DIY Glow Serum (2024)

This DIY Glow Serum recipe teaches you how to make your own face oil! This luxe blend features some of the best essential oils for skin and is so simple to make!

Today we’re making our own luxe face oil with this DIY Glow Serum!

So many skin supporting essential oils (EOs) are teaming up in this simple blend that can be used morning and night. They’re the real superstars of this oil and the hero ingredients in many of my fave luxe skincare products.

We’re using 4 essential oils in this recipe but you could easily make a glow serum using just one essential oil from the list.

This DIY Glow Serum uses essential oils known for their skin support benefits, including:

• Lavender - calming & healing for all skin types, promotes clear skin, gently moisturizing
• Frankincense - I use it for fine lines, great for all skin types especially mature/ aging skin
• Geranium - potent powerhouse, great for oily or dry skin, promotes smooth & toned skin
• Blue Tansy - the darling of luxe skincare, promotes radiant skin & is very balancing

Some helpful tips for preventing skin sensitivity

That being said, if you're new to essential oils or think you may have sensitive skin - you may want to choose just one of the essential oils on the list above and create a single-oil formula to see how your skin responds to each ingredient.

The same goes for a carrier oil, choose just one and see how your skin responds. This approach makes it much easier to pin point if the sensitivity you're experiencing is coming from just one oil or from the concentration you used in general.

What concentration of essential oils should I use for a face oil?

When I created this recipe I saw that a concentration of 1-3% essential oils for topical skincare is fairly typical. The rough breakdown I use for 1 ounce to stay within the 1%, 2%, and 3% zone is a total of anywhere between 9-27 drops.

That being said essential oils use (like food or anything else!) is very individual. You’ll see I listed in the recipe card that you can choose from a range of drops of each essential oil depending on your preference & comfort. Feel free to reduce the drops to the lower end if you’d like to have your serum stay at or below the 1% concentration.

Speaking of dilution & the concentration - I often see people sharing recipes online with much much higher concentrations. Aside from causing you to waste unnecessary amounts of your oils, the biggest concern I have when I see that is... holy skin sensitivity!

Since essential oils are very concentrated, a little goes a long way. Especially when paired with a carrier oil.

What carrier oils are best to use with my essential oils?

Use a quality carrier oil to dilute your essential oils for topical use - preferably organic, cold-pressed, unrefined oils. Think of carrier oils as a way to help your EOs absorb better into your skin. A good carrier oil maximizes your essential oil’s potential benefits and dilutes them to a non-irritating concentration.

This recipe uses jojoba oil - which is a very face friendly oil that absorbs fairly quickly. Making it easy to apply and wear under makeup. You can use it alone or wear it with another moisturizer if you have very dry skin or are experiencing dry conditions where you live.

Jojoba oil is considered a non-comedogenic oil - meaning it won’t clog your pores the way that a comedogenic oil (like coconut oil) might when applied to the face. A good general rule I use is to only use fractionated coconut oil to body products, and use jojoba for the face.

Here’s a few other face friendly carrier oils you could use with or instead of jojoba oil:

• Argan oil = my recommendation for anyone with oily or breakout prone skin, absorbs very fast, lightweight, non-comedogenic, and rich in Vitamin E
• Rosehip Oil = my personal favorite, I tend to do half jojoba oil and half rosehip seed oil in my homemade face serums since it’s rich in omegas + antioxidants, very restorative
• Pomegranate Seed Oil = my choice for dry, aging or mature skin, rich in fatty acids, moisturizing, you can blend this with jojoba and/or rosehip for a rich does-it-all blend. Pomegranate Seed Oil is much thicker than jojoba, argan, or rosehip oils. So I don't recommend using it alone. You can add a few droppers full of it to your bottle. I personally love this ingredient but wouldn't use it as more than ¼ or ⅓ of your total carrier oil volume.

Where can I get quality carrier oils & the dropper bottles?

I got my jojoba oil and these 1 oz bottles from amazon! Check your local health food store’s beauty and personal care section too. They very often carry carrier oils.

Make sure you’re getting a quality carrier oil to pair with your pure EOs - for jojoba oil look for organic, cold-pressed, unrefined, and it’s natural golden color. If the jojoba oil is clear - keep looking!

Be sure to use pure essential oils with no added ingredients

Some "pure essential oils" are diluted with things like coconut oil, which is not very face friendly. Or contain the kind of preservatives or synthetic fragrances that you may not be happy to have on your skin every day.

So it's definitely worth looking into the sourcing practices of the brand you choose.

Since I know many people are drawn to DIY to have more control over the ingredients they're using, double check to make sure the ones you're using don't contain any fillers or added synthetic chemicals in their oils.

***These products and information are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Anyone suffering from disease or injury should consult with a physician. If you are currently on medication, please do not stop.

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