Visit any of the best beauty counters and they will tell you all about the great ingredients each of their most expensive products contain. But of course you and I have them at our fingertips for a fraction of the price. Beautiful carrier oils to perfect and smooth the skin, hydrolats to make it dewy and we mustn’t forget the best essential oils for wrinkles! And an added bonus, not only are these spectacular for the skin, they are some of the parts of their most exquisite perfumes too. Better skin at a fraction of the price. What’s not to love?
Our 10 Best Essential Oils For Wrinkles
- Frankincense Essential Oil
- Helichrysum Essential Oil
- Rose Essential Oil
- Geranium Essential Oil
- Vetiver Essential Oil
- Neroli Essential Oil
- Cedarwood Essential Oil
- Melissa Essential Oil
- Clary Sage Essential Oil
- Angelica Root Essential Oil
The crone’s best friend. Frankincense is the top of the best essential oils for wrinkles because it restores elasticity to the skin, helping to regain some of its tightness. It is a tremendous preservative, and indeed the ancient Egyptians embalmed their mummies with antibiotic agents and frankincense resin soaked into vegetable oil to help preserve the tissues.
In fact, the arid desert conditions are probably mostly to thank for the longevity of their bodies but it demonstrates how wonderful a preservative it is.
Frankincense has a pine-y fragrance and is refreshing but Calming. It is used in churches to help invoke the serenity of prayer. So, this is a great oil to use if you have deep wrinkles forming, have very dry skin, and have the time on your hands for contemplation.
If you are not lucky enough to be able to enjoy the Relaxation of retirement, perhaps only use frankincense in night creams, and use one of the best essential oils for wrinkles that would be more suited to the day.
Frankincense is best suited to post menopausal skins, so it is a moot point to say that it should be avoided in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Helichrysum Essential Oil
If you have not yet reached your crone years the best essential oil for wrinkles on faces is helichrysum. This is an interesting oil whose chemistry is very susceptible to change based on where it grew. It is rich in the very best constituent for skin care, neryl acetate. This is wonderful for healing the skin if it is cracked, broken or ulcerated, but it is also exquisite in face creams. Indeed, one famous French cosmetic company uses its other name, Immortelle, to disguise its place in their best selling skin care range.
In Greece, it was used to crown the heads of heroes when they were buried, and was sacred to the goddess of herbal healing, Artemis. There they called it Amaranth, but we call it Everlasting Flower.(not only because when you find them in tombs they look as fresh as they day were put in there) but also for its tremendous power to make the skin appear ageless.
Incidentally, like Jasmine absolute and myrrh, helichrysum is one of the best essential oils to remove scar tissue naturally.
Helichrysum blends particularly well with rosehip and evening primrose carrier oils. It is not safe in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy and also thins the blood. Therefore avoid using helichrysum essential oil if you are on blood thinning medications, have a platelet disorder or have a surgery planned in the next 48 hours.
Rose Essential OilAromatherapists agree that rose is the best essential oil for wrinkles that are just appearing. Rose hydrates the skin and research shows it penetrates right to the granular layer of the skin. Here, rose nourishes brand new skin cells, plumping them up leading to more translucent, more youthful looking skin.
This is a valid point. Did you know that by the time we can see skin cells they are dead? You only have to look at how many slough off and drift around our houses as dust! Dead skin cells are dull looking and brittle. Do regular facial massages and scrubs to get rid of this dull layer and reveal more flexible and youthful layers below.
Rose is a tremendous choice for any normal, combination or dry skins. It’s a woman’s oil generally being very balancing to the hormones, but we would recommend it as a stabilizing influence to both the skin and the mood during and after menopause.
Rose’s powerful effect on the hormones and the uterus make it a poor choice in the first 37 weeks of pregnancy.
Geranium Essential Oil
Geranium is great for dry and wrinkled skins generally, but it is probably the best essential oil for neck wrinkles and for smoothing the decolletage. Geranium is almost as good as rose for skin care, but she is EVEN better than rose for stress. Making a cream of geranium is not only nourishing to the skin, but it is also releasing and healing too. It is particularly good combined with vetiver for this. We would recommend Jojoba, Avocado or Apricot Carrier Oils for this. These would also be amazing added into shea butters. You can find out more about geranium on our blog post about the best essential oils for skin tightening.
It is safe to use geranium after the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Vetiver Essential Oil
Are we maybe being a bit stereotypical only listing very feminine oils? Of course there are plenty of essential oils for wrinkles and dry skin that have more masculine fragrances too. Vetiver is one, Sandalwood, and Patchouli are all oils that could easily have made it onto the list of the best essential oils. Cedarwood too is wonderful and is not at all girly. They all nourish and refine the skin.
Vetiver is a bit of a mysterious thing because it not only treats wrinkles and dry skin, but also oily skin too. It’s very odd. We love it. If you use it in a blend, it is a tremendous ase note that booms. A single drop is all you will need. Also, one drop is pretty much anyone has the patience to wait for! It’s so thick you can sense the richness it’s going to bring.
Additionally, as well as being one of the best essential oils for wrinkles, it is one of the easiest to use. As ever, not in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy please, and just one drop. You very rarely ever need more. Incidentally, the older ones amongst us will enjoy the notion that vetiver and patchouli are like fine wines and good women. Unlike most essential oils, these get better with age.
Neroli Essential Oil
Nobody ever really writes that much about neroli. There is so much to say but only they never seem to find their ways into words. Neroli whispers. She is delicate and refined. If you don’t know, neroli is a posh name for orange blossom which used to be used in wedding bouquets. There is something very “blushing bride'' about her.
Neroli would never talk about being one of the best essential oils for wrinkles. That would be too brash. Nevertheless, she is. Likewise, she’d certainly never want to put herself forward as one of the best essential oils for anxiety, because she’d be nervous of putting anyone else on the spot., and yet that would be true too.
Neroli is not comfortable in the spotlight, so we wouldn’t want to put her in moisturizers necessarily, but hide her away in night creams and even more beautiful use her as a toner and she is exquisite. Look out for orange flower water and simply use it to close down the pores and tighten the skin after you have cleansed it.
Avoid neroli essential oil during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, otherwise neroli is one of the best essential oils for wrinkles if you are pregnant. It is safe and easy to use and is refreshing and relaxing.
Cedarwood Essential Oil
We love cedarwood for men’s skins particularly, but also for complexions that are a bit brittle and flaky too. Cedarwood is nourishing and kind. It is great for complexions that are hot and reactive too. For that we’d also combine it with jasmine absolute and german chamomile.
Again, boring now, I know. Don’t use it in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Melissa Essential Oil
There was a great study done in Japan, where the researchers wanted to know the effects of Lemon Balm on the skin. Lemon Balm is Melissa officinalis, which is why we call it Melissa oil. Actually the trial was of people drinking lemon balm tea, rather than the essential oil but it is still interesting.
The monitored something called glycation.
Glycation is best understood through something called the Maillard Reaction. Maillard was a nineteenth century scientist, and he proved that when things came into contact with sugar it changes their structure. For example, he showed that when you fry a piece of meat, it releases sugars which then caramelise. The outside of the meat goes browner, and sweeter but crunchier too. This is the Maillard reaction.
In the 1950s, scientists then proved that this Maillard Reaction takes place when our blood comes into contact with blood sugar. This is just one of the processes in aging.
The Japanese scientists proved that the people who had drunk lemon balm tea had better skin elasticity in their cheeks (as opposed to those who drank barley tea) because it had protected it against glycation.
Now, there is no scientific evidence that melissa is one of the best essential oils for wrinkles, and yet it has been used in face treatments for eons. Sometimes, we just have to trust!
Clary Sage Essential Oil
Clary sage is another dodgy one in pregnancy and around hormones, but it is easy to use if you know how. It makes its way onto the list of the best essential oils for wrinkles because it mimic estrogen. If you are post menopausal, you will doubtless have noticed changes in your skin. Clary sage is brilliant for tricking the skin into thinking it still has adequate amounts of estrogen.
HOWEVER, if you are perimenopausal, it will probably make you feel vile. Avoid it like the plague! Stick to rose, helichrysum and geranium then.
If you have younger skin and are still having regular periods, consider using clary sage in cleansers and toners especially. It has a tremendously astringent action that is tightening to the skin. Clary sage is also well suited to skins that err on the side of greasy.
As said, do not use clary sage during pregnancy or during perimenopause, but also try not to drink too much when you’re using it. Alcohol and clary sage at best is the hangover from hell, at worst, can be hallucinations.
Angelica Root Essential OilThis is the best essential oil for eye wrinkles. Add a drop to some aloe vera gel in the evenings for a fantastic eye masque. Angelica root essential oil is phototoxic, so only apply the gel at night.
Usual deal, do not use this oil in the first sixteen weeks of pregnancy.
The Best Essential Oil for Deep Wrinkles Recipe Collection
We like to add essential oils to your standard store bought cleanser.
- Neroli and Carrot.
- Geranium and Cypress.
- Rose and Clary Sage are all lovely combinations.
For all of those you can safely add up to 3ml of each oil to 100ml of base cleanser.
How To Make The Best Essential Oils For Wrinkles TonerToners are more difficult to make because oil and water don't mix.
Consider using rosewater or orange flower waters, or make one like this.
- 100ml distilled water.
- 1 teaspoon of vodka.
- 3 drops of each of your chosen oils.
Always use an aqueous base to moisturize. You can buy aqueous creams from the pharmacy.
- 30ml aqueous cream.
- 5 drops of each of your chosen oils.
- 1 teaspoon Jojoba Carrier Oil (Simmondsia Chinensis)
- 1 teaspoon Avocado Carrier Oil (Persea Americana)
- 3 drops Geranium Essential Oil (Pelargonium Roseum X Asperum)
- 2 drops Helichrysum Essential Oil (Helichrysum Splendida)
- 1 drop Frankincense Essential Oil (Boswellia Carterii)
Method of use: Use once a week to do a facial massage and really nourish the skin.
Conclusion
Amass some of nature’s loveliest oils and you will have a ready made set of the best essential oils for wrinkles and gorgeous skin.
