Over the last seven months, my skin has seen some things— and I’m not just referring to the pandemic raging across the globe. Thanks to over-testing products with my newfound free time at home, paired with my discovery of maskne, my formerly combination skin is now officially sensitized. It’s finicky with new products, inflames easily under pressure, and craves hydration like no one’s business. That said, I’ve been in search of a sensitive-skin-friendly soothing solution, and I think I may have finally found it with Symbiome.
Symbiome, a brand-new sustainable and science-backed skin-care line, contains products made of ingredients designed to “nourish the skin microbiome and restore what our skin has lost in the modern world,” say founders Larry Weiss and Vicki Levine. Specifically speaking, the Symbiome collection, which has seven products (two cleansers, four facial oils, and one moisturizer), each formulated with less than 10 ingredients that are predominantly sourced from the Amazon rainforest. “The things you put on your skin should be simple and balanced and retain the biological integrity of the natural ingredients that went into them,” says Levine.
According to the experts, minimal ingredients mean less chance of a reaction, which is something my fussy complexion surely appreciates. “Few ingredients just means [fewer] opportunities for allergic reactions,” says cosmetic chemist Ginger King. “When a formula is made with more than 10 ingredients, it’s harder to pin down issues if you have super-sensitive skin.”
King is right: After chucking the 10-step routine I’ve followed for years, I’m now down to a mere three products — The Renewal Daily Cleanser, The One Restorative Cream, and the Rebalance001 Postbiomic Oil — without experiencing any sensitivity.
In addition to Symbiome’s pared-back ingredient list, the brand’s efficacy could also be due to which ingredients are in these three products I’m using, as well as how they’re formulated. The skin-care line features more than a few powerhouse players, including fermented buriti fruit oil to fight off free radicals and help prevent moisture loss, glycerin to helps retain moisture and hydrate the skin, and the brand’s proprietary postbiotic blend of Lactobacillus ferment to soothe the complexion all while helping to balance the microbiome.