Can affordable skincare be good? I have found that it certainly can be, but not all affordable skincare is created equal. I have tried a lot of Essence and Catrice at the more affordable price point and some Dutch drugstore brands. But on a recent trip to Germany I found the Balea skincare line. Balea is the in store brand of German drugstore DM. Let’s try this affordable serum!
So I wanted to try a few things by this brand and this serum was the first one I tried. The Calming Serum sounds like something I might like. I have dry/ dehydrated skin that can be quite sensitive. This showcases on the packaging that it contains ceramides and that is one of my favorite skincare ingredients and at this price point it was just worth a shot. Let’s try this Balea skin serum.
Skincare review: Balea Beauty Expert Calming Serum
So Balea is indeed a German drugstore brand. I can find some links in The Netherlands that sell the products as well, but they seem to charge a lot more. In the German drugstore this serum retails for €5.95 and contains 30 mls of product. I did already use it up by now and I ran out super quickly. The reason? The formula is quite thick for a serum, so it was easy to get too much product out and apply too much. That made it quite wasteful, because once out of the bottle you couldn’t put it back in.
What does this serum have to offer?
So for affordable this is, the claims are bold. This promises to repair you skin barrier, it calms the skin and helps against redness, it alleviates dry skin and makes it more hydrated and it claims to be perfume free. While I liked using this product, because I went through it quite quickly (6 weeks with daily use in my morning skincare routine) I feel wasn’t able to use this bottle for long enough to really be able to test it for long enough. Your skin takes about 2 – 3 months to adapt and change to a product, so if you use this up before that time, you can’t really tell whether the product had any effect if at all.
What does this look like in a swatch?
In this swatch you can see how thick this is. I don’t understand why this comes in a glass jar with a pipette, because it is almost as rich as a moisturizer. That’s why this works, but if you don’t have dry skin I would not recommend. The reason? Because this is too rich and it will not work for you. These are the ingredients:
INGREDIENTS: AQUA, DICAPRYLYL CARBONATE, LINOLEIC ACID, GLYCERIN, POLYGLYCERYL-6 STEARATE, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS OIL, INULIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, SCLEROTIUM GUM, ALPHA-GLUCAN OLIGOSACCHARIDE, STEARYL ALCOHOL, PHOSPHOLIPIDS, SODIUM BENZOATE, XANTHAN GUM, POTASSIUM CETYL PHOSPHATE, CERAMIDE NP, POLYGLYCERYL-6 BEHENATE, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, LINOLENIC ACID, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, CERAMIDE NG, CITRIC ACID, TOCOPHEROL
As you can see, almond oil is quite high up on the list which may explain the heavy feeling of this. It worked well on my skin and was absorbed quickly enough. But I am a little bit disappointed in the ceramides being almost at the bottom of the list. That means there is very little of that ingredient in the actual product. So this is mainly water, silicones, glycerine, oils and thickening agents.
What was my experience using the Balea Calming serum?
This was a nice product to use, but I can tell this isn’t something that I would repurchase. It works in a pinch but I need more of the actual active ingredient for it to help my skin in the long run. So while this feels nice on the skin, it just isn’t potent enough to help my 40+ skin.
Pros:
- Pleasant user experience
Cons:
- Active ingredient at the end of ingredient list
- Thick formula that is used up quickly as a result
Buy the DM Balea Calming serum here *.
*Link is affiliated.
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