I first used Balance by Your Best Face Skincare a few years ago when it was formulated as a product to absorb oil. Balance was reformulated to calm skin and combat redness. I had emailed the company to clarify if it still had the oil absorbing properties to which they responded that the nylon-12 ingredient, which absorbs oil, was discontinued, but other ingredients were added to retain and improve the oil absorbing and balancing capability (licorice extract, aspen bark extract, L-carnosine, niacinimide).

Ingredients: reverse osmosis water, Telangyn® (water, acetyl tetrapeptide-40, caprylyl glycol), ceteareth-6 olivate, olive squalane, Leucidal® (leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate), aspen bark extract, glycyrrhetinic acid (licorice extract), L-carnosine, niacinamide (vitamin B3), sorbitan olivate, hydroxyethylcellulose, ethylhexyl olivate, tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA), dl-panthenol (vitamin B5), triethyl citrate, alpha bisabolol, lavender essential oil (lavendula angustifolia, Kashmir India), cedarwood essential oil (cedrus atlantica, Morocco), niaouli essential oil (melaleuca quinquinervia viridiflora, Madagascar), azulene (guaiazulene)

Telangyn is a peptide that claims to reduce redness caused by an exaggerated inflammatory response. Niacinamide can help reduce the appearance of blemishes, congestion, enlarged pores and uneven skin tone.

This product is a day cream for combination and oily skin that claims to
combat redness and irritation, similar in function to NIOD’s Modulating Glucosides. Balance also claims to encourage clearer pores, improve smoothness of skin for better makeup application, brighten skin, mattify skin, reduce appearance of new damage and soften fine lines.

Directions state to apply anytime but particularly after treatments that leave the skin irritated, sensitive or breakout-prone.

Comparing the updated Balance to the previous formula, the lavender scent is quite strong, its consistency is thinner and spreadability is better.

While I purchased this for the oil absorbing and mattifying capability, I also used while on retinol and Retin-A to see if Balance mitigated any irritation. I have oily, breakout-prone skin, large pores and redness.

I’ve used Balance for about 5 months in the morning. It does absorb oil, but not as much as the previous version. On the YBF Skincare website, they now sell Matte Face Serum to reduce oiliness and shine. I haven’t tried this product yet, but if looking for oil reduction and matte skin, this would probably be the product to use rather than Balance.

Upon application, Balance gives a bit of a cooling effect to the skin for a couple seconds. This isn’t a moisturizer and doesn’t feel like one, so doesn’t really seem to absorb fully, but provides a sort of smoothing layer over the skin. It certainly doesn’t feel heavy and while it’s not felt on the skin, it is felt to touch.

While using Balance the small breakouts around my jawline were reduced. I still got the odd, larger pimple, but it seemed to heal a bit faster. This product did smooth the skin and makeup went over it quite nicely (application was even nicer when Balance is mixed with an ascorbic acid powder – I use the vitamin C from The Ordinary). I didn’t notice reduction in fine lines or increased brightness.

The redness in my cheeks was a bit reduced (though not as much as I had hoped). When using retinol and Retin-A, Balance seemed to reduce and soothe the irritation. When using retinol and Retin-A I find that cleansing and using products cause stinging and irritation, which settles after a minute – so how much Balance soothed this irritation as opposed to the normal reduction in irritation after the skin gets used to product application, I’m not certain. I’ll also note that a new issue with my skin is inflammation, redness and white, raised bumps when tweezing and waxing my eyebrows. This product provided relief to the swelling and soreness when applied to those areas around my eyebrows. Balance reduced the redness caused by my glycolic acid toner and some, but not all of the irritation.

I had stopped using Balance for about 3 weeks (changing nothing else in my routine) and without use, I got more and bigger breakouts along my jawline and larger pores and oiliness on my forehead.

While Balance didn’t reduce fine lines or increase brightness, it absorbed a bit of oiliness (though didn’t mattify the skin much), reduced inflammation and overall reduced congestion and enlarged pores. I might consider repurchasing particularly if getting something like a chemical peel, microdermabrasion or other similar procedure that causes an exaggerated inflammatory response.

Thank you for reading.