Quick Review: L'Oreal Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil (with a more affordable DIY alternative)

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
I got a sample of this from somewhere, and before I'd even opened it, I knew that I was definitely not going to put this shit on my face. The card it came with says:

FORMULATED WITH A UNIQUE BLEND OF 8 ESSENTIAL OILS

English Lavender
Rosemary Leaf
Geranium
Orange Peel
Chamomile
Rose Flower
Lavandin
Marjoram Leaf

Every one of those ingredients, which the single exception of chamomile, is a skin irritant/sensitizer (look them up here if you doubt me). Some, like lavender oil, might even be photosensitizers (i.e. does bad things in the sun). Lavender oil is also actually a pro-oxidant, rather than an anti-oxidant, which is what we usually look for in skin care products. Oh golly, please, let me rub that on my face. Most of these fragrant oils have no actual benefit for skin, either.

Mind you, when you look at full ingredient list, the fragrant oils are preceded by a bunch of oils that are actually mostly decent for the skin. Funny that they don't highlight those good ingredients instead on the package. Here's the list:

INGREDIENTS: CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE • OLEA EUROPAEA OIL/OLIVE FRUIT OIL • SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS OIL/ JOJOBA SEED OIL • CAMELINA SATIVA OIL/ CAMELINA SATIVA SEED OIL • HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED K8OIL/SUNFLOWER SEED OIL • ROSA CANINA FRUIT OIL • PARFUM/ FRAGRANCE • ZEA MAYS OIL/CORN OIL • PRUNUS ARMENIACA KERNEL OIL/APRICOT KERNEL OIL • PASSIFLORA EDULIS OIL/ PASSIFLORA EDULIS SEED OIL • ORYZA SATIVA BRAN OIL/RICE BRAN OIL • TOCOPHEROL • LIMONENE • PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS FLOWER OIL • CITRUS AURANTIUM DULCIS PEEL OIL/ORANGE PEEL OIL • CITRONELLOL • LINALOOL • ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS LEAF OIL/ROSEMARY LEAF OIL • GERANIOL • ORIGANUM MAJORANA LEAF OIL • LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA OIL/LAVENDER OIL • ANTHEMIS NOBILIS FLOWER OIL • LAVANDULA HYBRIDA OIL • CUCUMIS SATIVUS FRUIT EXTRACT/CUCUMBER FRUIT EXTRACT • BENZYL ALCOHOL • CITRAL • CURCUMA LONGA EXTRACT/TURMERIC ROOT EXTRACT • EUGENOL • COUMARIN • SCLAREOLIDE • ROSA SPP/ROSE FLOWER OIL • JASMINUM OFFICINALE EXTRACT/JASMINE EXTRACT • ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE

Olive oil, jojoba oil, apricot seed oil, etc. . . . these are good things. But there's just so much fragrance and crap in there that it's not worth it.

It does smell really fucking good, though. I thought maybe it would be nice as a perfumed oil, but unfortunately the scent fades very quickly. It absorbs well, so I've been rubbing the sample I have on various dry body parts and enjoying the temporary scent. It will have the same irritating properties no matter what part of your body you use it on (and you don't have to physically feel the irritation for it to damage your skin), but I'm okay with a little bit of that in places that don't get as much sun damage as my face, and that I don't care about protecting as much in general. I do wear perfume, after all.

Even though it smells great and feels nice on the skin, I still wouldn't recommend buying it for any purpose.  L'Oreal Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil retails regularly for $25 (though it's $19 on Amazon) for just 1 oz. (30 ml). If you want a pretty-smelling body oil, just pick up some jojoba oil (like this one) (or one or more of the other oils from the beginning of the ingredients list above) and add a few drops of scented essential oils like lavender (here), orange peel (here), rosemary (here), and geranium (here). (Rose and chamomile are more expensive.) Obviously your initial cost is going to be greater (using the oils I linked to, which equal about $33.50 total), but the oils are multi-purpose. You'll spend something closer to $6 per oz., rather than $25 per oz. for the L'Oreal stuff. Even if you went for the more expensive rose and chamomile oils, you'd do better than the L'Oreal cost. You'll get a nice, moisturizing oil with beneficial properties (jojoba), along with a bunch of stuff that smells pretty and doesn't do much else.