Essential Oils
Essential oils are highly concentrated, aromatic plant extracts used in skincare and beauty products for their natural scent and skin-soothing properties. Popular in UK cleansers, moisturisers, face oils and bath products, they give cosmetics a luxurious feel while delivering the characteristic fragrance of the plant they come from.
How it works in skincare
In cosmetics and skincare, essential oils are added in small, carefully controlled amounts to lend natural fragrance and to work synergistically with carrier oils, butters and emulsifiers. Because they are lipophilic, they mix well with the skin’s natural oils, helping active ingredients penetrate the upper layers of the skin while providing a pleasant sensory experience in creams, serums, balms and masks.
Key benefits
- Adds natural plant-based fragrance without synthetic perfume
- Helps balance oily and combination skin
- Can soothe and calm sensitive or reactive skin
- Provides a luxurious sensory experience in bath and body products
- Works as a natural preservative booster in some formulations
- Delivers antioxidant properties when properly stabilised
Best for
normal skin, oily skin, combination skin, sensitive skin
Where it comes from
Essential oils are obtained through steam distillation or cold-pressing of aromatic parts of plants including flowers, leaves, stems, bark, roots, seeds and fruit peels.
Products with Essential Oils
Not every product on UK Lips lists a full ingredient breakdown — so there may be many more formulas that contain Essential Oils than we can show here. These are the comparisons where we’ve confirmed it in the listed ingredients.