Christmas countdown: Votary's miraculous Super Seed Facial Oil

Anyone that checks in here regularly will know that I’m a huge fan of oils - body oils, hair oils and facials oils - and love the fact that nine times out of ten, they are brilliant multi-taskers and are great travel companions too.

Cleansing your face with one is a given with me, but for many, using oils on the face in particular may seem counterintuitive, especially those who associate it with breakouts and the like. Well it just ain’t true, and there are more and more great facial oils arriving on the market all the time that are making their way into bathroom cabinets across the globe.

The latest I’ve fallen in love with harnesses the power of Super Seeds, which aren’t just for healthy eating. They’re for healthy skin, too. It’s Votary’s Super Seed Facial Oil, which I discovered after the most heavenly Signature Yoga Facial a while back at East Day Spa.

Celebrity makeup artist Arabella Preston launched the Votary line of skin are in 2015, consisting of a cleansing oil and three types of moisturising oil. The line grew from Preston’s interest in organic facial oils, which she had been using on her clients as a base for their makeup and on herself as a way to soothe her skin. She formulated the products and started Votary at the urging of her business partner, Charlotte Semler, and it wasn’t long before the fragrance-free collection called Super Seed joined the pack.

The Super Seed Facial Oil nourishes dry, sensitive skin with a fragrance-free blend of 21 different oils, each with their own important properties. As you age, you might experience a whole host of new skin issues such as dryness, redness, loss of elasticity and plumpness, or just feeling like your skin has lost its glow (not ideal). Super Seed addresses all of these issues as naturally and gently as possible while packing a powerful punch that enhances your skin’s nourishment and long-term recovery. I also love that it’s fragrance free – the cause of sensitivity in even the ‘cleanest’ of beauty products – and that it really does nourish and protect.

Anti-irritation, anti-inflammation, deeply nourishing and anti-ageing, Super Seed Facial Oil has been the perfect choice for my sensitive, rosacea-prone skin, which over the past twelve months has been insanely unpredictable. It us created using primarily organic ingredients too, which gets another big tick from me.

Preston, who reportedly gave Kate Middleton makeup lessons before her wedding to Prince William (although she is not allowed to talk about it), says she loves using natural plant oils to prep clients’ skin because it gives the best base for makeup. People think the opposite - that oil is going to make your makeup slide off – but natural plant oils absorb directly into the skin, and with a little massage make for an absolutely flawless base. 

To use it, place 4 to 5 drops of Facial Oil onto your palms. Now massage the oil into your face and neckline using gentle upwards motions. Use your fingertips to gently pat the oil into the area around your eyes. You can spend a few seconds or several minutes on your facial massage – depending on how much time you have. Like all Votary’s natural facial oils, Super Seed absorbs into your skin as you massage leaving it deeply hydrated but never oily. It’s the perfect way to prep skin for makeup or sunscreen, and gets my vote for one heck of a great last minute Christmas gift that will NOT disappoint.

Next on my wish list is the matching Super Seed Cleansing Oil, which has all of the same properties and sounds incredible! The Votary range is in now at East Day Spa and Spring Spa locations.