On a fateful fall day, I finally got my hands on the viral beauty brand Byoma. Their skincare line has been boasted to be one of the most affordable and effective on the market. Here we are with a full review on their barrier-boosting, skin care basics.
A background on Byoma
Before the analysis, a quick background on Byoma is a must. Founded by Marc Elrick, the brand started in 2020 as a solution to creating a skin care line offering affordable and accessible skincare with the focus on boosting the skin’s barrier. The science behind the skin care focuses on actives – ingredients that focus on targeting specific solutions to fix. Some common active ingredients you might recognize are hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, SPF, retinol, AHA and niacinamide.
Byoma’s Skincare Essentials Trial
My trial consisted of the basics in your essential skincare routine – Byoma’s Creamy Jelly Cleanser, Brightening Toner, their Clarifying Serum, Brightening Serum, and finally their Moisturizing Gel Cream.
The Byoma Creamy Jelly Cleanser – $11.99 ( 175ml )
First off, I absolutely love Byoma’s packaging. The graphics are big and easy to read. The colors are bright and bring an uplifting, fun energy to the space. While much of my skin care goes for the “relaxing” aesthetic, Byoma’s big personality shines through immediately when placed in line next to my other skin care products.
The Creamy Jelly Cleanser is the right combo of canary yellow and sunburst orange that I want to see in the morning. Upon my first trial, I was a little alarmed by how lightweight the bottle was and how delicate the pump applicator felt. How could your average amount of cleanser fit in a bottle that feels half the weight? Was I getting cheated? Nope, the bottle comes in the average oz amount.
When I got past that I found two pumps felt like the correct amount for me. I appreciated its light lather. My skin wasn’t particularly inflamed before usage, but afterwards it felt clean without that stripped, drying feeling some cleansers cause.
The Creamy Jelly Cleanser is formulated with basic, good, clean skin care ingredients such as their Tri-Ceramide Complex, licorice root and green tea extract as antioxidants.
Something else I found was that the cleanser had absolutely zero fragrance to it, which was also something different for me. It felt like I was experiencing the actual most simple form of a cleanser. A proto-cleanser perhaps.
It also made me realize that almost all my products have some sort of scent to it. Mind blowing what the absence of something can make you realize.
The Byoma Brightening Toner – $14.99 ( 130ml )
Byoma’s Brightening Toner comes next in the skin care routine. After cleansing your skin, you apply a small amount to your hands and gently pat your face. This toner features Byoma’s Barrier Lipid Complex, a combination of lactic and mandelic acid. These gently exfoliate your skin and will improve your skin’s texture over time.
Gentle seems to be the key here and it shows in the product’s consistency itself. Once again, the lightweight bottle and scentless liquid threw me for a bit of a loop. The bottle is not small yet it felt like if I wasn’t careful it would just float away.
The toner itself was non-sticky, and having one of my recent sought after ingredients, lactic acid, I am sure this is going to be one of my go-tos in my skincare rotation.
The Byoma brightening toner is also soap-free, non-comedogenic, alcohol free and vegan.
The Byoma Clarifying Serum and Brightening Serum – $15.99 ( 30ml )
After toning, your skin is prepped to absorb which type of nourishment you decide upon. I tried both the Clarifying Serum and the Brightening Serum. Both of these serums are quite similar in that they both contain a Tri-Ceramide Complex made of ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids. They both contain ingredients that can hydrate and brighten skin. They both also come in 30ml ( approximately 1oz ) bottles with droppers and are clear, fragrance free gel-like liquids.
The difference comes in key ingredients only seen in one or the other.
The Clarifying Serum focuses on clearing out breakouts and addressing inflammation in the skin. It contains PHA and Zinc to help exfoliate the skin and unclog pores. It also contains Blue Tansy which is used for its anti-inflammatory and skin calming effects.
The Brightening Serum focuses on improving the skin’s tone and texture. It contains notable ingredients of Vitamin C ( in the form of ascorbic acid ) and Squalane ( for hydration ). Vitamin C is a key ingredient for brightening the skin.
In terms of the actual serum substance itself, without the bottles, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two. Both are clear, gel-like, and completely scentless. Both dry very well on the skin with no sticky residue whatsoever.
Both serums really feel like it was just a water carrier and ingredients – no filler materials to be found.
In the end, with such a pleasant experience using both, it really just gets down to which problem do you want to address. Acne and inflammation skin issues should use the Clarifying Serum. Dry and dullness in the skin should use the Brightening Serum.
The Byoma Moisturizing Gel Cream – $13.99 ( 50 ml )
The last step in a skin care routine is to seal in all the ingredients with a moisturizer. Byoma’s Moisturizing Gel Cream is a lightweight moisturizer that is perfect for daily use, especially for warmer weather. The moisturizer, like the serums, also contains Byoma’s Tri-ceramide Complex as well as niacinamide and green tea extract.
The bottle also contains an airless pump, which contains less plastic and is an effective way of distributing product. If it’s the first time using these, do note that it will take a few pumps before any product comes out so don’t be alarmed if no moisturizer comes out at first.
I found the moisturizer to be indeed very lightweight, with no scent, and containing a slightly milky white shade to it. It left no sticky residue and my skin absorbed it rather quickly. Afterwards, my skin appeared slightly shinier, brighter, and softer.
Byoma and Sustainability
Byoma has a planet pledge noted on their website. But for a quick glance on the green details here, their products align with their mission to be as reusable and recyclable as possible with as minimal of a carbon footprint in their packaging.
The plastic containers are 100% monomaterial, making recycling them in your blue bins worry-free. If you order your own set you’ll notice it is shipped in cardboard boxes. Byoma uses minimal shrink wrap and aims to continue to make changes to become even more planet friendly.
Recently, Byoma has added the option of refills now, making their non-recyclable aspects reusable. You can now purchase a refill serum, face mist or cleaner and reuse the original pump or dropper.
Lastly, Byoma also partners with One Tree Planted to help offset carbon emissions.
Is Byoma Skin Care Worth the Hype?
I’m always skeptical of anything popularized from social media. However, I do think Byoma is worthy of the hype.
Skincare brands like Byoma can use branded promotional gifts to increase their brand awareness among new and existing customers, such as Custom Keychains. Brands can print their brand name and logo on the keychain or even customize keychains made of sustainable materials to implement the brand’s sustainable development concept. They can also customize keychains according to the products purchased by customers, such as giving customers who purchase travel skincare sets a keychain that can carry travel samples with them. Customized keychains are not only beautiful and convenient, but also a movable billboard for the brand, enabling customers to flaunt their favorites.
The products are cruelty-free, ingredients are effective and the actual use of their entire skincare line felt great on my skin. Since each step was completed with a lightweight product, by the end of the routine my skin didn’t feel heavy or altered in any way. It felt nicely hydrated with a thin layer of protection on it.
I love that Byoma is a sustainably driven brand, something all brands have to keep in mind. Byoma does this very well with materials that are 100% recyclable and the few parts that are not are reusable. I love the concept of refillable containers to reduce waste and think it’s something more brands should adopt.
Lastly, and most important of all, Byoma is affordable. Byoma matches the price range of even my most budget picks from pharmacys and asian skin care lines, and sometimes even beating them with a well balanced serum at $15.99.
I’m always ecstatic to see more great skin care at below the $20 mark. And don’t let the lightweight containers fool you, what you are getting is standard for most products. It just feels like less.
All in all, I’m looking forward to trying some of their other products such as their refillable facial mist and Moisturizer with SPF.
Until next time ~
