Best Luxury Body Oil: What to Check on the Product Page

Clarins opened its first Paris institute in 1954 around massage and plant based body treatment oils, and seventy years later the body oil is still the most underrated step in a cold weather routine. I put one on every night from October to March, and the product page tells you almost everything you need to know before it arrives.

 

I check three things. First, the oils near the top of the ingredient list: squalane, jojoba and light esters sink in fast, while almond, argan and shea feel richer and stay on the skin longer. Second, whether it is fragranced, because a body oil sits on a lot of skin and a strong scent will fight your perfume. Third, whether there is shimmer, which is lovely on bare legs at a party and less lovely on a white sweater.

 

The first group is the dry oils, the ones you can put on and get dressed over almost straight away. Glossier's Body Hero mist and Moroccanoil's Dry Body Oil are the lightest. Nécessaire, which Randi Christiansen and Nick Axelrod-Welk launched in 2019 to make body care the first thought rather than the afterthought, makes The Body Oil with peptides and ceramides, and it reads more like skincare than perfume. Salt & Stone's two oils and AKT London's Everyday Encore are for people who want a quiet scent.

When the heating comes on, the skin on my shins and arms goes tight and papery within a week, and this is the group for that. Clarins' Relax oil is the house's evening blend, made with the same plant oil approach behind the treatment oils it has sold since the first institute. Decorté, the Japanese prestige line, makes its AQ Treatment Body Oil feel silky rather than greasy.

 

Josie Maran's pure argan oil is the simplest thing here. Maran launched her line in 2007 around fair trade argan oil harvested by cooperatives of Moroccan women, and the oil works on hair, cuticles and elbows as well as legs. L'Occitane's Almond Supple Skin oil is the one with the big following, and MARA's Sea Sculpt and Katini's Signature oil are the two that lean firming. Tronque and CYKLAR both add vitamin C for skin that looks dull by midwinter.

 

My test: apply it to damp skin straight out of the shower, then wait two minutes. If your legs still feel slick enough to mark your jeans, it is a nighttime oil, not a morning one.

The last group is the fun one. François Nars bought the island of Motu Tané in French Polynesia, and his Monoi Body Glow comes from the coconut and tiare flower oil Tahitians have used for generations. It smells like a holiday, and on a dark December night that is the point.

 

Tom Ford's Soleil Blanc oil smells like the fragrance and leaves a soft gold sheen. PHLUR's Vanilla Skin and Missing Person oils are for people who would rather wear scent on skin than spray it. Sol de Janeiro's Beija Flor and Firmeza, L'Occitane's shimmering almond oil, Moroccanoil's shimmering oil, Patrick Ta's Major Glow and amika's I'm Glistening are the ones I reach for before a party. CYKLAR's Vanilla Verve and Rare Beauty's mousse to oil are the softest of the twelve.

 

What I would skip: shimmer under a black dress that zips up the back. It transfers onto the lining every time.

If I could only keep one, it would be a dry oil for mornings, because that is the one that actually gets used every day. Put a richer treatment oil on the nightstand for the coldest weeks, and keep a shimmer oil for nights out. Three bottles sounds like a lot, but each one does a job the others cannot.

 

Use it on damp skin, warm a few drops between your palms first, and go lighter than you think. An oil that soaks in completely is doing more than one that sits on top.

 

If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Marula Oil, From Drunk Elephant's Face Oil to Body Wash and Lipstick.