Lately, I have been so completely smitten with cistus essential oil that I want to put it in all of my homemade products. Its peppery, earthy, and somewhat spicy aroma lends a lovely middle note to blends, especially when paired with other resinous essential oils like vetiver, frankincense, and myrrh.

Cistus, also known as rockrose and labdanum, is a flowering perennial shrub that grows in rocky soil throughout the Mediterranean, Morocco, Portugal, The Middle East, and the Canary Islands. Its beautiful essential oil is extracted not from its flowers, but from its resinous leaves, stems, and stalks.

It’s always interesting to me how nature gives us what we need by giving us small clues on how to use specific plants. Rockrose grows in craggy rocky soil and shows great resilience when it comes to where this hardy shrub chooses to grow – eroded hillsides, in areas where fires have burned, and in overgrazed fields.

Cistus is what repairs and rebuilds the soil and just like it restores the environment back into balance, so too does it offer this ability to our skin.

Healing Rock Rose Face Serum for Dry and Damaged Skin

If you make a comparison between skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and other irritated and inflamed skin conditions with the environment rockrose likes to grow in, you can quickly see the similarities.

Just as the soil needs to be repaired and replenished after a fire or overgrazing, so too does our skin after stripping it of its natural oils.

Rockrose essential oil is the perfect companion to add to homemade facial serums in order to restore that balance because it has potent wound healing and anti-inflammatory properties that effectively treat compromised skin conditions like dryness, acne, eczema, and psoriasis.

It also has an affinity for draining lymph fluid, controlling excess oil production, and for treating and preventing the signs of aging.

How to Make Rock Rose Face Serum

So now that you know why cistus is such a great oil to use in your skincare, here’s a delightful face serum recipe I’ve been using both morning and night to help keep my skin happy and healthy.

Rock Rose Face Serum Recipe

• One ½ oz dropper bottle
• Jojoba oil (or carrier of choice that works well for your skin – learn more here!)
• 3 drops carrot seed essential oil – repairs and nourishes the skin
• 2 drops frankincense essential oil – restorative and anti-inflammatory
• 2 drops cistus (rockrose) essential oil – controls sebum, anti-inflammatory, and repairs the skin
• 1 drop tangerine essential oil – brightens the skin and lightens hyperpigmentation
• 1 drop geranium essential oil – controls excess sebum production

Loving Preparation – Rock Rose Face Serum

1. Add the essential oils to the dropper bottle
2. Next, fill the bottle to the shoulder with jojoba oil or carrier oil of choice
3. Cap closed and roll between the palms to mix

To Use

After cleansing, spritz your face liberally with rose hydrosol, then apply 2 or more drops of rockrose face serum to your damp skin.

Repeat morning and night.

Have you ever used cistus essential oil? Please share in the comments below!

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Essential Oils for Specific Skin Types
How to Make Rose Water
Hyperpigmentation Reducing Acne Serum