Drunk Elephant just launched a new product. The F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial is a gel textured sleeping mask with a refreshing cooling texture. Details per Drunk Elephant:
Think of this mask as an electrolyte-charged nightcap. Top off your normal nighttime routine with a surge of replenishing vitamin F beads that burst onto skin upon application. It’s calming, cooling and soothing – what everyone wants at the end of the day. You can even use it nightly if you want. Dive in and wake up looking dewy and rejuvenated!
F-Balm’s unique formula of barrier-replenishing ingredients, including niacinamide, sodium PCA, plant squalane, five forms of ceramides, omega fatty acids, and powerful antioxidants, effectively rehydrates hungover, overly-parched skin,making it soft and supple. Tiny beads loaded with vitamin F burst during application to deliver extra emollience and soothing hydration. F-Balm™ is 100% free of essential oils, silicones, fragrance, and PEGs. It’s irritant-free, vegan, and cruelty-free.
Moisture is about the barrier lipids and oils (think ceramides, and amino acids). Without a protective layer of hydration, skin’s barrier becomes compromised and loses the ability to hold on to its critical vitamins, antioxidants and other natural moisturizing elements. Hydration is about the concentration of water in the surface layers of your skin. It plays a vital role in protecting the lipids and oils that make up its protective barrier. F-Balm™ helps to restore the balance of hydration and moisture in skin, which makes other ingredients in your skincare routine even more effective at their job – keeping skin soft and supple.
Think of F-Balm™ as an intense treatment for dehydrated skin, and B-Hydra™ as your daily water maintenance. Use both every day to restore hydration and moisture levels and support your acid mantle.
Suggested Usage Apply 4-5 pumps of F-Balm™ as the last step in your nighttime routine. May be worn to bed as an overnight mask. Also can be layered over Virgin Marula Oil for an extra shot of absorbable moisture.
Tip Try using F-Balm™ on top of T.L.C. Framboos™ for a gentle, chemical exfoliation while you sleep.
Key Ingredients:
4-Electrolyte Blend: antioxidant rich and powerful humectant ingredients (coconut water, sodium PCA, magnesium PCA and prickly pear extract), electrolytes are vital to helping maintain hydration levels in skin, improving barrier strength and lipid content, calming redness and protecting against environmental dehydration.
Vitamin F: soothing fatty acids (linolenic and linoleic) that play a vital role in maintaining hydration levels, improving skin texture and suppleness while reducing inflammation and improving acid-mantle strength.
Niacinamide: aka vitamin B3, niacinamide has a wide range of benefits, most notably its ability to improve signs of aging (fine lines, wrinkles, loss of firmness) as well as uneven tone and texture. Research has demonstrated that niacinamide, even in low concentrations, can help strengthen a compromised skin barrier, boost skin’s synthesis of ceramides and cholestrol – both essential substances in barrier health and elasticity – as well as improve skin’s defenses against water loss.
5-Ceramide Blend: (Ceramide AP, NP EOP, NS, EOS) derived from plant sources, identical to the wax-like moisturizing substance which occurs naturally in skin. Helps sooth and maintain the moisture balance of skin while protecting against water loss. Ceramides help fill in the spaces between skin cells, giving them elasticity, and play a critical role in straightening the skin barrier.
Squalane: plant-derived (from olives). Squalane is a natural moisturizing factor (NMF), which means it works identically to the form of squalane that is found naturally in skin. Squalane acts as both a moisturizing agent and natural antioxidant that soothes and prevents water loss from the surface of the skin without a greasy feel.
Quercetin: a potent plant-derived antioxidant bioflavonoid, which acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory agent that has some research demostrating its ability to promote healthy collagen production and speed the healing of damaged skin. Its benefits are amplified when paired with lipids and natural moisturizing factors.
This comes packaged in the same size and shape as the Babyfacial treatment. It’s an airless plastic pump. The texture itself is a gel cream with beads that burst on application. It has no scent and a refreshing cooling feeling on the skin. I have to admit the F Bomb is my favorite cuss word. It’s been my favorite for years so it’s kind of fun to have a product that has a playful name. This product has both hydrating and moisturizing ingredients for a nice approach to overnight plumping & hydration. It’s soothing and the gel cream product has a multitude of ways you can layer and use it. It suggests doing 4-5 pumps at night as your last step. I’ve tried this as a sleeping mask and even as a day product. It really works anywhere in a routine that you would put a hydrating gel cream or water cream. I find gel creams aren’t the best as a last step for me as that tends to dry me out so I like to use them as a last step under oil and a final cream or balm seal.
This actually can sink into my dry skin in about two minutes leaving behind just a little film. It doesn’t have enough occlusives or emollients to be a top seal for me but it makes a great water cream layer for hydration and some moisture. This also makes a nice day cream or hydrating layer depending on how dry your skin is. Oily to oily/combo skin will be able to use this more as a moisturizer while normal, dry to combo/dry skin will use this as a hydrating layer. I have normal to combo/dry skin and this is not enough as a moisturizer or last step alone for me. However, I completely adore it as a hydrating layer. So I think this has a ton of ways you can layer and use this, it’s a just going to take some experimentation to figure out how it will best work for you.
F-Balm boasts a 4-Electrolyte blend with coconut water, sodium PCA, magnesium PCA and prickly pear extract. I love coconut water (not oil) and prickly pear which is high in vitamin E. It also has vitamin F which is really just linolenic (omega 3) and linoleic (omega 6) acids. These fatty acids are great for moisture and I find them very reparative to the skin. Niacinamide aka B3 is the multi-tasker everyone should be using. It helps reduce pore size, strengthen barrier, reduce fine lines/wrinkles & evens skin tone. This has a blend of five ceramides (there are nine total). Ceramides are great at keeping the skins moisture barrier happy and helping prevent TEWL (Trans Epidermal Water Loss). Squalane is an oil that has a similar consistency to natural sebum and it’s a great oil for replenishing the skin. This also has cholesterol, sodium hyaluronate and phospholipids which I love in a barrier repair product. Cholesterol is necessary in skin cells as it’s a building block so I enjoy it in a reparative product.
All that being said I love this as a replenishing, hydrating layer. I don’t like it as a leave on final step because it’s not enough for me, but I like it under my leave on step as a moisture boost for the skin. It never broke me out or made me feel greasy and it sinks into my skin quite easily. It has a nice list of barrier repair ingredients and is fragrance free so it will be great for sensitive skin. It’s silicone free which is a huge plus for me. So no pilling or layering issues for me. I love water creams for layering in hydration but I dislike the ones that have too much dimethicone or silicone as they don’t fit in as well in my routine due to potential pilling. That’s what makes this one so great, it’s pure water gel cream hydration with no pilling. You can use it anywhere in your routine depending on your preferences. The beads of vitamin F are fun to rub into the skin as well. It has a fun texture. I think a majority of people will end up liking this product for its replenishing and restoring properties. I like it more than B-Hydra.
*Gifted by brand but all thoughts are my own.
Ingredients
Water/Aqua/Eau, Squalane, Propanediol, Niacinamide, Olive Oil Glycereth-8 Esters, Coconut Alkanes, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Water, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Glycerin, Mannitol, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Butter, Sodium PCA, Opuntia Tuna Fruit Extract, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed) Seed Oil, Sorbitol, Quercetin, Trehalose, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Cetyl Alcohol, Sucrose, Creatine, Inositol, Pentylene Glycol, Ferulic Acid, Hydroxytyrosol, Behenic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Cholesterol, Ceramide NS, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOS, Ceramide NP, Ceramide EOP, Phospholipids, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Magnesium PCA, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Adenosine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Xanthan Gum, Caprooyl Phytosphingosine, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Caprooyl Sphingosine, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Ceteareth-25, Citric Acid, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Benzoate, Tocopherol, Chlorphenesin, Potassium Sorbate, Ethylhexylglycerin