My $16 dupe for a $69 Drunk Elephant moisturizer soothes my skin after tretinoin – it doesn’t pill under makeup, either
THEY say beauty is pain but nothing could’ve quite prepared me for the suffering I went through when I first started tretinoin.
It’s one thing to read about all the potential side effects but another to experience all the pilling, acne, and redness (did I mention the nonstop burning?) firsthand.
A good moisturizer alongside tret is the biggest key to combat the uncomfortable (and literal) tret growing pains in your first few months.
But at a time when even water left my skin burning, I found a $16 moisturizer that trumped a $68 Drunk Elephant product.
I apply tretinoin as the last step of my nightly routine but even with all the layers and layers of hydration right before, the stinging is constant.
One of the only products that have provided relief for my skin is Bonajour’s Green Tea Water Cream.
Immediately after I glide and tap the watery moisturizer into my face, I can feel it instantly soothing my raw epidermis layers.
Once my skin feels more comfortable, I follow up with a thicker, more occlusive moisturizer.
At a time when my skin is the most vulnerable it’s ever been, I also have found that it could not handle products that I figured were a no-brainer, like The Ordinary’s Natural Moisturizing Factors Moisturizer.
Most of the creams I’ve tried prompted an immediate re-try of my complete skincare routine, as I’ve had to rinse my face completely due to the burning.
Scented face creams also were completely out of the question, as anything with added fragrance and essential oils seemed to trigger a similar response.
The key ingredient in the Bonajour that I suspect’s made all the difference to the burning (and where other moisturizers I’ve tried have failed), is the green tea.
The fragrance-free and alcohol-free formulation provides cooling relief for my angry irritated skin and better yet, I found that it was a great alternative to an expensive Drunk Elephant moisturizer.
One of the dangers that skincare addicts risk with starting tretinoin is damaging their skin barrier.
The anti-aging treatment, while effective, is intense — hence why experts urge beginners to start slow and prep well with tons of layers beforehand.
I had looked into deeply moisturizing products to prepare for my tretinoin journey, including Drunk Elephant’s $69 Protini Polypeptide Cream.
I realized that all I need are a few core products that are really good at what they do.
Nancy Jiang
The cult-favorite beauty buy is touted as a gold standard as it boasts nine different peptides to bind moisture to the skin.
I, however, found the Bonajour to be much more cost-effective.
At just $16, it contains six peptides and several antioxidants that reinforce my compromised skin barrier for a fraction of the price of the Drunk Elephant.
The more affordable Bonjour is also double the amount of product compared to Drunk Elephant’s 1.69 oz tub.
As a skincare fanatic, I’m constantly switching up my routine but found that I needed to dial myself back to the basics when I started tret.
The powerful over-the-counter medication forces you to center your routine around accommodating it.
I realized that all I need are a few core products that are really good at what they do.
Among the many that I did try, even the ones that passed the initial “didn’t burn on my skin” benchmark left a lot to be desired.
The effect of tret is an itch you can’t scratch. Just when you think you have it under control, your skin is randomly burning at 3:07 PM on a Tuesday.
On Wednesday you’ll wake up with perfect skin. Thursday? Your makeup is pilling, cracked, and frankly, looks a hot mess.
The biggest indicator of how well a moisturizer was working for me, then, was how well it withstands the test of makeup.
With Bonajour, I found that it didn’t lead to pilled makeup, and the random burning even became more infrequent.
I didn’t need a $69 cream to do the basic job of moisturizing when Bonajour did the same thing for under a quarter of the price.
And thank God too, because I don’t need my wallet to hurt as much as my skin did.
