Now is definitely the time for me to be talking more about spot-fighting products, since even those with the clearest of skin are having issues thanks to the incredibly 2020 issue of Maskne. Or is it Mascne? The Ole Henriksen Balance It All Oil Control and Pore Refining Set is a great little intro to the Ole Henriksen Balancing range, and a particularly good choice for those who are unfamiliar with treating spots or just need something to tackle the new chin and cheek breakouts.
The set contains three products that are smaller than full-sized, but still a decent size with both the cleanser and toner coming in at 60ml eahch and the moisturiser at 15ml. The set is very gentle and surprisingly light; there’ll be no stripped, dry and angry skin after using this trio. All three products contain the Ole Henriksen Green Fusion Complex, which is a concoction of neem seed oil, AHAs and a eucalyptus and peppermint fragrance, the latter of which is entirely unnecessary, but there you go. I’m overlooking the inclusion of that particular fragrance and instead focusing on the fact that the range benefits from some really lovely, gentle, skin-loving oils and a great mix of acids, including Glycolic, Lactic and Salicylic.
The Find Your Balance Oil Control Cleanser was the biggest surprise of the set for me; as soon as I read “oil control” on anything I usually check right out, as the last thing my 36 year old skin needs is the oil removed. This is a really nice cleanser that doesn’t strip the skin, feels light and creamy, contains a good mix of acids and oils and leaves skin feeling refreshed and clean without any tightness.
The Balancing Force Oil Control Toner was my favourite of the three, as it’s basically a decent, gentle acid toner with the same trio of acids that featured in the cleanser. I like this acid-layering, “softly-softly” approach to addressing congestion and I think it’s interesting that this range is marketed as being designed to control oil, as I think that would put a lot of people off because it sounds like it’s going to strip the skin of oil, even though that’s thankfully not what happens. I don’t know if it does actually control oil as I don’t have an excess of oil to be controlled, but I would presume it would have a positive effect on overly oily skin.
The final product, the Counter Balance Oil Control Hydrator, was the one that let the team down for me as unfortunately it contains Dimethicone quite high up on the ingredients list, which is always a cause of problems for me as my skin doesn’t like ‘cones at all, and seems to particularly struggle with Dimethicone. However, it’s worth noting that, whilst Dimethicone does seem to cause problems for people with skin like mine, it isn’t actually a known comedogenic (blocker of pores) so don’t knock it ’til you try it. Annoyingly, this was a lovely product to use, as it felt so good on the skin; it was light and hydrating and all the things congested skin needs, it just didn’t work for me and I woke up (rather ironically) with whiteheads after one use.
Dimethicone and fragrance aside, this is a fabulous little kit! The cleanser and toner are particularly lovely and it’s so great to use a cleanser for oil-control that doesn’t leave the skin feeling tight and stripped. I am also a fan of the toner as it’s very much my kind of product thanks to a great mix of ingredients that includes some of my favourite acids.
Find the Ole Henriksen Balance It All Oil Control and Pore Refining Set at Boots for £32 here – link.
Disclosure: PR Samples. I was not paid to feature.
