Yes, really. Me. Not Cindy or Helena (well probably them too but I can't say for certain).
In my 20's and 30's and ever since I started using skincare, I have avoided oil like the plague.
I have oily skin and searched for the magic words "oil free" on everything - cleansers, moisturisers, toners, treatments, foundations, bronzers, blushers, just EVERY PRODUCT I USED.
I couldn't see what the point was of putting oil on my already oily skin. Why would I?
As a result, my skin got dehydrated, only I didn't know it.
It was CRYING OUT for moisture, and to compensate, my skin created more oil to make up for the topically drying ingredients I was using and got EVEN OILIER. So all the products I used - the whole Clinique 3-step program, the Erno Laszlo soap, the Clarins astringent, the Estee Lauder foundation, the bloody everything.
My pores became more visible. I was noticeably parched in areas of my face but wanted to avoid shine so much I stuck to my oil-free moisturisers.
Then I discovered face oil.
At first it was to cleanse my face with - I had ditched chemicals in my beauty routine and found it hard to take off every last drop of makeup so I tried using Jojoba oil as a cleanser. It was lovely, I massaged it in, rinsed and then cleansed again (with my usual foaming cleanser). The jojoba took off my eye makeup without pulling skin and I sometimes still use jojoba as my first cleanse today! It's a little goopy around the eyelashes though so I do recommend a proper oil-cleanser these days.
After my first oil product, I migrated to using a gel cleanser, rather than foaming. And finally I went onto using face oil. At first it was just a rosehip oil at night, or a jojoba oil at night. I still didn't dare use them in the morning. This went on for 9 years. My skin slowly improved and looked more even-toned. I tried loads of different face oils but still hadn't found the perfect one I could use morning AND night and wear under makeup.
I knew we had to create the ULTIMATE face oil. When I first started using Recreation's Vibrant Skin face oil in the year of testing we did before the product launch, I noticed so many improvements in my skin, it sounds silly listing them! But seriously, my pores shrunk, my fine lines disappeared, my skin texture improved DRAMATICALLY, the little bumps under my skin vanished, my pigmentation faded into an acceptable colour. All this, from one face oil?
It all came from me vanquishing my fear of oils and replacing it with a LOVE of oils. Because my skin was getting enough oil on top, it stopped producing so much of the stuff. It got less oily, not more. All the amazing ingredients in VIBRANT SKIN have made it calmer, smoother, tighter, plumper, more bouncy. In short, I have better skin now than I did in my 30's. No bull.
And if you've got dry skin? Don't worry, we tested this oil with 30 people of differing ethnic backgrounds and skin types and they all reported increased hydration, a decrease in fine lines and flaky skin and more plump, glowy skin. That's a 100% success rate from our test group.
Have you embraced oils and do you have an oil story to share? Love to hear in the comments.
P.S. Don't you think Cindy and Helena enjoy oils for that glowy 40 something skin? You betcha.