I’ve tried dozens of face balms over the last ten years, and I’m sharing the best ones for various skin concerns, plus how to properly layer a balm. The best facial balm is made with 100% plant goodness and without any harmful ingredients.

For those who want to cut to the chase: Leahlani Bless Beauty Balm and Bloomeffects Moisturizing Nectar are my everyday go-to’s, while May Lindstrom’s Blue Cocoon is the best luxury facial balm.

If you’re new to this type of product, I’d start with one with a lighter, drier texture like Leahlani, May Lindstrom or AUNU (lightest).

If you’re dealing with severely troubled, irritated skin or a compromised skin barrier, my top rec is the healing AUNU Manuka Salve. Many face balms contain essential oils, which can irritate sensitive skin.

Why use a Face Balm

There’s a number of reasons you might want to consider using a facial balm.

• Beauty balms are 100% concentrated with plant ingredients and no water, similar to face oil.
• Deeply reparative for irritated skin and compromised skin barriers
• Doubles as an overnight mask
• Locks in hydration and prevents moisture loss
• No preservatives are needed since facial balms are waterless
• Longer shelf life than a moisturizer (again, there’s no water content)

How to Properly Layer a Facial Balm

The general rule of thumb is to apply thinnest to thickest consistency. Beauty balms have the thickest consistency and should be applied after face cream and facial oils, if you use them. The correct order to apply skincare including a facial balm is:

1. Face toner mist
2. Serums (thinnest to thickest if layering)
3. Eye cream
4. Moisturizer
5. Face oil
6. Face balm

I tried Bloomeffects Royal Tulip Moisturizing Nectar

My top most used facial balm is Bloomeffects Royal Tulip Moisturizing Nectar. I love that it packs in real skincare actives like hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, peptides, silk amino acids, including some interesting antioxidants I rarely see like Marrubium Stem Cells, Rumex, & Velvet Mullein. It’s also got their signature and proprietary Dutch tulip complex along with 30% glycerin, so no corners were cut. It deeply moisturizes and makes my skin feel so velvety soft and supple.

I even like its weirdly satisfying jelly-like texture that feels more like an ointment than a traditional balm. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, so consider yourself warned! It could also totally work as a clean, plant-based swap for petroleum jelly and for skincare slugging, which is the method of adding thick, occlusive layer to lock moisture in rather than letting it evaporate. There’s no scent to it and the price is super reasonable, especially if you get the non glass jar version.

Price: $44 for 1.7 oz
Key ingredients: 30% glycerin, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, peptides, silk amino acids
Refill: Yes (shown in my pic)

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I tried Leahlani Bless Beauty Balm

Leahlani’s Bless Balm is my top recommendation if you’re new to face balms since it’s universally pleasing. Compared to other clean beauty balms I’ve tried, Bless Beauty Balm is on the drier, less-rich side like a May Lindstrom The Blue Cocoon. Both are excellent options if you typically find facial balms too heavy.

Bless Balm is made on the Hawaiian island of Kauai with organic, wildcrafted ingredients like organic shea butter, cacao seed butter, rose clay and oils of moringa, marula, passionfruit, camellia and argan. It has their signature juicy sweet floral “bless” scent of blue tansy, neroli and orchid extract.

This is one of the least “greasiest” facial balms on the market but still melts on contact and spreads very easily on the skin. It leaves my skin feeling velvety soft and not super oily and slick like many other face balms in clean beauty.

Price: $58 for 1 oz
Key ingredients: organic shea butter, cacao seed butter, oils of moringa, marula, passionfruit, camellia and argan
Vegan

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I tried Aunu Manuka Salve

AUNU Manuka Salve is the most unique face balm I’ve tried of late and it has a very pleasant, completely non-oily, whipped and creamy consistency. This is the only skincare product in this list that’s actually certified by the National Eczema Association for flareups. It’s a healing product meant for compromised barriers, irritation, redness, and even eczema flare ups.

AUNU’s Manuka Salve is truly an all purpose product that’s safe enough to use anywhere on the body and for all ages. I love that it has one of the rarest and highest quality manuka honey around (Comvita™ Medihoney® medical-grade Mānuka honey), oat kernel oil and straight-up pure oats. This has no fragrance other than the natural soothing scent of oats. Note that it does contain phenoxyethanol as a preservative.

Price: $68 for 1.7 oz
Key ingredients: Comvita Medihoney medical-grade Mānuka honey, oat kernel oil, oats

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I tried Primally Pure Antioxidant Balm

Primally Pure’s Antioxidant Balm is a very soft and emollient tallow balm. It’s got a base of organic grass-fed tallow and organic jojoba oil with the addition of a few more antioxidant rich oils like organic green coffee oil, cacay nut oil and hibiscus oil and powerful astaxanthin (this gives the color its rich orange hue).

It melts into an oil instantly, but absorbs rather quickly. My skin feels instantly moisturized when it’s particularly dry and looks noticeably hydrated and glowy. The scent is herbal and grounding from organic frankincense, lavender, and helichrysum.

Between this and their Soothing Cream, which also has a similar balm consistency, I find that their Antioxidant Balm is a more heavy-duty skincare product with more potent botanicals.

Price: $42 for 1 oz
Key ingredients: Organic Tallow (from grass-fed cows), Organic Jojoba Oil, Organic Plum Kernel Oil, Organic Green Coffee Oil, Unrefined Beeswax, Cacay Nut Oil, Hibiscus Oil, Essential Oils of Organic Lavender, Organic Frankincense, and Organic Helichrysum, Astaxanthin (from algae), Organic Rosemary Extract, Non-GMO Vitamin E

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use OBL for -10%

I tried Odacite Le Blue Balm

Opacity’s Le Blue Balm is a great relatively affordable and beginner-friendly facial balm that was actually inspired by the cult favorite May Lindstrom The Blue Coccon. This is a very very soft balm that practically starts melting in your fingers – that’s how soft it is. It’s 100% concentrated with plant butters and oils, including a Repair Complex of squalane, shea butter, and oils of hemp, jojoba, and almond oils, along with botanicals like German chamomile and turmeric. Le Blue Balm is great for dry, mature, and irritated skin and has a lovely floral blue tansy scent. To me this is a balm-to-oil skincare product that melts instantly into an oil.

Price: $52 for 1.7 oz
Key ingredients: German Chamomile, turmeric, squalane, shea butter, and oils of hemp, jojoba, and almond oils
Vegan

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I tried May Lindstrom The Blue Cocoon

May Lindstrom the most iconic OG facial balm in the beauty industry and the most expensive one in my list. This is a healing product made for reactive, inflamed, or irritated skin, not just feel good skincare. All the ingredients are organic, wild harvested, raw, unrefined and/or fair trade. It’s a waxless, waterless balm concentrate that transforms into a fluid oil on contact and won’t clog pores. I find it to be a dense “drier” balm that’s super concentrated and a little goes a long way. If you’re worried a facial balm might be too heavy or clogging for your skin, I’d recommend The Blue Cocoon.

Price: $220 for 1.7 oz
Key ingredients: Camellia Seed Oil, Shea Butter, Cacao Seed Butter, Marula Oil, Baobab Oil, Blue Tansy Flower Oil, Lavender Oil, Geranium Rose Oil, Myrrh Oil, Frankincense Oil, Vanilla Extract, Schisandra Fruit Extract, Helichrysum Flower Oil
Vegan

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I tried Siam Seas Elements Beauty Balm (luxe!)

Siam Seas is an indie natural skincare brand forged by heritage, inspired by ancient remedies and crafted with over 90% indigenous ingredients. I’m not saying niche or mainstream is better, but there’s undoubtedly a level of intention here that’s hard to replicate at scale.

Instead of the same butters and oils I see over and over again, Elements Beauty Balm has Mowrah Butter, Yanang Extract, Rang Jued Extract, Plai Extract, Pracaxi Oil, Ravensara Oil and the extremely precious (and expensive) Bulgarian Rose Absolute.

This was originally created for a friend of the founder’s dealing with eczema and barrier issues. It has the most calming green shade and every ingredient is organic or wildcrafted and chosen specifically to support skin healing. It’s soft and emollient without feeling greasy and has the most fragrant floral scent.

Price: $96 for 1 oz
Key ingredients: Kokum Butter, Mowrah Butter, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Organic Safflower Oil, Yanang Extract, Organic Gotu Kola Extract, Rang Jued Extract, Plai Extract, Organic Roman Chamomile Extract, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Organic Rosehip Seed Extract, Organic Pumpkin Seed Oil, Pracaxi Oil, Organic Tamanu Oil, Organic Mango Butter, Bakuchiol, Organic Blue Tansy Oil, Organic Royal Jasmine Absolute, Organic Rose Otto Oil, Organic Immortelle Oil, Organic Ravensara Oil, Organic Bulgarian Rose Absolute, Organic Neroli Oil, Organic Myrrh Oil, Frankincense Oil, Organic Lavender Oil

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I tried Summer Solace Tallow Balm for Face

Summer Solace Tallow specializes in tallow-based beauty balms featuring their regenerative slow-made tallow. Their balms are noticeably firmer and denser than most on this list.

All SST balms are formulated with tallow, Organic Calendula CO₂ Extract, and indigenous extra virgin olive oil and always hand-poured, never whipped, so there’s no added air or filler diluting the formula.

This is the highest quality tallow skincare brand I’ve tried and I love that they source theirs locally from a regenerative farm called Stemple Creek Ranch in NorCal. Since these are really dense and on the “drier” side for a balm, they need a little more warming up than others.

I love the true velvety finish they leave without a greasy residue. To me Summer Solace Tallow multipurpose balms are a great mix of high-quality/luxury and functionality/simplicity.

Price: $36 for 2 oz | $72 for 4oz
Key ingredients: 30% glycerin, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, peptides, silk amino acids
Refill: Bulk size available ($195 for 11.5oz)

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I tried Earth Harbor Nymph Nectar Superfruit Repair Balm

Earth Harbor’s Nymph Nectar is a vegan, all natural beauty balm and the most affordable option (that’s still high quality) I’ve tried. I don’t find it as oily as the other more softer balms I’ve tried, so this would be a great starter balm if you’re new to facial balms. It’s quite dense, but warms up quickly.

For under $30, it’s got a seriously impressive amount of butters, oils and botanical ingredients like organic olive fruit oil, kokum butter, cranberry seed, raspberry seed, poppy seed and herbal extracts like neem, moringa, and basil.

The pretty light coral shade stood out to me immediately (naturally occurring from seabuckthorn berry and turmeric).

I find a small amount melts in nicely for daytime use, while a bigger dollop works as an overnight sleeping mask. This is one the few vegan and beeswax free options in my list.

Price: $28 for 1 oz
Key ingredients: Organic Olive Fruit Oil, Mango Seed Butter, Kokum Seed Butter, Cranberry Seed Oil, Raspberry Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Poppy Seed Oil, Seabuckthorn Berry Oil, Arrowroot Powder, Sea Fruit, False Daisy, Neem, Moringa, Turmeric Root, Basil, Holy Basil Leaf
Vegan | Refill: Yes

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I tried Primally Pure Soothing Cream

This is a concentrated blend of grass-fed tallow, emu oil, and botanicals like blue tansy works to correct visible redness, support barrier repair, and calm irritation. Compared to the other balms on this list, this one is noticeably softer and creamier. It has a simpler formula of eight ingredients that are mostly organic like organic tallow, organic jojoba oil and organic sandalwood oil. The deep blue shade and blue tansy scent instantly reminds me of May Lindstrom’s Blue Cocoon, but at a much more approachable price point. It’s rich enough to feel deeply moisturizing without ever feeling heavy, which makes it a great final step whenever my skin feels inflamed or extra dry.

Price: $44 for 1 oz
Key ingredients: Grass-fed Tallow, Emu Oil, Jojoba Oil, Blue Tansy Oil, Lavender Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Rosemary Extract, Vitamin E