Beautyknot ~ My Skin Care Diary

This sample is part of my GWP. The beauty advisor advised me to use it as 10 minutes mask before rinse it off with water. Since I didn’t get any idea from the product name, so I just followed what the beauty advisor said. Supposedly, the Beauty Flash Balm perks up tired dehydrated skin by brightening and tightening, reducing fine lines and adding a glow. …

Texture wise, the peachy Beauty Flash Balm is emollient and moisturizing, very spreadable and would settle in few minutes. Leaving a shiny sheen film on skin, thus the skin looks subtle glowing right after the application. Not fond of the over powering fragrance,  fortunately the fragrance dissipated after a while.

First trial. After the 10 minutes mask on cleansed face, seriously I really disappointed that it did nothing to my skin, neither  well moisturized  nor brighten although skin did feel tighten. Frankly, I felt the tightening caused by dryness.

Without compromise, I found few tips from the product user manual, together with many useful reviews from makeupalley, and then I realized this Beauty Flash Balm can also be applied after moisturizer without rubbing in, followed immediately with makeup. Since it failed to work as a satisfiable mask to me, so I tried again hoping it proved me wrong that it deserves the rave.

Second trial. I applied this in mid day upon the powder foundation touch up. Blotted off the excess sebum by a piece of tissue, applied this on eye and cheek, then patted on powder foundation. I purposely tested it on one side to see what was the difference between on and off. After powder foundation touched up, the right side of face (with Beauty Flash Balm on) was more mattifying, more drying yet more vibrant than the left side (without Beauty Flash Balm), thus my left side was inactive glow and right side was freshly matte. Note, my skin was not dull on the day and I saw the significant differences after 10 minutes only.

Third trial. I applied this after serum, before milky sunblock. The skin was glowing, partly due to this Beauty Flash Balm. It moisturizes, slightly tighten the pores, giving smoother skin texture. Applied this after the milky sunblock, the skin was rather matte, slightly tighten pores, more drying. Both ways moderately prolonged the makeup stay that I only applied loose powder on top and the loose powder still fairly existed after 7 hours!

Forth trial. I applied this as a night moisturizer after toning, face treatment oil and a whitening serum. Surprising enough, I woke up with much less oily T-zone, and the pore was not enlarged than usual, but the skin maintained soft and bouncy as usual. I rather attributed the soft bouncy skin to the face treatment oil and the whitening serum, but this Beauty Flash Balm was the one made the skin less oily and it was able to retain moisture on a humid day in August. Nevertheless, I tried once only, so no vouch the long term effect.

For me, it worked best when used before milky sunblock to provide a moisturizing smooth film, but it also gave refreshing feel when used after sunblock/makeup. I think this was special because it can be used in different ways to suit one’s need, but it had not done better than a moisturizing mask nor a hydrating serum/moisturizer to me, perhaps an excellent makeup base/primer. I did not have a strong reason to keep this. Clarins Beauty Flash Balm is retailing at RM128 for 50ml in Malaysia.

Ingredients:

Aqua/Water/Eau, Propylene Glycol, Octyldodecanol, Oryza Sativa Starch, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitan Stearate, Olea Europaea Leaf Extract, Triethanolamin, Carbomer, Bisabolol, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, Hamamelis Virginiana, Algae, Sodium Citrate, Methylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben, Potassium Sorbate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Coumarin, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hydroxycitronellal, Citronellol, Geraniol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Eugenol, Limonene, Isoeugenol, CI 15985.