Looking your best has always been a satisfying experience. After all, knowing how amazing you look is a huge boost to one’s self-esteem. More so, it becomes worth it when you get to understand how challenging it is to achieve that glowing skin and look good overall.
Like the rest of your body, being familiar with one’s skin should be high on your list of priorities. Considering that it’s one of your most defining features, making sure your skin is in peak condition may guarantee more positive feedback. But what matters most is how contented you are each time you see it.
However, looking for new skin products can be extremely tedious, especially if it’s your first attempt at pampering yourself. So, to kick off your path to skincare, the best way to start is by knowing the difference between facial oil and serum. Because despite how similar their containers might look, what’s inside them makes all the difference for your skin.
What Is Facial Oil?
To put things in perspective, facial oil is a natural oil-based product. Basically, putting the words ‘oil’ and ‘face’ together meant bad news for those who are still novices in skincare. Often than not, people believe that any oily or greasy substance tends to attract dirt the most. And they tend to apply this notion when you use oil on your face, for that reason they steer away from this idea.
People should be informed that as long as you pick the right facial oil for your skin, that false belief will never happen. Using oil on your skin has its benefits and here are some of them, read on to find out what it does for you:
- It Soothes Your Skin
The human body can only produce a few types of fatty acid, omega-9 being one of them. Because of how little the body can produce, it’s ideal for people to consume food containing essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 since they’re considered building blocks for healthy cell membranes. With this logic, lipids are crucial for your skin to produce a barrier for its outermost layer.
Hence, applying facial oil can renew lipids for your skin’s outer layer, which is extremely helpful for those older than teenagers. Because as people age, many bodily systems start to grow stagnant. Considering how limited lipid production already is, to have it slowdown could leave your skin susceptible to everyday sources of skin damage such as UV rays or pollution. Therefore, using facial oils consistently can soothe the effects of such issues.
- It Blends Your Makeup Better
Be it cold or hot, dry skin can happen to you at any time. So, to cover it up, you’d think applying makeup would work. However, this is a newbie mistake. Since your skin is dry, that would leave your foundation cracking as well, even when using a water-based foundation.
So, the best thing to do is apply facial oil before putting on your foundation to help boost your skin’s hydration and leaves you glowing with younger-looking skin.
- It Sits On Your Skin
As mentioned earlier, what facial oil does is retain the moisture in your skin. This way, it nourishes your face and leaves you with a healthier glow. However, with how dense its formula is, you’re bound to feel it on your skin more than any other skin product.
What Is A Serum?
Considering how similar some of its containers are, people are often confused with serum and facial oil. However, once you’ve used it, only then can you notice how different it is from facial oil. Here’s what serum does for you:
- It Penetrates Skin
Compared to facial oil, serums are often water-based. Hence, you won’t feel it’s even on your face upon application. It has a smaller molecular structure compared to other skincare products, such as moisturizers, creams, or facial oil. This characteristic also allows them to be absorbed more quickly and deeply into the skin.
- It Minimizes Dark Spots
Despite being lightweight, being a water-based formula makes it an excellent source of moisture. And considering how moisture helps during your skin’s healing process, any dark spots you’ve got from old scars will whiten over time.
- It Can Address Skin Concerns
Serums contain a heavy concentration of active ingredients, such as alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), Vitamin C, peptides, etc. With all of these ingredients in a bottle, their purpose is to target any skin problems you may have. So, other than dark spots, serums are designed to deal with dry and dull skin, wrinkles, and more.
Which Should You Use?
Seeing as how both of these skin care products have their own perks, you can use either one if you’re aiming to resolve a specific issue you’re having. For example, facial oil would be better for you if you want your face to have a better base for makeup. But if you’re having trouble with dry skin and wrinkles together, using a serum is a good choice.
In this case, the ideal skincare routine is to include these two together. This way, you have double the moisture from both serum and facial oil, as well as resolve any skin problems that can benefit from the use of both formulas combined.
Takeaway
Finding out what your skin wants requires a lot of careful guesswork. After all, you can’t simply use any product under the sun. If you want to resolve a skin problem, you’ll need all the information you can get to help achieve the smooth and flawless skin that everyone dreams of. And learning more about facial oils and serums is a great start.