I never really loved Your Best Face Control, the line’s anti-aging serum. It never won a place in my heart or became a fixture of my bathroom cabinet the way that YBF’s Correct eye cream has over the past three years or so. Control was a good product, but Correct is an excellent one (only the other day, Nisha said to me that she wasn’t going to test any new eye creams for a while as she needed to go back to Correct and refuel – I knew exactly what she meant). So when YBF released a reformulated version of Control, the obvious question was whether it had become equal to Correct. Cut to the car chase: yes! The new Control is an excellent face serum.

Control’s new formulation focuses on elasticity. This is critical for helping with sagging skin and is something that topical products have only just started to tackle. This year, my skin has gone menopausal on me with a distinct loss of moisture and firmness (especially under the apples of my cheeks and mouth to jaw area).  Using my free sample of YBF Control ($160 in the TIA shop), I have definitely noticed a firming effect as well much more refreshed looking skin. I have also been using it in the evenings after LED (with the new Facial Secret panel that I have been trying out) and in the mornings my face no longer looks as if I’ve slept on a park bench.

Two interesting ingredients have been introduced to the formula to target elasticity.

The first is tetradecyl aminobutyroylvalylaminobutyric urea trifluoroacetate. I admit that I’ve seen dinosaurs with friendlier appellations, but you’ll want to get to know it anyway. It is a tripeptide that thankfully is marketed under the simpler name of Syn-Hycan. Specifically, it is aimed at lifting sagging skin. It stimulates hyaluronan (HA) synthesis and expression of the proteoglycans, decorin and lumican. The company that makes it tested it on women aged 56 to 65 years with loose skin on face and forearms and claims a significant decrease in sagging and double chins.

The other new key active in YBF Control is Relistase, which is the equally intimidating sounding acetylarginyltryptophyl diphenylglycine. This is actually a tripeptide and inhibits elastase activity and boosts collagen 1 synthesis. It has also been designed to treat sagginess and restore firmness to the skin.

I must confess that I like what Your Best Face has kept out of the new formula. It has ditched the peptides that inhibit expression lines. I have always considered them (they include Argireline and SNAP-8) to be a bit of a cheat, relying on limiting movement (which they don’t do all that well) rather than rebuilding or bolstering the skin’s scaffolding.

But no babies have been thrown out with the bathwater. Control retains the power peptide Matrixyl 3000 and YBF’s signature free radical scavenger, spin trap. In addition there’s Syn-Tacks, resveratrol, lipochroman-6 and much more. A nice touch is a preservative from radish root, rather than paraben du.

Control is a yellow, thick custardy cream that smells of birthday cake (the marzipan scent comes from the almond-derived spin trap). It is not at all greasy and absorbs in seconds. Overall, Control is a real winner and a worthy partner to my favorite eye cream. I’m guessing that there is about two months supply in the 1oz bottle, perhaps more. In any case, I shall certainly be buying a replacement.

Ingredients: reverse osmosis water, Relistase (glycerin, acetylarginyltryptophyl diphenylglycine, Syn-Hycan (tetradecyl Aminobutyroylvalylaminobutyric urea trifluoroacetate, magneisum chloride, glycerin), Syn-Tacks (glycerin, palmitoyl dipeptide-5 diaminobutyroyl hydroxythreonine, palmitoyl dipeptide-5 diaminohydroxybutyrate), Matrixyl 3000 (glycerin, butylene glycol, carbomer, polysorbate-20, palmitoyl oligopeptide, palmitoyl tripeptide-3), nylon-12, olivem, Renovage (triglyceride, teprenone), olive squalane, ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, ethoxydiglycol, dimethylisosorbide, meadowfoam seed oil, trans resveratrol, spin trap (phenyl butyl nitrone), vitamin e, c10-c30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, leucidal, lipochroman-6, sodium hyaluronate, coenzyme Q10, tetrahydrocurcuminoids, alpha lipoic acid (R-lipoic acid), triethanolamine