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!

How to Make Açaí & Jojoba Facial Oil Serum

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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.

Save 8% on açaí berry oil and everything else at Mystic Moments with coupon code HUMBLEBEE

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.