How to Get Your Skin Summer-Ready

Originally published 17 September 2026.

Lightweight nourishment, botanical oils and beautifully scented skin — why the change of season might be the perfect time to rethink the way you moisturise.

As the weather warms, our wardrobes aren't the only things that change.

Arms and legs emerge from layers, skirts and dresses make their return, swimming and outdoor days become more frequent, and suddenly we're paying attention to skin that may have spent much of the cooler months covered up.

But warmer weather doesn't necessarily mean better-hydrated skin.

Sun exposure, salt water, chlorine, shaving, frequent showering and air-conditioning can all leave skin feeling dry, tight or looking a little lacklustre. Yet at the same time, the rich moisturiser that felt wonderful through the cooler months can suddenly feel like a little too much.

So how do we keep our skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished without feeling as though we've coated ourselves in something heavy?

This is where a thoughtfully formulated body oil can really come into its own.

We often use the words hydrating and moisturising as though they mean exactly the same thing, but there's an important difference.

Hydration relates to water within the skin. An oil doesn't add water.

What botanical oils do beautifully is act as emollients — softening and conditioning the skin — while helping reduce moisture loss from its surface.

And once you understand that, the way you use a body oil makes much more sense.

One of the best times to apply it is after showering while your skin is still slightly damp. Rather than completely towelling yourself dry, gently pat away the excess water and apply your oil while some moisture remains on the skin.

The water provides hydration; the oils help soften and condition the skin and support that beautifully supple skin feel.

It's a small change to your routine, but it can make a noticeable difference to the way body oil feels on your skin.

This is one of those questions that doesn't really have a winner.

They're different.

A lotion or cream generally contains both water and oils, brought together in an emulsion. A body oil contains oils and oil-soluble ingredients without that water phase.

Because Bloom's Botanical Body Oil contains no water, it doesn't require the broad-spectrum preservation system that a water-containing lotion or cream does.

That means there may be times when you prefer one over the other.

During cooler weather, you might love wrapping dry skin in a rich body butter or cream. When the temperature rises, you may prefer the silky slip and lighter sensory feel of a thoughtfully formulated oil.

Some people use both. Others choose according to the season, how their skin feels or simply what they enjoy using.

Skincare doesn't need to be a competition between products.

It needs to work for your skin.

They certainly can be.

The word oil describes an enormous family of ingredients, and they don't all behave the same way on skin.

Some botanical oils are richer and slower-moving. Others are remarkably light and silky. Some provide excellent glide, while others contribute different fatty acids and skin-conditioning qualities.

That's why the formulation matters.

When we developed Bloom Botanical Body Oil, we didn't want to take one fashionable botanical oil, put it in a bottle and call it finished.

We look at skincare ingredients much the same way a dietitian looks at a balanced diet. No single ingredient needs to do everything. Instead, we look at what each one contributes and how they work together as part of the whole.

Each oil was chosen to bring something different to the formulation — and together they create the skin feel and nourishment we were looking for.

Fractionated Coconut Oil forms the foundation of our botanical oil blend.

Although derived from coconut, it behaves quite differently from the whole coconut oil you may already know.

Fractionation produces a liquid oil with a lighter skin feel and excellent spreadability. This allows a relatively small amount to glide beautifully across a larger area of the body without the heaviness you might associate with whole coconut oil.

For a body oil intended to feel beautiful in warmer weather, that makes it a particularly useful foundation.

Here's one of our favourite ingredient facts.

Despite its name, Jojoba Oil is technically a liquid wax ester.

It's valued in skincare for its skin-conditioning properties and elegant texture, helping skin feel soft and smooth while contributing to the overall silky character of the blend.

It's also a perfect example of our balanced-diet approach to formulation. Jojoba doesn't need to do everything — it simply needs to bring something valuable to the blend.

Sweet Almond Oil brings a little more richness to the blend.

It's an emollient containing naturally occurring fatty acids that help condition the skin and leave dry or rough-feeling areas feeling softer and smoother.

This can be particularly welcome during warmer weather, when shaving, swimming and more frequent showering may leave exposed skin needing a little extra attention.

By using it as part of a broader blend, we can enjoy those conditioning qualities while balancing them with lighter-feeling oils.

Abyssinian Oil may not be as well known as coconut, almond or jojoba, but it's one of our absolute favourites.

Derived from the seeds of Crambe abyssinica, this beautifully lightweight oil is rich in long-chain fatty acids and has an exceptionally silky feel and wonderful spreadability.

It's particularly lovely on areas where skin can appear dry, crepey or lacking in suppleness — something many of us become more conscious of when warmer weather brings out sleeveless tops and dresses.

The delicate skin along the inner and underside of the upper arms is one area where that fine, crepey-looking texture can become particularly noticeable.

A body oil can't tighten loose skin or reverse the structural changes that naturally occur as skin ages. What a beautifully emollient oil can do is soften and condition dry surface skin, helping it look smoother and feel softer and more supple.

In fact, when we apply our Botanical Body Oil, the inner upper arms are one of the areas we like to give a little extra attention.

Abyssinian Oil's beautiful slip makes it particularly suited to this. It spreads effortlessly without heaviness, leaving the skin feeling silky and conditioned rather than coated.

Rosehip Oil is probably most familiar as a facial skincare ingredient, but the skin on the rest of our body deserves thoughtful ingredients too.

Naturally rich in fatty acids, Rosehip Oil is valued for its emollient and skin-conditioning properties.

For skin emerging from the cooler months feeling dry, rough or simply a little lacklustre, it contributes another layer of botanical nourishment to the blend.

Vitamin E plays two useful roles in an oil formulation.

It contributes to skin conditioning, while its antioxidant properties also help protect the botanical oils themselves against oxidation.

And this is where we can clear up a surprisingly common skincare misconception.

Vitamin E is not a broad-spectrum preservative.

Antioxidants help slow the oxidation of oils. Preservatives are used where appropriate to help protect formulations against microbial contamination such as bacteria, yeast and mould.

Different ingredients. Different jobs.

Understanding those little distinctions makes ingredient labels much less mysterious.

Learn more about Vitamin E →

It's not only what you apply. How you apply it can make a surprisingly big difference.

Body oil is traditionally poured into the palm, rubbed between the hands and then massaged over the body. It works — but it can also be very easy to use too much in the first area you reach.

You end up with beautifully oiled legs... and not very much left for your arms.

That's one of the reasons every Bloom Botanical Body Oil comes with its own body brush.

After showering, gently pat your skin so it remains slightly damp.

Then start with just one pump of oil on the brush.

Rather than working that oil completely into one area, distribute it around the body first:

One sweep down each leg. One sweep down each arm. One across the chest. One across the belly.

Then go back with the brush and work over those areas again, sweeping and massaging the oil evenly across the skin.

It's a simple technique, but it prevents most of your oil being deposited on the first part of the body you reach and helps a surprisingly small amount travel much further.

The inner upper arms are an area we like to pay particular attention to when we go back over the body — especially if the skin there is feeling dry or looking a little crepey.

For many people, starting with one pump may be all they need. Body size, skin dryness and personal preference will naturally make a difference, so add a little more only if you need it.

More isn't necessarily better.

The aim is a thin, even veil of botanical oils across the skin — enough to leave it feeling soft, smooth and conditioned without unnecessary excess.

And there's a very practical bonus to applying it with a brush:

the nourishment ends up on your body, not all over the palms of your hands.

This is one of the questions we're asked most often.

The truthful answer is that any oil has the potential to mark fabric if enough of it comes into direct contact with clothing before it has had time to settle.

That's another reason both quantity and application matter.

Using the body brush helps spread a small amount of oil thinly and evenly rather than leaving excess product sitting on one area of skin. Give it a few moments to settle before getting dressed, particularly when wearing delicate or light-coloured fabrics.

If your skin still feels noticeably wet or oily, chances are you've simply used more than you need.

A little body oil goes a surprisingly long way.

There's another warm-weather benefit to keeping your legs beautifully moisturised that has absolutely nothing to do with skincare trends.

Static cling.

You know the one.

You put on a beautiful floaty skirt or summer dress and suddenly the fabric seems determined to attach itself to your legs.

Static tends to be more troublesome in dry conditions, and dry skin can add to the friction between the skin and certain fabrics.

Keeping the legs well moisturised can help reduce that dry friction. We've found that applying body oil, allowing it to settle and then getting dressed can make a surprising difference to skirts and dresses prone to static cling.

It won't solve every static problem — fabric, footwear and humidity all play a part — but it's one of those useful little things you discover through actually using a product.

Smooth legs, glowing skin — and a dress that hangs where it's supposed to.

We'll take that as a win.

Body care may have a practical purpose, but scent has an extraordinary ability to turn something we should do into something we actually look forward to.

And fragrance delivered through a body oil creates a very different experience from fragrance delivered through a traditional perfume spray.

Most conventional spray perfumes use alcohol, usually ethanol, as the carrier for fragrance.

There's a good reason for that.

Alcohol evaporates quickly, helping fragrance disperse from the skin and creating the projection we associate with traditional perfume.

For many people, that's perfectly suitable.

For some, however, frequent application of alcohol-containing fragrance can feel drying or irritating, particularly on skin that's already dry or sensitive.

An oil-based fragrance behaves differently.

Rather than relying on rapidly evaporating alcohol to disperse the fragrance, scent carried within a body oil remains closer to the skin and releases differently as it's worn.

And because you're sweeping it over the body rather than applying fragrance only to a couple of pulse points, scent becomes part of the entire body-care ritual.

You're not simply perfuming your skin.

You're caring for it and scenting it at the same time.

Choosing fragrance online isn't always easy.

Words such as floral, warm, feminine and sophisticated only tell you so much. Sometimes one of the easiest ways to choose a scent is to think about the fragrances you already know and love.

Bloom Botanical Body Oil comes in four fragrance experiences:

Bloom — our own signature scent. Bright bergamot and grapefruit soften into warm vanilla for a fresh, uplifting fragrance that's distinctly Bloom.

Miss D — feminine, romantic and elegant. A beautiful choice for lovers of the fragrance style of Miss Dior.

Si Bella — graceful, warm and sophisticated. A lovely choice for lovers of the fragrance style of Giorgio Armani Sì.

Rouge — rich, luxurious and alluring. Perfect for lovers of the fragrance style of Baccarat Rouge 540.

These aren't traditional spray perfumes. The fragrance is carried within the botanical oil blend and swept across the body with the application brush, leaving skin beautifully conditioned with a soft veil of scent.

For someone who loves fragrance but doesn't necessarily want to reach for an alcohol-based perfume every day, scented body oil offers another way to enjoy it.

For many people, yes.

There isn't a prescribed number of days a body oil needs to be used.

It might become your everyday post-shower ritual. You might particularly enjoy it after shaving or swimming. Or you may simply reach for it whenever your skin feels as though it needs a little extra conditioning.

As with all skincare, pay attention to your skin and adjust your routine to suit.

Sunscreen.

Body oil can leave conditioned skin looking beautifully luminous, but glow is not sun protection.

Unless a product has been specifically formulated, tested and labelled with an SPF, botanical oils should never be relied upon to protect the skin from UV exposure.

Broad-spectrum sunscreen, protective clothing, shade and sensible sun protection remain important throughout the warmer months.

Body oil has its job.

Sunscreen has another.

Every change of season seems to arrive with a new list of products we're supposedly meant to buy.

The reality is usually much simpler.

Sometimes it's simply about understanding what our skin needs and changing how we care for it.

A thoughtfully formulated botanical body oil can provide a lighter-feeling option during warmer weather while helping skin feel soft, smooth and conditioned.

Applying it to slightly damp skin makes sense once you understand the relationship between water and oil.

Choosing a considered blend matters because — just like a balanced diet — it's not about finding one miracle ingredient. It's about what each ingredient contributes to the whole.

Using a body brush allows a small amount to be distributed beautifully across the skin. Keeping the skin well conditioned may even bring a few unexpected practical benefits when summer dresses come out of the wardrobe.

And choosing a fragrance you genuinely love can transform a practical two-minute job into a ritual you actually look forward to.

Because perhaps the best body-care routine isn't the one with the most products.

It's the one you enjoy enough to keep doing.

Bloom Botanical Body Oils are handcrafted in Airlie Beach using a considered blend of Fractionated Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Abyssinian Oil, Rosehip Oil and Vitamin E. Each 100 ml bottle comes with its own body brush and is available in four fragrance experiences — Bloom, Miss D, Si Bella and Rouge.

Explore Botanical Body Oils →