Enjoyable reality: Proper now, I’ve not less than 47 totally different moisturizers stuffed into my toilet—partially as a result of I’m a magnificence editor, and it’s my job to check merchandise, however largely as a result of I’ve dry pores and skin that refuses to remain hydrated all through the day. Regardless of what number of lotions, lotions, and in a single day masks I layer on, I’ve but to discover a formulation that moisturizes my face with out feeling like a goopy, greasy mess. A minimum of, that was the case till I reviewed the brand new Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream.
Based on Drunk Elephant, the Bora Barrier Cream is meant to be a “heavy hitter for chronically dry pores and skin” stuffed with barrier-restoring lipids and ceramides. Nonetheless, I used to be skeptical about how it will evaluate to the 46 different rejects that got here earlier than. However after slathering it on daily for six super-cold winter weeks, I can in truth say that it’s like a heat, cozy hug for my dry face.
Professionals:
- Designed to deal with chronically-dry complexions
- Strengthens the pores and skin barrier with a 6 butter-lipid advanced
- Soothes pores and skin and balances oil manufacturing with zinc and copper
- Hydrates utilizing “tremendous ceramides”
Cons:
- Could also be too greasy for these with oily pores and skin
The formulation
Bora is taken into account a barrier cream, which is mainly a thicker, richer cream designed to assist heal your pores and skin barrier (the factor liable for maintaining your face wanting wholesome, comfortable, and moisturized). Barrier lotions are usually thicker, so that they’re normally very best in case your pores and skin is drier, which is very good throughout colder seasons.
The formulation works to spice up your pores and skin’s hydration ranges in just a few methods: by drawing moisture into your pores and skin with a mixture of humectants (see: glycerin and hyaluronic acid), by soothing your dehydrated pores and skin barrier with fatty acids and lipids, after which by trapping in all of those moisturizing elements with seven totally different plant oils.
As with most Drunk Elephant merchandise, the elements listing is lengthy, but it surely’s stacked with stuff your pores and skin wants to remain wholesome, like its cocktail of lipids and ceramides. “Lipids fill within the cracks within the outer pores and skin layer, serving to to restore the barrier,” says Joshua Zeichner, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based mostly in New York Metropolis. On the similar time, ceramides act just like the glue in your pores and skin barrier, maintaining your pores and skin cells robust and guarded. The cream can also be formulated with zinc and copper gluconates, which helps calm irritation and probably steadiness oil manufacturing. “Be cautious in case you have oil or acne-prone pores and skin,” says Dr. Zeichner. This formulation is extremely wealthy and made to behave like a kind of seal in your pores and skin, which “could depart you feeling heavy and might probably set off a breakout,” he says.
My Bora Barrier Cream overview
Don’t get me flawed: Among the many zillions of moisturizers I’ve tried over time, there actually have been just a few that get the job completed in maintaining my dry pores and skin hydrated. What units the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream aside is that it does so with out feeling like my face is coated in a layer of thick grease.
Regardless of how wealthy the formulation is, it melts seamlessly into the pores and skin in a manner that genuinely impressed me the primary time I skilled it. Although this simple utility initially obtained me hooked on the formulation, the long-term advantages have saved me coming again to it for the previous month and a half. It leaves my pores and skin mushy and easy for hours after I put it on—which is nice for somebody who’s accustomed to pondering, “holy shit, my face is so dry it hurts.” Once I apply it at evening, I don’t get up with my face feeling greasy —it feels simply as hydrated as earlier than my head hit the pillow.
Over time, I’ve seen that my pores and skin appears to be like brighter and fewer irritated, and my regular winter breakouts are nonexistent. That is seemingly as a result of the formulation retains my pores and skin barrier working to its most potential to maintain environmental irritants out and energetic elements in. My pores and skin and I are usually snobs about moisturizers, however the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream has humbled us as soon as and for all.