I can't stress enough how much I love a good body care product. Even as a person who gets loads of skincare and makeup sent to me on the regular, I like to think that I have more body washes, oils, butters, and lotions than my bathroom can reasonably hold. More specifically, I adore a body oil. There's just something about stepping out of the shower and immediately moisturizing my skin below the neck with an oil—in a way, I feel like I'm curating my own at-home spa experience.
With this in mind you can probably imagine how stoked I was when I heard that Pattern Beauty—Tracee Ellis Ross's beauty brand that originally launched with a lineup of now-beloved textured haircare products—is expanding into the body category. The products officially launched on Aug. 21, and the lineup consists of five products: a body wash, a scrub, a cream lotion, a body butter, and of course, a body oil.
I tested Pattern's Nourishing Body Oil and immediately knew that this would be a staple in my fall beauty routine. Keep reading to see my unfiltered thoughts about the product, and check out the rest of the brand's body lineup ahead.
The Formula
Pattern’s Nourishing Body Oil features a blend of seven oils, the most notable being baobab, jojoba, avocado, and coconut. It also features vitamin E for some additional moisturizing properties, but it does so without it feeling too heavy or greasy on the skin (more on that later).
The Application
I’ve heard on numerous occasions that body oils are best applied when you’re fresh out of the shower and while your skin is still damp, since this can help to lock in moisture and ensure that your skin won’t just dry out a few hours later. That said, applying body oil while my skin is still slightly wet sounds like a sensory nightmare for me, so whenever I used the oil, I applied it to dry skin and never had an issue with staying moisturized throughout the day. I found that one to two pumps at a time gives me just enough product to distribute to both of my legs and arms as well as other areas of my body.
The Wear
Body oils can be a tricky category for some people since it's easy to fall in love with the idea of wearing them, not so much the act, as they can usually leave you feeling…well, oily. From personal experience, I've also noticed that some body oils (specifically the scented ones) tend to linger on my clothes for a while, even after I've washed them.
With this product, there’s no getting around the initial greasy feeling, but I will say that once I applied the oil to my whole body and allowed it to settle for just twenty minutes, that feeling subsided and I didn’t feel heavy or sticky at all. The product doesn’t rub off onto other surfaces (something I often worry about when wearing oils during the day), and the scent—which is a warm blend of amber and bergamot—wasn’t overpowering, nor was it hard to wash out of my clothes once it was time for me to do laundry. I also wore it to an event one morning and received a compliment on how I smelled almost immediately.
The Takeaway
I've tried plenty of oils—some very lightweight, some heavily scented, some very greasy. This oil has been one of my favorites that I've tried so far this year: it moisturizes for hours without making my skin feel slippery or making me look too shiny, and the scent is strong enough to linger for a while without being overpowering or irritating.
The rest of Pattern's body lineup is also worth plenty of praise. Shop the full collection ahead.
Sometimes body scrubs can be a little too rough on the skin, but this one sits perfectly in the middle ground between a gentle exfoliator and a moisturizer.
While I wish this body wash came in a slightly larger bottle, I still love how powerful the scent is and how it cleanses without drying or stripping.
This is the perfect summer pick for when you need hydration without the heaviness.
Alternatively, this has a buttery but not-too-thick texture that's a more heavy-duty alternative when your skin is drier than normal.
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