Balance Me Radiance Face Oil

I am always on the look out for interesting, unusual and preferably entertaining product claims.  Which is how I ended up on the website of Balance Me, a skincare company of whom I have to confess I had not heard of before.  They have bought out a limited edition of a facial oil.  There is no indication on the website why it is a limited edition, nor just how limited it is.  They don’t claim that each bottle is numbered, or that it comes with a certificate.  So I’ll just have to assume that they have just decided that at some point they are going to stop producing it when some number of units has been reached.

Limited editions are usually done with things that appeal to collectors.  And although technology is undermining this all the time, there is often a technological constraint on the production.  A nice example is that the art gallery down my street has occasional shows of woodcut prints.  In this case the artwork is cut straight into the wooden block from which the print is made.  A number of prints are made by hand – a few hundred usually.  The wood is then sanded down for the next creation.  So although the prints aren’t unique, there certainly aren’t many of them in circulation.

A less exclusive example are things like limited edition commemorative plates for big occasions.  They will aim to make as many as they think the market will stand, but the production window is limited by the timescale of the event.  And sometimes the limit is simply that things are only produced for a limited time anyway.  So stamp collectors can be sure that there will never be any new penny blacks with Queen Victoria on them being printed.

Limiting the production of an item either deliberately or due to the nature of the product limits the supply and can therefore enhance or even create value.

But how the heck is this supposed to apply to a face oil?  There are no ingredients that are going to become unavailable, or even ones that are in short supply.  There are no collectors of facial oil laying down fine examples in their cellar.  There certainly isn’t a thriving auction market in old face oils where famous face oil products are knocked down for fantastic prices.

In fact, if you are looking for a face oil the last thing you want is to know that if you like it, it isn’t going to be around at some point in the future.  There’s your routine gone.

So this is basically a really stupid marketing gimmick.

Having said all that, judged purely from the ingredient list it looks like it might be a nice oil.  Sweet almond oil is the first ingredient which is a rich emollient oil.  Benzoin resin is an unusual thing to see in a face oil but I really like the smell of it.  I hesitate to say hurry to buy while stocks last.  But if you do happen to come across it while it is still available it’s probably at least worth a try.

Here is the ingredient list.

Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Aleurites Moluccana (Kukui) Nut Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Rosa Canina (Rosehip) Fruit Oil, Mauritia Flexuosa (Buriti) Nut Oil, Moringa Oleifera (Moringa) Seed Oil, Camellia Oleifera (Camellia) Seed Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Anthemis Nobilis (Roman Chamomile) Flower Oil, Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Leaf Oil, Styrax Benzoin (Benzoin) Resin, Limonene, Linalool, Geraniol, Citronellol