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.