Last week I was watching a makeup tutorial with Adele’s makeup artist, Michael Ashton, and as he was prepping his beautiful model’s skin, he used two products that really intrigued me. One was a fancy-sounding French facial serum; Decleor’s Aromessence Rose D’Orient Soothing Serum. The second was a Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm (which was really a lotion, not a balm, but I digress). Michael raved about both products—the serum for plumping the skin and eliminating redness (the model also says it smells amazing), and the moisture balm for a natural strobing effect thanks to the tiny “gold particles” (gold mica) it contains. Anyhow, intrigued, but certainly not intending to spend upwards of $100 to try the originals, I thought I’d fuse the two ideas into a Rose Gold Facial Serum and see what happened.
The ingredient list for Decleor’s Aromessence Rose D’Orient Soothing Serum is really not all that earth shattering. It’s mostly sweet almond oil and black currant seed oil, plus some corn oil (an odd choice in such a premium product, in my opinion), and sunflower seed oil. To that they added some vitamin E oil, and essential oils of neroli, rose, chamomile, and carrot seed. All that together would result in a relatively light facial oil (the almond oil helping to lighten up the heavier black currant seed oil) that would be rich in gamma-linoleic, alpha-linoleic, and linoleic acid (which are fantastic for troublesome skin). It would also smell fantastic with those beautiful essential oils, and would be great for aging skin thanks to the carrot seed oil.
It took more Googling than it should’ve to find the ingredients for the Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm. The first six are as follows: “Water, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, PEG-4 Diheptanoate, Glycerin, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Pentaerythrityl Tetraethylhexanoate“. Uh… what? The rest of the ingredient list is more of the same, with every fourth or fifth ingredient being a recognizable thing. There are 57 ingredients in this balm, and while there are some lovely plant and essential oils in there, it does appear to be mostly water and pretty foreign sounding ingredients. Some things that stuck out to me were the inclusion of caffeine, Evening Primrose oil, and many of the same essential oils that were in the rose serum… setting us up for a pretty fab hybrid.
I toyed with the idea of making this an emulsified facial serum, but in the end I decided to keep it 100% oil based so we don’t have to worry about preservatives. The base oils are a blend of sweet almond and sunflower, with your choice of linoleic-acid-rich oil to top it off; black currant seed oil, evening primrose oil, or borage oil. I know they’re all a bit odd and/or a bit pricey, so just use whichever you already have. I used evening primrose oil as that’s what I had (and my skin loves it). I also added some vitamin E oil for extra skin healing boosting, and to help extend the shelf life of the blend (especially since oils like Evening Primrose have shorter shelf lives).
To that lovely base we’ve got a calming blend of rose, chamomile, and neroli essential oils. There’s also two optional ones; michelia alba leaf and carrot seed. Carrot seed oil is great for aging skin, but I do find it smells a bit earthy/musty, so while I don’t mind it in the scent department, if you don’t need it (or want to buy it), I’d probably leave it out. The michelia alba leaf is beautifully bright and sweet without being cloying, and I mostly added it to balance the earthiness of the carrot seed essential oil; without one you don’t need the other, though I do love michelia alba leaf in the blend with or without the carrot seed oil.
Look at those lovely shimmery bits!
Now for the rose gold bit. A bit of gold mica brings that gold shimmer; just a touch, though, it’s not overly noticeable. You can use more if you want more gold shimmer, but I’d recommend starting with the amount in the recipe and working up to it. I’ve also included some silica microspheres, which are super cool (they’re in the book!). In this serum they bring two very cool characteristics; they help improve the appearance of the skin by diffusing light around it, giving a sort of soft-focus effect, and they help give the serum a bit of a dry-touch finish. If you haven’t played with silica microspheres yet, you should. Just be sure to wear your dust mask; they are very light and will float around with next to no agitation, and silica in your lungs is associated with some pretty nasty long-term health problems. If you don’t have silica microspheres, sericite mica will give a similar soft-focus effect, but not the dry finish.
That white stuff is the silica microspheres.
So! To recap; we have a lightweight, soothing serum that’ll help troublesome skin, add a hint of brightness to the complexion, and has a beautiful, touchable dry finish to it. I love it, and I think you will, too!
Rose Gold Facial Serum
4g | 0.14oz sweet almond oil
5g | 0.17oz black currant seed oil or evening primrose oil or borage oil
4g | 0.14oz sunflower seed oil
1g | 0.03oz vitamin E oil2 drops rose absolute or rose geranium essential oil
2 drops chamomile essential oil
10 drops 3% neroli essential oil dilution
4 drops michelia alba leaf essential oil (optional)
2 drops carrot seed essential oil (optional)1/16 tsp gold mica
1/16 tsp silica microspheres or sericite micaWeigh the oils out into a small dish, and then count out the essential oils. Stir everything together.
Put on your dust mask. Add the mica and the silica, and blend those in. You’ll probably need to use a flexible silicone spatula to break up clumps and get an even blend.
Use a funnel to transfer everything into a 15mL/half-ounce glass bottle with a dropper top.
To use, shake before use and then spread a few drops of the serum over your skin and let them soak in. Enjoy! Your skin will be left hydrated with a teensy hint of shimmer, but no noticeable sparkle (unless you put on a lot).
Because this serum doesn’t contain any water it doesn’t need a broad spectrum preservative. You should get six months to a year out of it, depending on how fresh your linoleic-rich oil is.
The serum applied straight to my hand—shimmery!
After rubbing it in there’s no noticeable sparkle unless you look closely and move to catch the light.
How well do the particles stay in suspension? Was just thinking about your Argan bronzing oil and you used Shea butter to thicken it up a bit to help the particles stay floating. How doe this one differ?
You’ll have to shake it before use, but that doesn’t really bother me. The silica thickens it enough that the mica will stay in suspension throughout application, but when you go to use it the next day you’ll need to shake it again 🙂
If you didn’t have the gold mica, could you substitute metallic gold eyeshadow like the powdery kind such as Loreal?
You can try, but that’s sort of like substituting chocolate cake for cocoa powder; there’s a lot of other stuff in there, and you aren’t really sure how much of the actual gold mica you’re getting. I anticipate a slightly lesser effect, that that’s just a guess without being familiar with the particular eye shadow you have. Have fun!
You can buy gold mica pretty easily on amazon by the brand Slice of the Moon for $10. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/2blLVKJ
Thanks!
How interesting! I was just looking at that same video last week! While I was looking at a few others they mentioned a “primer” that they used first. Any ideas on how to make one. I think it was on the ones for *mature* makeup. Hint on where I am coming from. Ha!
Hey Melody! Most facial primers I’ve seen have a lot of silicones in them (they feel like lubricant when you touch them—dead giveaway!). The silica in this will help give a nice primed base for applying cosmetics without making a silicone-y one, but in general, a primer is a film that your makeup can sit on so your face and all it’s moving/breathing/etc. doesn’t mess things up 😛 I’m not familiar with any natural film-forming ingredients that’ll do that for hours on end!
I am so excited to try this! I LOVE (!!) making homemade, inexpensive variations of (in my opinion) overly priced store bought products. Mind if I tag you when I make this? (Instagram) Thanks Marie!
Have fun! And yes, always feel free to tag me on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/whatever when sharing your creations 🙂
Hi Mary,
Can it be make without the Mica?
Yup, though you’ll obviously lose the “gold” aspect 😛
I made a body serum similar to this years ago and what drove me nuts was that the mica does not stay suspended at all. You have to keep shaking the bottle to get it to look great so in the end I ended up not selling the product for that reason.
The same thing happens here, but I find a quick shake is more than enough for one application, and it’s no more bothersome than salad dressing 😛
A wee bit of shaking never hurt anyone!
I plan on making this in late fall when it gets wicked dry! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Penny! Happy making 🙂
Will the mica and silica even show if you put face cream and/or makeup on after the serum?
Whether or not you’ll see the mica depends entirely on how much makeup you put on; if you put on 100% full coverage stuff it definitely won’t, but if you’re more of a sheer it out/bb cream person (like me) I quite enjoy the effect and bit of added sparkle 🙂 Under makeup the silica acts more as a primer for cosmetics, so that’s not as much about appearance as performance. Happy making!
This sounds great – and cheap. Do you think this would work with silvery-pink mica? Gold doesn’t suit my skintone much! Thanks!
Of course! You can use any colour of mica you feel will suit your skin tone 🙂 Enjoy!
Lovely recipe!
Would adding silk peptide work in place of silica ?
Thanks
Samantha
Hey Samantha! Because silk peptides are water soluble I would be concerned that they’d feel gritty in this 100% oil based formula. They also don’t work the same way silica does at all, really, so it wouldn’t really be substitution… more like using raisins instead of choc chips in a cookie recipe 🙂
This is exquisite! It leaves my skin glowy not oily. My foundation goes on like a dream afterwards. Thank you for another great recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 Thanks for reading and DIYing with me 🙂
Made this earlier this week. I feel so glamourous on my non full face days. I love everything about it. The smell! Oh the smell is beautiful. Maybe I should say ‘aroma?’
The aroma is beautiful and sticks around a while.
Not too glittery and happy about that. I wanted some shine but not too much.
I had to use the sericite mica but have a feeling you’re going to make me buy those microspheres when your book comes out, so I should maybe order some now? Cause you know Marie, I want that soft focus look.
Yay! I’m so glad you’re loving it 🙂 And yes, you should definitely get some microspheres for the book, and just in general as well—they are incredible! So silky and smooth, soft focus-y, crazy absorbent—they’re easily one of my new favourite ingredients 😀 I’ll release a shopping list for the book soonish (just have to wait to hear from my publisher on when I can start doing stuff like that).
Two years later…. And you were right about those microspheres. I bought them after that post of yours and haven’t stopped using them yet. They’re in every lotion and face cream I make, even your old ‘pre microspheres’ recipes.
Anyway, I loved this recipe so much that I’m making it again today. Some things never get old.
Merry Christmas, Marie!!
Woohoo, I am so thrilled! I cannot get over their lovely slip and amazing dry touch finish—SWOOON. Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me, and Merry Christmas!
Hi Marie! I’m dying to make this and noticed that TKB Trading has a million different gold micas. Since I plan to buy the microspheres from there, is there a particular gold from them that you would recommend? I’m totally lost and if left to my own devices, I’ll end up buying one of each!! I’m pretty fair skinned if that matters at all. ☺️ Thanks for your help!!!
Ooooh, TKB. LOVE. I’d look at their gold basic or the 24 karat; both look pretty close to a straight-up gold like the one I have, though I think the 24 karat would have more sparkle. Make sure you grab some silica microspheres, Magnesium Myristate, and carmine from them as well. Annnd… well, I could spend a fortune there, but I’d also recommend checking out their makeup brushes and squeezy lip gloss tubes!
It’s funny you mention that because I already have the silica microspheres and Carmine in my cart! 🙂 And the 24 karat gold, too, but I wasn’t sure if that was the right gold option. TKB is definitely dangerous! I will definitely look at the Magnesium Myristate and their lip gloss tubes. I feel like TkB will easily become like shopping at NDA! I currently have a $250 cart at NDA I’m just waiting to hit the button and buy it all. 😀 Thanks again Marie! I love your site and all your wonderful help! 🙂
No worries! I could spend a fortune at TKB, and then just today I was going through my ingredient stash and thinking that I definitely have a problem and need to stop buying stuff haha. But… pretty micas… 🙁 The temptation is strong! Happy making 🙂
My rose, chamomile, and neroli oils are all in a jojoba carrier. Is that typical? Should I alter anything?
It’s quite common for pricier oils to be diluted in some jojoba (usually at 20%). Since we’re just adding the oils for scent you’ll usually find you get enough scent with the diluted versions, though you may need more than the recipe calls for to get a level of scent you want; just let your nose be your guide!
I made this without the microspheres and thus far it is my favourite serum! It made my skin look smoother and more even toned. I used up my last and I am making it again, alas…still no microspheres for me.
Yay! I’m so glad you’re loving it 🙂 I hope you’ll get a chance to try it with microspheres at some point, they are lovely 😉
Since horsetail is silica rich, can I add it in powdered form for this serum?
No—sand is also rich is silica, but both are MUCH coarser than the microspheres, which are super smooth and tiny. There’s also a huge gap between “rich” in something and “pure” something in this context—the microspheres are pure and have been refined and shaped for a brilliant feel as well. Using a different powder in this will result in an exfoliating/gritty serum… likely not what you want!
This is exquisite! I followed your recipe exactly.
I was wondering could argan oil substitute for almond oil?
Yup!
Hi Marie, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! Can the silica be replaced by anything else? TIA!
As noted in the post, sericite mica can be used as an alternative 🙂 You could also try boron nitride.
Which chamomile are you using , German or Roman?
German 🙂 You can read it on the label in one of the photos 😉
Hi Marie! Can I sub in some food grade silica gel/liquid instead of the silica microbeads? TIA!
No; the consistency and format of the microspheres is integral, not just the “silica” part 🙂
Hi Marie!!I only have rose chamomile and neroli in 3%jojoba.
Would these wirk in this recipe?
What else could i use?
Yup! Both will work 🙂 You may want to use a few extra drops as the scent won’t be as strong, but I’ll leave that to you and your nose to decide!
Hi Marie! I noticed that you used Rose absolute in this recipe. Do you have any experience with Rose Otto? I’m thinking of investing in some for a Biossance Squalane Vitamin C Rose Oil dupe. Got a sample from Sephora and it is lovely!
I’m afraid not—at $100/5mL it’s much too rich for me!
Hi Marie,
This is such a great recipe. In India the facial oils and serums are way too expensive. Esp the dry oils. I have comedogenic skin. Everything blocks my pores. Silica microspheres and sericite mica will blog my pores?
As with all things skincare, your milage may vary. I have not had any issues with either of these ingredients and have not heard of any from my readers, but I cannot make you any promises 🙂
Hi , I want to try this awesome recipe, but I can’t find silica microspheres in anywhere, So can I instead of with arrow root powder.
Thanks
In this recipe that would be a sort of ok alternative, but you could also just leave them out 🙂
I make this serum and I left silica microspheres out , but it’s oily and if I want to put some before make up , I have to wait time before , any suggestion please about this
Thank you
You left out the ingredient that makes it feel not oily, so my suggestion would be to include it 🙂
Hi Marie, love this recipe. If I wanted to make a bigger batch so I can give to friends, can I just multiply all the ingredients up x 4?
I’ve got a post on exactly this 🙂