I’ve mentioned Ila before as one of the top British green beauty brands with gorgeous spa grade products, clean formulas, and lovely packaging. Although my first foray into the brand with their body lotion had hits and misses, I’m still very interested in the brand as a whole so I requested a sample of their Face Oil from Spirit Beauty Lounge. Ila’s Face Oil for Glowing Radiance is what I consider their masterpiece product because Spirit Demerson refers to it as the “QUEEN” of all face oils that delivers radiance and vibrancy like nothing else. A lofty title, so naturally, my interest was piqued.
The sample came within a little booklet reminiscent in coloring to the full sized product, bright pink and metallic text. I feel like this packaging is so chic and looking at it makes me feel like I’m starring at a luxury product with attitude. The ingredients list is simple and straight forward:
wild-grown argania spinosa kernal (argan) oil*,
rosa canina (rosehip seed) oil*,
santalam spicatum (sandalwood),
rosa damascena flower (rose otto) oil,
tocopherol extract (vitamin e oil),
citronellol**,
farnesol**,
linalool**.
While it isn’t revolutionary for argan oil to be used as the base, I do appreciate the simplicity of the formula. Argan is so widely used because it is a wonderful and versatile ingredient that all skin types will love. The product description summarizes the ingredients as such: The essential oil of damascena rose otto deeply regenerates and nourishes the skin’s cells and imparts glowing radiance while argan oil and rosehip seed oil are high in anti-oxidants and fatty acids to fight wrinkles and help skin cells to regenerate.
The scent of the product is an overt obsession to the fragrant Rose oil. People will either love this scent or find it overwhelming. I know that my girl Lola from No More Dirty Looks cannot stand it. I can understand both sides, sometimes I find myself enjoying the very natural complex scent almost as if I can smell a hundred roses and their leaves and branches, other times its cloying overpowering nature just knocks me out. I hesitate to use this during the day just because I find the fragrance to be too much where I can catch a strong whiff with every inhalation, but at night it is just fine as a luxury oil before bed. I really enjoy the rose scent but I feel like they took this idea of a fragrant rose and dialed it up too many notches for the normal buyer.
The oil is a darker yellow almost orange color and the texture of this oil is difficult to gauge. I think the cloying nature of the oil makes it ‘feel’ thicker than it probably is as you’ll constantly feel as though the oil is sitting on top of your skin since the scent takes a long time to dissipate. With that said, this sample doesn’t come with a dropper to properly control the amount dispensed but I did my best to keep it to what would amount to 3 drops. I had tiny little breakouts along my hairline and a cystic breakout near my chin after about 3 days of use (day and night). My skin also seemed oilier during the day but at night it was just fine since I suppose most of the excess oil is wiped on my pillowcase. I didn’t have any issues with dehydration but it seems that this oil isn’t a good fit for my skin. I did notice that my skin in the mornings appeared smooth and without any redness but during the day it led to an oilier complexion which probably contributed to my breakouts.
Overall I’d say looking back on my experience, this is a wonderful facial oil if you have normal-dry skin not prone to breakouts and you love roses (as in can’t get enough!) – if that is you, well, I think I’ve helped you find your forever oil. For me, this oil actually works for my skin when used as a nighttime moisturizer because it helped take care of the scent and oil production, leaving my skin very calm and happy in the morning, but it was not suitable for day time use for me. At $110 for 1oz, this is quite costly for a simple oil that I can only use at night, so I don’t think I will be buying the full size. But for those of you who do decide to spring for a full size, I have to say that the pump-button style dropper is sooo cool so please invite me over so I can play with it!
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