This ‘Miracle Balm’ Has 50,000 5-Star Reviews—Did It Work on My Aging Skin? (2024)

I am officially 37 years old. Gone are the days of my youthful, luminous skin, and as the years tick closer to 40 (less than three now!), I have noticed a significant dulling and dryness that emphasizes my pore size—especially when it comes to my favorite face makeup. Although I love full coverage foundation, blush, bronzer, and highlighter, I’ve had to face the harsh truth that my decade-old routine no longer works with my aging skin. Instead of hydrated and glowing, my skin looks patchy. However, among my skin’s many changes (thanks, hormones); it’s also become sensitive and breakout-prone, making heavier moisturizers a bad option, too. So, when I heard about Bobbi Brown’s Jones Road “Miracle Balm,”—a lightweight moisturizing all-over glow, which boasts over 50,000 5-star reviews...I knew I needed to test it for myself.

How it works

The loftily named “Miracle Balm” promises a lot. It’s a multi-use product that is supposedly as versatile as it is easy-to-use. Jones Road calls it a superproduct—or the secret of no-makeup makeup. The key to its “miraculousness” lies in its ingredient list. Its predominant ingredient is jojoba seed oil, a gentle, lightweight moisturizer that helps the balm glide on with ease and sink into your skin with no sticky residue. It also possesses light-reflecting properties that help give your skin a wash of soft-focus color and lit-from-within glow. Its color range is also impressive: available in 13 shades, including a colorless option for those who only want just the pearlescent glow atop their natural skin tone. Oh, and it boasts both clean and cruelty-free labels, meaning it’s formulated without phthalates, sulfates, petrolatum, PEGs, cyclic silicones, EDTA, or BPA—as well as not tested on animals.

How to use it

Considering the versatility promises of the product, I decided to test it out in a number of ways. I tried out two separate colors—the newest shade of bronzer, Pinky Bronze, and a classic rosy pink called Pinched Cheeks. Like all new makeup products, I swatched them both on the delicate skin of my wrist to test for bad reactions (which thankfully, I didn’t have—most likely due to its clean formula).

A few things I noticed right away. First, it has a smell. It’s not unpleasant by any means. In fact, I really enjoyed the smell. It’s fresh, maybe a little minty, even? Others say gingery and herbal. Regardless of what you smell, it is a noticeable fragrance. So, if you’re sensitive to fragrance, consider yourself warned.

Second, it looks much darker in its packaging than it will on your skin, so don’t be intimidated by the color. You can see it better (as well as the subtle sheen) if you hold it up to the light.

Third, you’re going to need to destroy it to use it (and it’ll be worth it). The directions advise you to warm up the balm before using by breaking the top surface with your finger. And though it went against all my instincts to dig into such a pretty package, I was glad I did. The formula warmed very quickly after circling my finger around and was easily applied to my wrist. I think many of the reviewers who complained of the balm being too sheer had not done this, because I found that I had a pretty large color pay off and had to smudge it out significantly to get it to be more sheer.

How I used it

(Left: Pinky Bronze, Right: Pinched Cheeks)

What I liked

For my next attempt, I layered it on top of my (new favorite) lightweight foundation, Dr. Jart’s BB Cream. I found that because of the texture of the balm, it did appear much sheerer on top of the foundation—almost like it was mixing with it a bit. It pretty much disappeared into my foundation when I buffed it out with a brush and gave only the barest hint of color when I dabbed more on. I surprised myself by enjoying this application more. The color wasn’t quite as bright, but it did create a lit-from-within glow that made my skin appear softer and more luminous. The shimmer seemed more diffused with my foundation beneath, so instead of appearing dewy or wet, even, I just looked brighter and more refreshed. I even added the balm to my lips, and was surprised that I loved it as a lip balm, too, which I was afraid would be too matchy-matchy. But because of the natural color of my lips, it looked like a perfect compliment in a brighter shade.

(Left: Pinky Bronze, Right: Pinched Cheeks)

The result

Despite it claiming to be the secret to no-makeup makeup, I actually preferred the balm with a full face of makeup due to the way my foundation was able to better diffuse and soften the balm on my skin texture, as well as hide most of my discoloration. For those who tend to lean oily, I am not sure the balm would be a good fit. I found that it melted into my skin quickly, but other reviewers complained of it remaining greasy. If you do lean oily and are still curious, I’d recommend topping it with a tiny bit of mattifying powder to help it. Its claims of versatility are true: it looked just as good on my cheeks as on my temples as on my lips. I would also be curious to see what the colorless balm does, and where else it could be applied.

One last thing

In a world where beauty products seem to cater more and more to youth, I really appreciated a product that was made to be worn on a wide range of skin tones, textures, and ages. After about a month of wearing it in different weather, times of day, and locations, one thing is extremely clear: it makes me feel more comfortable in my changing skin. So much so, that every time I wear the Miracle Balm, I get complimented on how nice I look or asked if I did something new with my hair. It gives me that air of confidence that improves my look, just in a way that people can’t put their finger on. And if that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is. Bring on 40.