Today we’re blending up an all-natural, lightweight oil serum that is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory goodness. Starring exotic açaí berry oil and featherweight Neossance® Hemisqualane, you can easily mix up this serum in just a few minutes—just weigh, cap, shake, and you’re done!
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The bulk of this serum is ultra-light Neossance® Hemisqualane. I love this stuff. It’s made from plant sugar, and it is oh-so light and silky and just muah *kisses fingers like a French chef*. It works brilliantly as an oil serum base, giving us something really fast-absorbing to disperse other lovely things into without having to worry too much about their respective absorption speeds.
Our star ingredient is açaí berry oil (INCI: Euterpe Oleracea Oil), pressed from the pericarp of the açaí berry. It’s a rich, smooth oil with a subtle woody scent. In addition to having fabulous superfood-y label appeal, açaí berry oil is rich in antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. Much like jojoba oil, it can go cloudy and precipitate a bit when chilled, so if you’re keeping it in the fridge you’ll want to remove it a few hours before using to give everything a chance to come to room temperature and then shake to combine before weighing out what you need.
Straight out of the fridge—you can see the sediment. This went away when the oil came to room temperature.
Rounding out the oil part of this serum is some satiny golden jojoba oil. Jojoba oil is prized in skincare as its composition is close to that of our natural skin sebum—it’s rich in vitamin E and is a great moisturizer!
Our last two ingredients are included at just 0.5% each; vitamin E and bisabolol. Vitamin E is an antioxidant, helping extend the shelf life of this serum by delaying the onset of rancidity (aka oxidization). Bisabolol is a wonderful naturally-derived skincare active; it’s soothing, anti-irritating, and an antioxidant. It occurs naturally in chamomile essential oil and has a soft, floral-ish scent (you won’t notice it in the end product at 0.5%, though). If you don’t have it, chamomile essential oil would make a good alternative, though it will certainly have a much more noticeable scent in the end product.
The finished serum is wonderfully lightweight and slippy, gliding across the skin almost like water. It’s a wonderful last step in a skincare routine and a great option for those who prefer lighter serums. Enjoy!
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Açaí & Jojoba Facial Oil Serum
5.4g | 54% Neossance® Hemisqualane (USA / Canada)
2.5g | 25% açaí berry oil
2g | 20% jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
0.05g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.05g | 0.5% bisabolol (USA / Canada)Weigh all the ingredients into a small beaker, or directly into the bottle you’ll be storing the serum in.
If it’s a beaker, stir to combine. If you went straight for the bottle, cap and shake.
That’s it! I used a 15mL (0.5 fl oz) glass bottle with a dropper top to store my serum.
To use, spread a few drops over the skin towards the end of your skincare routine, after cleansing and using any lighter serums.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this serum is 100% oil-based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 10g.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this formulation, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia (açaí berry oil) before asking.
- As with all formulations with very short ingredient lists, making any changes to this formulation (especially to the three main carrier oils) will mean you’re making something pretty different from what I made.
- You could use olive squalane instead of Neossance® Hemisqualane.
- Meadowfoam seed oil would work instead of jojoba oil.
- You could use chamomile essential oil instead of the bisabolol, or simply replace it with more of one of the carrier oils.
- If you’d like to incorporate an essential oil, please read this.
Gifting Disclosure
The açaí berry oil was gifted by Mystic Moments.
Sounds lovely! Interesting topic too! I’ve been planning to make oil serum for dry skin – never made one before. xx
I look forward to hearing what you come up with! You always do a beautiful job 🙂
Thank you! I went a bit off and used plain squalane at first (great stuff!) but I felt like decorating it (again, haha) so I made squalane (50 %) based oil serum for dry mature skin. It contains wheatgerm, jojoba, rosehip and seabuckthorn fruit oils. Last two were CO2 extracts but I don’t see why I couldn’t use them like regular cold pressed varieties (fatty acid profiles were quite similar). Instead of bisabolol (or even Q10) I included lots of vit E and calendula extract – I think they’re humble but great. Oil serum has emolliency and summer’y feel that I feel like needing. TY! xx
Hi Marie,
I have a question in regards to the application. I usually use an oil serum underneath my lightweight moisturiser.
Do you think you could use this on its own? I know that strictly speaking you should top with something with an spf but if I am honest I dont really do so apart from in summer.
You can use it on its own, but I would recommend including something that contains water in your skin care routine as well 🙂
Thank you! I sent my question a couple of hours before watching your video on perfect skin and about your skin care routine. Oh my! I am seriously impressed! I thought I was not doing too bad for a mum with 2 little rascals until I watched this 🙂
I made this and ooohlala this stuff just ~glides~ across the skin and oh-so-silky <3 Neossance Hemisqualane is amazing stuff! Thanks for another amazing recipe!! I can see myself keep using this for awhile haha
I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
This looks amazing!
I cant wait to make it.
Would you say this is for younger or older skin?
Dry or oily or combined?
if placing it to finish a routine – would you put it all over or just in certain “problem areas”? and if so – where would you recommend?
Thanks!
Hi Danielle! There’s nothing it here to make it better suited to skin of different ages. I’d say people with drier to average skin would likely enjoy it more than someone with oily skin, but there’s nothing specifically precluding people with oilier complexions from enjoying it—they just might prefer to use less. Use it all over, like a lotion 🙂
Fascinating. I lived in the northern Amazon for 20 years and never heard of or seen açaí oil! I wonder if I infused açaí powder into a carrier oil what the result might be. Any ideas ?