Each Drunk Elephant moisturiser serves a different purpose so which Drunk Elephant moisturiser is best for you?
The Protini Polypeptide Cream, with its peptide-rich formula, is ideal for people looking to improve their skin texture and elasticity and it’s the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for mature skin. It’s also a good option for oily, and acne-prone skin because it’s lightweight and didn’t cause me any breakouts or excess oil.
The Lala Retro Whipped Cream, with its rich, nourishing texture, is the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for dry or dehydrated skin, as well as skin going through the changes of menopause, however, the presence of a highly rated comedogenic ingredient may be a worry for people with acne-prone skin.
The Bora Barrier Repair Cream is the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for very dry, damaged and irritated skin in need of nourishment and moisture.
Lastly, the Wonderwild Miracle Butter is the go-to choice for extremely dry or compromised skin, offering intense nourishment and protection.
| Cult Beauty | From £34.50 |
| Sephora | From £34.50 |
| Amazon | From £34.50 |
I’ve pitted three Drunk Elephant moisturisers against each other to determine which is best for your skin type and which is worth the money
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Protini Polypeptide Cream review
LaLa Retro Whipped Cream review
Bora Barrier Repair Cream review
Drunk Elephant has become a cult favourite thanks to its commitment to clean, effective skincare.
Founded by Tiffany Masterson in 2012, the brand was said to have been born from a desire to create skincare products that were free from what Masterson termed the “Suspicious 6” – essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical sunscreens, fragrances/dyes, and sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS).
All of the products promise to be “biocompatible and skin-friendly” meaning they shouldn’t cause any irritation and help to maintain the skin barrier and its most popular are the Drunk Elephant moisturisers.
To discover, once and for all, which Drunk Elephant moisturiser is best, I’ve pitted them against each other for my Drunk Elephant moisturiser head-to-head.
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For my Drunk Elephant moisturiser comparison, I used each product for four-six weeks. I reviewed each in terms of hydration, consistency, formula, and performance to see which moisturiser is best for which skin types, and to see which one is worth the money.
mamabella | mamabella 
mamabella | mamabella The Protini Polypeptide Cream combines signal peptides, growth factors, amino acids, and pygmy waterlily to improve the appearance of your skin’s tone, texture, and firmness.
The formula is designed to reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles, and sun damage.
It gets its name from the fact it contains proteins and nutrients aimed at restoring the skin.
It has the thinnest consistency of all of the Drunk Elephant moisturisers but it’s still closer to a cream than a lotion.
The plus side is that you only need a small amount because a little goes a long way and it absorbs well, leaving your skin looking plump and refreshed almost immediately after application.
It also means this cream is light enough to be used daily.
In my hydration test, the Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream increased the hydration of my skin by 5.3 percentage points after five minutes, or an increase of 15.7%.
This is slightly above the average of all the best moisturisers tested as part of my major skincare group test.
True to its word, the formula of the Protini Polypeptide Cream scored full marks in our Incidecoder ranking.
This ranking scores products based on the number of ‘icky’ ingredients included and the ‘icky’ rating refers to fragrances, dyes or any other ingredient that could potentially cause irritation or problems with sensitive skin.
@victoria_woolly_web Quite a few of you requested this from @drunkelephant & I got it in my advent calendars! Not a bad hydration increase but it lost points because it’s so expensive 😬 meaning it fell down the ranking in my hunt for the best moisturiser. It’s also not a fully vegan brand and some of its ingredients are flagged as being problematic (although that is a guide only!) #mamabella #bestmoisturiser #drunkelephant #drunkelephantskincare #drunkelephant🐘💗 #protinicream #protinipolypeptide ♬ Coffee for You Head – Vinyll
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mamabella | mamabella The Lala Retro Whipped Cream contains a mix of six African oils and a plant ceramide complex designed to hydrate and plump the skin.
This includes a form of hyaluronic acid used to retain moisture; antioxidant fermented green tea; as well as marula, mongongo, baobab, kalahari melon, ximenia, and passion fruit oils.
It’s known for its luxurious, whipped texture that feels nourishing on the skin and immediately soothed the redness I have on my cheeks. It also made my skin and face feel less tight in the areas where I have dry patches, such as around my mouth.
In hydration tests, it showed an increase of 1.6 points or 4.8% after five minutes. This is below average and was noticeably less hydrating than the Protini Polypeptide Cream.
That’s despite the fact this cream ticks all the other boxes when it comes to being well-suited to dry skin.
Given its rich consistency, this is likely because it works to keep moisture in, rather than directly hydrating the skin. As a result, I recommend using this with a hydrating serum to get the most out of the other ingredients.
Like the Polypeptide Cream, the Lala Retro Cream has a sensitive-skin-friendly formula, scoring maximum points in the Incidecoder ranking.
However, it should be noted that it does contain Isopropyl Isostearate, which has a comedogenic rating of 4-5.
This means the chances of it clogging your pores are high and as a result, the cream might pose a risk for people with acne-prone skin. During my six-week test, I did notice an increase in spots and bumps on my cheeks, my skin’s texture was worse too.
It did help reduce redness though and noticeably left it feeling softer which is probably because it contains ceramides and antioxidants, both of which help repair the skin barrier and protect it from pollution and similar.
@victoria_woolly_web Working my way through the requests. This one is for @alwaysloveval it’s a really nice texture and isn’t anywhere near as heavy as it first appears #mamabella #hydrationtest #hydration #bestmoisturizer #bestmoisturizer #bestmoisturizerforthisseason #cerave #ceraveskincare #drunkelephant #drunkelephant🐘💗 #drunkelephantskincare #lalaretro #lalaretrowhippedcream #dryskin #eczema #lotioncream #moisturiser #moisturiser_for_dryskin #OverwatchMe ♬ Never Be the Same – Gabrielle Aplin
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mamabella | mamabella As the latest Drunk Elephant moisturiser to join the ranks, the Bora Barrier Repair Cream promises to soothe, nourish and repair really dry skin that is easily irritated or damaged.
It is a thicker cream than the rest of the Drunk Elephant creams and is almost on par, consistency-wise, with the Wonderwild Miracle Butter.
In fact, Drunk Elephant recommends using the Bora cream and Wonderwild butter together for an extra boost of nourishment.
In my tests, the Bora Barrier cream raised the hydration on my hand by 4 percentage points (14.6%) after five minutes.
This dropped slightly after an hour – by 0.5 points – which gave an overall increase of 3.5 points, which represents a total 11.4% rise.
The hydration score is what I’d expect, given that the cream is designed to soothe not hydrate.
It will also likely work much more effectively on dry, irritated skin, especially if you have a damaged skin barrier from chemically exfoliating or because of the cold weather causing winter rash.
The cream almost qualified for my best balms and emollient list because of its texture but once you start massaging it in, it becomes thinner and absorbs well so that’s why I included it in my best moisturiser list.
@victoria_woolly_web As the newest Drunk Elephant moisturiser to join the ranks, the Bora Barrier Repair Cream promises to soothe, nourish and repair the skin. It did okay in my hydration test – raising the hydration on my hand by 4 percentage points (14.6%) after five minutes. This dropped slightly after an hour – by 0.5 point – but this still gave an overall increase of 3.5 points which is a 11.4% rise. The cream itself is quite thick and almost qualified for my best balms and emollient playlist but once you start massaging it in, it becomes thinner and absorbs well so that’s why I’ve included it in my best moisturiser list. The hydration score is what I had expected, given that the cream is designed to soothe not hydrate. It will also likely work much more effectively on dry, irritated skin, especially if you have a damaged skin barrier from chemically exfoliating or because of the cold weather. My winter rash is raging at the moment…! The biggest downside is that this cream is expensive. It costs £62 a pot (which equates to £37 per 30ml) and this will put it out of reach for a lot of people. As with all my skincare reviews, the product was tested on damp skin and was used on its own so I could see the true scores for the product itself. I’ll be putting it to the test for longer in due course. #mamabella #DrunkElephant #DrunkElephantMoisturiser #TrendingTikTokSkincare #BestSkincareProducts2023 #BestSkincareProducts2024 #BestHydratingMoisturiser #BestMoisturiserForDrySkin #DrySkincare #SkinBarrierRepair #BoraBarrierCream #DrunkElephantBoraBarrierCream #drunkelephantskincare ♬ Pink Friday Girls – Nicki Minaj
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mamabella | mamabella The cheapest Drunk Elephant moisturiser, the Wonderwild Miracle Butter is designed to soothe dry, chapped, or irritated skin.
Its formula promises to support the skin’s natural healing process via a mix of plant butters, including marula, cupuaçu, mango, and shea, as well as plant oils like meadowfoam, pumpkin, green tea seed, kukui, and rose hip.
These help replenish the lipids in the skin, and strengthen the skin barrier and when combined, the formula provides a barrier against environmental elements.
The fact it can be used on the face and body, including dry hands, is a significant advantage.
It can even be used on sensitive areas like the eyes and lips – I use it as a mask under my eyes at night to help lock my eye serum into the skin.
This makes it a great multi-purpose product and goes some way towards justifying its high price.
I test balms in a different way from how I test regular moisturisers and lotions.
I judge them on their ability to lock moisture into the skin, rather than hydrate directly.
As a result, the hydration test results can’t be used for this Drunk Elephant moisturiser comparison.
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Each Drunk Elephant moisturiser serves a different purpose so which Drunk Elephant moisturiser is best for you?
The Protini Polypeptide Cream, with its peptide-rich formula, is ideal for people looking to improve their skin texture and elasticity and it’s the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for mature skin. It’s also a good option for oily, and acne-prone skin because it’s lightweight and didn’t cause me any breakouts or excess oil.
The Lala Retro Whipped Cream, with its rich, nourishing texture, is the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for dry or dehydrated skin, as well as skin going through the changes of menopause, however, the presence of a highly rated comedogenic ingredient may be a worry for people with acne-prone skin.
The Bora Barrier Repair Cream is the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser for very dry, damaged and irritated skin in need of nourishment and moisture.
Lastly, the Wonderwild Miracle Butter is the go-to choice for extremely dry or compromised skin, offering intense nourishment and protection.
Verdict: In my opinion, the best Drunk Elephant moisturiser is the Protini Polypeptide Cream. It’s the most expensive of the lot but it has a lot of benefits for a lot of different needs and skin types. It’s thin enough to be used every day yet a little goes a long way, so you almost get your money’s worth.
The other verdicts are as follows:
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
