I’ll admit it — I like my skin to look filtered all the time. However, life gets in the way and acne happens, making it difficult to live my smooth, blemish-free dream, so I’m constantly looking for complexion products to mask any pimples, pores, discoloration, or texture on my skin. That said, we just awarded the Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder a 2022 Best of Beauty Award in the Breakthroughs category because it’s such an innovative product that claims to blur imperfections with a balm-to-powder formula. Since I didn’t initially test it for awards consideration, I had to try it out now to see if it would do just that for my skin. 

Let’s first talk about my face. I wouldn’t say I have a ton of acne, but I will say I get two or three pretty hefty cystic zits around my time of the month. I usually tend to cover them with makeup but it can get cakey or feel heavy on my skin. When trying to cover up acne or post-acne scars with a new product, my ultimate goal is that it conceals everything and has a lightweight formula. That’s where the Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder comes into play.

The innovation behind this product is what initially drew me to it. Because founder Danessa Myricks wanted to put out something that performed better than your typical setting power, she worked with a team of teachers at Sweden’s Uppsala University to create an ingredient they named upsalite — after the university. This ingredient is a mixture of magnesium oxide and carbon dioxide that proved to be great at soaking up oils and blurring pores, similarly to a powder.

During the Breakthroughs testing process, cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos noted that upsalite can also mattify too much and drain too much oil out of the skin. Thankfully, Myricks’s team recognized that possibility, and for that reason, it took about 20 trials to get the formula just right. In the end, hydrating olive-derived squalane was added to the ingredient list. When upsalite is combined with squalane, you’re creating a matte-finish product that comes with an ample dose of hydration. 

Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder

So, how would it fare on my skin and skin tone? The Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder comes in 11 shades, including Universal for all skin tones. I chose shade 5, a medium-tan shade since I’m still bronze from the summer months. Keep in mind that this product is not a foundation and can be either worn alone or under foundation as a blurring primer. While this balm comes with a little spatula to scoop up the product, I decided to use a foundation brush and dipped it directly into the compact. Once my brush was lightly coated, I began to buff the balm into my skin, focusing on any discoloration on my cheeks and pores around my nose where they show the most. I was stunned by the balm’s ability to blur it all.

In fact, I had every intention to apply foundation on top of the balm but I actually didn’t feel the need to. The texture was so light that it felt like nothing was on my skin — but it somehow covered up every pore and evened out any texture. The finish is definitely matte but it doesn’t feel drying like other base products on the market. I really felt the squalane come through and hydrate my skin.