Hello everyone! Queen of Skincare Addiction here.
Today I’ll be reviewing the dermatologist-recommended French pharmacy brand Avène’s Hydrance Rich Hydrating Cream.
I discovered this cream through online skincare retailer Dermstore.com‘s monthly skincare subscription box BeautyFIX (from their December 2019 box, which I purchased at the very beginning of January 2020).
The underrated BeautyFIX box is one of the BEST hidden beauty secrets on the web!
An amazing rare sub-box that primarily focuses on skincare, this box always has luxe brands: 1 full-sized item + 4-5 deluxe samples for an amazing price of just $25 a month. It’s honestly one of my favorite subscription boxes.
You can still purchase this box on the website;
It has now been re-named the “Winter Wonderland Kit”.
I’ve been able to try this product for a long time since I got this product in January 2020 and it is now the end of April, so I feel comfortable giving it an in-depth review.
Here are the description and claims for this moisturizer according to Dermstore.com:
Discover a more nourished, hydrated and glowing complexion with Avène Hydrance Rich Hydrating Cream. Formulated with nourishing shea butter and safflower oil, this moisturizing face cream works to gently alleviate signs of aging, dryness and dehydration.
Key Benefits:
- Helps prevent water evaporation from the skin by reinforcing cell cohesion
- Provides 24-hour hydration
- Smooths away dehydration lines and soothes tightness and tingling sensations
- Moisturizes and nourishes the skin
According to Dermstore’s description, this face cream is for:
Moisturizers: Face Moisturizer
Ideal for these Concerns: Aging Skin, Dryness and Dehydration, Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Ideal for these Skin Types: Oily Skin, Dry Skin, Combination Skin, Normal Skin, Sensitive Skin, Mature Skin, Acne-Prone Skin
Preferences: Dermatologist Approved, Paraben-Free, Hypoallergenic
Skin Type: Sensitive, Dry, Oily
Key Ingredient(s): Aloe Vera, Shea Butter
Application Area: Neck, Face
While the claims “hypoallergenic” mean nothing whatsoever and should always be taken with a huge grain of salt, “dermatologist-recommended” DOES mean something, and this cream’s claims seem to fit to my experience to be ideal for sensitive skin!
The basic shorthand description of this moisturizer is “A daily face moisturizer that provides antioxidant protection and continuous hydration.”
Ingredients List:
Now, this is the part that shocked me.
Let’s take a look at the Ingredients List:
Avène Thermal Spring Water (Avène Aqua), Mineral Oil (Paraffinum Liquidum), Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Dimethicone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil (Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil), Isocetyl Stearoyl Stearate, Triethylhexanoin, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter (Butyrospermum Parkii Butter), Cetearyl Glucoside, Benzoic Acid, Beta-Sitosterol, Bht, Disodium Edta, Fragrance (Parfum), Polyacrylate-13, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Sodium Hydroxide, Sorbitan Isostearate, Water (Aqua), Xanthan Gum.
It’s been hammered into my brain according to the skincare community that mineral oil is horrible for the skin. I think the idea stems from the idea that mineral oil is not pure (because it is made from petroleum, like Vaseline, which is a by-product of gasoline) and can supposedly clog your pores?
However according to dermatologists, such as Dr. Dray (a professional dermatologist and trusted & popular YouTuber with a punny name), there is nothing wrong with using it on your face: in fact it’s even touted to be an excellent moisturizer, an occlusive emollient excellent for creating a barrier above your skin preventing “transepidermal water loss” (TEWL, a.k.a. a fancy term for losing water through your skin), and it’s even considered to be one of the safest ingredients for skin unlikely to cause irritation or allergic reactions!
According to the reports of scientific studies, mineral oil used in skincare is purified, highly-refined, high quality: cosmetic-grade.
Mineral oils and waxes as used in cosmetic products are highly refined and of high quality. They are manufactured from crude mineral oils in various refining steps including distillation, extraction and crystallization followed by purification through acid treatment and/or catalytic hydrogenation. The manufacturing process is designed to exclude substances with carcinogenic potential like polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAH) and to minimize the presence of aromatic compounds, referred to as ‘MOAH’ (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons), which are inevitably present in the crude mineral oil starting material. Mineral oils and waxes used in European cosmetic products are of pharmaceutical grade within the specifications of the European Pharmacopeia and in full compliance with the European Union’s cosmetic regulations (IKW, 2016). In the EU, the Cosmetics Products Regulation requires the conduct of a thorough safety assessment which takes into account purity and safety aspects (EC, 2009).
Personally, I trust actual dermatologists who went through med school and have science-backed educations, as well as actual scientific studies with scientific data and research, instead of the fear-mongering internet and anonymous “he-said she-said’s”. Or at least, I do after trying this moisturizer for nearly 5 months. LOL!
This cream has an EXTREMELY smooth texture which feels (for the lack of a better word) velvety-smooth and completely glides over the skin, in fact it’s the *smoothest* moisturizer I’ve ever used! (It’s noteworthy that I have a 10+-step Korean skincare routine, did a few years ago as well, and have tried a good number of products.)
While using it, I felt a sensation which I previously attributed to be from silicones after reading after scanning the ingredients list briefly one time. But upon re-examination concluded it must be mainly due to the actual 2nd ingredient:
the now scientifically un-demonized, and even extremely underrated and highly misunderstood un-sung skincare hero, mineral oil.
Other ingredients contributing to this cream’s smoothness include silicones such as dimethicone (5th ingredient) in it, and other well-known hydrators such as glycerin and the moisturizing fatty alcohol cetearyl alcohol and shea butter inside it.
The fourth ingredient in the ingredients list is “Isohexadecane” which I was not familiar with: upon a Google Search, Paula’s Choice’s Ingredient Dictionary defines it as:
isohexadecane
- Rating: GOOD
- Categories: Thickeners/Emulsifiers, Cleansing Agents, Texture Enhancer
Synthetic, dry-finish ingredient with a powder-like finish. Used as a cleansing agent and texture enhancer in cosmetics, particularly those for oily skin. The size of isohexadecane keeps it from penetrating too far into the skin, so it can be a good ingredient to keep other ingredients, like certain antioxidants, on skin’s surface.
This is true to my experience of this product: I had been somewhat perplexed by the simultaneously incredulously-smooth, moisturizing-yet-somewhat dry/powdery feeling of this moisturizer and it’s ability to keep the moisture on the surface or top layers of my skin (the “dermis”).
This ingredient, along with the mineral oil, seems to prevent the famous “transepidermal water loss” also known by the acronym “TEWL” from occurring to much on my skin when I used this product.
This also contributes to Avene’s claim that is particularly good or suited for oily skin, which I can attest to to be true!
Of course the 1st ingredient is the famous French “thermal” a.k.a. hot spring water “Avene Thermal Spring Water” proudly touted as Avene’s (as well as other dermatologist-recommended French pharmacy brands such as La Roche-Posay & Vichy) to be the secret (and main) ingredient in all their skincare products!
According to Dr. Dray (as well as the brand’s description page on Dermstore.com), people in France will pay good money to go to these special hot springs in Avene, France to bathe in this water to improve their health which is rich in minerals, vitamins, and silica (which upon a Google Search has some studies pointing towards a variety of health benefits, as well as a Paula Choice’s Ingredient Dictionary entry attesting to its ability to “enhance the absorption of other products”) and is supposed to be (according to Avene’s description page on Dermstore.com) “full of remarkable soothing and healing properties”.
Whether you believe in these claims is up to you (I personally am somewhat skeptical of the effects of this supposed “magical water”), but Avene are extremely proud of this water and even sell it bottled to spray on your face for $14 for 5 oz! (That’s almost $3 an ounce!) Anecdotal evidence from customer reviews on Dermstore.com say that it is mostly overpriced fancy water in a spray bottle that even caused a bit of irritation to a few customers, but who knows?
My Experience With This Product:
Anyway enough fancy ingredients talk.
While the purported effects of all these ingredients seem to support the effects of it on my skin & my actual experience of using this product, we should probably further delve into: What IS my experience of using this product, anyway?
The Hydrance Rich Hydrating Cream IS (as its name brags, and in my experience) a rich & moisturizing cream.
At the same time, surprisingly it’s never clogged my pores or made me break out; on the contrary, it is an extremely gentle moisturizer, and one of, and actually even probably THE gentlest facial moisturizer that I have ever tried.
In fact, as an aspiring skinfluencer I started going on a major “skincare shopping spree” a few months ago and went from a few to 20+ products in my collection! (Or “shelfie”, “fridge-ie”–I have not one but *2* skincare fridges now!–or whatever people on the internet these days call it.) I use it as the “control” moisturizer in my skin-testing experiments whenever I’m testing out a new product on my skin to see the true, sole effects of the new product.
Since I know and have such confidence that it won’t break out my skin or have any sensitive or negative reactions with the other ingredients in the other products I’m using, it’s become a staple.
I’ve used it for 4 months with a large variety of skincare products I’ve tested for blogging purposes (as well as to sate my personal curiosity) and have never once had a negative reaction on my skin!
This moisturizer *does*, as advertised, seem to form a barrier against my skin that seems to prevent water or moisture from escaping my skin (a.k.a. the infamous TEWL or transepidermal water loss)–or *did* when I had oily skin during the day. Now that I have combo/dry skin, it doesn’t seem to be quite enough to act as a night cream.
I do notice a temporary “smoothing” effect after I apply this moisturizer; however, as it doesn’t last I attribute this transitory visual change to the silicones in the product.
I can see why it is recommended by so many dermatologists!
The only concern I have with this product is that I’m not sure it fully penetrates the deeper layers of my skin due to the larger molecule size.
Actually, after looking this up for this blog article, my suspicions were confirmed: in the study I previously quoted, it highlights:
• Upon dermal exposure, mineral oil and waxes are predominantly adsorbed to the stratum corneum.
• Only a minor fraction of mineral oil and waxes reach the deeper layer of the skin.
• There is no evidence that mineral oils or waxes as used in cosmetic applications are percutaneously absorbed.
• The cosmetic use of mineral oils and waxes does not present a risk to consumers due to lack of systemic exposure.
Which is great news to the safety of this product for our skin: and for the moisturization content, kind of: “eh…”
If you want a moisturizer that will deeply moisturize and hydrate your skin from within, you might want to skip out on this product or combine it with another one.
THE VERDICT:
Pros:
- Amazingly gentle for sensitive skin/all skin types; Gentlest moisturizer I’ve ever used
- Extremely smooth velvety consistency; Smoothest moisturizer I’ve ever used
- Prevents transepidermal water loss
- Dermatologist-recommended
- Temporary “smoothing” effect on skin
- Filled-in pores (similar to a primer)
- Rich
- Hydrating (1st ingredient is water)
- Moisturizing to the top layer
- Non-greasy
- Won’t break you out (probably)
- Made from fancy French pharmacy brand Avene’s Thermal Spring Water which is sold in 3-week treatments at spa resort-like hot springs in Avene, France
- Shea butter
- Glycerin
- Safflower oil (high in linoleic acid suitable for oily skin)
- Particularly suited for oily skin
- Never irritated my sensitive skin even 1 time within 4 months of use with multiple different products
- Perfect for trying out new skincare products with for skincare enthusiasts (such as “actives” or products with active skincare ingredients such as retinol, Vitamin C, AHAs/BHAs etc.)
Cons:
- Doesn’t seem to fully moisturize skin into the deeper layers since it might not be able to penetrate past the top layer of the skin due to ingredients
- In my experience not sufficiently moisturizing by itself for dry/combo skin (best-suited for oily skin; perfect when I had oilier skin but now that I have combo/slightly drier skin from having insane sleeping habits I find that it’s no longer enough)
- Made with dermatologist-recommended but controversial ingredients mineral oil & silicones (which dermatologists & now I have no problem with and are even considered the safest and least comedogenic ingredients but are controversial ingredients some might not be comfortable with using)
- Fragrance (closer to the bottom of the list; but you can’t smell it for people who go apeshit about that kind of thing and in this moisturizer it’s never irritated my skin which is my main concern w/fragrance TBH)
- Small amount for $32
- Can go through quickly
Skincare Budget Hack: Use eBay to find your favorite skincare products or coveted to-be holy grails for cheaper! Avene’s Hydrance Rich Hydrating Cream is $32 at retail price, but is available full-sized and brand new for only $18.80 + $1.79 shipping ($20.89 overall) or $22.99 on eBay (the price of a drugstore moisturizer with leagues-above drugstore quality!!!) [Actually I got it for only $18.99]
Or even score it for CHEAPER than it’s retail price in a set with other samples of some very good products in BeautyFIX’s Winter Wonderland Kit (on Dermstore.com; no monthly subscription required).
This product has single-handedly changed my view on the presence of mineral oil and silicones in skincare!
Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored by Dermstore, and I was not paid or otherwise compensated or provided with free merchandise for this review. These are all my personal opinions of my own experience with this product as well as research from scientific studies and other sources such as an actual dermatologist and Paula’s Choice’s Ingredient Dictionary (who I was also not sponsored by) that are generally well-trusted by the skincare community.
I am not a professional dermatologist / aesthetician / cosmetic chemist or skincare formulator, just a major skincare enthusiast and consumer with a great love for skincare who tries to learn and stay conscientious as possible about the ingredients within my skincare and keep myself and others informed as much as I can about my findings. For real and serious skincare concerns, please seek out the advice of a real dermatologist (you can get one for $15/month from Curology.com or simply ask Dr. Dray on YouTube and hope that she answers you…LOL! You can also try asking Penn Smith on YouTube, she is a licensed master aesthetician who has a smaller channel but is extremely knowledgeable and informed and more likely to answer individual comments.)
The Queen of Skincare Addiction’s Diary 