I used to be so afraid of face oils. The idea of putting oil on my face seemed contradictory, as wasn’t that was what I was trying to wash my face for? I ended up getting a sample of the Sunday Riley Artemis Cellular Face Oil and it was the first I tried. I tried it at night in place of a moisturizer. I then noticed I did not break out, and my skin was soft and moisturized. Supposedly face oils are there to replace the lost oils and keep your face from producing more than necessary. In theory they are not supposed to break you out. In the summer I only used oils at night, now that it’s winter here in Montana, I can use them in the day as well, they do add a great moisture barrier to my cheeks which get really dry in the cold air. After trying several for the last few months I have yet to break out from a face oil, and they provide great moisture. You can mix them in with your face cream for a boost, use them in place of a moisturizer or add them on top of a moisturizer for an extra moisture boost. I think you should look at the thickness of the oil and what ingredients are in it to decide which is best for you.
On the Left is Zelens Z-22 Absolute Face Oil. It has 22 different oils in it that you can check out here. It’s a great oil, it’s the second heaviest of the bunch I have pictured. It’s a glass bottle with a pump which I like for ease of use. I bought it off cultbeauty’s website. It’s odd, Zelens recently repriced everything and this oil went from $105 to $195 which is quite a hike in price. On the UK websites the price is still the same, it comes out slightly below $105. I would suggest getting it that way currently. The oil itself is nice and it’s my favorite. It’s just enough, not too light, not too much. It has a not fully pleasant smell, meaning it’s not flowers and perfume, but it’s not a bad smell. It’s almost a musty smell, it must be one of the oils. The Sunday Riley is worse as far as this musty smell.
I have two oils from Tata Harper. I started with the Replenishing Nutrient Complex. This comes in a glass bottle with a rollerball for application. A rollerball is not my favorite way to apply something like this. The possibility that skin cells from rolling it on my face will get in my rollerball, which may lead to contamination of the product, is why it’s not my favorite. Plus, I prefer to be able to drop it so I can add it to stuff. It seems Tata Harper has just repackaged this into a larger 30 mL bottle with a dropper vs the 10 mL rollerball bottle. This is a huge improvement for me in design. The small bottle is only $45 where the larger bottle is now $120. Tata Harper considers this a facial oil serum that you can check out here. It has rose hip seed oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, apricot kernel oil. It also has borago, alfalfa, elderberry, calendula, arnica, linden and carrot root extract. There is some added essential oil aroma blend as well. I’ll talk about the other Tata Harper oil then compare them.
The other Tata Harper oil I have is their new Beautifying Face Oil which comes only in a 30 mL glass bottle with a dropper. It retails for $48 and you can check it out here. Tata’s site has this listed as a lightweight facial oil. The main ingredients are: squalane, jojoba, olive oil, argan oil, sacha inchi, camellia oil, elderberry extract. It also has alfalfa, arnica, calendula, borage, comfrey, meadowsweet extracts. This also has brown algae extract towards the bottom of the ingredient list in addition to the same essential oil aroma blend. This is a fairly light oil, it absorbs fast. This oil smells a touch stronger like essential oils than the Tata Harper Replenishing Nutrient Complex. The Beautifying Face Oil is a touch lighter than the Nutrient Complex but not by much. Both are nice choices for a face oil. The Beautifying Face Oil is half the price of the Nutrient Complex so that’s a bonus, and it has similar ingredients.
I started with Sunday Riley Artemis Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil when I got a 5mL sample. This is the thickest oil of the bunch, and the most moisturizing. It also has the strongest musty smell, the scent is a bit off in a way that I don’t like. I definitely prefer the Zelens over this one. It’s not bad, I just prefer the ingredients in the Zelens and Tata Harper better. But it did at least get me into face oils. Check it out here to see the ingredients. The ingredients aren’t enough for me for it to be worth $125 for 30 mL.
I have a small sample of the Sisley Black Rose Face Oil. This is a thin oil, it absorbs fast and has a pleasant smell. It has plum and camelina oil, phytosqualane, natural tocopherols, avocado oils and wax, brown algae, black rose extract, Bulgarian rose, magnolia and geranium essential oils. It retails for $235 for 0.84 oz which makes it the most expensive of all. It is really expensive and beyond a sample I doubt I would buy it full size. The Tata Harper and Zelens are more my favorites price and ingredient wise.
I also got a sample of the Fresh Seaberry Face Oil this week which I have always wanted to try. This is a thin oil with a pleasant scent. It has grape seed, camellia, sweet almond and sea buckthorn oil, rosemary extract, cranberry seed oil, vitamin E and C. It’s the cheapest at $50 for 1.6 oz. Check it out here.
So overall, the thickest to thinnest(which includes the moisture content): Sunday Riley, Zelens, Tata Harper Nutrient Complex, then the last three are pretty much the same as I can’t really tell a difference, Tata Harper Beautifying Face Oil, Fresh Seaberry, Fresh Black Rose. The most expensive to cheapest: Sisley, Sunday Riley, Tata Harper Nutrient Complex, Zelens(at current UK price not US price), Tata Harper Beautifying Face Oil, Fresh Seaberry Oil. My favorites overall are the Zelens and Tata Harper Beautifying Face Oil, I would definitely repurchase these. The others are nice but for the ingredients and what I am looking for overall I pick those two.