Oil for your face? You betcha!

For quite a while, I was harboring a pretty good addiction to QVC and HSN. Especially their skincare and cosmetic lines. They have a way of making everything look so appealing. And to make it worse, I started spending way too much time on their message boards, where everyone had a product recommendation.

Always on the lookout for moisturizers and eye creams that were going to eliminate the wrinkles, it became too easy to fall into the hype.

From Philosophy and Principal Secret to the ridiculously overpriced Dr. Denese, I bought it all. Sometimes I bought just a single product; other times I bought the entire product line. And there were no miraculous results.

Let me just say that I have absolutely no problem spending big money on skin care items. When they work. Because if it works, the money is worth it to me. But after a while you start to question the wisdom of throwing so much money at skincare.

This is when it occurred to me that these women who were on the message boards touting the fantastic results they were getting from Product Line X, were probably getting those results because they had never really followed a skin care routine before. And no matter what product they used, they were going to get good results. Just because they were spending more time on their skin. And exfoliating.

Right around the time I made this realization, I heard of two products that have totally changed the way I look at moisturizers. Squalane Oil and Emu Oil. Yes, like the bird.

Squalane is actually an all-natural derivative of olive oil – not to be confused with squalene oil which comes from a shark’s liver. The names are used interchangeably quite often, but there is a difference.

At first you might think, “Oil on my face? Ick!” I know I did. But because I was hearing so many good things about it and my skin was SO dry, I gave it a try. And I have absolutely fallen in love with the Squalane Skin Snack (Yum Yum Face Food!):

I buy this from Body Moose at the bargain price of $9.99 for a 1 ounce (cutest ever) bottle. Fantastic product. Fantastic customer service.

You only have to use a small amount, so you can be rocking that tiny bottle for a couple of months. I have been using this product for probably close to two years now and it is really doing some good things for my skin. I can’t say my undereye wrinkles are gone, but they are minimized - and they certainly aren’t getting worse. Putting it on right after exfoliating feels so soothing and really keeps those flakes at bay. Plus, my makeup has never gone on smoother.

Emu oil is a little thicker oil than the squalane and very similar in the effect it has on my skin. It also has natural anti-inflammatory properties and is good for many things, such as burns, scrapes, rashes, joint pain and most notably, scar prevention. I had a pretty good-sized cyst removed from my forehead and started applying the emu oil right away. I have NO scar. You would never be able to tell where it had been. I can’t even find it and I’ve looked. You can read more about its benefits here.

Emu oil is really popular right now because, you know, Oprah and her favorite things. Because of that, a lot of it is really overpriced. You don’t need to pay a fortune. I buy mine at Smoky Mountain Minerals:

I pay $14.95 for two ounces and it lasts several months. Again, fantastic customer service – and free shipping! She usually has a sale going on, so sign up for her newsletter and get it even cheaper.

Compare this to Dremu, one of Oprah’s favorite things. Price: $125 for 1.7 ounces. Exact. Same. Thing.

I use the squalane and the emu rather interchangeably, but tend to use the squalane in the summer and during the day and the emu at night or when my face is extremely dry. And on my feet and elbows.

I cannot recommend these two products enough. Inexpensive, effective moisturizing. You just can’t go wrong.

Coming tomorrow: Clean up those feet!