Dream Dream Dream: the formula behind our bestselling night oil

Dream Dream Dream has been our bestselling product since we launched. Let me explain why it works so well.

It's a vitamin A story. But not the usual one.

Most brands that use vitamin A in a facial oil reach for rosehip, or sea buckthorn, and leave it there. I use both — and I use rosehip in two completely different ways, because cold-pressed oil and CO2 extract pull different things from the same plant.

Cold-pressed rosehip gives you the fatty acids and the carotenoids. These are your skin-conditioning, barrier-supportive components.

CO2 extraction concentrates the trans-retinoic acid — the naturally occurring form of tretinoin that exists in rosehip. This is as close as plants get to the prescription retinoid, without the irritation, because it converts slowly through several steps in your skin before becoming active. Your skin gets the benefit without the peeling, flushing, and purging phase that synthetic retinol tends to bring.

Sea buckthorn adds the richest plant-available form of beta-carotene. Another vitamin A pathway. It's also why the formula has that particular deep amber warmth — it's genuinely the colour of the plant, not a dye.

Kokum butter: the ingredient most oils leave out

Kokum butter is solid at room temperature. If you've ever seen sedimentation in your Dream bottle in winter, that's what it is — just warm the bottle slightly and it smooths out completely.

It's in the formula for its stearic acid content. Stearic acid is one of the most effective ingredients available for skin that's losing firmness and elasticity, and it's genuinely underused in facial oils because most brands chase lighter textures. It locks the nutrients in your skin overnight and make the oil feel super plush.

What it does overnight

The formula is built for night use specifically. While you sleep your skin is in repair mode — cell turnover is higher, blood flow increases, the barrier is working to restore itself. Dream is designed to support all of that: cell repair, barrier replenishment, and gentle resurfacing over time from the vitamin A activity.

Mix a few drops with your moisturiser and let it sink in before bed. A bottle lasts months.

On the scent

Rose, fennel, cedarwood, pink pepper, lavender, and the particular earthy-sweet scent of the cold-pressed plants themselves. It smells unmistakably like bedtime. Not in a synthetic, manufactured-calm way — in the way that actually works on your nervous system because the aromatic compounds are genuinely active.

Is it safe in pregnancy?

Yes. Botanical vitamin A absorbs in tiny quantities and converts gradually — an entirely different situation to synthetic retinol, which is the one the guidance refers to when it says to avoid vitamin A in pregnancy. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding and unsure, botanical vitamin A in a leave-on oil like this is well within what's considered safe. But always check with your midwife if you have specific concerns.

Micaela, Founder & Formulator / Neighbourhood Botanicals