If you’ve been following along, we’ve thus far covered my current favourite cleansers, hydrating toners, and serums…which, if you’re unfamiliar or just starting out with skincare, was probably a lot of gibberish to you. I did my best to make things as clear and accessible as possible, and hopefully there was some good information there. But even if you’re a beer-swilling truck driver named Snake, you’ve heard of moisturizers. They’re about as basic as you can get.

Right?

Eeeeh, except not so much, anymore. These days, it’s not just about slapping some cold cream on your face and calling it a night. We know a lot more about the structure of the epidermal layers than we did back in your mom’s day, and the way moisturizers are formulated now reflect that. A trip to your local Sephora can make you wish you’d brought a dermatologist along just to buy a “simple” face cream. Do you get one with peptides? Do you get one with retinol? What about vitamin C? Ferulic acid? Hyaluronic acid? Ceramides? Cica? Ferments? Snail mucin???

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Personally, I still like to keep my moisturizer pretty simple, and let it do what it’s supposed to do – which is moisturize. I let my tretinoin and serums do all the heavy lifting in terms of actives like antioxidants, peptides, etc. The main thing I look for a moisturizer is that it will protect and restore my moisture barrier – this is particularly important if you are sensitive (and if you have autoimmune issues like me, chances are, you are sensitive af), using tretinoin or other heavy duty acids, acne topicals and the like, or have dry, dehydrated, and/or aging skin.

The moisture barrier is the outer layer of your (and my) skin, called the stratum corneum, which is made up of healthy fats, namely cholesterol, fatty acids and ceramides. This barrier keeps moisture in, and harmful bacteria out. When we over-exfoliate (which happens a lot – I see it all the time on a couple of skincare groups I belong to; people going foolishly gung-ho with the acids, using two or three different kinds in one day, every day of the week), we inevitably damage this barrier, and our skin freaks out. You see breakouts, rashes, bad texture, patches of scaly, irritated skin, and even chemical burns.

When I buy a moisturizer, I look for one that ideally contains a mix of cholesterol, fatty acids, and ceramides. As a tretinoin user with autoimmune, cranky, dry, dehydrated skin, this is non-negotiable, as it can be really rough on my poor, delicate little carapace if i don’t protect my barrier, and hydrate properly. It’s not the easiest thing to find a product that contains all three in a sufficient concentration, in the proper ratio to make a difference in the skin; the ideal, which studies show can actually facilitate barrier recovery , being a 3:1:1:1 ratio, with cholesterol as the dominant lipid.

The best one I’ve found thus far is Stratia Liquid Gold , which not only contains all three components, it also has all kinds of other goodies in it, like sea buckthorn, which is an anti-inflammatory; Niacinamide, which helps to clear up blemishes, close pores, and diminish fine lines; and rosehip oil, which hydrates while healing blemishes. It’s also fragrance and alcohol denat. free. I adore this moisturizer, and at $24, it’s quite inexpensive, too! I use it every morning, without fail.

Another product I love, and have been using for years, is Dr Jart Ceramidin Cream . Its barrier protecting/building ingredients are glycerin, sodium hyaluronate, ceramide 3, squalane, and cholesterol. It also contains soothing ingredients like aloe, and licorice root, as well as several naturally derived antioxidants. This is a fairly thick moisturizer, so if your skin is very oily, it might be a bit much for you – although I can and do use it on my oily t-zone even in summer with no problems. I reserve this for nighttime, and it’s strong enough to do double duty as an eye cream, if you’re so inclined. I put it on 30 minutes after applying my tretinoin, without fail – then follow with a face oil to seal it all in for the night.

Another hugely popular ceramide-containing moisturizer that I would be remiss not to mention is CeraVe. This product has reached cult status in the skincare nerd world, because it’s very affordable, and it does contain some buzzword ingredients like ceramides and Niacinamide. It’s trendy. It also breaks a lot of people out, myself included. For one thing, the popular Day Renewal Cream contains alcohol – the bad kind (as well as the safe, fatty kind). I don’t put any product on my face that contains alcohol, or alcohol denat. (same thing). The Daily Moisturizing Lotion has far less problematic ingredients (unless you’re avoiding Parabens), so I’d recommend that one instead – still, none of them do it for me, personally. I don’t find them moisturizing enough, I don’t like how they feel on my skin, and they cause breakouts.

That’s pretty much it for products I’ve personally tried that contain a decent amount of ceramides. It’s not really caught on in western products until quite recently; Drunk Elephant just came out with a version of their Lala Retro Cream with Ceramides, which could be promising – but I will probably stick to my Stratia Liquid Gold.

There are certainly worthy moisturizers out there that don’t contain the fatty acids and ceramides – as long as I have one that I use once a day, I will occasionally branch out, especially in the summer months, for a lighter, water-based cream that gives my goofy skin a good dose of hydration without making it feel like it’s suffocating in the dense Chicago heat.

One such cream I quite like is the Tatcha Water Cream . I’m on perhaps my sixth little sample jar of the stuff, and will probably go ahead and purchase it next summer. I really liked it in the humidity this season, and found it to be very soothing and hydrating. While it doesn’t have the big guns in terms of barrier protection, it does contain some other goodies that the skin really loves, such as camellia sinensis leaf, which is a great hydrator, and saccharomyces, which is a fermented ingredient derived from yeast that acts as an antioxidant. It also contains rice ferment filatrate, which has been used as an anti-aging ingredient in skincare in Asian countries for centuries. There has been very little in the way of scientific study to back this up, although I did find one that seems to support the claim ; and my personal experience with using K-beauty products over the years tells me that it definitely does my skin some real good. I find my skin looks brighter, and feels firmer overall when I use rice ferment filtrate consistently.

I always like to keep a nice, basic, good yet inexpensive cream on hand for the sole purpose of buffering my tretinoin at night – I use a thin layer underneath my tret, before my good moisturizer. Lately, I’ve been using the newcomer brand Versed Skin Soak Rich Moisture Cream for this. Reviews for this Target brand have been consistently solid – so solid that you can now buy it on Dermstore.com. I like this cream, because it’s fragrance free, no-frills, does the job, and doesn’t break me out. Its main hydrators are squalane and glycerin.

Finally, we have The Yeon Jeju Canola Honey Wrapping Multi-Cream – an occlusive barrier cream which can also be used as a sleeping mask. This gel-cream is a heavy hitter that I use when my skin really needs an extra dose of serious moisture overnight. The first ingredient is honey extract (it in fact makes up 30% of the product) for some serious moisture. Glycerine is also high on the list, for good water retention. Interestingly, there’s also a fair amount of adenosine – a known anti-wrinkle agent. There is also a lot of dimethicone here, so if you’re avoiding silicones, this isn’t for you. Personally, I don’t have a problem with them, as they make a good occlusive. I really like this product, especially when paired with the Canola Honey Ampoule. My skin is baby soft when I wake up in the morning after using this – even in Winter here in Chicago, with brutal, 20 below zero weather and drying radiator heat blasting my face at night. And I use tretinoin. Layering moisturizing products is a must in this city in Winter – and this stuff does the job.

Because I’m hopelessly geeked out on all things skincare, I’ll be trying out some new k-beauty products I’ve been eyeing at the local shops here in Chicago, so I’ll doubtless be adding to this list in the near future. I’m always on the hunt for fragrance and alcohol free skincare, so do stay tuned!

Next post, I’ll be talking eye creams and serums!

Hope to see you here, XO

Cori Monday