We use avocado oil in four formulas: The Midnight Youth Potion, our Hydrating Hand Cream, our Rejuvenating Body Cream and GRR Oil Beard Oil. In each it plays the same part, the cushion. Avocado oil is rich in oleic acid, a softening fatty acid, and it carries vitamin E and carotenoids, so it leaves skin feeling nourished and helps slow the loss of moisture. We blend it with lighter oils so it brings comfort without weight.
Here is why we chose it, what it does in each product, and what we do and do not claim for it.
Why avocado oil
Avocado oil is pressed from the flesh of the fruit rather than its seed, and depending on the variety and how it is pressed, oleic acid makes up anywhere from about 42 to 75 percent of its fatty acids, usually around 70. That is what gives it its rich, cushioning feel. Linoleic acid, the lighter fatty acid that skin uses to keep its outer layer intact, trails well behind.
Two things made it the right choice for us. The first is the feel: a medium-heavy oil that absorbs gradually and leaves a soft layer that keeps dry skin comfortable for hours. The second is stability. Avocado oil carries natural vitamin E, roughly 79 to 190 mg per kilogram in the alpha form, and resists going stale better than many delicate seed oils. That matters when you make formulas in small batches and want each bottle to stay at its best.
On its own, avocado oil can feel heavy. In a blend, next to lighter oils, it fills out the texture and makes the whole formula feel generous. That is how we use it everywhere.
In The Midnight Youth Potion
The Midnight Youth Potion is the oil serum we make for evenings. Thirteen pure botanical oils, among them grape seed, avocado, babassu, jojoba, carrot seed, passionfruit, baobab, camellia and Kalahari melon, are blended with niacinamide, sodium hyaluronate and a vitamin C ester. Light oils such as grape seed, listed first, and passionfruit carry the blend. Avocado and baobab add the cushion, so skin feels deeply nourished rather than greasy, and you wake to skin that looks brighter, softer and well rested. A faint floral note comes from tiare flower, with no added fragrance.
In our Hydrating Hand Cream
Our Hydrating Hand Cream has to do two things at once: comfort dry hands and leave nothing behind on the next thing you touch. Kalahari melon seed oil leads, light and rich in linoleic acid, with aloe leaf juice and glycerin for hydration. Coconut, sunflower, jojoba, avocado, argan and borage oils cushion dry skin. Avocado's share is small but noticeable: it is part of why hands still feel supple an hour after you put the cream on.
In our Rejuvenating Body Cream
The Rejuvenating Body Cream is denser, a rich, velvety cream that melts in with a slow glide. Here coconut, sunflower, jojoba and avocado oils cushion the surface, with Kalahari melon seed oil, aloe leaf juice and glycerin for hydration and argan and borage oils for suppleness. Applied after bathing, while skin is still slightly damp, it leaves elbows, shins and heels feeling velvety without a greasy residue.
In GRR Oil Beard Oil
GRR Oil is a conditioning beard oil for a softer, smoother-looking beard without greasy shine. Its base is jojoba, Kalahari melon seed, avocado, coconut and castor oils with squalene. Jojoba and Kalahari melon seed keep it light enough to spread through the hair, castor adds a little gloss, and avocado conditions the skin beneath, which a beard tends to leave dry.
What we say about avocado oil, and what we do not
Much of what you read about avocado oil online overstates the science, so we want to be precise. Its emollient, moisture-holding effect is well documented: it softens skin and slows the water lost from it. Its vitamin E and carotenoids give antioxidant care. Those are the claims we make.
The claims about collagen are a different matter. Most of that research was done in animals, on injured skin over a couple of weeks, not on an intact adult face over months. The findings are interesting, but they are preliminary, and we do not present them as fact. When we say skin looks smoother or softer after using our products, we mean what you can see and feel, not a change deep in the skin.
Where you will not find avocado oil
You may have read that our Royal Kalahari Under Eye and Lip Serum Roller Oil or our Ultra Peptide Night Cream contain avocado oil. They do not. The roller is built on the lighter oils of our Royal Kalahari family, with castor oil for gloss, and the night cream relies on rosehip seed oil and peptides. Our Ingredient Library lists exactly which products contain each ingredient.
Every one of these four formulas is mixed, poured and labeled by hand in our Williamsburg workshop.
Questions about avocado oil in our products
Which Marianella products contain avocado oil?
The Midnight Youth Potion, the Hydrating Hand Cream, the Rejuvenating Body Cream and GRR Oil Beard Oil, along with the sets, multi-packs and gallons made from them, such as The Midnight Glow and the Body Cream 4 Pack.
Why blend avocado oil with lighter oils instead of using it alone?
Alone, avocado oil can feel heavy, especially on the face. Lighter oils such as grape seed, jojoba and Kalahari melon seed carry it, so the formula feels rich but sinks in.
Why is avocado oil in a beard oil?
A beard leaves the skin beneath it dry. Avocado oil conditions that skin, while the lighter jojoba and Kalahari melon seed oils keep GRR Oil easy to spread through the hair.
Does avocado oil help the night serum keep?
Its natural vitamin E helps it resist going stale better than many seed oils, which supports the freshness of the blend, alongside the vitamin C ester in the formula.
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