Your Best Face Advanced CE Concentrate 1.0 oz

Our Rating: 3 stars

Reviewed by Karen

As soon as I received notice  in mid-December that I was chosen to try out the new Your Best Face Advanced CE Concentrate ($50 in the shop), I was so excited that I took a photo of the huge dark spot that appeared on the left side of my face a few years ago and anxiously waited for my serum to arrive. My hopes are to fade the dark pigmentation and improve my skin tone.

I am 62 years old, retiring at the end of 2012, a hiker for many years, and I reside in sunny Hawaii. Unlike some who would say it was lucky that I live in Hawaii, I say it’s a double-edged sword as the sun has done damage without a doubt to my skin. Despite wearing sunscreen daily for as long as I can remember, I have spots on my face – lots of them. Of course my Asian skin is no help; people of my ethnicity tend to have more melatonin and more pigmentation as we age. I also think these spots are the result of sunburns I received as a young adult and other skincare neglect.

My skin? At this stage, I have all of the above: sensitivity with a tendency for breakouts, parched in some areas, wrinkles (of course), dark spots, and rosacea. In my younger years my skin was oily in the T-zone, which caused me to avoid moisturizers for most of my adulthood. Now that I’m post-menopausal, my skin is dry and still has a tendency to break out if the moisturizer is too oily.

12/22/12: It’s finally here – I’m so excited! YBF has been on my radar forever… I’ll take another photo after four weeks to see if the CE serum has made a difference.

12/30/12: After one week, no breakouts; a good first step. I love that the product absorbs almost immediately into my skin, but after a while it feels a little dry. I used the Living Nature Hydrating Toning Gel ($35) that came with my Discover with Marta Collection. It seems to help my skin feel slightly more moisturized, though it still felt a bit on the dry side. Maybe I’m not used to this new effect. The TIA website states that this is a day cream, but I’ve been using it at night by spot-treating the dark spots, hoping that the three types of vitamin C and vitamin E will do the work while I sleep.

1/6/13 (week two): I haven’t noticed any lightening of the spots but my skin looks a little brighter and uplifted than usual. It’s still early, so I’ll keep my optimism in check. My new strategy is mixing the CE serum with a drop or two of argan oil for more moisture for my nighttime spot treatment.

1/13/13 (week three): I’m currently in Seattle, where the weather is COLD. Although my hands feel parched and very dry, my face not so much. In addition to the CE serum mixed with argan oil, I have been using a retinue of different creams/serums that I got with my DWM collection and YBF Gift Bag on different parts of my face. I feel like Marta.

1/22/13 (week four): Just got back from Seattle last night. This is my final report of the CE serum. I took another photo of my humongous spot. It is really hard to tell by the photos whether the pigment turned lighter, but I think there’s a slight opaqueness to it now.


All in all, I do think that the serum helped to brighten my skin. It may take a lot more patience and diligence for my spots to fade. I received another full bottle of the CE serum with my order of the Christmas YBF Gift Bag, so I will keep at it. I also need to find a light moisturizer to use in addition to this serum. I wonder whether the more expensive Your Best Face Restore ($120), a serum that includes alpha arbutin and spin trap, would help speed up the process… I believe this will be my next step after I’ve used up my current supply.

Ingredients: Reverse Osmosis Water, Olivem (Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate), Vitamin C (Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate/Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate), Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Vitamin C (Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate/MAP), Vitamin C (Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate/AAP), Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Vitamin E Succinate (D-Alpha Tocopherol Succinate), Leucidal (Radish Root Ferment Filtrate), Alpha Bisabolol