Drunk Elephant F-Balm Waterfacial Mask Review 2020

There are a lot of cool things out there that make us wonder — do they really work? In our I Tried It series, we set out to use them in the real world and have determined that, in fact, they really do.

On Trial: Drunk Elephant F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial

The Tester: Mara Santilli, a gal who’s prone to super dry skin in the winter

The Brief: In the middle of the winter, my skin easily gets chapped, red, and dry, so I’ve been searching for a quick fix.

I’ve been seeing the hype about the Drunk Elephant F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial product, which comes with T.L.C. Framboos serum, everywhere, and reading about how it’s essentially a hydrating facial in a jar. So I was curious to test it out. I wasn’t totally sure what the ingredients were or how they work on your skin — I’ve only heard of replenishing electrolytes in the body with something like a sports drink (or a banana or coconut water, if you're thinking of actually healthy things). But I have been trying to stick to clean, plant-based beauty products with the least amount of chemicals as possible lately, and Drunk Elephant's site does a great job of explaining the various ingredients and their purpose in the waterfacial product.

If your skin is feeling “hungover,” Drunk Elephant should be your new go-to skincare investment.

There are two super quick steps to the process. First, there’s the T.L.C. Framboos Night Serum (FYI, “framboos,” for all those who were wondering, means “raspberry” in Afrikaans, so it’s a reference to the addition of raspberry extract, it seems) that essentially acts as an exfoliant for the skin. According to the site, “this high-tech gel resurfaces dull skin, gently lifting dead skin cells away by dissolving the glue that holds them to the surface.”

It does contain ingredients like glycolic and salicylic acids to get the exfoliating job done, but they’re balanced out by plant-based ingredients like raspberry extract and white tea to soothe the skin. And if you have certain skin allergies, you should be all good to use the product — there are no essential oils or fragrance in the products.

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As for the main event, the F-Balm, the Drunk Elephant site claims it’s best to “rehydrate hungover, overly parched skin.” The main ingredient is an “electrolyte cocktail,” which quenches the skin, just as a coconut water would replenish your electrolytes — and in fact, there is some coconut water in the formula, believe it or not.

Another cool thing: There are vitamin F (hence the term F-Balm) beads that you can’t even see that burst as soon as you put the balm on your face, to add a hydrating boost. The goal is also to restore skin’s protective barrier, which is what the addition of omega fatty acids, ceramides, and vitamin B-3 is for. Then, to calm inflammation in the skin, there are antioxidants, including squalene, derived from olives, and quercetin, which is also present in foods like berries, apples, green tea, and even red wine.

Drunk Elephant Drunk Elephant F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial

$54 at Sephora $54 at Ulta Beauty

To make it even easier, you can just add four to five pumps of the balm to your face, and don’t need to wash it off like you would another mask. You can just pass out and let these two products work their magic, which I’m 100% here for.

My first thought upon putting the serum on my skin after cleansing was that it already felt smooth on my skin. Then, the serum burned for a split second on my skin, especially where I had breakouts, which was probably due to the acne-fighting salicylic acid in the formula. With the addition of the F-Balm, my skin felt even softer, and I woke up with smooth skin and seemingly more open pores (which I’m guessing has to be the serum at work). I probably wasn’t able to even see the benefits from the products underneath the surface of my skin.

I’ve only been using the products for a week so far, but will keep the momentum going for sure. My skin has felt smooth and hydrated each morning upon waking up, and sometimes it tends to be flaky and red at that hour, especially around my nose. Although, I have to say, we’ve had a pretty mild winter, so I don’t have the degree of dryness and redness on my face that I normally do. Maybe it would be even more effective if we were actually having a freezing-cold winter this year, or if I were deep into winter sports.

Another positive is that the formula doesn’t feel sticky, cakey, or tight on your skin like other masks sometimes do. In fact, you don’t even know it’s there on your face when your head hits the pillow. The only thing I have to say is that so far, it hasn’t really made any major difference in clearing up my skin — not that it really claimed to do that, but that would have been a nice perk. I do realize that’s not something that happens overnight, though, so I should probably give it more time.

The price point of the two-step system is $52, but you have to think about how much you would be spending on a regular facial appointment. It’s way more than that, I would presume — and this is basically the equivalent getting a quick facial every night, and a nontoxic, clean one at that.

Closing argument: Without dropping the full f-bomb about the F-Balm, I have to say that this is an f'ing high quality product for the price. If your skin is feeling “hungover” in any way, shape, or form, Drunk Elephant should be your new go-to skincare investment.

Mara is a freelance writer and editor specializing in culture, politics, wellness, and the intersection between them, whose print and digital work has appeared in Marie Claire, Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Airbnb Mag, Prevention, and more. She’s a Fordham University graduate who also has a degree in Italian Studies, so naturally she’s always daydreaming about focaccia.