Hinterlands Beard Oil made it to the No:1 spot of my Top 5 oils with Nordic Mist. Now it’s another Nordic themed oil under the spotlight but will this one reach the heights of NM? Lets get into the details with my Hinterlands Beard Oil Review – Nordic Jul.
A bit about Hinterlands Beard Oil
I have reviewed two other oils by Josh of Hinterlands, Nordic Mist and Serenity. Both are fantastic oils of the highest quality made by someone who has a gift for alchemy. Okay, okay, it’s not alchemy but this potion making is not easy. Getting the right balance of carrier oils and essential or fragrance oils can be a tricky process. Many people try to make top quality premium oils, few succeed.
I have talked about Josh and his awesome brand before so here is a quick recap.
Josh started playing around with the idea of his own oils in 2014 and eventually came up with something he liked. As a graphic designer Josh had some ideas for branding and labelling. He came up with the name Wolf as the brand name but his love of the outdoors led to Hinterlands being born. He sold the oils to his friends and obviously used them himself.
Then lockdown happened. Josh finally had the time to really get behind this and launch his products into the world! The first 3 oils were Explorer, Early Riser and Nordic Mist. He soon followed these up with Serenity, Nordic Jul and Wilderness. One of the great things about Hinterlands is the partnership with One Tree Planted where a tree is planted with every bottle bought. Read more info here.
Okay, let us get on with the Hinterlands Beard Oil Review – Nordic Jul.
Scent
Josh only uses essential oils in his products and all of his products are fully CPSR approved.
Frankincense hits you straight away bringing an immediate sense of warmth with it. The woodsy smell is a signature of the brand and you feel transported into the Hinterlands. It is a spicy fragrance and works extremely well with the Cinnamon Leaf oil that comes next. Adding to the warm feeling of the frankincense this really adds to the spiciness, making it a very wintry smell. Jul is actually Norwegian for Yule or Christmas.
This makes perfect sense as Josh really does bring meaning to his oils with the scents he has created. These fragrances settle down after a couple of hours and you can start to smell the lime in the background giving a nice fresh scent to top it all off.
I love the wintry smell from this oil. It wakes up your senses and blasts through your sinuses to give you a feeling of winter in the forests of Norway. In that respect it is similar to the feeling I got from Nordic Mist, only that would be more of a summery scent.
Staying Power
So far, the Hinterlands oils I have tested have varied in how long they last with NM reaching 9 hours and serenity only 4-5. Can Nordic Jul better these two?
The original strong burst of Frankincense and Cinnamon Leaf die down after about 2 hours into a calmer scent with the zest of the lime flowing through into the sinuses. This then lasts for around another 5 hours before fading away giving it a respectable 7 plus hours in my beard. That is pretty decent and lands in the middle of the 2 I have already reviewed. I do like a long lasting scent and this falls into that category.
Benefits
Josh uses the same 3 carrier oils in all of his products and they work fantastically well. I think sometimes, a product can have too many carriers and their benefits can overlap, essentially doing the same thing. Carrier oils dilute the essential oils so that they can help carry them into the skin. Too many carriers might also dilute the scent, although this isn’t proven. The three carriers that Josh uses do a fantastic job of softening and moisturising my beard and the skin beneath.
Let me break them down for you.
Castor
Castor oil is rich in ricinoleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. This really helps to mousturise and hydrate the skin under your beard which can be difficult to do, especially with a big beard. It can also help to reduce acne which can appear when you first start to grow your beard.
The main benefit for your beard is in helping to reduce beardruff. This is when your skin gets itchy and flaky, similar to dandruff. Castor oil will also lubricate the hair shaft which helps make it 
stronger and less susceptible to breakage.
Apricot
Apricot oil is great for your skin, helping to reduce inflammation and moisturising your skin underneath the beard. It also helps to protect the skin from UV rays which is great for those that love the sun!. The oil cleanses your skin and pores leaving them feeling rejuvenated. Apricot oil also benefits your hair by moisturising and stimulating the production of sebum. This helps to lower the amount of beardruff and keeps the hairs healthy.
Sweet Almond
This is another oil that is great for both your skin and hair. Almond oil can help soothe and improve acne, especially good for when you first start growing a beard. It also treats dry skin which you can get under your beard if you don’t use the right products. There is plenty of vitamin E in this oil which is good for protecting and even repairing your skin from sun damage. For your hair, there is plenty of B-7 or Biotin which is great for keeping your whiskers strong and healthy.
Feel in the Beard and Skin
My beard felt very soft and even the greys gave in to the powers of this oil. Smooth, healthy and well nourished, my beard felt and looked great. Although I already had an idea that it would make my beard feel this way, it was still a great surprise. My skin also felt soft, hydrated and very smooth.
The oil is a medium viscosity and it really soaked into my beard and skin very quickly. There was no greasy residue left at all and when stroking my beard (I know, I’m not supposed to touch it!) I couldn’t feel any oil on my hands. This tells me that the oil is doing its job and nourishing my face fuzz and the skin beneath.
Originality
The label design is fantastic and really encapsulates what this brand is all about. each fragrance has a different scenery to promote what the scent is all about. It’s clean, simple and very very effective. Not only does the scent transport you away to large never ending forests and marvellous scenery but the landscapes on the bottle also do the same.
I also love the connection with One Tree Planted and this gives Hinterlands a real key selling point. Who doesn’t want to help re-plant trees in areas of severe deforestation? After all we need trees to help produce the very oxygen we breathe so to me it is extremely important. I am not aware of any other brands doing anything like this so please comment below if you know of any that give to charity with every bottle sold.
Value For Money
With the aspect of the charity taken into consideration, along with the amazing scents and great benefits, I would say this is really good value for money. At £15 it is one of the pricier oils on the market but I consider this to be a premium oil of the highest standard. Josh has done a great job with, not only his oil, but also his branding and everything about his products scream quality.
You get a 30ml bottle for your money but it’s more than that. You help do something that is vital to the survival of this planet and the human race. Yes, I might be overstating this a tiny bit but it is a cause that Josh is passionate about, as am I.
Conclusion
Josh has done it again with another fantastic oil. It’s not quite up there with Nordic Mist, in my humble opinion, but it smells great and of course, is good for the health of your beard and skin. It is worth every penny of the £15 you spend to purchase one of these and I highly recommend Hinterlands. I haven’t tried all of the oils but, I can only imagine that they will all smell great and leave no-one in any doubt of the quality of this brand.
I am lucky enough to have a discount code for my readers, which will be in the banner below, even though I am not affiliated with Hinterlands. I do support Josh and feel he has all the right ingredients to be one of the top brands in the industry in 2021. Hopefully he will start looking at branching out into balms and/or butters to really put Hinterlands at the top. I keep asking him to, maybe one day we will see a Hinterlands Beard Balm!!
Thank you for reading my Hinterlands Beard Oil Review – Nordic Jul. If you have tried any of Josh’s oils please comment below and let me know your favourite. While you are here check out The Boars Bristle Brush and A History of Beards Part One.
Take care and keep growing
Tony
