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I’ve been a huge fan of oils in my own skin-care routine for years—I find nothing takes makeup off quite like an oil cleanser, and lathering on rosehip at night leaves my skin soft and dewy the next day, more so than any overpriced moisturizer. Which is why three-month-old single-ingredient beauty brand Raw Is Everything is, well, everything right now.
The concept behind Raw is one I’m really into—strip skin-care products of all the preservatives, fillers, and ineffective synthetic materials and focus instead on one seriously potent natural ingredient, a cold-pressed oil, to address your complexion problems. “Most mainstream skin-care products contain fillers and preservatives that are added only to extend shelf life and drive down the cost of goods produced,” explained Raw cofounder Jess Assaf.
She says that even natural products contain a ton of unnecessary ingredients that do not benefit our skin. “As soon as you start combining ingredients, you are essentially diluting the most powerful ingredient in a product,” she explained.
Assaf says that the reason certain oils are effective as highly concentrated moisturizers and skin treatments lies in their fatty-acid profile and that when extracted in their purest form, oils contain hundreds of bioactive compounds and phytonutrients essential for skin health. “The natural fatty-acid profile of oil allows for easy absorption deep into the dermal and epidermal layers of the skin,” she said.
Raw Is Everything
If you’re scared that adding oil to your face will cause breakouts, know that hasn’t been my personal experience. I have blemish-prone skin, but in all the years I’ve been using oils on my face—and the weeks spent using Raw Is Everything specifically—I have never noticed oil products contributing to a breakout. Assaf says this is because oils “help to balance the skin’s natural oil production,” so they actually fight oil and return our skin to a healthy balance. In fact, I use the Clear-Skin Treatment daily, which is essentially a healing spot treatment made from tamanu oil and is a little thicker than most of Raw’s products and is greenish in color (consider yourself warned). Tamanu oil’s been used by Polynesian women for years to clear acne and reduce the appearance of scars. “A recent study showed that tamanu oil exhibits high antibacterial activity against the bacterial strains that cause acne,” Assaf explained.
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The products are made for layering, so depending on your specific skin concern you can choose which single oil is best, or combine a couple together—I like to use the Age Defying Concentrate (rosehip oil) before I put on makeup because it absorbs the most quickly, and then at night I layer on the other products too.
Another one of my favorites in the line is the Facial Moisturizer, which contains wildcrafted passionfruit seed oil, an ingredient that has been used for centuries as a powerful moisturizing emollient. “Passionfruit seed oil has high levels of the omega-6 essential fatty acid linoleic acid, which is essential in skin hydration and elasticity,” Assaf explains, adding that studies have shown this essential fatty acid also helps to lighten UV-induced hyper-pigmentation of the skin, and that passionfruit seed oil is rich anti-inflammatory-, antioxidant, and vitamin-E-rich. It also smells light and fruity, which is a bonus.
Each product will set you back between $45 and $55, or you can try out the full line with this smaller $20 sample set. And what have you got to lose—it’s completely natural and may be the ticket to the best skin of your life.
