Best of Balance Me + Ask the Expert

After coming across Balance Me a few years ago, I was recently re-introduced to them, was lucky enough to have a facial by their top expert who picked out what she thought I needed, and have been trying their range since. I have become hooked on a few particularly, and think you guys need to know about a really great value set of products for those thinking of making the switch to natural skincare.

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I've highlighted my favourites and I've also been lucky to bend the ear of their lovely founder Rebecca who has been at the fore-front of creating natural products for years.

MY TOP PICKS from the Balance Me range:

• WONDER PRODUCT: Vitamin C Serum

Under moisturiser, this is light, and smells deliciously citrus and sparkling, sinks in and is made to brighten and smooth, which I think it is doing a good job of as I normally feel grey around now!

Vitamin C Repair Serum

• CLEANSER - a Balm that I use most mornings as it gently exfoliates but is buttery and balmy as it melts onto your face. Wiped off with a hot cloth it feels luxurious as well as leaving a super smooth face for the day

Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm

• MIST - I've got a bit hooked on spritzing my face with a mist in the mornings, to wake me up, and to add some plumping treat vibes, this is super gentle for sensitive skin like mine but also has a natural form of hyaluronic acid which plumps and calms:

Hyaluronic Plumping Mist

• COLLAGEN MOISTURISER

Daily moisturiser that feels like a regular cream, but isn't too sticky or rich like some collagen rich ones I've tried, and is in a neat pump so it sits in my handbag for days when I haven't got that done yet before running out the door.

Collagen Moisture Boost

• TINTED EYE CREAM

Possibly the one that has saved me and had more comments about, as I've never used a tinted eye cream before! It softens your eye lines at the same time as covering the dark circles. Another handbag staple. Brighter eyes that look like you've slept a bit in a tube, genius.....

Tinted Wonder Eye Cream

• ROSE OTTO OIL

Face oils are my new thing, and ones that smell lovely, and calm and hydrate and are designed to deal with redness are what I need for this winter we're going into.

Rose Otto Face Oil

LIZZIE TALKS TO REBECCA

LK asks:

1. Why is autumn so tough on our skin?

REBECCA Thanks to the lack of moisture in the air, colder weather can make your skin dry, flaky and at times, more sensitive and prone to redness. Cold air and central heating are just two such environmental aggressors that can sap skin of its natural moisture and lead to dehydration (lack of moisture) and dryness (lack of natural oil protection). This is one of the reasons our products work so well as our mission is to bring skin back into balance and solve skin concerns, such as dryness or dehydration, without creating another! LK asks

2. What are the most effective ways of adjusting to the new season?

Rebecca replies: It’s all about balance and I am very realistic that not all elements in your life can be in balance at once. But I religiously use our products – have done for over 15 years and so that is a start. We have a number of naturally protecting, calming and hydrating treatments which will help calm even the most sensitive skin and target lacklustre winter skin and restore a natural glow (even if it spends a good proportion of time hidden behind a giant scarf!). LK ASKS:

3. What routines would you add in or take out of your regime in the winter months?

Rebecca replies: To bring your skin back into balance and to ensure it looks its best in the winter months, it’s all about hydration! Post-cleansing, I would add in a layer of extra hydration with our Hyaluronic Plumping Mist , as this is the best time to lock in moisture. Hyaluronic Acid can hold up to 1,000 times its own weight in water, making it ideal for an extra layer of moisture when the wind picks up, helping to balance dull skin and adding that vibrancy which winter skin can often lack. A 40-year-old has roughly 50% less naturally occurring Hyaluronic Acid than a 20-year-old and so as I’m in my 40s, this extra step is increasingly important! Another way to boost hydration over the winter months is to upgrade your summer moisturiser for a richer formulation with higher levels of hydration. Our Collagen Moisture Boost is my moisturiser of choice, as it features a cutting-edge natural peptide complex to boost collagen and rejuvenate skin while boosting hydration and radiance. It also contains Blackberry Leaf extract to guard against environmental damage. I add two drops of our Gradual Tanning Drops every two or three days to help keep that sun-kissed summer radiance alive as my summer tan fades! LK asks:

4. Would you say switching to Natural-Beauty products had extra impact at this time of year?

Rebecca replies: Switching to Natural-Beauty products can have a great impact at any time of year – if you can get the same benefits from a natural product, why would you put a potentially harmful chemical on your skin, your largest organ? You know yourselves that when you slip between fresh cotton sheets it’s one of life’s great pleasures! None of us would dream of choosing nylon over cotton sheets so why would you choose synthetic ingredients, some of which have enough question marks around them in your skincare? LK asks: 5)  What would be your luxurious skin-evening-in routine look like this autumn? Rebecca replies: I try to incorporate some self-facial massage with a good cleansing oil to allow my skin to rejuvenate overnight. Post cleanse and pre-serum, inhale then gently press two drops of either Radiance Face Oil(https://www.balanceme.co.uk/skincare/radiance/radiance-face-oil) or Rose Otto Face Oil (for a more sensitive complexion) over cheeks, closed eyes and forehead, working into the skin using upward circular movements to lift and sculpt. Not only does this boost the skin’s natural hydration levels, help to even out skin tone and give an extra layer of protection, but it also calms your mind and ensures a moment of self-care to prepare you for a peaceful night’s sleep. Part of the Balance Me experience is to take pleasure from the sophisticated textures and beautiful mood-boosting aromas and even a five-minute daily massage helps to give me a more radiant glow. LK asks:

5. Another wintry bug bear as the tans fade, the dark circles seem more prominent as a result. Do you use special winter eye products or just better concealer?

Rebecca replies: Our Tinted Wonder Eye Cream is the perfect solution – it’s a brightening and soothing eye care treatment with added mineral tint that contains light reflecting particles to reduce the appearance of dark circles. You can apply this to the eye area before your make-up, it will help to reduce puffiness and strengthen the skin so it can better protect itself against the signs of ageing, while working as a good make-up base – preventing your make-up from creasing too! LK asks: 7)  What two products are your must have winter heroes? Rebecca replies: Our Cleanse & Smooth Face Balm, which is a gentle hot cloth cleanser that is packed full of powerful anti-oxidants such as Arctic cloudberry and fine oat powder to soothe, smooth and add radiance to skin, without irritating the skin or affecting the skin’s protective barrier; and our Stellar Balm, my year round desert island product that comes into its own at this time of year. It’s a 100% natural, truly multipurpose balm that works on dry patches (lips, cuticles, elbows, heels) to soften, smooth and protect on-the-go. I use mine as a cheek highlighter and also overnight as a really replenishing skin treatment. LK asks: 8) Do you have one trick or tool on the go to instantly brighten and to combat the grey winter dullness from your handbag? Rebecca replies: The aforementioned Hyaluronic Plumping Mist! It’s super plumping and uses a very fine, low molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid to penetrate deeper and plump from within; along with soothing Chamomile water to provide immediate relief for sensitive skin, calming any redness, relieving tightness and fighting moisture loss; and Pineapple Fruit Extract which, packed with antioxidants, will bring brightness to dull, lacklustre winter skin. It fits into your daily skincare routine as a hydrating extra step, but I also carry it in my handbag to spritz and revive on-the-go. LK asks: 9)  Having built a brand using effective, natural ingredients, how do you think the focus has shifted since you started and what are you looking at going forward? Rebecca replies: We’ve always used innovative, highly active botanicals and have been able to take advantage of really exciting innovation over the last 10 years, pushing the boundaries on what is possible to achieve in natural skincare. Thanks to the surge in demand, natural botox, natural peptides, natural DHA, hyaluronic acids and even Vitamin C are the new normal! Our Vitamin C Repair Serum (https://www.balanceme.co.uk/skincare/anti-ageing/vitamin-c-repair-serum)is a great example of this – it took us a number of years to perfect a wholly natural formulation that would address skin elasticity, pigmentation and radiance, but last year thanks to breakthroughs in naturally active ingredients we knew the time was right for us. We are thrilled with the finished product and have seen unprecedented demand which has made the time spent developing the product, worth the wait! Likewise our black bamboo charcoal Congested Skin Sheet Mask, which we developed to address the increasing number of customers coming to us with adult acne concerns, and to complement our popular Congested Skin Serum. The natural fabric of the mask helps to absorb impurities in the skin and is also eco-friendly and biodegradable. That said, we are constantly innovating; looking at market trends, what our customer wants, what we believe to be missing from the range etc and so I am always looking to the next new ingredient or complex that will address a particular skincare concern. We have the some really exciting products in the pipeline for next year and more of the Vitamin C Repair Serum on its way so watch this space!