The amount of money some shop-bought natural skincare products sell for never ceases to amaze me. You’d think I’d be used to seeing price tags north of $150 for a few tablespoons of something, but I’m not. I’m perpetually astonished to find a blend of oils or a simple lotion enriched with a few posh sounding ingredients can sell for more money than many people make in a day, but I’m also still surprised when I receive an email I literally sent myself seconds earlier, so perhaps I’m just easily surprised/have a rather flighty short-term memory. Anywho, all that is to say that this Luxury Facial Serum is inspired by Rodin Olio Lusso Luxury Face Oil, which sells for a whopping $170/30mL (1 fl oz). This one features most of the same ingredients, and costs far less than 1/10th of that. BAM.
Rodin’s version is a blend of relatively nice, but not overly carrier pricey oils (the most expensive being argan oil (USA / Canada), which is about $13/100mL), infused with calendula and arnica, and accented with jasmine and neroli essential oils. Granted, those essential oils are pretty pricey (both are roughly $60/5mL), but as essential oils they constitute a very small percentage of the overall blend.
The carrier oils can be divided into sweet almond, sunflower, and apricot kernel (which are all fairly inexpensive) and argan, evening primrose, rosehip, and jojoba (which are more expensive, though still fairly affordable). I’ve pared the list down a bit, from seven oils to six, and thrown in some alternatives as well if you want to mix things up.
I’ve used two of the inexpensive oils as the infusion oils. Whenever you infuse herbs in oil you lose some of the oils to the herbs, which absorb it, so I figured it was best to infuse the less expensive oils. Once that infusion is done, all that’s left is to measure everything into a bottle, cap, shake, and voila!
When it came to determining a blend of the oils I used more evening primrose oil than any other single oil as I’m in love with evening primrose oil for its incredible skin benefits thanks to its linoleic and gamma linoleic acid content (sunflower oil is also rich in linoleic acid). From there I went with equal amounts of everything else to keep things simple. In my version I used pomegranate oil instead of rosehip oil as I’m loving pomegranate oil in my Prim Pom Summer Facial Serum, but if you prefer rosehip oil that’s also an awesome choice.
Luxury Facial Serum
15g | 0.54oz sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)
15g | 0.54oz sunflower seed oil (USA / Canada / UK / NZ)
1 tsp calendula petals
1 tsp arnica flowers5g | 0.17oz argan oil (USA / Canada)
10g | 0.35oz evening primrose oil
5g | 0.17oz jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz pomegranate oil or rosehip oil or apricot kernel oil (USA / Canada)
5 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)5 drops 3% neroli essential oil
2 drops rose or jasmine essential oilWeigh the sweet almond oil and sunflower seed oil (USA / Canada / UK / NZ) out into a small heat resistant glass measuring cup. Next up, measure the calendula petals and arnica flowers out into a paper tea filter. Place the tea bag of herbs in the oils, press to submerge, cover, and leave to infuse for 24 hours.
Once the oils have infused, grab a 30mL/1 fl oz bottle, your scale, and a small funnel. Weigh 10g (0.35oz) of the infused herb oil into the bottle, and top off with all the other oils and the essential oils. Cap the bottle and shake to combine. Label and you’re ready to rock and roll.
That’s it! To use, smooth a few drops over your face after washing. Enjoy 🙂
Don’t have some of the oils or butters called for in this recipe? Read this for information on how to make good substitutions. I wouldn’t really recommend going nuts with substitutions in this recipe as this recipe is all about this particular blend of oils so I can’t really say if your final product will be terribly comparable if you make a bunch of swaps.
Remember that this recipe is by WEIGHT! Do not use fluid ounces; I’ll always denote fluid ounces as such (fl oz). “Oz” = use a scale 🙂
Wondering why arnica oil in a facial serum!?
The original likely includes it for its anti-inflammatory properties, as one would hope facial bruising isn’t a problem too many people have constantly! The arnica here is diluted more than enough to not be any sort of an irritation risk (I wouldn’t make a giant salad out if it if you find it growing, though).
This is terrific. I hope you bust out a dupe for Rodin’s Hair Oil too! https://www.amazon.com/rodin-860550000048-Rodin-Hair-Oil/dp/B0047991KK/ref=pd_bxgy_194_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PHF992J7HKGEW5659P59
That Rodin’s hair oil is crazy … Cannot believe they are charging $70 for 1fl oz. Or that they’re claiming it’s “luxury” – there’s not anything super expensive obviously in there.
I know! It’s incredible!
Oooh, good idea! It’s on the list 😉
Thank you for the tip of using the less expensive oils for the infusion oil.
In your experience do you think it’s best to infuse oils with herbs or use extracts?
Today I learned about the skin benefits of using licorice root extract. It works great for lightening the skin and for deep scars. I just ordered some today. But then just a little while ago I read that alcohol is bad for the skin. Extracts are made with alcohol.
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I thought for sure you were British because you use grams, then I watched one of your videos. 🙂 What state are you in? I’m just curious if you don’t mind sharing.
Hey LizS! My main concern with a project like this is solubility; alcohol extracts aren’t going to be oil soluble, so you’d need to include an emulsifier as well, which further complicates things. Infusions need no such fussing 🙂 Alcohol isn’t necessarily bad for the skin, but too much can be drying, so it should be used in moderation, or in situations where drying is desired (like acne spot treatments).
Thanks for watching my videos! I’m neither British nor American—I’m Canadian! I live in Calgary, Alberta.
Good grief. I, as a woman, highly value my facial skin. I don’t want wrinkles or age spots or large pores or or or…
I desire smooth, luminous, invisible, rosy and dewy skin like all my sister’s of this planet.
But never in my life would I consider for a nanosecond a serum costing $170.
So Marie, thank you. This beautiful site of yours took me from plain jojoba to wildly exotic oils and essential oils to play with. And after one full year, I see RESULTS. I do. You’ve educated me and many others. You’ve encouraged us, thru your endearing personality (and hilarious face mask pictures) and tireless concocting and homework, to get involved.
Don’t ever stop! I need you so I can grow old gracefully!
Oh ya! You also taught me the dreaded metric system. Not even my 6th grade teacher could do that. Frankly, I didn’t care one wit to learn.
Until recently, you gave us no choice with all those gm’s and mil’s and such. Tough love, that’s how you did it
Huzzah! This might be my largest point of pride haha 😛
Aww, thank you so much Cristie 😀 I’m so glad my assorted dabblings and ramblings are proving helpful (and fun!) for you 😀 Thanks so much for your support, it is hugely appreciated 🙂
Wow! This sounds AMAZING! Guess it’s back to ordering MORE supplies! (A great problem to have) 🙂 THANKS!!!!
Happy making! 😀
This sounds like it would be nice; I have all the ingredients needed to make this and don’t have to order a thing! Guess what I’m doing tomorrow? Thank you Marie!
Woohoo! Happy making 😀
Great recipe!
Just wondering what if I already have arnica and calendula oil, how would u suggest to modify / adjust the recipe?
Thanks
Samantha
Hey Samantha! What are the arnica and calendula infused in?
I have the same question as Samantha. My calendula and arnica are infused in olive oil. I actually just took a guess and made this with 2g each and 6gm total of the sweet almond and sunflower oils. The end result is a bit greasy from the olive oils but it does absorb…just slower. I noticed an immediate (perceived) improvement in my skin tone and softness. I wonder if the arnica may be healing those red capillaries around my nose. I think it is!
That’s awesome, Gena! And that sounds like a great swap/substitute 🙂 I hope this serum is continuing to do great things for your skin!
This is LOVELY. I used rosehip oil because I had it, and since I didn’t have neroli I used 4 drops of jasmine and 2 drops of sandalwood, and now I keep smoothing my hands over my face and sniffing deeply.
It feels super soft and light and not at all greasy, even lighter than just argan oil. I’ve been using your gentle argan silk serum in the mornings during the summer, but since I started using your black soap cleansing balm my skin feels a little dry, so this is perfect so far.
Also, I may have mis-measured, but this filled up my one-ounce bottle plus about a quarter of another. More to love!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you like it 😀 How odd that it over-filled your bottle, though! I’ve found that 20g of oil fills a 15mL bottle, and this recipe is 35g, so it should easily fit into a 30mL bottle. Did you measure by weight? Though if you measured by volume you’d have come up short. Strange!
For the infused oil, you say to use a heat resistant glass container but we do we ever heat the oil? Thanks!
You don’t, but I just love those heat resistant Pyrex glass measuring cups and use them for everything 🙂
I have made this serum, and I also got more than 30 ml of product. It came to just slightly over 50 ml or about 2 oz of serum.
And it actually comes to 55 grams of oils if I am calculating correctly
Later: Ok. I just realized that I have used full amount of infused oils which is 30g instead of 10g. Hence why I ended up with more tincture.
That would explain it 🙂
Hi Marie,
I was just wondering can I use camelia oil instead of sunflower oil? Or if you cn suggest something more suitable. Because my skin behaves strangely these days and it’s mostly dry with even drier patches (and it is not even cold yet)….
Have a nice day 😉
P.s. I live in Europe and I won’t complain about metric system. I don’t understand imperial one 😉
You can, but you’ll lose out on some of the linoleic acid content, and end up with a slightly lighter product, as camellia seed oil is much lighter than sunflower oil. If you skin is really dry I’d probably stick with sunflower over camellia seed oil, but either will work 🙂 Happy making!
Marie I don’t have arnica flowers or neroli oil..I have rose ,lavender, Elderflower,yarrow,and hibiscus…not sure you can even use hibiscus or yarrow on skin…I have yellow rose and red rose.i don’t really guess the color matters ,does it…a rose is a rose , right? LoL. An what to sub for neroli oil..I have never bought it yet! I really want to make this,you know my skin has changed so much since I found you ..it is wonderful how it feels and it’s hydrated and smooth…I tried a store bought cream the other day and it actually made my skin feel like it was burning!!! I said I’ll never do that again..lol i appreciate you little lady!!
I’d probably chose a blend of dried roses, lavender, and yarrow, and just use some EOs you like 🙂 Thank you so much for reading and DIYing with me, I’m so glad to hear your skin has improved so much! 🙂
I am looking for a serum, or a balm for my under eye area. I have found some, but I need sth that moisturizing balm/serum that can also help with the puffiness or purple color my bags. Do you have a recipe for that? I know you dont have much of a problem but, couldnt find sth that would make my undereyes happy ☺️
I’ve got this recipe, but you might also continue supplementing with something like this 🙂
How long is the shelf life?
Please review the FAQ article on this 🙂
Thank you so much for all you do! Some how you make it all sound so easy. I have been using hemp seed oil in most formula. Do you think it would work in this recipe? Thanks again.
Thanks for reading! You could use hemp seed oil in place of the jojoba and/or pomegranate oil; just do be aware that its short shelf life will shorten the shelf life of this serum as well, so don’t make too much 🙂
The recipe for the infused oil looks like it will yield enough for 3 bottles as you later say only use 10g so my question is, does the leftover infused oil have an expiry? and does the final serum have an expiry?
Hello Tracy!
The left over infused oils can last a long time stored in a cool and dark place. Just remember to give them a smell before you use them to ensure they haven’t gone rancid. Almond oil and sunflower oil are both pretty cheap, I would toss them or add them into soap!
Hi Marie! I seem to have all the oils required for the recipe except sweet almond oil. Is it okay if I use only sunflower oil to infuse the flowers?
Yup!
Very good choice for the oleato ( infused oils).not because of cheap ,is about linoleic linolenic acid content.that fatty acids extract more actives from plants,of couse there are exeptions,but is a common rule in fitocosmetics.
Hi Maria, sorry if I’m asking this question and you have already answered it but is this good for all skin types including bad acne prone skin like mine?