12 Best Essential Oils for Beauty and Skincare

Thanks to this guide to the best essential oils for beauty and skincare, you will learn the endless uses and benefits of adding essential oils to your everyday routine. Whether you’re making your own natural beauty products or switching to homemade skincare, these are the essential oils you need.

amber essential oils with natural sponges

Why Use Essential Oils for Beauty and Skin Care? 

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Although store-bought skincare claims to do wonders for your skin, many products are filled with artificial fragrances, preservatives, and toxins that are absorbed during each use.  By switching to DIY beauty and skincare not only do you know exactly what’s going into your skin, but you can enjoy the numerous benefits.

Essential oils are used in these DIY skincare recipes as they help with fine lines, even out skin tone, improve clarity, brighten skin, give a youthful appearance, and even help fight occasional blemishes. Once you learn the best essential oils for beauty and skincare, you’ll not only save money on expensive store-bought products, but your skin will thank you also.  

You can shop for the best essential oils for beauty and skincare here.

The Best Essential Oils for Beauty and Skin care

1. Aroma Life

Aroma Life is a blend of cypress, marjoram, ylang ylang, and helichrysum essential oils with sesame seed oil. It has an herbaceous aroma. It’s great for rejuvenating the skin, helping with uneven skin tone and texture, and smoothing fine lines. It’s great for using in a facial serum for glowing skin. You could even just add a few drops of Aroma Life to your moisturizer and massage into the skin.

It is the perfect essential oil to be added to this DIY body wash to awaken the senses and your skin in your morning shower. It is also a powerful scent for homemade perfume and works particularly well when blended with Frankincense, Jasmine or Myrrh

2. Blue Tansy

Blue Tansy is part of the chamomile family which means it possesses similar soothing benefits for redness and dry skin. It is one of the best essential oils for beauty and skincare as it’s ideal for sensitive skin. Add a few drops to a facial serum or your daily moisturizer. Just note that it’s bluish hue can color the skin. Just a couple of drops per application is plenty. If you apply too much, use a carrier oil like almond, sesame seed, rosehip, or avocado oil to dilute it.

Thanks to it’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties it is one of the best essential oils for acne-prone skin as it will help clear blocked pores and reduce redness. By adding Blue Tansy to this DIY facial toner you can enjoy naturally glowing skin without harsh chemicals.

It is also believed Blue Tansy is great for hair care as it helps to nurture follicles to stimulate hair follicles and support healthy, strong hair. You could add a few drops to homemade hair care recipes such as this DIY hair detangler or argan oil hair serum.

3. Elemi

Elemi essential oil derives from the Elemi tree and is one of the best essential oils for beauty and skincare thanks to its anti-aging properties. When used topically, it helps brighten the complexion and works wonders on fine lines and wrinkles. If you’re looking to rejuvenate your skin, adding a few drops of Elemi essential oil to your routine will be sure to help.

A great way to enjoy the benefits of Elemi essential oil is to add a few drops to a homemade face mask. You could also add Elemi to this DIY facial oil moisturizer which promotes a youthful glow and helps nourish the skin naturally. For beauty fans, this DIY makeup remover with Elemi essential oil is a gentle way to remove makeup without harsh chemicals.

4. Frankincense

Frankincense is a powerful essential oil for beauty and skincare. It is an effective way to calm the complexion naturally, making it ideal for adding to a DIY sun relief spray, natural aftershave or a DIY facial scrub. Its healing benefits not only soothe irritated and damaged skin but are renowned for reducing the appearance of stretch marks and scars.

As well as using in homemade skin care recipes, you can simply add 2-4 drops of Frankincense to a carrier oil such as shea butter and apply directly to the skin. This simple combination can help even skin tone and enhance your natural glow.

frankincense essential oil with blue dropper bottle and pink flowers

5. Cypress

Cypress is another recommended essential oil for beauty and skincare as it helps with blemishes. It is a natural astringent, which means it is ideal for those with oily skin but won’t cause dryness which many store-bought products do.

Cypress essential oil also promotes cell regeneration and promoting youthful, glowing skin. For this reason, it’s an ideal essential oil to add to a homemade facial serum as a few drops will boost your skin’s natural glow without feeling greasy or causing congested pores.

6. Geranium

If you’re looking to soothe irritated skin and boost hydration, Geranium essential oil is the essential oil you need. It’s also known as the poor man’s rose. It’s got similar properties as Rose essential oil at a fraction of the cost.

As a natural antioxidant, it boosts the skin’s natural glow helping it stay conditioned and prevent acne. It is also great for soothing skin affected by harsh weather, so is another great essential oil to add to this DIY sun relief spray. I also use Geranium in these DIY lotion bars which are ideal for moisturizing on the go with minimum mess. While geranium essential oil is beneficial for calming skin, its gentle rose-like scent also helps to calm and relax the mind too – de-stressing the body both inside and out.

geranium and cypress essential oil with blue spray bottle

7. Patchouli

Patchouli is a favored essential oil for beauty and skincare thanks to its anti-aging properties. Not only does it promote detoxing and healing, but it also helps with fine lines and wrinkles too. It does have an earthy aroma, so I like to pair it with a floral like Geranium or Lavender.

When making your own homemade body wash, Patchouli essential oil is a perfect addition as it naturally tones and tightens the skin, leaving your complexion smooth and healthy. It is also one of the best essential oils to use in DIY beard oil as it helps eliminate irritation and itchiness while protecting the skin.

8. Lemon

There are so many uses for Lemon essential oil from cleaning to cooking, but it is also one of the best essential oils for beauty and skincare. Lemon essential oil can help exfoliate dead skin cells and dislodge the gunk in the pores. This makes it a favorite for adding to homemade body scrubs as it also helps to restore the skin’s natural balance and reduce excess sebum which causes breakouts.

If your skin is looking a little lackluster, Lemon essential oil has powerful hydrating benefits, that help to nourish naturally as well as re-energize and uplift your mood.

9. Lavender

As well as a calming aroma, Lavender essential oil has many benefits when applied to the skin. It naturally reduces redness and helps to clean the skin’s surface without stripping its natural oils. This makes it a perfect addition to my DIY facial cleanser.

Thanks to its antiseptic properties, Lavender essential oil is one of the best essential oils to help fight breakouts. I use it to dab on blemishes as a spot treatment. It is also packed with antioxidants that regenerate the skin, making it a great essential oil for this homemade body butter recipe.

As well as being one of the best essential oils for beauty and skincare, it’s worth noting lavender’s mood-lifting abilities. As it helps to calm and relax, it is also one of the best essential oils for baths as well as great for DIY shower melts or homemade bath bombs to help unwind after a stressful day.

lavender essential oil with castille soap and pump bottle

10. Myrrh

Myrrh essential oil has been used for thousands of years for its beauty benefits. Even the Ancient Egyptians recognized its value and applied it topically to maintain healthy skin and boost radiance.

Myrrh essential oil also helps with uneven skin tone and texture, and supports the fading of unwanted blemishes. It is a perfect essential oil for making a DIY makeup remover as it cleans, moisturizes, and helps tighten the skin naturally.  

If you are making DIY perfume with essential oils, myrrh is also a pleasant scent to introduce thanks to its warm, earthy tones.

11. Rose

Rose essential oil is one of the best essential oils for skincare as it offers so many benefits. This includes soothing irritation, reducing pore size, soothing redness as well as balancing the skin’s PH.

You can embrace its many benefits by adding it to a homemade face toner or even your bath. By using Rose essential oil in your everyday routine you will notice an improvement in your skin’s texture and moisture thanks to numerous vitamins and antioxidants.  

12. Tea Tree

Tea Tree essential oil has a lot of uses due to its naturally purifying and cleansing properties. Alongside one of my favorite essential oils for travel, there are many surprising benefits to adding tea tree to your skincare routine. For example, it is renowned for helping with uneven skin tone and texture, balancing oily skin, and reducing redness. As it is both soothing yet cleansing, I’ve also used tea tree oil when making homemade deodorant.

I recommend this DIY make up brush cleaner and using Tea Tree essential oil to break down the oil and dirt on your brushes. Even if you are committed to using non-toxic makeup, product build-up on your makeup brushes can still cause breakouts and congest pores.

Finally, Tea Tree is great for stimulating hair follicles. When diluted, apply to hair strands to prevent product build-up and flaky scalp. You can also use Tea Tree oil in this DIY dry shampoo recipe for healthy hair without the chemicals.

tea tree essential oil with mud mask in a bowl

Other Supplies

Carrier Oils

To avoid irritation, it is best to mix any essential oils with a carrier oil. The best carrier oils for the face are rosehip, jojoba, almond, argan, and tamanu. Carrier oils also offer extra benefits such as hydration, vitamin E, and nourishing nutrients. 

Spray Bottles

You can get inexpensive spray bottles and containers at big-box retailers or via Amazon for less than $2 per bottle. You can reuse these bottles indefinitely – just remember to keep refilling them with the same solution. You don’t want to accidentally mix a new solution with residue that was previously in the bottle and risk creating a toxic blend. Alternatively, use my guide to learn how to clean and reuse essential oil bottles.

essential oils with cucumber and blue dropper bottle

How to Get Started with Essential Oils

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One Comment

  1. My daughter and I have been on a recent journey to all-natural skincare. We’ve been enjoying and loving essential oils so far especially the peppermint and lavender. Your article convinced me more to continue doing so. Thanks!