Winter skincare SOS: facial oils

I love Twitter. A couple of weeks ago I sent out a beauty SOS for facial oil recommendations – for years I’ve been adding a drop of various super nourishing oils to my usual day/night cream each winter to stave off dry, red, flaky skin – and wanted to try something new. I’ve already got a pretty comprehensive list of favourites (see box out below), but thought I’d throw it out to the Twittersphere to see what came back.

Swift to respond was the lovely Leicestershire-based organic skincare company, Botanicals. They sent me a selection of facial oils, serums and balms to road-test and I’m really chuffed to have found such a reasonably priced, UK-based, independent beauty brand that actually delivers results.

I haven’t done swatches as, well, the formulas are pretty self explanatory. The Rose and Camellia facial oil is an astonishing £12.95 for 48g and it’s organic and Soil Association certified for that, too. You can, like I do, add a drop to your night cream to really super-charge your skin’s hydration and radiance in the cold weather, or if you’re after an anti-ageing, de-puffing result, use it in conjunction with this easy to follow facial massage technique. TIP: warm the oil in your palms before applying to release the therapeutic aromas.

For me, their Chamomile and Mandarin oil works best (also £12.95), as it is designed for combination skin, like mine.

There are corresponding serums too, which I have been using in the morning (a better bet if you want to apply your make-up straight away), both at a still reasonable, £18.95.

The hand-whipped facial balm, with shea butter, is a great one for travellers who don’t want the worry of an oil leaking in the luggage. I used it over the Christmas hols and it’s a great, super-intensive formula with 100% active ingredients. I layered it on thick overnight for a seriously soothing, nourishing mask (£13.45, 25g).

So there we have it, my favourite kind of beauty brand – organic, well-priced, independent and ethically produced. One of my top beauty finds of 2012.

FOUR MORE FAB FACIAL OILS:

A great, uplifting, citrus dry oil that is instantly absorbed.
Darphin tangerine oil, £47, 15ml – darphin.co.uk

This miracle oil really does embue cashmere-soft skin in a non-greasy, rose otto scented formula.
Ila Spa Glowing Radiance facial oil, £68, 30ml – ila-spa.com

The buzz-word in facial oils in 2012 – this is the best Argan oil I’ve found. Ethically sourced, organic and pure.
Kahina Giving Beauty organic Argan oil – £74, beautyworkswest.com

This budget-busting facial blend of eleven essential oils is SUBLIME. Warning: highly addictive, be prepared to never go back.
Rodin Olio Lusso face oil – £92, beautyworkswest.com