Luxurious Natural Face Moisturizer with Rose and Argan Oil

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Today I’m showing you how to make my Rose and Argon oil face cream which is a very luxurious take on my popular diy face cream. Rose and Argon oil are 2 of my favorite oils to use in a natural face moisturizer recipe; here’s why.

The wonderful scent of freshly cut Roses is enough to put a smile on any ones face, so imagine how it feels to apply a super age defiance lotion (also thanks to the Argon oil) that smells exactly like freshly cut roses, tinged with a mild scent of African Shea butter it’s going to make you feel great.

Luxurious natural face moisturizer with rose and argan oil

What’s going in, and why?

All of the chosen ingredients here should make this recipe one of the best you’ve ever tried! So let’s take a look at what we’ll be putting into this face moisturizer, shall we?

  • Ok so Rose Essential Oil is very extravagant and expensive to buy, so let’s do the math. Plant Therapy are selling Rose Otto for around $99 for 2.50mls. This will give you around 50 drops which is enough to make five pots of this lotion, which just happens to be double the size of a face moisturizer you’d normally purchase in the store.
  • However, if you can’t afford the $99 price tag go for the
  • Rose Absolute which I can also highly recommend at about $22 for the same amount of oil. Whether you go for the Otto Rose or Rose absolute here’s what you are going to get; A beautiful smelling oil that calms and soothes the mind, is great for dry and chapped skin, fights the signs of aging by rejuvenating the skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. Did I forget to mention it’s also a well-known aphrodisiac? These are just a few of the reasons why we call Rose essential oil the Queen of all essential oils.
  • So why the Argan Oil? This oil conditions and nourishes the skin leaving a healthy youthful glow. It’s another age-fighting oil that encourages new collagen growth and helps to smooth out wrinkles. Argan oil is suitable for any skin types, even those that are prone to break outs of pimples.
  • Olive Squalane I wanted this lotion to have a smooth silky feeling that glides across the skin similar to the feeling you get from chemical silicone’s that you find in commercial lotions, and although I’m not against using silicones, this lotion is one I use on a regular basis so I wanted something more natural.
  • Although Olive squalane has a slightly more oilier feel about it than silicones, it absorbs totally into your skin dragging with it any essential oils that have been added. I could babble on for ages about this oil being good for things like plumping out mature, helping with aging skin and fighting the signs of wrinkles, but I think the nickname people give it ‘A face lift in a bottle’ sums it up pretty well. In other words, it’s a perfect ingredient for this face moisturizer.
  • Beautifully moisturizing Shea Butter has to be the first choice when producing a good all round moisturizing lotion. Rich in vitamins A and C and bursting with cinnamic acid. Shea butter will not only soften the skin but will help protect it from every day dirt and grime by forming a breathable layer across the skin.
  • It’s no secret that Vitamin E has great healing properties and its a must for anyone suffering with dry or irritated skin. It’s extremely good at preservation and is known to encourage the production of the skins natural collagen. Vitamin E also has a slightly whitening effect that will help to combat those dark circles, age spots and scars.
  • Cetyl alcohol and Emulsifying Wax NF (National Formulary) which basically means it’s been nationally deemed safe to use. Emulsifying NF it’s one of the easiest emulsifying waxes to use in lotion making and is added to stop the oils and water from separating. I’m often asked if this can be substituted with beeswax and the answer is always no. Cetyl alcohol helps brings a thick and creamy texture to the lotion, it has good conditioning qualities and stops the lotion from feeling to.
  • Now the controversial bit, Preservative. It’s totally down to you whether you decide to add this or not, but if you do decide not to add preservative you are looking at shelf life of around 1 week and the lotion will need to be kept in the fridge. Personally, I’d rather add a small amount of the preservative which will keep my lotion safe and bacteria free with a shelf life of one year. For more information on which one and how much is safe to use visit our using a preservative page.
Ingredients for a luxurious natural face moisturizer with rose and argan oil

Ingredients

Method

Step 1 In a heatproof container weigh out and mix together all the water part ingredients, to include your distilled water and glycerine

To begin making this natural face moisturizer mix together the ingredients for your water parts

Step 2 In a separate heatproof container, weigh out and mix together all the oil part ingredients, to include the olive squalane, emulsifying wax, cetyl alcohol, liquid oils (Argon oil) and the cosmetic butter (shea butter). Do not include your essential oil or vitamin e at this time.

Mix together your oil parts, starting with your olive squalane
Mix together your oil parts, starting with your olive squalane
Add your vitamin E oil
Add your vitamin E oil
Add your argan oil
Add your argan oil
your emulsifying wax
Add your emulsifying wax
add your Cetyl Alcohol
Add your Cetyl Alcohol

Step 3 Stand both containers in a pan of water, I find a wide shallow pot perfect for this.

Using a shallow pot or pan, pop both water and oil parts on to melt

Step 4 Gently heat the water until simmering. Continue to simmer until all the oils and waxes have melted and the water and glycerine have heated through. This can take around 20mins.

Step 5 Once the oils have melted and the water heated through, remove from the heat and add the water to the oils. Using a mini blender or a spoon begin to blend the water and oils together.

Once everything has melted, remove from the heat.
Once everything has melted, remove from the heat.
Pour your water part into your oil part
Pour your water part into your oil part

Work on a ratio of blend for 1 minute, stand for 3 minutes and so on, until the cream feels cool and has thickened. The mini blender can sometimes Cause the cream to foam so try to keep the blender low whilst blending.

Using a mini stick blender, blend the mixture until thickened
Using a mini stick blender, blend the mixture until thickened

Step 6 Once the cream has thickened and has cooled to just above room temperature, add the Rose essential oil and the preservative (if using). (See tips on adding small quantities)

Add your rose essential oil
Add your rose essential oil
Add your preservative using a pipette
Add your preservative using a pipette

The rose absolute will change the color of your cream. It should go from pure white to a lovely ivory. You can use the mini stick blender again to make sure the essential oil and preservative are fully infused into the cream.

Before you add the essential oil, the cream should be pure white
Before you add the essential oil, the cream should be pure white
Once the rose essential oil has been added, your natural face cream should turn a lovely ivory color
Once the rose essential oil has been added, your cream should turn a lovely ivory color

Step 7 Spoon the cream into a glass or plastic PET jar with a screw-top lid. Don’t forget to label it or you may forget when you made it or what it is.

Final Thoughts

I really haven’t come across any other recipe that makes such good use of the rose essential oil (absolute or otherwise). It’s really one of my favorite essential oils, so getting the recipe right is important for this expensive and luxurious ingredient. The argan oil is equally as extravagant because sometimes you just need to treat yourself and your skin.

But if you think about it, we’re making this ourselves. Can you imagine how expensive this would be if you were to pick a similar formula up at the local drug store? It would set you back hundreds of dollars, and I’m not exaggerating at all. Products like these are ordinarily for the rich and the famous. By making this yourself, you can have a little piece of the A-list lifestyle in your very own home, just for you.

9 Of The Best DIY Face Cream Recipes

Did you know that natural homemade face cream is often better for your skin, or that it’s actually very simple to make at home, and comes at a fraction of the price? Here I start by showing you a basic anti-aging cream for mature skin, then 8 more excellent face cream recipes, I loved them all!

Discussion (23 Comments)

  1. I made the rose and argan oil face cream on Sunday I didn’t have olive Squalene so used fractionated coconut oil the cream is so soft and silky my skin feels amazing.
    I have done your face creams and serums course and learnt so much are you planning on developing any other courses,

    Reply
  2. Hi! I can’t get my mixture to thicken up. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it

    Dawna
    San Diego, CA

    Reply
    • Hi Dawna,

      There are a few things that could have happened here, but the most common is the quality of the e-wax. However this recipe isn’t supposed to be extra thick, so it could be that you’re just not used to this consistency. I would increase the e-wax by a few grams to thicken it up, providing you are using a good quality e-wax like NF.

      Reply
    • Hi Deborah,

      I would swap it for anything that works well for your skin. It does not matter too much which oil you pick for this recipe.

      Reply
    • Hi Gina,

      Each ingredient in my list of supplies should be linked to an area on the blog that gives you all the info you’ll need on where to buy them.

      Hope this helps!

      Reply
  3. Dear Angela
    Hope your well. I like what your doing with the site and keeping everything natural. I would like to ask! I have a hyperpigmented skin and it’s a bit dry. I would like you to recommend for me a homemade recipe for skin using oils.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Hi Vanitah,

      Thanks for your email, I love to hear that everyone is enjoying my recipes and content. As for a recipe for dry skin with hyperpigmentation, take a look at this post above, although I would definitely recommend a few substitutions to get the best results for your skin. You can use the same quantity of your substitutions as you would the original ingredients in my recipe.

      Argan oil is great but I would recommend Evening Primrose Oil which should help tone your skin and reduce the noticeable signs of hyperpigmentation. It’s also amazing for dry skin and sinks in super quickly (so no greasiness at all!).

      As for the essential oils, perhaps try substituting the Rose EO for Carrot Seed EO. It doesn’t have the most exciting of aromas, but it’s by far the best essential oil for hyperpigmentation. If you want to make it smell a bit better, you could try splitting the 10 drops (6/4 drops or 7/3 drops) across Carrot Seed and another essential oil such as Lemon, which is great at lifting dark spots. Although be careful using Lemon EO in a day cream, as you really don’t want to spend any amount of time in the sun while it’s on your skin. So if using Lemon, use it as a night cream and use no more than 3 drops (as it can be drying). Frankincense would be a good choice as well and less of an issue with the sun, but it’s much less sweet-smelling (more spicy and aromatic).

      So, in sum, I’d definitely whip up a facial moisturiser with the Evening Primrose carrier oil and the Carrot Seed EO (or a combination of Carrot Seed and Lemon/Frankincense). You could also make up a nice whipped body butter using these ingredients alongside some gorgeous Shea butter for intense hydration. You can read more about body butters here if you haven’t seen my post on them yet.

      Let me know how you get on. When you’re using your products, try to remember that it takes about 28 days for your skin to renew itself, and because of how skin cells form it can take this amount of time to fully see the results of your skincare formulations. So if you don’t immediately see results, don’t get disheartened. Just keep going because you’re on track to gorgeous skin that you can fall in love with again!

      Hope this helps and good luck!

      Reply
  4. Hello! Is there any way to use more E-Wax instead of using cetyl alcohol? I have everything but the cetyl. The E-Wax I have is the Soft & Silky one.
    Thanks for your help!

    Reply
    • I wouldn’t up the amount of emulsifying wax, it’ll only make the finished product feel a bit waxy. The cetyl alcohol helps with thickening while also retaining a creamier consistency. I would experiment with adding a hard cosmetic butter, such as cocoa butter or shea butter instead of the cetyl alcohol. You’ll get much better results.

      Reply
    • Hi Mimi,

      Yes, you absolutely can substitute the distilled water for rose floral water (hydrosol). However, if you’re planning to substitute the essential oil, I’d have a look at our Essential Oil Use Chart to find a good alternative. While floral waters are great, the essential oils have stronger active properties. But I do agree that Rose essential oil is a bit expensive. I often use Rose Absolute, which is much cheaper almost as good. Frankincense, Ylang Ylang and Rosewood are also excellent substitutes that are more reasonably priced.

      I hope this helps and good luck making your cream!

      Reply
    • Miriam,

      Ta da!!!!!!! This is the THIRD time I have made the rose and argan oil cream and FINALLY it works!! I discovered the stick blender was one of my problems…I just used my whisk instead (gives the arms a workout but hey they need it!). I trickle the water in slowly and just keep whisking (reminds me of when I make cream of rice cereal). Also, I used a different brand of olive emulsifying wax and it was a nightmare! If I had read the reviews on it I wouldn’t have bought it so now don’t know what I will do with it. Well, try the whisk and I hope it works for you!!! The cream smells sooooo awesome!

      April

      Reply

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