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Solene Restorative Face Oil
A cold-pressed oil built around rosehip and a single percent of bakuchiol, the plant alternative to retinol that does the work without the sting.
Solene is six oils and two actives, and nothing else. Rosehip seed leads it, pressed cold so the trans-retinoic acids and the linoleic content survive the extraction. Around it sits squalane drawn from olive, sea buckthorn for its orange-red carotenoids, and evening primrose for gamma-linolenic acid.
The active is bakuchiol at one percent. It encourages cell turnover the way retinol does, but it is photostable and gentle enough for evening or morning use. We hold it at one percent because that is the proportion the published trials used, not a higher number that reads better on a label.
It absorbs in about ninety seconds and finishes matte for an oil. Two or three drops, pressed in, is the dose.
The formula, in full.
7 ingredients. Each named, sourced and explained. The percentages add to one hundred.
- 41% Rosehip seed oil Rosa Canina Seed Oil
Pressed cold, Chilean Patagonia The base. Linoleic acid and natural trans-retinoic acids for barrier and tone. - 22% Squalane Squalane
Hydrogenated from olive, Spain A weightless emollient that matches the skin's own sebum, so the oil sinks rather than sits. - 14% Evening primrose oil Oenothera Biennis Oil
Cold-pressed, Tasmania Gamma-linolenic acid to calm and soften. - 9% Sea buckthorn Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Extract
CO₂-extracted, Himalayan foothills Carotenoids and omega-7 for a warm cast and antioxidant cover. - 1.2% Rosemary CO₂ extract Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract
CO₂-extracted, Provence A natural antioxidant that keeps the oils stable without a synthetic preservative. - 1% Bakuchiol Bakuchiol
From the babchi seed, India The active. Plant-derived retinol alternative, held at the clinical-trial proportion. - 0.8% Tocopherol Tocopherol
Vitamin E, from sunflower Vitamin E, for stability and a little extra repair.
Faintly nutty, from the seeds themselves. No fragrance is added.
What it will not do.
- It will not bleach or lighten pigmentation. Bakuchiol evens tone slowly; it is not a tyrosinase inhibitor.
- It will not replace sunscreen. Use an SPF in the morning regardless.
- It will not clear active acne. The linoleic profile suits congestion-prone skin, but this is a repair oil, not a treatment.
Not in this formula
- Essential-oil fragrance
- Silicones
- Mineral oil
- Synthetic colour
Batch dated and numbered. Best within twelve months of opening.