Why Immortelle Is Good for the Skin
While rose is the heart of my oils, helichrysum — immortelle — is a star! It's one of the most precious oils I work with, and it earned its place in my Immortelle Face & Body Oil for good reason.
The name tells you something. Immortelle means "everlasting," named for flowers that hold their shape and color long after picking. In the Mediterranean, where it grows wild, it's been part of skin care traditions for a very long time. When I formulate with it, I'm drawing on that history and on what modern lab research has actually measured.
Here's what's in the bottle: apricot kernel oil, helichrysum (immortelle) essential oil, castor oil, rose, and rosemary antioxidant. Every ingredient is there on purpose. Apricot kernel oil is light and absorbs well, which makes it a good carrier for both face and body. Castor oil is rich and occlusive — it helps seal moisture in.
Rose deserves more than a passing mention, because it's in every one of my four formulas — it's the heart of my oils — and it's in this bottle at 0.5%. That number isn't arbitrary. Dr. Zielinski of Natural Living Family recommends 0.5%–1% as the ordinary topical dilution for rose, noting that "only a small amount is needed" because rose is so concentrated — "one drop can transform an entire diffuser or massage blend." The Tisserand Institute lands in the same place: 0.5–1.2% is the range they describe as "generally what we want" for facial cosmetics, including aging skin. So 0.5% isn't a timid dose. It's the dose the sources I trust say is right. (Links: Natural Living Family ; Tisserand Institute)
Rose brings its own skin story, too. It's a flower people have turned to for skincare for centuries, and modern lab work gives us hints about why: antioxidant activity that helps counter the kind of free-radical damage tied to skin aging, and in one laboratory finding Dr. Axe cites, strong activity against the bacteria associated with acne at just 0.25% dilution — another reminder of how potent this oil is at small amounts. As Dr. Z himself cautions, what happens in a lab dish doesn't prove what happens on human skin. But it helps explain why rose keeps showing up wherever skin care is taken seriously. (Link: https://draxe.com/essential-oils/rose-essential-oil/)
What makes helichrysum interesting for skin comes down to a few things researchers have put numbers to. In a 2019 laboratory study, helichrysum essential oil (Helichrysum italicum, the species used in the research) inhibited two enzymes — collagenase and elastase — that break down collagen and elastin. Those are the proteins that keep skin firm and springy. A lab dish isn't a face, but it's a meaningful clue about why this oil has its reputation for anti aging effects of skin. (Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326683329_The_antiaging_properties_of_Helichrysum_italicum_Roth_GDon_essential_oil_collagenase_and_elastase_inhibition_activities)
Then there's the skin barrier — the outermost layer that keeps moisture in and irritants out. A 2023 study on Corsican helichrysum oil used donated human skin tissue and found increases in ceramides, skin lipids, and involucrin, a protein involved in building that barrier. The researchers also tested neryl acetate, one of helichrysum's main constituents, on its own — and it reproduced much of the whole oil's barrier activity. That's the kind of finding formulators pay attention to, because it points to which part of the oil is doing the work. (Link: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268384)
Helichrysum also carries a long traditional reputation for irritated skin and skin repair. Both Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Zielinski of Natural Living Family discuss its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial potential, and animal research on wound healing has been promising — though animals aren't people, and that's an honest limit on what the evidence shows so far.
Where does Immortelle fit? Think of it this way: the Morning Glow and Night Serum are the concentrated face ritual — the specialists. Immortelle is the all-over nourishment, face and body — the generalist, with real research behind its star oil. It's step two of the four-step routine, the extra-moisture step, and it layers alongside the Beauty Blue duo rather than replacing them. When your skin — anywhere — wants more moisture with benefits, this is the bottle that gives it.
References
- Fraternale D, Flamini G, Ascrizzi R. In Vitro Anticollagenase and Antielastase Activities of Essential Oil of Helichrysum italicum subsp. italicum (Roth) G. Don. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2019;22:1041–1046. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326683329_The_antiaging_properties_of_Helichrysum_italicum_Roth_GDon_essential_oil_collagenase_and_elastase_inhibition_activities)
- Lemaire G, Olivero M, Rouquet V, Moga A, Cenizo V, et al. Neryl acetate, the major component of Corsican Helichrysum italicum essential oil, mediates its biological activities on skin barrier. PLOS ONE. 2023;18(3):e0268384. (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268384)
- Andjić M, et al. Immortelle Essential Oil-Based Ointment Improves Wound Healing in a Diabetic Rat Model. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2022;150:112941.
- Tisserand R. Immortelle oil – to coagulate or not to coagulate? Tisserand Institute blog, April 2023. (https://tisserandinstitute.org)
- Tisserand Institute. Essential oils and cosmetics: skin, scent and psyche. (https://tisserandinstitute.org)
- Zielinski E. Rose Essential Oil Benefits for Mood, Skin, Pain, Sleep & Libido. Natural Living Family. (https://naturallivingfamily.com/essential-oils/benefits/rose-oil/)
- Tisserand Institute. Dilution: essential oils. (https://tisserandinstitute.org/dilution-essential-oils/)
- Axe J. Rose Essential Oil. (https://draxe.com/essential-oils/rose-essential-oil/)