The Best Carrier Oils for Dry Skin
Lightweight, fast-absorbing oils are popular for a reason, but dry skin needs the opposite: richness, cushion, and staying power. These are the oils and butters in our range built for exactly that job.
1. Avocado Oil
Avocado Oil is one of the richest carrier oils available, with a deep green colour and high levels of oleic acid and unsaponifiables. It’s a natural first choice for very dry or mature skin formulations.
2. Macadamia Oil
Macadamia Oil‘s palmitoleic acid content mirrors the skin’s own sebum, giving it an unusually easy, silky richness that still absorbs well despite its nourishing profile.
3. Organic Marula Oil
High in oleic acid and natural antioxidants, Organic Marula Oil brings richness without heaviness — a favourite in premium facial oils aimed at dry, dehydrated skin.
4. Argan Oil
Argan Oil‘s naturally high vitamin E content adds antioxidant support on top of its nourishing, lightweight-yet-rich texture — a good middle ground between very rich and very light oils.
5. Refined Shea Butter
For the driest skin, an oil alone often isn’t enough. Refined Shea Butter‘s high unsaponifiable content and occlusive richness make it the most intensively moisturising ingredient in our range — see our full Shea Butter guide for how to use it.
How to layer them
For genuinely dry skin, don’t rely on a single ingredient. A practical approach: shea butter as the richest base (50–70% of the fat phase), a mid-weight oil like avocado or marula for absorption and additional fatty acids, and argan oil layered in at a smaller percentage for its antioxidant profile. See our whipped body butter recipe for a worked example of this kind of layering.
A note on patch testing
Richer oils sit on skin longer, which means any sensitivity shows up more noticeably. Patch-test any new combination before full-face or full-body use, particularly for nut-derived oils if you have a relevant allergy.
