Cold-Pressed vs. Refined Oils: Why It Matters for Skin

Cold-pressed oils are extracted mechanically, without heat or chemical solvents, which preserves their natural vitamins, antioxidants, and fatty acids. Refined oils are processed with heat and solvents to extend shelf life and neutralize scent, a process that strips out much of what made the oil beneficial in the first place. The Glow Face Serum with Plum & Prickly Pear uses only cold-pressed and CO2-extracted oils.

What Cold-Pressing Actually Means

Cold-pressing is mechanical extraction. Seeds or kernels are cleaned, then pressed under physical pressure to release their oil, with no added heat and no chemical solvents. The result retains the oil's natural vitamins, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids, along with its natural color and scent. Cold-pressing produces less oil per batch than refining does, part of why cold-pressed oils cost more to produce.

What Refining Actually Does

Refined oils go through a different process entirely. Heat, and often chemical solvents, are used to extract more oil faster and at lower cost. The oil is then bleached and deodorized to remove color and scent, and stabilized to extend shelf life. What's left behind is more consistent and shelf-stable, but the antioxidants, polyphenols, and vitamin content that gave the original oil its value are largely gone.

Why This Matters on Skin

Skin absorbs what's actually in a product, not what the label implies. A refined oil applied to skin still moisturizes, but mostly through texture, not through the antioxidant or fatty acid activity that supports the skin's barrier and helps protect against everyday environmental stress. Cold-pressed and CO2-extracted oils carry that activity into the formula intact.

How the Glow Face Serum Is Made

The Glow Face Serum with Plum & Prickly Pear uses four botanicals, all either cold-pressed or CO2-extracted: plum oil from southwestern France, prickly pear seed oil from Tunisia, sea buckthorn CO2 from Ukraine, and rosehip CO2 from Bulgaria. None of the four are refined. The plum nourishes. The prickly pear refines. The sea buckthorn revives. The rosehip restores.

Written by Jade Maddren

Cold-pressing uses no heat or solvents, unlike refining.

This is why cold-pressed oils retain more of their natural antioxidant and vitamin content.

Refined oils are stripped of much of what made them valuable.

Bleaching and deodorizing remove color, scent, and nutrients together.

The Glow Face Serum uses zero refined oils.

All four botanicals are cold-pressed or CO2-extracted, never refined.

Products Mentioned in This Article

Glow Serum

From $160.00

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between cold-pressed and refined oils?

Cold-pressed oils are extracted mechanically, with no heat or chemical solvents, which preserves their natural vitamins, antioxidants, and fatty acids. Refined oils are processed with heat and solvents, then bleached and deodorized, which extends shelf life but strips out much of what made the oil beneficial.

Why do cold-pressed oils cost more?

Cold-pressing produces less oil per batch than refining does, since there's no chemical extraction to maximize yield. The tradeoff is an oil that retains far more of its natural nutrient content.

Does the Glow Face Serum use any refined oils?

No. All four botanicals in the Glow Face Serum with Plum & Prickly Pear are cold-pressed or CO2-extracted: plum oil from France, prickly pear seed oil from Tunisia, sea buckthorn CO2 from Ukraine, and rosehip CO2 from Bulgaria.

Why does the Glow Face Serum have a natural scent and color?

Because none of its oils are refined. Refining bleaches and deodorizes oil to make it neutral and shelf-stable. Cold-pressed and CO2-extracted oils keep their natural color and scent, part of how you can tell they haven't been stripped down.

Is CO2 extraction the same as cold-pressing?

Not exactly, but the goal is the same. CO2 extraction uses pressurized carbon dioxide instead of mechanical pressure to pull oil from the plant, without heat or solvents. Both methods are chosen to keep the oil's natural compounds intact.

How should I use the Glow Face Serum in my routine?

Morning and night, on damp skin. Warm 3 to 6 drops between your palms and press into the face, neck, and chest. Apply it last in your routine, since oils are meant to seal in whatever comes before them.

Sources

Cold-Pressed vs. Refined Oils: Why It Matters for Hair and Skin. Allpa Botanicals, ingredient education.
Organic, Cold-Pressed, and Unrefined Oils: What's the Difference. Consumer ingredient science overview.
Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Prunus domestica seed oil, ingredient safety assessment.
Redondo, et al. Valorization of Prunus Seed Oils: Fatty Acids Composition and Oxidative Stability. Molecules (MDPI) / PMC.
Characterization of Opuntia ficus indica seed oil from Tunisia. ResearchGate.