Here's Why This Multi-Tasking Finishing Balm Is a Top-Seller at Sephora

If your vanity is looking a little crowded these days, what with all the creams, serums, essences, and whatever else you slap on your face on a daily basis, we may have just found the perfect product to help pair down your routine. Introducing Josie Maran's Surreal Skin Argan Finishing Balm, a product that may help streamline your early morning, get-ready regimen once and for all.

The argan oil-based (and Allure Best of Beauty-winning) skin-care brand recently launched a multi-purpose, argan and shea butter-packed product that touts itself as a "skin finisher and primer," and it's already one of the top-selling products at Sephora. (Don't believe us? Here's proof.)

But what exactly is a skin finisher? According the brand, it seals and sets your makeup look, leaving you with a flawless finish, but it can also be used a primer under your makeup. Pretty cool, huh? We thought so, too, which is why we put the balm to the test, and the results were more than we'd hoped for.

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First of all, Josie Maran's finishing balm works on just about every skin type, which is especially great news for sensitive skin types like myself, and combats that pre-winter dryness we've come to expect this time of year. Because I was slightly hesitant to apply the product after my makeup, I started off slowly, coating the cream on as a primer before applying my BB cream and concealer. I found that the balm immediately absorbed into my skin, creating a soft matte texture just as a traditional primer would. After a couple days, I finally mustered up the courage to put it over my makeup. Applying it in a gentle tapping motion—as to not disrupt my BB Cream and concealer—I found it had a similar effect as when used as a primer, drying down to a velvety-smooth finish. And surprisingly, something that looks so shiny in the jar actually seemed to tamp down the oil on my cheeks and around my T-Zone. Who would have thought? The balm has an nice, unexpected side-effect, too: Whether used over your makeup as a "finisher," or under your makeup as a primer, the sheen of the formula actually acts as a subtle, totally natural-looking highlighter when the light hit my cheekbones in just the right spot.

After an entire week of use, I'm giving this multi-purpose balm my official seal of approval, because for $36, you're getting way more than just a "skin finisher"—you're also taking home an argan oil-based primer and a luxe highlighter, all in one. What's that phrase? Killing two birds with one...pretty rose gold jar?

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