it’s full of Vitamin E), could only boost the effects of the rosehips, so I toddled off to Amazon and bought a litre of cold-pressed oil for around a tenner.
Next up were the rosehips, which I’ve been patiently squeezing each time I walk up my mum’s front path and this week they were just at the right softness. The thing about rosehips is that they are full of omega 3-6-9’s to protect and nourish dry winter skin; Vitamin C and lycopene (like tomatoes, it’s what gives them their red colour) – making them super anti-inflamatory and full of anti-oxidants…. I could go on, but in short – 5 drops of rosehip oil, mixed in with your night cream from Oct-March and you will defeat those wind chapped cheeks, dry flaky patches and even some fine lines and wrinkles to boot.
So, on to the ‘how-to’:
In a large le creuset pan I gently heated my apricot kernel oil, took it off the heat and added my rosehips. To a litre of oil I added 35-40 hips. Their skins split when I added them to the hot oil, allowing the nutrients to seep out into the carrier oil.
I then carefully tipped the oil and hips into a large sterilised Kilner jar and left it to steep for a few days.
It was then ready to strain through a muslin and decant into the 25ml dropper bottles I picked up on Ebay (around £1 each – rosehip oil is photosensitive so needs to be kept in dark glass to preserve its nutrient).
