SKINFIX | BARRIER+ SKIN BARRIER RESTORING GEL CREAM

You may know that the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream is my favorite cold weather face cream of all time.

TLPC literally saves my skin from sudden doom (aka dryness and dehydration) throughout the winter!

What makes it so uniquely effective? Well, TLPC does something no other moisturizer can do: it replenishes depleted skin lipids like fatty acids and ceramides. These lipids are essential for keeping the skin barrier strong and preventing dehydrating trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL.

As effective as it is, Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream is really, really rich and not for every one — or for every day of the year. When the temps warm up, it can be a bit much,. Even for me!

(Psst…my previous review of the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream follows below.)

I’m excited to be among the first to experience the new Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream! It’s not exactly a lightweight version of the brand’s iconic TLPC; rather Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream is a far lighter moisturizer with a similar ability to strengthen the skin barrier.

In fact, Skinfix’s new gel cream is clinically proven to strengthen skin barrier function in as little as an hour. In addition, it’s proven to delivers intense hydration for 72 hours, essentially preventing TEWL.

72 hours! How crazy is that?! I mean it’s not like I’m only gonna apply a face cream once in three days, but just knowing that I’ll be good in a hostage situation without my skincare essentials is a relief.

Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream has a super light gel-cream texture that glides on easily and is immediately absorbed into the skin. The texture makes it the ideal face cream for oily skin and I suspect oily skin types would really appreciate the texture. While the texture isn’t unique as far as gel creams go, IMO it’s likely the best gel-cream moisturizer on the market.

Regrettably, it’s such a common misperception that oily skin doesn’t need moisture or oil. All human skin needs oil-based moisture. Even the slickest, greasiest, most uncomfortably icky skins! Depriving skin of moisture replenishment only exacerbates the problem and can even make skin oilier as it compensates for the oil deprivation throughout the day. And, as all human skin, oily skin suffers from trans-epidermal water loss and subsequent dehydration, too.

What Is Trans-Epidermal Water Loss (TEWL)?

Trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL, is the leading cause of dehydration — or insufficient water in the skin’s layers. Just as the body needs sufficient quantities of water each day to survive, the skin needs water to function in an optimally healthy manner.

For a deep-dive into trans-epidermal water loss, 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).”

Beyond addressing skin’s basic needs, Skinfix took great pains to formulate a face cream that would address the more unique needs of both oily-prone and acne-prone skin types. In fact, one of the most interesting characteristics of their new gel-cream formula is what’s not in it, including many known triggers of fungal acne.

According to the brand, Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream is “free from a long list of ingredients including fragrance, silicone, dimethicone, parabens, sulfates, essential oils, formaldehyde, phthalates, lanolin, petrolatum, propylene glycol, PEGs, gluten and the many known triggers of malassezia folliculitis aka ‘fungal acne’.”

What’s even more intriguing to me about Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream is the inclusion of a powerful and unusual active, Saccharide Isomerate — a skin-similar sugar carbohydrate that binds skin cells together in a tight mesh to prevent TEWL. It’s this precise ingredient that delivers the formula’s sustained hydration benefit over for 72 hours.

If you have oily or acne-prone skin, give the new Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream a try. And, if you have normal, combo, or moderately dry skin, it’s ideal for you as well in the warmer months ahead.

What I like about it: The Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream is as well-formulated as the brand’s iconic Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream. Both have legitimate clinically proven skin barrier-strengthening qualities. I love the new gel cream’s super lightweight texture, making it ideal for oily skin and all skin types in the warmer months. In addition, it’s uniquely formulated without ingredients that can cause fungal acne to proliferate, making it one of the best face creams for acne-prone skin.

What I don’t like about it: I’m hard-pressed to think of anything I don’t like about it. Of course, it won’t deliver sufficient moisture replenishment during the colder months, but I have TLPC for that!

Who it’s for: All skin types, but especially oily and/or acne prone skins.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream for $48 here.

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MY WINTER SKIN SAVIOR: SKINFIX BARRIER+ LIPID REPLENISHING SKINCARE

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Following is my original review of the iconic Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream.

I’ve had my eye on the Skinfix brand for a while now. I’ve long been eager to test drive their products and am impressed with what I’ve experienced so far.

You may recall my selection of the Skinfix Remedy+ 911 Ointment in my recent blog article on maskne titled, Best Maskne Treatments – available to read here. Seriously, if you’re struggling with maskne, get yourself a tube of Remedy+ 911 Ointment!

Skinfix is the clean, clinical brand it appears to be. They’re experts in the treatment of eczema and perioral dermatitis around the mouth, which made the choice of Remedy+ 911 Ointment ideal for the treatment of maskne.

In fact, Skinfix has an entire range of eczema treatments called Eczema+.

The Skinfix Eczema+ collection comprises about a half dozen products, including Eczema+ Dermatitis Face Balm, Eczema+ Foaming Oil Body Wash, and the brand’s iconic Eczema+ Targeted Body Balm — a previous version of which dates back to the company’s founding by Thomas Dixon, a pharmacist in Yorkshire, England, in 1870.

According to Skinfix,

“Dixon set out to create a balm to treat a multitude of skin irritations that his patients were suffering from. Since he didn’t work for a big beauty company, Dixon didn’t consider the cost of his formula when sitting down to formulate. Instead he grabbed every ingredient that he knew would help to tackle skin redness, itching, inflammation, cracking and dryness; and he used key ingredients at high concentrations. His goal was simple; the formula needed to work, otherwise his patients would not be back. Skinfix follows this ethos of using multiple, clean, active ingredients at their optimal effective levels in every formula that we create.”

Indeed, the Skinfix of today offers clean, vegan and highly efficacious treatments that are just shy of prescription strength. If you struggle with eczema, as I do in the winter months, you’ll want to turn to Skinfix. The products simply work!

But the company doesn’t rest on its eczema laurels. As a clinical brand, they’re focused primarily on protecting, maintaining and enhancing skin health. Much of what the brand espouses centers on the health of the skin barrier.

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+.

The centerpiece of the Skinfix Barrier+ collection is this fantastic face cream called 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 Lipids?

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 Lipids
Healthy, 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.

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.

I think it’s helpful to understand the difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin in order to protect your skin health any day of the year. 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.

Triple Lipid-Peptide is 95% natural and feels like velvet on the skin. And, it discernibly transforms the look and feel of your skin over time as depleted lipids are restored. Skin feels plumper, healthier and, yes, hydrated.

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 lipids in Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream within a week or so. Such a fantastic moisturizer for the cold! Brrr…

What I like about it: The Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream is quite honestly one of the best moisturizers of all time. I have recommended it to dozens of people over the years and more than any other product, I hear back how well it works for their skin. It does one particular thing extraordinarily well, and I suspect it’s the reason why people are so impressed by it: it replenishes skin’s vital lipids. You really can’t overestimate the importance of that to skin health.

What I don’t like about it: I love everything about TLPC!

Who it’s for: All skin types, except oily or acne prone.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream for $52 here.

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**Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream**
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The Ingredient List of Skinfix Skin Barrier Restoring Gel Cream:

Water (Aqua), Squalane, Propanediol, Niacinamide, Triheptanoin, Saccharide Isomerate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Zinc PCA, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Allantoin, Camellia Sinensis Seed Extract, Leptospermone, Flavesone, Isoleptospermone, Acetyl Heptapeptide-4, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Caprylyl Glycol, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, C12-20 Alkyl Glucoside, C14-22 Alcohols, Ethylhexylglycerin, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol.