I have had a sneak preview of Your Best Face's newest launch, Boost ($65 in the TIA shop). After trying it out for the past month, I can heartily recommend it for 30-somethings, looking for age prevention skincare and 40-somethings that need some tightening and brightening. I liked using Boost from the get-go and over time I've found it to be virtually indispensable. This is going to join YBF's Correct eye cream as one of my all time favorites.

What I like about Boost is that it is really flexible. I have been setting it various tasks and can report that it works on its own, it is a brilliant hand cream, a tightener of forehead lines, and an extremely well-behaved team player with other products. With some serums - eg Medik8 Firewall- I find that additional moisturizing is needed and Boost turned out to be the perfect partner. I have also been using it successfully with YBF's newly formulated Restore (in the TIA shop).

My forehead was made for Boost (or perhaps that should be the other way round). The space between my eyebrows and hairline has always been tricky. It is dry and furrowed, yet also oily and prone to breakouts. Boost seems to be able to deal with all of these challenges by tightening lines, moisturizing and discouraging zits with niacin and vitamin B5 (research is showing that the Bs are effective acne treatments and keep sensitive, oily skin in check).

Given the quality of the cutting edge ingredients, Boost is fairly good value at $65. There is, of course, YBF's signature spin trap, a busy molecule that scurries around finding free radicals that are spinning out control and then stops them before they can do damage. Lipochroman-6 looks as if it will become a new favorite of YBF's formulater as this relatively new free radical scavenger has also put in an appearance in YBF's Quench lip balm ($15 in the TIA shop).

Thanks to YBF and Niall, I have been learning more about treprenone, which is marketed as Renovage. It is supposed to enhance ROS free radical protection from DNA degradation; especially when combined with other antioxidants and anti-inflammatory ingredients. It all has to do with telomeres, which extend off our DNA and look like shoe laces. They are often described as the clocks that regulate aging because they shorten as we age. When they become very short, they trigger cell crisis and cell death. Therefore, if we can stabilize telomeres we can control aging. The theory has its detractors, nevertheless it has been adopted by Jan Marini and features in her Regeneration Booster product. I'll be on the hunt for more information about telomeres, but, in the meantime, Renovage's makers say that treprenone maintains telomere length and therefore increases the lifespan of cells by an impressive 33%.

These days, no self-respecting skincare cream comes without some marine life. Here enteromorpha compressa is an alga that is supposed to synthesize - or, ahem boost - collagen production.


Ingredients

Reverse osmosis water, green tea, cucumber extract, olivem (cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate), caffeine, Homeostatine (enteromorpha compressa extract, caesalpina gum), Renovage (triglyceride, teprenone), niacin, vitamin B5, vitamin e, spin trap (phenyl butyl nitrone), Lipochroman-6 (dimethylmethoxy chromanol), paraben du.