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Best Face Serum: DIY Recipes for Glow, Dark Spots, Acne & Sensitive Skin

admin on 07/21/2025

Stop guessing your serum. Here’s how to build the best blend for your skin type — glow, calm, clarity, or anti-aging — with easy DIY recipes.

When it comes to skincare, there’s no one-size-fits-all — but there are botanical ingredients that work with your skin, not against it. If you want to improve your skin naturally (without irritating actives), this guide is for you.

The best face serum does more than moisturise. With the right carrier oils, slow herbal infusions, and safe essential oil drops, a serum can help support:

Brighter, more even-looking skin
Softer appearance of dark spots
Calmer, less reactive skin
A stronger moisture barrier
Smoother-looking texture over time

🌿 What Makes a Serum “The Best”?

Unlike thick creams, serums deliver concentrated nutrients directly to the skin. When you combine high-quality carrier oils with herbal infusions, you create a formula that can:

✔️ Calm inflammation and redness
✔️ Support breakout recovery and the look of scarring
✔️ Help repair and protect the skin barrier
✔️ Brighten dull skin and improve the look of uneven tone

Slow infusion tip: Infusing herbs like kawakawa, calendula, chickweed, harakeke, and rose into your base oils for 4–6 weeks gives your serum deeper botanical support (plus that natural golden hue and soft herbal scent).

🧴 Signature Serum Blend Ideas

Below are serum-style formulas you can use as inspiration. They’re structured by skin goal, with ingredients that make sense together (absorption, barrier support, and targeted benefits).

💛 Original Anti-Aging Serum

Olive squalane
Meadowfoam
Sea buckthorn
Calendula + kawakawa (NZ or Chickweed elsewhere) infusions
Frankincense, carrot seed & rose (optional)

Supports the look of fine lines, boosts radiance, and helps skin feel supple without heaviness.

🌿 Clarifying Serum (Acne-Prone)

Jojoba + hemp seed
Tamanu + calendula infusion
Saw palmetto (optional support for hormonal patterns)
Mānuka + lavender (low dilution)

Balances the feel of oily skin, supports congestion recovery, and helps the skin look calmer — without stripping.

🌞 Day Glow Serum (Vitamin C + Botanicals)

Camellia + rosehip
Sea buckthorn + tomato seed
Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (vitamin C oil)
Rosemary + calendula infused base

Supports brightness, antioxidant protection, and a “glow” finish that still feels light.

🌸 Sensitive Skin Calming Serum

Camellia + calendula-infused jojoba
Meadowfoam + olive squalane
Blue tansy or helichrysum (optional, very low dilution)

Designed for redness-prone or reactive skin — soothing, barrier-friendly, and non-greasy.

💧 Best Oils by Skin Type

Dry / Mature / Dehydrated

Olive squalane — biomimetic, barrier-supportive, ultra-light
Sea buckthorn — antioxidant-rich, glow-supportive (use small %)
Rosehip — supports elasticity and the look of uneven tone
Tomato seed — lycopene-rich, supports supple texture
Camellia — deeply softening, non-greasy feel

Oily / Acne-Prone

Hemp seed — balances feel of oil, helps calm inflammation
Hazelnut — fast-absorbing, “dry touch” finish
Watermelon seed — lightweight, non-comedogenic feel
Saw palmetto — optional support for hormonal patterns
Castor — cleansing support (use 5–10% max)

Sensitive / Reactive

Calendula-infused jojoba — gentle, soothing, repair-supportive
Meadowfoam — helps lock in hydration, very stable
Blueberry seed — calming antioxidants
Camellia — soft, protective, low-irritation feel

🌿 Botanical Balms We Love

✨ Kawakawa • Calendula • Chickweed Balm

A reliable skin soother for dryness, bites, baby rashes, and irritated patches. Slow-infused with herbs traditionally used to support skin comfort and repair.

🐾 Pet Paw Balm

Gentle balm for paws, snouts, and sensitive animal skin (chickweed, kawakawa, calendula; light beeswax base).

🛁 Everyday Balm Stick

A pocket-friendly balm for dry lips, cuticles, small nicks, and those “why is this patch so dry?” moments.

🧪 Build Your Own: Best Face Serum (30 ml DIY)

Essential Oils (Face-Safe Dilution)

Keep facial essential oils at a maximum 1% dilution (about 6 drops per 30 ml) unless advised otherwise. Sensitive skin often does best at 0.25–0.5% (1–3 drops per 30 ml).

🌼 Essential Oils That Pair Well in Serums

Healing & Regeneration

Helichrysum — supports comfort and the look of scars
Frankincense — supports smoother-looking skin and renewal
Carrot seed — mature/sun-stressed skin; supports tone

Calming & Anti-Redness

Blue tansy — redness-prone support (very low dilution)
Roman chamomile — sensitivity support
Lavender — balances and soothes

Brightening & Balancing

Neroli — dull/dry skin support
Geranium — texture support; balancing
Sweet orange — brightening (keep very low; see safety note)

Clarifying & Blemish Support

Tea tree — clarifying (0.5–1% max)
Mānuka — gentler NZ alternative for blemish support
Clary sage — supports hormonal congestion patterns

Safety: Patch test first. Never use undiluted essential oils on the face. Avoid “hot” oils (oregano, cinnamon, clove) in facial blends. Citrus oils can be photosensitising — keep them low and avoid sun exposure after use.

🧪 Simple Serum Builder (30 ml)

Step 1: Choose your base (20 ml)

Camellia or jojoba or meadowfoam

Step 2: Add hero oils (5–8 ml)

Pick 1–2: sea buckthorn, tamanu, tomato seed, rosehip

Step 3: Optional essential oils (≤ 1%)

Choose 1–2: frankincense, helichrysum, blue tansy, Roman chamomile, lavender

Step 4: Optional herbal infusion

Calendula, kawakawa, rose, or harakeke infused into your base oil

How to use: Apply 2–3 drops onto damp skin after cleansing. Store away from heat and light. Best used within 6 months (sooner if you used delicate oils and no vitamin E).