BEST MOISTURIZERS OF THE YEAR | DOCTORLY REVIEWS

Look at this, it's amazing. It's like liquid gold. It is. What's up, everyone? We're back. Dr. Maxfield. Dr. Shah. And welcome back to our channel, Dr. Lee, where we talk about all things skincare and dermatology. So it's that time of the year where we wrap up our favorite skincare products of the year. So best moisturizers of the year, that's what we're gonna start off with. So this is great because I think moisturizers almost are like the backbone of skincare sometimes. I don't know. It just seems to do so much of the heavy, okay, actives do the heavy lifting, but they're so important. One of my favorite things to talk about. Yeah, I'm obsessed with moisturizers. As many of you know, big fan of the double moisturizing, but I noticed when I was trying to put together this list that there are so many favorite moisturizers that I have. And the best way to do this, I think, is to do it based on category. We're gonna go over the best moisturizers for very dry skin. We're gonna go over the best lightweight moisturizers. We're gonna go over the best moisturizers with retinol. Best of the year, here we go. Here we go. So let's talk about very dry skin first. I like a thick moisturizer. So you can even use these if you don't have very dry skin, but you just like a thicker moisturizer. So what's your sort of favorite of the year? Okay, my favorite is absolutely this right here, La Roche-Posay Lipicar Bomb AP+. I have one upstairs in my dresser. I have one by my front door. I have one in my drawer in my office and one on my other drawer in my office. This is like my go-to. Yeah, so this is actually a great option. So it has a lot of beneficial ingredients in it. So I really personally like this one for my body, but I think you use it on both your body and your face, right? So only when I'm in the winter and like just the wind, what do you call it? Wind chap? Wind burn. When the wind burn really starts to get me, then I move it up to my face as well. So it's got shea butter. It has that La Roche-Posay Prebiotic Thermal Water in it. It's fragrance-free. It's been tested for comedogenicity, which, you know, hit or miss. Plus Dr. Maxfield's favorite ingredient, niacinamide. Yeah, and the thing that I think makes this nice is it's a heavier moisturizer. And my arm is gonna be super greasy by the end of this video, but it's a heavier moisturizer, but it's not like the heaviest moisturizer. So if you get with like a Vanicream, that one has a bit higher petrolatum concentration. So for me, this is like heavy, thick, thick, thick, thick, as Dr. Shocks say, but then it also has like a medium blend. And I think most people are gonna tolerate this really well. So this is definitely something worth, if you have dry skin or if you have dry skin on the body. I use this on my ankles because my ankles are always dry. So big fan of this one. Shout out to La Roche-Posay, accepted by the National Eczema Association. All right, so for very dry skin, this one is more for the face for me. Skin Fix Triple Lipid Peptide Cream. Huge fan of this one. I think when it comes to moisturizers, you really have to try it. You can look at the ingredient list all day with some of these products. You have no idea if you're gonna like it on your skin unless you try them. So I have a normal combination skin, but I still use this one. It's just a very, very good moisturizer with this peptide lipid complex. Anyone who's tried it really does love it. It's fragrance-free, doesn't cause a lot of allergy or irritation in anybody. And I've just been using it for a really long time. And this is the moisturizer I send to friends and families who are getting into skincare. I order it from the website and I just ship it to them because I know a lot of people will like it. And the thing I like about moisturizers too- It's popped off. Yeah, I knew that. So the thing we like- No, it's not. It's like a- No, you just opened the whole thing. Okay, I just don't want to break things. I'm so strong. I just break things all the time. So- No, you're not supposed to put your finger in this. It's a pump. Oh. So, the thing I like about moisturizers now, I think they're just becoming almost like a hybrid. This has peptides in it, among other things. Your moisturizer's doing work. It's not just moisturizing, it's also adding to your actives along the way. And this is just an example of one of those. All right, so next up, let's talk about some of our favorite lightweight moisturizers. Now, these are gonna be good for oily skin, normal skin, but maybe just somebody who likes more of that lightweight texture. Some people don't like to feel like their skin is being suffocated by their moisturizer. And I totally get that. You don't need to like thick moisturizers like I do. I think stand out in this category has always been the CeraVe PM lotion. Yeah, this has been one of my favorites. It's kind of like just that old school go-to, I think, in my mind. Like, first thing comes to mind, lightweight moisturizer, and then, like, does it have niacinamide? Of course, it happens to have niacinamide in it, too. It is just the CeraVe PM. Great for facial skin, good for sensitive skin. It's just very all around, excellent lightweight moisturizer. And remember that niacinamide regulates oil production. And so, for somebody who does have oilier skin, look for moisturizers that have niacinamide in it. Now, it's not necessarily, like, when I say that, a lot of people think it decreases oil production. So, if you have dry skin, it's not like you can't use niacinamide. If you have oily skin, it will normalize it. But if you have dry skin, it's not gonna dry you out. So, Dr. Maxfield is applying the CeraVe PM moisturizer while I talk about the Biossance Squalene Probiotic Gel Moisturizer. Okay, so as you can tell, I have a lot of skincare products. For me to get this close to empty, we're using this quite a bit. Why do I like this one? Well, it's a lightweight, super gel consistency. So, this thing is, like, very gel consistency-like. But that squalene that it has in it, that it leaves behind, leaves me with the glow. So, this is always my last step in my skincare routine before I shoot video. Let me tell you something, okay? I did a video with Wired. You can go check it out. I don't know if we can link it, but check it out. Hi, I'm Dr. Maneeb Shah, and this is Skin Support. How safe are tanning booths? I used to go tanning all the time. At Young Forehead, great username, should you or shouldn't you pop your pimples? All right, let's settle this debate. I am very much against popping your pimples. I got to the studio, and the people there were like, hey, do you want us to, like, powder you to, like, get rid of the shine? And I was like, no, I do skincare. Like, we never wear, like, makeup when we do skincare videos. And they're like, no, no, no. Like, we're studio lights right now. Like, it's gonna be, you're gonna shine. And I was like, no, no, no, I'm good. I do video, I'm fine. I was wrong. I literally am, like, reflecting light off of the screen. So that's probably because of the squalling probiotic gel moisturizer. Could have been that, but ultimately I should have listened. All right, you know what's great about that, though, is when I was watching his Wired, because I actually do watch some of his things, not all of his things, but some of them, and I actually thought, I was like, man, Dr. Shah looks so dewy. He must be loving this right now. I was hoping that people from our channel would go to the video and comment that Dr. Shah had achieved his ultimate goal of being dewy. A couple people did comment dewy, because they knew what was going on, but I was dewy, but maybe a little too dewy for your average Wired viewer. So next up, we're gonna be talking about best moisturizer of the year in the acne category. So this one's pretty simple, and it really, it was the standout, so much so that we dedicated half a video to it. And I drove to Target 45 minutes away for it. But this is the Cetaphil Gentle Clear Mattifying Acne Moisturizer. Right, so of course, the salicylic acid is really doing that heavy lifting for the acne, and that mattifying component makes it really good for oily skin. Yeah, and for people with oily skin, that's actually pretty important to them. I think they spend a lot of time battling their oil control and the glossiness of their skin. Dewy skin is something they want less of. But this lotion also has ingredients that are gonna help with the hyperpigmentation that comes on after the inflammation of acne calms down. It has kojic acid and licorice. So really, unlike a lot of salicylic acid products, this gave a little bit more boost. And I think actually the texture is something that won me over. I think that for someone with oily acne skin, this is really gonna be a very comfortable lotion with great ingredients. Right, and I don't think a lot of people are doing the mattifying thing, so I think it's great that Cetaphil has that line for people that don't like to have that dewy experience that I like to have. The other thing is that a lot of people with acne don't want to moisturize because they think it's gonna make it worse. And so having a moisturizer that's also an acne treatment is really gonna encourage people to moisturize, which is good because if you don't moisturize and you have acne, it's gonna make the inflammation worse. All right, so next up, moisturizers that have retinol in them. So you can always use your retinol serum or retinol cream or whatever you have and put your favorite moisturizer over it. Not gonna discourage you from doing that. But for somebody who really wants a simplified skincare routine and does wanna skip that moisturizing step, we figured because we love retinol so much, we should include moisturizers that have retinol in them as a separate category. One of the sort of OGs in this category is the Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Regenerating Cream. It has a fragrance-free and a fragranced version. So go with the fragrance-free version. It still has the same actives in it. I see no reason to use a fragranced product when there's the fragrance-free option out there, personally. So now you had some issues with this one. Well, okay, it's not like issues. Okay, you know what, just very candidly, I think there's an expectations issue. So I got this probably when I was 20 years old. That was a long time ago, right? And it was the first time I ever bought a retinol. And I think I saw it reduces wrinkles, gets rid of pores, whatever was being promoted at the time, not even necessarily by them. And I bought it with the expectation that that was gonna happen. And it didn't, at least not immediately. So I think that was actually where a lot of my initial frustration came from. And actually, I'm glad that you brought this over. So actually, I have a few negative, if any negative things to say now about it. It actually is very tremendous in the space. Right, so this is gonna be something that has been time-tested. Grab the fragrance-free one, and it can be just cleansed at night, and apply this, and you'd be done. Next up in this category that deserves mention is the Retinol Correction Max Daily Hydration Cream from ROCK. I gotta highlight ROCK because ROCK, we talk about retinol all the time on this channel. And we know that tretinoin, when it was first invented and discovered, that was pioneered by Albert Kligman at UPenn that showed that it had all these benefits in anti-aging and act. It didn't become commercialized and available to the public as retinol without prescription until many years later. And the company that pioneered that was actually ROCK. So it's kind of associated with more like old-timey type of skincare. Old-timey, but effective. And I think that's actually a very strong testament to the brand. If you can maintain a certain status quo for, what, decades, there are so many good moisturizers, retinols coming out. Even the Olay Regenerous one, just solid, right? But to have something like this, they pioneered so much of it. So props to them and a great, great product. So similar to the Neutrogena one, this actually does come in a fragrance-free and a fragrance version. Again, I would still opt fragrance-free version for this. It's actually a new product, believe it or not, because I think they actually had other retinol products before this. And I think they had the fragrance run before this, but this one came out, maybe came out this year. I really like this one a lot. It moisturizes and it also has a very effective, stabilized form of retinol that Rock uses. And they actually put a lot of research into it. This is a company that spends a lot of time doing research on their products, but they go through years of trials for them. Yeah, the value of that can't be understated. Putting in the legwork there, it just carries the whole industry. When the one company puts the research in, everyone piggybacks off of that. And I will say that retinols in moisturizers, they have a very high utility, in my mind, for people with sensitive skin who are wanting to start a retinol because they may not experience the irritation that you might get with a high strength prescription tretinoin or something like that off the bat. And so it's a nice way to ease into the retinoid world and just also moisturize your face at the same time. If you're new to retinol, it may be nice to kind of ease in with a retinol moisturizer. So if we're gonna be talking about how to simplify your skincare routine with a retinol moisturizer, well, what could you potentially do during the day? Well, you could find a moisturizer that has SPF sunscreen in it. So caveat here is, if you are going to use your moisturizer as a sunscreen, you need to use as much as you'd use of your sunscreen. So according to my calculations, you need to use two finger lengths of sunscreen for the face, neck, and ears. Same applies if you're gonna use a moisturizer. The reason why is because when they do the studies on these, they do it under the same sunscreen conditions. And so maybe you would normally apply a little bit less moisturizer. Maybe you'd apply the same amount, but just keep that in mind. That applies to makeup also. So if you're using a makeup that has an SPF in it, you need to use as much makeup as you would have used of sunscreen. That sounds crazy and practical for makeup. Wow, I never thought about that. Now, again, I think the utility is high for moisturizers and SPF, because it's just like very natural for people to reapply moisturizers throughout the day. In fact, I think it's just easier to carry that one product with you throughout the day and reapply that and not have to think twice about two different things. So what is our first pick? So this one came out this year, actually. This is the Cetaphil Healthy Radiance Whipped Day Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30. So Broad Spectrum SPF 30, plus it has 2% niacinamide in it. So it could actually triple as your niacinamide treatment, plus it's a moisturizer. And so it has a lot of moisturizing ingredients, plus it's fragrance-free. So this is another really good option. You could just cleanse, throw this on in the morning, bolt at the door, still be late like I am. Okay, and then there's another side to this too. So that one is amazing, only comes in non-tinted. So the upside of this one here, this is by Dermatology, their Universal Tinted Moisturizer SPF 46. This is tinted, so it gives you the added coverage against visible light. But unlike some of the other tinted moisturizers, this blends in pretty well, which many do, but it doesn't pill as much as some of the other ones. Now, my wife has been using, this actually has her foundation, but I know some other people like Abbey Young use SPFs as foundation dupes as well for like four, maybe six months now consistently, and it's just worked great. So I can speak to that side of it where I might not otherwise. Super lightweight, it's not that greasy. Sometimes I think SPF moisturizers can feel really greasy. This is not as greasy as a lot of them. And I think an honorable mention in this category would be the Elta MD UV Clear, which I, in my opinion, think is pretty moisturizing. Personally, it's not marketed as a moisturizer sunscreen, but is moisturizing enough for me to just use it as a single step in the morning. Yeah, Elta MD, their whole line, I think, fits that role almost. Like UV Restore is my go-to, but same thing as my facial moisturizer. UV Restore smacks. That is so good. Definitely, I think if you are a big fan of Elta MD and you've tried the UV Clear in the past, try the UV Restore. It is amazing. All right, and if you don't have any of these skin issues, then what about just a normal moisturizer for daily use? So, okay. One of the ones that we have talked about before, it's actually similar. There are so many great, great moisturizers. And we've talked about so many over the course of the year. We always talk about CeraVe products. We talked about First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream before. This one is First Aid Beauty, but a different cream. Yeah, so this is their Collagen Repair Cream. Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream. One of my issues, well, I don't really have an issue with it, but part of the marketing, of course, is that the word collagen. So you think collagen, I have collagen in my skin. I want collagen on my skin that's gonna get in my skin. Collagen is way too large of a particle. It's a combination of amino acids, long chain. So it's really just not gonna penetrate the skin. That being said, it's actually a great moisturizer, collagen. So this is actually just overall a really good moisturizer to have that collagen in it. I love that. So I'm actually thrilled that he took a little dig there and put collagen in it because this is like a very, very big pet peeve of mine too, is just, I guess, collagen. I think it's a trigger word for me. I'm learning about myself today on this video, but regardless of that, collagen does make a great moisturizer, which just doubles down on the effectiveness of this moisturizer. It's just wonderful, effective, and just good all around for just everyday skin. Right, and it is a little bit on the heavier side. It's not like a gel. It's truly a cream. One of them I used quite a bit, honestly. I got a lot of use out of, almost out of it, but what I will say about it is I like the way that it feels on the skin. In addition to that, it has a lot of beneficial ingredients. It has, you know, your standard moisturizing ingredients like glycerin, dimethicone, things like that, but other ingredients like niacinamide, panthenol, shea butter, and even ceramide. Yeah, and then it also has colloidal oats, which for me is one of those standout plant-based ingredients. It's been studied in eczema. We know it makes a great moisturizer. It has some cleansing properties, which we're not utilizing here, but I love seeing that in products. Vino also has that incorporated into a lot of their products as well. I really just like it. It doesn't cause any issues with my skin. It's fragrance-free. It's safe for sensitive skin. I'm a big fan of First Aid Beauty in general. I really like a lot of their products, and this is one that really stood out to me, but at the same time, it doesn't really get a lot of hype. Yeah, it doesn't, but that's okay. We're bringing attention to it now. Great, loaded moisturizer. Exactly, so looking for a new moisturizer, just normal skin that's safe for sensitive skin, I would check out the Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream. Another moisturizer in this category that also doesn't get a lot of hype is La Roche-Posay Telerion Double Repair Face Moisturizer. Now, we talked about the Telerion Ultra, which is more of a lightweight lotion, which maybe should have been included in our lightweight moisturizer category, safe for sensitive skin, but their Double Repair Face Moisturizer has ceramide and niacinamide in it. It's really in that in-between category between lightweight and heavy, and it's really just gonna fit for most skin types. So if you're looking for a moisturizer, don't know which one to grab, La Roche-Posay Double Repair Moisturizer is one I like a lot. Yeah, and so Dr. Chou mentioned it could have fit maybe into that lightweight moisturizer category. So there are so many great moisturizers now, and the Vanicream also would have been an addition. It deserves an honorable mention for that lightweight category. Actually, this really is almost a go-to for people, I think, coming out of dermatology offices. It's like, not using a facial moisturizer, this is the perfect place to start. So even for normal facial skin, Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer is kind of a go-to, and gets a little bit of an honorable mention here. So the last moisturizer, which I don't have on hand, because we're at your place, but is the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream, which is an all-time favorite of mine, but it's also a cult classic. So people that haven't tried Kiehl's, once you've tried some of the Kiehl's products, a lot of people go crazy over them. This is what I live with every day. I lather this up with Kiehl's in the shower. I don't like everything that they have, because some of their products do have some fragrances in them that are not my favorite, but they do have some products that are just absolute hero products in their category, and the Ultra Facial Cream is one of them. So it has a lot of beneficial ingredients, like your glycerin, your squalane, and on top of that, it has hydroxypomidyl sphinganine, which is an ingredient that no one really talks about, but it's a ceramide that increases your own body's production of ceramide. And so it's gonna really reinforce the skin barrier, but it's just because I've tried so many moisturizers, it's one of those ones that you try and you just love it. Yeah, amazing, amazing moisturizer. And I think that ties together our favorite list of moisturizers for the year. They're not necessarily all new, but they are some of our favorites that we have just grown to love and appreciate over the course of the calendar year. And this is probably the biggest category that we have of things, because there's so many moisturizers that we both love. And so, sorry if this was overwhelming, but I would say you only need probably one moisturizer, so just because there's one of these. You don't need to buy all of these, but we try all these products. And this is just like maybe 10 products of the like 250 that we've tried this year. And so these are just really great products. Yeah, they are. And once again, Dr. Shah's light died, so that cues us that it is time to go. All right, we'll see you in the next video. Please like, comment, and subscribe. We appreciate you always. ♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey ♪ Is... Ah! Too close to you? Like awkwardly close. Too close. All right, now I'm just... I'm undying, come on. What is going on? Okay. Perfect. Let me get you reset here.