The Skin Oil · 2026

Evening Primrose — benefits & uses

The yellow evening bloom prized for its oil — what it does for skin and the monthly cycle, and how to grow it.

Yellow evening primrose flowers with a bottle of evening primrose oil on a wooden table
Traditional use

Skin

The oil is a long-standing classic for dry skin and calming irritated, sensitive complexions.

Also for

Cycle comfort

A traditional support for monthly-cycle and hormonal comfort — one of its best-known uses.

Grows like

A patient biennial

Flowers in its second year, opening at dusk — worth the wait for the blooms and seed.

The prize

The seed oil

The oil is pressed from the tiny seeds — rich in GLA, the reason it's so valued.

Not medical advice. Evening primrose oil interacts with blood thinners and some medications, and is best avoided in pregnancy without professional advice.

Grown & used, on video

Grow your own evening primrose

Evening primrose is one of the ten non-GMO seed varieties in Nicole Apelian's Medicinal Garden Kit, with her remedy guide covering its uses.

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