PRODUCT REVIEW: SKINFIX BARRIER+ TRIPLE LIPID-PEPTIDE FACE CREAM AND TRIPLE LIPID-BOOST 360° EYE CREAM – BEST FACE CREAM FOR DRY SKIN, BEST EYE CREAM FOR WRINKLES
SKINFIX | BARRIER+ TRIPLE LIPID-PEPTIDE FACE CREAM & TRIPLE LIPID-BOOST 360° EYE CREAM
This product review was originally part of my blog article titled, Seasonal Skincare Transitioning: Moisturizers I Love that Make Me Excited for Cold Weather - Part One – Best Hydrating Moisturizers, Best Face Creams for Dry Skin. You can catch the full piece here.
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As I do each fall, I’m publishing my two-part series of what I consider to be among the best moisturizers for colder weather. That is, face creams ideal for dry, dehydrated skin no matter the skin type. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, even oily skin needs extra moisture during periods of low-humidity. When the air around us is very dry, it drains the water (and the life!) out of our face.
Around this same time last year, I kicked off my FW20 series of my top ten cold weather face creams in a blog article titled, Winter Moisturizers Part I – Some of the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin and All Skin Types in Cold Weather. If you missed it, by chance, you can read it here.
Then, a couple of weeks later, I published Winter Moisturizers Part 2, which you can read here. The second in the series happened to feature two richer face creams that I still love using a year later.
The first of the two is Youth to the People’s Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream. It not only comforts dry, dehydrated skin but it can help calm skin that’s become sensitized and raw from the harsh, cold air. I’ve been there and I know first hand how the cold can compromise the health of your skin.
The Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream is a rich blend of nourishing and replenishing plant oils, antioxidant botanical extracts and skin-calming adaptogens. Among its moisturizing oils are Sunflower Oil, at ingredient number two, Squalane, Jojoba Seed Oil and Shea Butter. In the cold, that’s exactly what skin needs. But the star actives, as indicated in the product name, are two adaptogens, Ashwagandha Extract and Reishi Mushroom Extract, which can help to calm overactive, stressed-out skin.
To this day, I consider Youth to the People’s Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream the best moisturizer with adaptogens to calm irritated skin. There’s nothing else like it.
The second notable stand-out from my FW20 series is the Jaxon Lane’s Relax and Repair moisturizer. The brand behind the popular Bro Mask, the Jaxon Lane Relax and Repair comes in a tube (which I love!) and is infused with beneficial, pro-skin health, anti-aging actives like Niacinamide, Hyaluronic Acid, collagen and ceramides.
It’s one of the best face creams for men — at least one that’s marketed for men. I don’t have much faith in products made for men; skin is skin. And all skin needs the same things — many of them in Jaxon Lane’s fantastic face cream.
What’s the Difference between Dry Skin and Dehydrated Skin?
Many people confuse the two. They’re not the same thing. Dry skin is a skin type. Dehydrated skin is a skin condition, just as being thirsty is a sign that your body is dehydrated. Dehydrated skin lacks water and any skin type, no matter its level of dryness or oiliness can be dehydrated.
In particular, dehydration is something that’s common to all of us in the cold as the low-humidity air around us draws water through the skin barrier and out of our skin. This process is referred to as trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL. (More on TEWL in my review of the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream below.)
As the cold weather kicks in, I think it’s helpful to understand the difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin in order to protect your skin health in the weeks ahead. For insights, I turned to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team. There’s a superb piece on the Paula’s Choice site titled, What is Dehydrated Skin & How to Choose the Best Products.
Here is an excerpt:
Dehydrated skin often looks and feels like dry skin all over your face, but there's a major difference between the two: dehydrated skin is usually a temporary concern (with various surprising causes) and dry skin typically doesn't change over time. If you have dehydrated skin, your skin may also produce a normal or even excessive amount of oil on its surface.
"Dehydrated skin" is something we’re asked about frequently. It seems there’s a lot of confusion about what this skin concern is about. A major part of the confusion is that the term "dehydrated skin" is often used interchangeably with "dry skin" or "combination skin" but they are not the same! Dehydrated skin can occur in all skin types and is not exclusive to those with dry skin or combination skin.
The Difference Between Dry Skin and Dehydrated Skin
Having classically dry skin is easy to recognize. Dry skin frequently feels tight and dry, with no oil anywhere to be seen. This situation rarely fluctuates; skin feels dry all year long. The dryness might get worse depending on the climate, season, or activity, but regardless of those things, without great skin care products, the uncomfortable dry, tight feeling will persist.
As mentioned above, dehydrated skin can look and feel similar, but there’s a major difference: Dehydrated skin tends to come and go, it does not persist.
The Skincarma “Lock and Block” Prevents Dehydration
To start, preventing dehydration in the first place requires drinking enough water. That differs for each of us based on our weight, the foods we eat, and the climate we live in. It’s even more important during colder periods.
A good rule is to drink one ounce of water each day for every pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 150 lbs., you’ll need to drink 150 ounces of water each and every day to keep your body and your skin optimally hydrated.
Then, employing skincare to treat and prevent dehydration requires what I refer to as a “lock and block” strategy.
It begins with a dedicated humectant serum applied to the skin in both your AM and PM routines that helps to lock water in. Follow with a moisturizer composed of a healthy balance of both humectants and oils to block and prevent the trans-epidermal water loss that can lead to dehydration.
WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF
MY FAVORITE HUMECTANT SERUMS FROM PAULA'S CHOICE, THE INKEY LIST, GHOST DEMOCRACY AND MORE
ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE
The moisturizers I’ve selected below all deliver a lock and block effect by locking hydration into the skin with humectants and blocking TEWL with effective levels of non-fragrant plant oils and/or lipids — essentially fats in the skin.
Today I’m presenting the first part of my FW21 series on cold weather face creams, a collection that includes some of the best moisturizers for combatting dry, dehydrated skin — no matter the skin type.
This year, I’ve selected four distinct moisturizers and designated the unique skin type that I believe it’s best for — one in each of the main categories. In the title, you’ll see new designations for DRY SKIN, OILY / BLEMISH PRONE SKIN, SENSITIVE SKIN and ALL SKIN TYPES.
Additionally, at the end of each review, you’ll find a new section that breaks down what I like and don’t about the product as well as a deeper explanation of who I think it’s best for based on the formula make-up, texture and my own experience with it.
Among my selections in part one below is a face cream that I featured on the blog several times throughout 2020, the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream. It’s a really smart, well-formulated product and simply among the best face creams for dry skin. In the last year, Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream, or TLPC for short, has catapulted to the top of Sephora’s nearly endless collection of moisturizers. As I write this, it’s the number one face cream in the moisturizer category on the Sephora website.
Peace Out’s Repairing Moisturizer is formulated specifically for oily and blemish prone skin year-round, but I found it worked great on my own skin throughout much of the year and I’ve been eager to share it.
My favorite skincare brand for sensitive skin, First Aid Beauty introduced its rich, luxurious, thick-whipped Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream several months ago. If you have dry, sensitive skin, this one is for you.
One of my favorite brand experiences of 2021, Replenix offers clinical skincare formulated with what the brand describes as “medical grade ingredients”. And the brand’s Glycolic Acid 20% Resurfacing Cream is exceptional. With a 20% Glycolic Acid complex, I was terrified to use it at first; I’m now a convert.
I’m also including one of my favorite eye creams, the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream. It’s one which I think every skin type can and will benefit from.
Let’s have a look at one of the FW21 face creams that I consider ideal for cold weather along with one of the best anti-aging eye creams I’ve ever come across…
BEST FOR DRY SKIN:
Skinfix | Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream
I’ve had such great pleasure exploring the Skinfix brand over the past year and a half. I had long been eager to test drive their products and am super impressed with what I’ve experienced from Skinfix to date.
I’ve featured Skinfix multiple times on the blog. You may recall my selection of the Skinfix Remedy+ 911 Ointment in my blog article on maskne titled, Best Maskne Treatments – available to read here. Seriously, if you’re still struggling with maskne, get yourself a tube of their Remedy+ 911 Ointment!
If Skinfix is new to you, I’m honored to introduce you. With clean, clinical skincare and super pro-skin health products like the cult Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream, there’s simply no brand that focuses more on skin barrier health than Skinfix.
They’re experts in the treatment of eczema as well as perioral dermatitis around the mouth, which made the choice of Remedy+ 911 Ointment the perfect pick for the treatment of maskne. In fact, Skinfix has an entire range of eczema treatments called Eczema+.
While eczema can be a year-round issue for many people, it’s even more common in the colder months. The Skinfix Eczema+ collection comprises about a half dozen products. If you’re suffering from eczema or atopic dermatitis, the brand’s Eczema+ is for you.
Just as Skinfix offers an entire range of products for the treatment of eczema, the brand also has a broad collection of products that target skin barrier health called, simply, Barrier+. And the centerpiece of the Skinfix Barrier+ collection is this fantastic cold weather face cream, the Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream.
The Triple Lipid-Peptide moisturizer is deliciously rich, thick and creamy — the perfect moisturizer for dry skin and pretty much all skin types in winter. Why? Because it’s rich in bio-compatible lipids. the foundation of all skin, no matter its type. Skin needs lipids (aka fats) to function. Natural occurring lipids found in the skin include ceramides, fatty acids, and cholesterol.
The Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream contains the brand’s proprietary Triple Lipid Complex that, “helps to restore skin’s natural lipids and fatty acids for glowing, smooth, healthy-looking skin.”
What Are Skin Lipids and Are Lipids Good for Skin?
There’s an insightful article on the Dermstore website titled, The Role of Lipids—Cholesterol, Ceramides and Fatty Acids—in the Aging Process which you can read here.
Lipids in Your Skin
In a nutshell, lipids are skin’s natural fats. They are essential components of skin and play a crucial role in maintaining the strength of the skin’s protective barrier, which holds moisture, protects the skin from damage and keeps dirt and impurities out. They also aid the skin’s natural repair process. While there are many types of lipids, these three are the most prevalent—and important—for the skin.
Cholesterol: This lipid helps accelerate the skin barrier’s recovery and improve the appearance of skin elasticity. Visible skin aging is often caused by cholesterol deficiency on the skin. It’s important to note that cholesterol on your skin is different from the cholesterol found in the blood, and having more of it on your skin won’t cause your blood pressure to spike.
Ceramides: This type of lipid is proven to increase the skin’s hydration and barrier function. Ceramide deficiency is the main cause of dry skin.
Fatty acids: Abundant in young, healthy skin, fatty acids help maintain the skin’s lipid balance.
The Role of Topical LipidsHealthy, youthful skin has an abundance of these naturally occurring lipids. As we age, lipid production declines, and this can result in rough surface texture, uncomfortable tightness, dullness and loss of facial fullness. A compromised skin barrier is also more prone to irritation and water loss. This is why it’s important to counter the effects of lipid loss with a topical treatment—but not just any topical treatment.
The thickest of the face creams I’m covering in part one of my cold weather series, Triple Lipid-Peptide is 95% natural and feels like velvet on the skin. True to the brand’s position as “clinical” — an anagram of the words clean and clinical — it has a reparative effect on the skin.
In fact, according to Skinfix,
“In a 28 day clinical study using Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Hyaluronate Serum in conjunction with, Barrier+ Foaming Oil Cleanser, Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Lotion & Cream, the quantity of lipids in the skin barrier increased by a significant 23.6% in 28 days (that's nearly a 1% increase in skin lipids each day!).”
You really begin to feel the effects of the replenishing lipids in Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream within a week or so. It’s such a fantastic moisturizer for the cold and especially the skin type that suffers most from low-humidity air: dry skin!
WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF
MY WINTER SKIN SAVIOR: SKINFIX BARRIER+ LIPID REPLENISHING SKINCARE
ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE
What I like about it: The Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream is one of my all-time favorite face creams and has been a real skin savior for me in cold weather. It’s super rich without leaving skin greasy.
What I don’t like about it: Honestly, there’s nothing I don’t like about it. It’s that good.
Who it’s for: Dry skin types year round and all skin types in the cold except for oily and blemish prone skins.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream for $50 here.
EYES:
Skinfix | Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream
As I said in my review of the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream, the Skinfix brand is an authority on skin barrier health. The skin barrier is like the moat around the castle, keeping hostile forces out to protect who and what’s inside.
In the case of the skin, the skin barrier is the body’s defense against bacteria, viruses and water loss — the driver of dehydration.
Dehydration can have numerous negative effects on the skin. Signs that your skin is dehydrated include the appearance of what are called fine, dehydration lines. These are most prominent in the eye area, where skin is thinnest. You may notice them around your eyes (and mouth!) when you are thirsty or haven’t slept well.
In fact, the delicate skin of the eye area is the first place to show age on the face!
Because it is so delicate, the skin around the eyes is most vulnerable to water loss. Not only is it the thinnest skin anywhere on your face, but the skin around the eyes contains fewer oils and lipids, or fats, than the rest of the face. Because of that, water can more easily seep through the skin barrier. There’s simple nothing to prevent its escape.
A really, well-formulated replenishing eye cream is essential in the colder months when your eye area is exposed to the harsh, cold, low-humidity air. Why? Because you want to do everything you can to prevent trans-epidermal water loss around your eyes. Once it’s in effect, it can cause long-term damage in the form of lines and wrinkles, the first signs of aging.
I used to nervously joke that at the end of every winter, I’d aged an entire year. As if skin aging were accelerated during those three to four cold months. My eye area suffered the most.
What Is Trans-Epidermal Water Loss?
For a deep-dive (no pun intended!) into trans-epidermal water loss (or TEWL), there’s an excellent article on the health website Skin Better titled, What Is Transepidermal Water Loss and Why Is it Important? It’s available to read here.
In the piece, the author explains TEWL as follows:
“The skin is comprised of three primary layers: the epidermis, the outermost layer; the dermis or middle layer; and the hypodermis, the undermost layer. When water passes from the dermis through the epidermis and evaporates from the skin’s surface, this is known as transepidermal water loss (International Journal of Pharmaceutics).
While TEWL is a process that your skin naturally regulates, certain factors that can damage the skin’s barrier function can also affect TEWL levels. Circumstances such as injury, low-humidity weather conditions and topically applied products that dry out the skin can impact TEWL.
To achieve this, combine humectant and occlusive skincare ingredients.
Transepidermal water loss can contribute to a variety of dry skin conditions, and although it is a natural process, there are ways that you can help your skin stay moisturized and hydrated. Hydration refers to the water content of the skin, whereas moisturization is the skin’s ability to retain those water molecules. Therefore, your skin needs both elements to maintain desirable levels of TEWL.
To achieve this, combine humectant and occlusive skincare ingredients. Humectants help to draw moisture to the epidermis, either from the air if it is humid enough, or from the underlying dermis in low-humidity conditions. Because water content that is drawn from the dermis can be lost through TEWL, it’s important to combine the use of humectants with occlusives. Together, these ingredients create a reservoir of moisture in the epidermis and act as a barrier on the skin to help prevent TEWL by sealing in that moisture. The occlusive agents simultaneously keep pollutants, toxins and harmful bacteria out (Skin Therapy Letter).”
I’ve found the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream to be one of the best eye creams for preventing trans-epidermal water loss, and dry, dehydrated skin in the eye area.
Like the brand’s Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream, and all other products in the brand’s Barrier+ skin barrier building franchise, the Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream is formulated with the Skinfix’s proprietary lipid-restoring 3% Triple Lipid Complex.
Triple Lipid Complex is described by the brand as, “Our signature ingredient. This exclusive complex is a patented lipid multiplier that helps replenish skin barrier lipids, such as ceramides and fatty acids. Lipids fortify your barrier to defend against damaged skin, leading to your best complexion ever.”
What Are Fatty Acids?
There’s an insightful piece on the Paula’s Choice website titled, How Omega Fatty Acids Help Skin. In it, the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team explain the vital importance of fatty acids to skin health.
Omega fatty acids like those found in fish and various plant oils are well known for their remarkable nutritional benefits when consumed via food or supplements as part of a healthy diet—but you might not know about the amazing benefits they have when applied to skin.
The research about omega’s healthy fatty acids for skin is fascinating; in fact, it inspired us to formulate highly specialized products to deliver these important ingredients—and their benefits—to skin: Omega+ Complex Serum, Omega+ Complex Moisturizer, and Omega+ Complex Eye Cream. Adding one or more of these omega fatty acid-packed products to your skin care routine can supplement and enhance the results you get from your other products for visibly improved skin.
What are Omega Fatty Acids?
Omega fatty acids are valuable fats, for your diet and your skin. There are 11 omega fatty acids of which two (omega-3 and omega-6) are considered essential fatty acids because the body cannot make them on its own (meaning you must supplement them in one way or another). Among the omegas, the most vital for skin are:
Omega-3— Found in foods such as fish, flax seed (linseed), walnut, and chia oils, plus certain species of algae
Omega-6— Abundant in many plant oils, linoleic acid, and passion fruit oil
Omega-9— Plentiful in flax seed (linseed) oil and soybean, canola, peanut, and sunflower oils
Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids are not only essential to consume orally, but when applied to skin, research has shown they play a role in maintaining your skin's healthy appearance, among many other benefits.
The Lipid-Boost eye cream has a wonderfully replenishing, silky texture that’s ideal for even the driest skin around the eyes. With clinically active levels of skin-strengthening and protective ingredients, devoid of fragrant plant oils, drying alcohol and toxic skin irritants, it’s a near-perfect eye cream.
I never declare a product perfect. Everyone’s skin is different and just because it’s perfect for me, doesn’t make it perfect for anyone else on the planet. Besides, humans aren’t capable of perfection; only Mother Nature can achieve that.
But Skinfix did harness the best of nature for this baby: Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream is 95% naturally derived.
In addition to its proprietary lipid complex that helps restore depleted fatty acids and ceramides in the skin barrier, there are numerous nourishing non-fragrant plant oils and extracts. Among them, Jojoba and Macadamia Seed oils and Cetearyl Olivate — derived from the fatty acids of olive oil.
There’s also an ultra-nourishing, fermented 4% Saccharomyces Complex in the Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream formula. I love fermented actives in skin care! They’re so good for the skin. And, to help lock hydration into skin, the brand included a 3% Seaweed Hyaluronate Blend.
It’s just a really damn good eye cream — and rather affordable for such a brilliant formula. You can buy six bottles of the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream for the price of a single jar of La Mer’s The Eye Balm Intense — a wildly inferior, fragranced eye cream in a jar with a lid. Awful!
What I like about it: Like I said, the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream is a near-perfect eye cream. It’s got everything the skin around the eyes needs, and particularly during the harsh cold months of fall and winter.
What I don’t like about it: There’s nothing I dislike about this eye cream.
Who it’s for: All skin types.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Boost 360° Eye Cream for $40 here.
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The Ingredient List of the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream:
The Ingredient List of the Peace Out Repairing Moisturizer:
The Ingredient List of the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream:
The Ingredient List of the Replenix Glycolic Acid 20% Resurfacing Cream:
Purified Water, Glycolic Acid, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Ammonium Hydroxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Polyacrylamide, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Dimethicone, Squalane, Tocopheryl Acetate, Green Tea Polyphenols, Chlorella Protothecoides (Algae) Extract, Curcuma Longa (Plant Stem Cells) Callus Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Ubiquinone (Coenzyme Q-10), Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans, Phospholipids, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Cetearyl Glucoside, PEG-100 Stearate, Xanthan Gum, Laureth-7, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA.