Rosehip and Evening Primrose DIY Anti-Aging Facial Cream

Learn to make a professional-quality DIY anti-aging facial cream with this Rosehip and Evening Primrose Facial Cream Recipe. Perfect for normal to dry skin types, it’s highly moisturizing yet fast absorbing, and better than store-bought. Recipe updated March 5, 2024

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Let’s be real… high-quality natural skin care brands are expensive. A good facial cream can easily set you back $100 or more for a teeny tiny bottle.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got kids and a small farmstead full of animals that rely on me for things like food, and shelter. Spending a ton of money on skin care products, no matter how magnificent they sound, just ain’t gonna happen.

You’ve got important things to spend your money on too. But, you don’t have to forgo exquisite, wholesome, natural facial creams.

What if I told you that you can make your own naturally-based, effective, antioxidant-rich, vitamin-rich, better-than-store-bought DIY anti-aging facial cream?

You totally can! And, if you’re game, I’ll show you how.

Here are the stars of this moisturizer:

Rosehip Oil

Rosehip oil is one of my personal favorite facial oils, and it’s an amazing anti-ager. It’s rich in vitamin A (the anti-aging vitamin), powerful antioxidants, and essential fatty acids. It may also help to build collagen and reduce hyperpigmentation. (1)

Rosehip oil is a fast-absorber, absorbs quickly, and doesn’t leave a greasy after-feel, so it’s perfect for all skin types.

Evening Primrose Oil

Evening primrose oil is another high-quality anti-aging oil. It helps maintain and restore skin tone and elasticity. It has anti-inflammatory and healing qualities, and helps promote skin moisture.

Evening primrose oil is high in omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids. Like rosehip oil, evening primrose oil is fast-absorbing and not heavy on the skin, so it’s well-suited to all skin types.

You’ll need a few other ingredients to create this lovely DIY anti-aging facial cream:

Water 

Water isn’t meant to “water down” your moisturizer. In fact, water helps the product to hydrate the skin, plumping skin cells and reducing dryness. So, it’s a helpful addition. (This is why anhydrous, or water-free, butters and creams aren’t as moisturizing.)

Using a distilled water for this recipe is preferable to tap water.

Vegetable Glycerin

Vegetable glycerin is an incredibly effective humectant, meaning it pulls water to the skin. In fact, simple glycerin is better at moisturizing your skin than hyaluronic acid. And it’s so much easier to work with too.

You only need a bit to benefit from all of its deep hydrating goodness. Too much will leave your skin feeling a bit tacky.

Emulsifying Wax

This is the “magic” ingredient that allows the oils and the water to mix smoothly together without separating.

Emulsifying wax is not 100% natural, but the one I use is vegetable-based and as natural as possible.

If you want a pro-quality product, emulsifying wax is a must-add. You will still end up with an approximately 95% natural cream.

I know a lot of online DIY blogs say you can make creams without emulsifying wax, or with beeswax. The vast majority of these recipes will never, ever come together into a cream and if they do will end up separating on your shelf within a day or so. 

Beeswax also will give your finished cream a waxy, draggy feel on the face. A lot of women (me being one of them) don’t like the feel of beeswax on the face because it creates a highly occlusive barrier on the skin’s surface that feels a bit “sweaty” or “smother-y,” if that’s a word.

Basically, you can feel the layer of beeswax on the surface of your skin, it doesn’t absorb in. Great for lip balms, not so great for facial creams.

If you want pro-quality results you need emulsifying wax.

Preservative

I know you may have heard bad things about preservatives. But the fact is, there is much more to this conversation than “all preservatives are scary bad for you.”

There are many different types of preservatives. The cosmetic preservative that has given all preservatives a bad rap are parabens. Parabens may disrupt the functioning of the endocrine system. (2)

But not all preservatives are endocrine disruptors, which means some are “safer” than others. The preservative used in this recipe is paraben-free.

The reality is, you are more at-risk from a preservative-free cream than you are from preservatives used in the cream. Unpreserved creams WILL grow mold, yeast, and bacteria (most commonly E. coli, Staph, and Pseudomonas).

Mold is gross, but Staph can be deadly. No joke.

A preserved cream is safer than a preservative-free cream. That’s fact, friend.

Again, lot of DIY beauty gurus claim they never preserve their creams and they never spoil. Unfortunately, unless they are testing their creams regularly, they really don’t know. 

Because you can’t see E. coli. You can’t see Staph. You can’t even see mold because it grows in long, trailing, microscopic rivulets long before it finally sprouts all fuzzy. So… ick.

This DIY anti-aging facial cream recipe calls for a scant 0.5%. Not much for a shelf-stable, skin-safe formulation.

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Before Getting Started

The process seems complicated when you first read up on it, but it’s quite simple when you do it. Just follow the steps and you’ll be A-OK.

You will need a scale to make this product. You’ll get more precise measurements by weighing your ingredients rather than measuring by volume. This ensures a nice, stable emulsion (i.e. your moisturizer won’t separate out into a oily mess.)

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means I may receive a small commission—at no extra cost to you—from any sales made through these links. I only recommend products that I personally use and love! View my affiliate disclosure.

Scales are relatively inexpensive and the investment will be paid out in the amazing products you’re create for yourself. For measuring tiny amounts like in this recipe, I recommend a small precision scale. I’ve used this scale for years and it’s very affordable.

Rosehip and Evening Primrose DIY Anti-Aging Facial Cream Recipe

This recipe makes 113 grams (about 4 fluid ounces) of facial cream–a huge amount compared to the 1 or 2 ounces of most store-bought brands. Your cost works out to just a few cents an ounce.

I typically leave my facial creams fragrance-free. But if you would like to add a scent, you can add a few drops of essential oils. Check out this list of essential oils for the face to help you choose.

Ingredients:

• 11.3 g rosehip seed oil
• 11.3 g evening primrose oil
• 5.65 g emulsifying wax
• 78.28 g distilled water
• 5.65 g vegetable glycerin
• 0.26 g vitamin E T-50
• 0.56 g Germall Plus liquid preservative
• Optional: 6 to 12 drops facial-safe essential oil(s) of your choice

You’ll also need:

• Stick blender (AKA immersion blender)
• Digital scale
• Containers for your cream (I’m in love with these jars with bamboo lids, because they look lovely on my bathroom counter. I like the 50g/1.7 oz size; below I’ll explain why!)

Step 1: In a small glass bowl or wide-mouth pint mason jar, add rosehip seed oil, evening primrose oil, emulsifying wax, and water.

Step 2: Make a small double-boiler by placing the bowl/jar in a small pan filled with just a few inches of water (the water should not come higher than halfway up the side of the bowl or jar).

Step 3: Place the pan on the stove top and warm over medium-low heat. You want the water steaming but not simmering. Keep on the heat until the emulsifying wax is completely melted.

Step 4: Turn off the stove and remove the bowl/jar from the pan. Please be careful, as it will be hot! Place the jar on a heat-safe surface.

Step 5: With your stick blender, blend this mixture for several minutes stopping to let the stick blender rest after every minute or so. You’ll see the mixture turn to a creamy white, similar to heavy cream. Lovely!

Note: Hand mixers just won’t do for making lotion; you need the shear of a stick blender blade to create a stable emulsion.

Step 6: After your moisturizer has thickened slightly, you can stop stick blending and leave it to cool completely. Don’t put the lid on just yet, though, because you don’t want condensation to form on the lid.

Note: At this point, your cream will still be quite thin–don’t worry. Your cream will continue to thicken for the next 12 hours.

Step 7: After several hours, when your cream is completely cooled, add in the glycerin, vitamin E, and Germall Plus preservative. If you’re using essential oils, add these in now too. Stir well by hand with a silicone spatula. I also like to use the spatula to scrape down the sides to ensure the preservative gets blended into every bit of cream.

Step 8: Time to package your cream!

Remember those lovely jars I told you about earlier? I like to place part of my cream in this jar, and store the rest in a half-pint mason jar. It helps keep the majority of the cream fresh from the dipping of fingers in my daily use jar. Just replenish your jar as needed.

Shelf life: This cream has a shelf life of about 8 months.

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Try These Other DIY Facial Product Recipes for Glowing Skin:

• DIY At-Home Microdermabrasion Exfoliant
• Oatmeal and Aloe Soothing Mask Recipe
• Pumpkin Seed and Rosehip Antioxidant Facial Serum Recipe

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Sources:

1. (Marmol I, et al. “Therapeutic Applications of Rose Hips from Different Rosa Species.” Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Jun; 18(6): 1137. doi:10.3390/ijms18061137)

2. (Nowak K, et al. “Parabens and Their Effects on the Endocrine System.” Mol Cell Endocrinol.)