Woman applies suntan oil
The 17 Best Clean Body Oils
There’s something undeniably decadent about a body oil: Ultra-moisturizing and wildly luxurious to the touch, it leaves your skin more glowy, firm, and supple. It is also not something you smooth on and then dash off to work—even oils that sink in relatively quickly do take a minute. Body oils are in fact for taking a minute for yourself.
A conventional body oil can be, like a conventional body cream, pretty bad: Mineral oil and silicones infused with artificial fragrances and colorants. Slather your body in them and you expose yourself to many more toxins—carcinogens and endocrine disruptors as well as plain old skin irritants—than you would with say, an eye cream.
The manner in which even natural, plant-based oils are extracted also makes a difference: Harsh solvents leave toxic residues in the oil that your skin readily absorbs. And oils labeled “bath” oils are often cut with solvents and/or drying surfactants to make them foam, or to make them less greasy on the surface of a tub.
In the same way that face oil simplified and revolutionized skincare for many people (suddenly, the centuries-old essential of indigenous women across the globe made more sense than the 17-million-ingredient conventional skincare concoctions designed to attract with texture and scent as opposed to results), the best body oils turn out to be incredibly multipurpose. Beyond their amazing moisturizing and firming qualities, great body oils work in place of conventional perfume, as bath oil, and even hair oil in most cases. Our favorites, below, combine beautiful scents, exquisite texture, and serious skin benefits.
Tata Harper Revitalizing Body Oil
$90
This deeply luxurious mix of natural oils is amazing for plumping and hydrating skin, and it also makes for a beyond-indulgent, ultra-moisturizing bath. The scent—a mix of essential oils from borage to calendula—is relaxing and uplifting all at once, while the formula itself is pure skin nourishment.
Kypris Body Elixer in Inflorescence
$95
It’s hard to get past the fabulousness of the bottle—it seriously dresses up a medicine chest or even the prettiest vanity—but this luxurious body oil is equally amazing once opened: Scented with bitter-orange blossom, it’s a mix of potent, highest-quality botanical oils that are usually reserved for face-only formulas. Skin-plumping sweet iris stem cells and vitamin C ester are combined with sustainably procured, phytonutrient-rich oils like sunflower, moringa, prickly pear, and tamanu seed to tone, enhance, and glow, plus provide an antioxidant boost to SPF. It sinks into skin instantly, leaving it soft and silky.
Rodin Luxury Body Oil
$130
This is made with the same impossibly deluxe ingredients as the best-selling, life-changing Olio Lusso face oil. The incredibly moisturizing, beautifully scented (it’s made with 11 plant and flower oils, from vitamin-C-packed neroli to evening primrose, rosehip, and calendula) body oil sinks into skin and truly leaves you glowing. Former model/stylist Linda Rodin created it; one look at her skin, and you’ll want to have what she’s having. Models, designers, stylists, photographers, and …pretty much everyone in the fashion industry is obsessed.
Kesh Argan Oil with Rose Essence
$40
Made with 100% organic cold-pressed argan oil plus rose essences straight from the famous rose gardens of Marrakesh, this is a hair, skin, and body treatment that just happens to smell unbelievably subtle and sophisticated. Just a small amount provides long-lasting hydration for the face; it’s fantastic applied all over the body after a shower; and it leaves hair (especially dry ends) gleaming with health. It also works as a truly gorgeous, long-lasting, rose-inflected perfume. (There’s also a version with orange blossom.)
S.W. Basics Lemongrass Body Oil
$20
Three super-powered oils—macadamia, avocado, and sesame, all hugely moisturizing, all full of essential minerals and antioxidants—combine for an ultra-hydrating treat for the body that sinks right in and leaves skin incredibly soft. The subtle, citrusy scent is both clean and comforting all at once; the oils lock in moisture all day. It’s especially amazing right after a shower; it’s also incredible in a bath.
May Lindstrom The Good Stuff Radiance Oil
$110
This magical, super-hydrating, luminizing potion uses golden minerals to lend skin a tanned glow. Its top-of-the-line ingredients—from rose absolute and ylang-ylang to cocoa and lavender—create a subtle but utterly stunning scent, a gorgeous texture, and deeply hydrating results.
Shiva Rose Venus Amber Body Oil
$60
Designed to be as sensuous and luxurious as possible, this richly therapeutic oil is named for Venus, the goddess of love. The therapeutic blend of oils is infused with rose quartz crystals for love, peace, and tranquility; the organic amber blend is a natural aphrodisiac that soothes the mind. Sunflower, sweet almond, apricot seed, borage, evening primrose, sandalwood, and vitamin E are hand-blended to moisturize, nourish, and rejuvenate.
Tammy Fender Bulgarian Lavender Body Oil
$65
On the body or in the bath, this exquisite oil is deeply toning, nourishing, and healing. Lavender balances hormonal problems, relaxes the body, clears the mind, is both antibacterial and anti-fungal, and even encourages collagen production, soothing cuts, burns, or scarring. It also smells and feels pretty wonderful.
Maya Chia The Revitalizer Beautifying Body Oil
$45
This 24-hour hydrating, nourishing blend of grapeseed, supercritical chia, marula, baobab, pomegranate, cranberry, and pumpkin seed oil is a true superfood for the skin. It sinks in instantly, smells incredible, and delivers fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins to help firm, moisturize, and tone skin. It feels amazing going on and leaves skin with a subtle sheen.
Jao Goe Oil
$48
This ultra-luxurious body oil is packed with firming, anti-aging ingredients that protect against UV and environmental damage, hydrate, and reinvigorate skin. Sweet almond, grapeseed, flaxseed, antioxidant Hoya flower, passionfruit, and fig oil combine to create a healing, nourishing treatment; a blend of lime, grapefruit, lemongrass, and bergamot essential oils.
Beautycounter Lustro Body Oil in Rosemary & Citrus
$68
The 13 botanical oils in this incredible blend are all deeply hydrating; it smells subtly of grapefruit, sweet orange, and rosemary. The ultra-nourishing formula leaves skin silky, smooth, and soft—it’s especially brilliant post- cold, wind, or beach.
Rahua Amazon Oil
$57
This is the oil that’s the base of everything in the entire Rahua line: It’s an ultra-concentrated—yet somehow incredibly light—mother lode of nutrients and moisturizers. Its hydrating, omega-9-rich rahua and ungurahua oils (used by indigenous Amazonian women for centuries), plus omega-3-packed sacha inchi oil, plus antioxidants, leave your skin glowing, youthful, and healthy.
de Mamiel Restoration Body Serum
$85
A miracle blend of nutrient-dense oils from sea buckthorn and prickly pear to baobab enrich this slightly shimmery (it imparts a pretty sheen on legs, shoulders, or collarbones—especially good before going out) oil-serum. Scented with a stunning mix of citrus, floral, and woody essential oils, it moisturizes like crazy, leaving skin firm, nourished, and beautifully supple.
Organic Pharmacy Rose and Jasmine Body Oil
The Organic Pharmacy, $66
The scent alone is gorgeous, sophisticated and subtle; the mix of oils is at least as luxurious. Beyond the exquisite rose and jasmine, there’s carrot, rosehip, St. John’s wort, jojoba, and marigold, leaving skin plump with moisture, faintly scented, and beautifully healthy.
PLUS, THREE MORE NOT AVAILABLE ON GOOP
This Works Deep Sleep Bath Oil
Net-A-Porter, $148
A hot bath infused with a few drops of this truly incredible oil is a serious sleep-inducer. Truly, there are few non-drug relaxers as potent as this one; the enchanting, subtle lavender-chamomile-patchouli blend lulls the mind and body into utter bliss. Beyond the deeply relaxing, stress-relieving effects, it also happens to moisturize intensively, so you wake up with beautifully soft skin, along with more energy than you’ve had in weeks.
Burt’s Bees Lemon & Vitamin E Oil
Burt’s Bee, $8
Soften and smooth skin instantly with this blend of sweet almond, lemon, and vitamin E. Use in it a bath alone or mixed with rose oil—an amazing combination—for an uplifting, hugely moisturizing, utterly nourishing indulgence.
Weleda Sea Buckthorn Body Oil
Weleda, $26
This is packed with antioxidants and nutrients—starting with the miracle-ingredient sea buckthorn berry and seed oils, which is full of essential fatty acids to replenish moisture, plus pro-vitamin A and vitamin E to soften and protect from sun damage. Sun-drenched mandarin, orange, and grapefruit essential oils create a softly invigorating scent that lingers on your newly plumped, firmed, luminous skin.