Thursday 3 February 2011

Difference between a Serum/facial oil and Moisturizer

As a NYR Organic independent consultant, I am often asked the questions what are the difference between a facial serum/oil and moisturizer, and why we advise you to use both.

To avoid giving my host and her guests a load of scientific jargon, I always explain in simple everyday terms.

" would you go out in a dress without your underwear on? " the answer is always no with some laughs.

I than ask them to imagine the serum or oil ( depending on your skin type or what you want out of it you would use one or the other ), as the underwear and the moisturizer as the dress. They compliment each other as the serum or oil penetrates the skin deeper than a moisturizer does and so giving you extra benefits and protection, again depending on which serum/oil you use with the moisturizer you chosen for your skin type.

For those who would like to know the science behind this - the difference is:

A serum or oil has smaller molecules than a moisturizer has which means it can penetrate into the epidermis and dermis layers of the skin providing it with extra nutrients, moisture and other benefits depending on which serum or oil you have chosen ( for instance anti- aging ).

The difference between a serum and oil is :
Serum is a thick liquid concentrate, made out of extractions of natural ingredients. They are water based which makes them lightweight and absorbed quickly into the skin. It’s quick absorbing formulation helps the ingredients to be delivered deeply through the skin’s pores for maximum active potency.
A facial oil is a concentration of pure oil extracted from plants and herbs and are ideally used to provide nourishment for combination to dry, rosacea, mature, fragile skin types. It’s botanical concentration means it is rich in vitamins, essential oils and antioxidants.

But won't a facial oil make my skin look greasy? I am always asked this question too and so I always use the facial oil to demonstrate at parties or pamper evenings. It is often assumed that because it is only most people associate it as being greasy like cooking oil or car oil. On the contray it is quite the opposite, and the skin readily drinks the oil into the deeper layers, leaving your skin grease free with a lovely soft feeling and glow.

So why than use a moisturiser?
Well you have only put your underwear on remember!  The moisturizer ( the dress ) complements the oil/serum by giving you extra nourishment on the outside of your skin, and protecting it from the environmental damage and maintain the moisture balance within the skin.

I hope you have found this article helpful and welcome any comments.

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5 comments:

  1. I am 25 with normal to combination acne prone skin. Should I be using an oil or a serum?

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  2. Hi Alex,

    You can use either, depending on the type of oil as not all oil will be suited for acne prone skin. Plant based ones are the best as the help balance and calm your skin. For instance Tea Tree Oil is very well known for acne prone skin. What you do want to look out for is makeup with oil based indegients in as this will clog your skin and make it worse, water based will be much better. I would be careful on using strong harsh products for acne too as they can have the opposite effect and dry the skin out too much which than makes your sebum gland which produces oil into overload. Hope this helps. :-)

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  3. After cleansing and toning using charcoal detox and blue green algae from Michael Todd I use la roche-posay effaclar duo acne treatment in the morning and nude skincare pro genius oil at night. I have tiny bumps on my forehead that sometimes come to head, but mostly stay under the skin, this is what I am trying to get rid of. I stopped using benefit's porefessional primer because it has silica in it that I think gave me the bumps in the first place.

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  4. Alex, products with natural ingridents like charcoal, algaes, clay etc will be so good for your skin and glad your using some good products. It can take up to 4 weeks for any product to make a really good difference on your skin as this is how long your skin takes to shred its skin cells. You were right in to stop using a product that was causing you have these break outs. How long have you been using Michael Todd? Would you be happy to do a guest review on those products on my blog? I would love to hear more about them as I love products with algae in them. I use Biotherm's Blue Therapy Serum and Eye Cream with also has A.flos-aquae aka Blue/Green algae in and also L.ochroleuca aka Golden Algae.
    Check out the Mascara by Wild About Beauty - that too has an algae that helps promote lash growth and strength ( have also got a post on here about it ).

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  5. I have not been using Michael Todd for very long, about 20 days. I would be glad to give you a review, but I think I need more time to test the products out. Do you know if any of the products I mentioned above would be causing those tiny bumps on my forehead? I have never had anything like them and I want them gone! Do you think it is a good idea to cut out all of my skin care routine to kind of wipe out my system? Obviously I would wash my face morning and night, but maybe that would be it?

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