Make Your Own Eye Serum

I was well into my 30s before I even began to think about things like eye creams.

Not so with my beautiful daughter, Ciel. At 28 she’s already experimented with a plethora of skincare products, starting  with Bonne Bell back in adolescence and progressing through the many offerings of the corporate beauty care industry.

I’d wring my hands and ply her with herbal versions of her pimple creams – but to no avail.

Today I’m smiling though, because all those hours spent watching me play around with herbal concoctions during her childhood somehow sunk in. Now she is natural all the way – and starting to surpass me in her creativity with making natural beauty care products!

She will of course age much more gracefully than I, retaining dewy fresh, wrinkle-free skin as she approaches the half century mark.

Recently she came over and we enjoyed a home spa day together – making eye serum, giving ourselves hot oil treatments for our hair, and making a divine coconut body cream.

Today I’ll tell you about how easy peasy it is to make your own eye treatment. The hair oil and body cream will have to wait for a future post.

Ciel laments those teenaged afternoons spent laying out in the sun sans protection, chasing a tan, and worries that the miniscule fine lines that have appeared in the corners of her eyes are going to bloom into full fledged wrinkles by the time she’s 30. Ah, what price is beauty? A double-edged sword. I think those women who are blessed with lots of it, worry the most about losing it.

But I digress.

Since those fine lines appeared a few years ago (and they are pretty darn fine!), Ciel has dipped and dabbled in many an expensive eye cream. And we all know how pricey these little jars of goop can be!

Serious wrinkles, wouldn't you say??

Money’s been tight lately, and since she is now a fan of DIY skincare, Ciel began researching recipes for homemade eye creams. It turns out that although the ingredients do include some precious and expensive oils, one can make an eye cream (or in this case an eye serum) for pennies per application. After all you only need a drop or two each time.

Eye Cream Versus Eye Serum

So what the heck’s the difference between an eye cream and an eye serum? Nothing it turns out, as far as the benefits go.

A ‘serum’ (at least in this case) is basically a blend of essential oils in carrier oils; whereas a cream would be those same oils whipped up with water and beeswax and suspended into a cream.

The one problem with using a serum is that you can’t use it in the morning if you like to apply eye makeup. Makeup will not stick to oil, in fact that is how you remove eye makeup. So – this serum is meant for night time use – or for those of us who rarely apply eye makeup.

Regular use of an eye serum or cream can slow or prevent the formation of wrinkles around the eyes, work to plump the tissue, and even minimize those yucky shadows and the gross “baggy eye” look.

For more recipes and tips on eye treatments, check out my post Ten Easy Recipes For Home Facial Treatments where you’ll find a “Cucumber De-Puffer, and a potato treatment for bags under the eyes.

There’s a secret method to applying eye serums and creams. And I know it to be the gospel truth because not only was taught to me by a Dr. Hauschka skincare expert who did a training for us at Moonrise years ago – but I also read about it in Tina Fey’s book. And she learned it from some hot shot model or movie star. So not only is this method promoted by one of the finest natural skincare companies in the world – it is a secret of the beautiful, rich and famous.

Here’s the secret:  Use your ring fingers to apply the cream/serum, and just gently pat it into your skin.

The reason is that you will apply a lot less pressure with your ring fingers which are naturally weaker. Many of us have a tendency to pull on our skin when applying creams and lotions. But, you want to be oh so gentle with your delicate, aging skin. And the skin around our eyes is even more tender, you can actually promote wrinkles if you treat it too roughly.

Ready To Make Your Own Fabulous Eye Serum?

Just a few ingredients

A delicate operaton

Especially dropping in the essential oils, one drop at a time.

My favorite thing about making an eye serum over a cream is it’s so freakin’ easy! You can do this in a matter of minutes, and then have a stash of serum that will last several months for longer. Here’s the recipe we used. Er, I guess it’s not a recipe exactly. But you should be able to follow these instructions fairly easily.

Ciel’s Magic Eye Serum

Carrier oils:  Jojoba oil, rose hip seed oil, grape seed oil.
Essential oils:  Carrot seed, rose absolute or rose otto

1/8 to 1/2 oz size amber bottles (with droppers or dropper tip dispensers). Maybe you only need one.

Remove lids from bottles and fill almost to the top with a mixture of the three carrier oils above. You could use equal parts of each, or use more of the ones you particularly like or are cheaper. Rose hip seed oil is fairly expensive, and is excellent for repairing scar tissue and for rosacea. It’s high in Vitamin A which assists in cell regeneration and increases collagen and elastin. Good stuff.

Jojoba oil is excellent for facial skin and mimics the oils we naturally secrete on our skin. Grape seed oil is the least greasy of the oils and is good for decreasing under-eye wrinkles.

Once your bottles are almost full of carrier oil, add the essential oils one drop at a time. You’ll need about 4-6 drops of combined essential oil for each 1/4 ounce bottle. Carrot seed is especially effective for fine lines and wrinkles, rose is an all around skin healer and will of course make your serum smell divine. It helps with puffiness and broken capillaries. It’s also a cell rejuvenator and excellent for all skin types.

And voila! You are now the proud owner of an eye serum that could rival those found in the ritziest of department stores.

Ta-Da!

An optional essential oil addition would be blue chamomile oil. This deep blue oil is well-known for its ability to reduce puffiness. In fact, I think I’m going to run and add a few drops to my serum right now. The only downside is that it has its own strong and distinctive smell. Not unpleasant, personally I like it. But it will probably overpower the delicate rose fragrance.

Now these particular essential oils are on the high end. A small bottle of high quality oil could run you upwards of 20 bucks. But you only need a few drops in each bottle of serum. Your essential oils can be used in a variety of other medicinal and cosmetic applications – and they last for years and years!

So – if you don’t currently own any of these oils, your initial outlay for serum ingredients will cost as much or more as one little jar of high end eye cream. But you will continue to benefit from all of these ingredients for a long time to come.

You can purchase all of the oils in question at either of my two favorite herbal outlets:  Moonrise Herbs and Mountain Rose Herbs.

Just place a drop of serum on the tip your ring finger (always the ring finger – remember!) and rub the other ring finger in that drop. Then dab the precious serum all around the delicate eye area. Best to keep the serum out of your eyeballs – but the irritation will be minimal should your fingers slip.

So that’s it – beautiful eyes and dewy skin can be yours – the natural way!

What about you? Have you made an eye cream or serum before? What are your favorite ingredients?