Review Top 5 Moisturizers for Winter

Mindy Doan
Jan 15, 2021
5 min read

Updated: Jan 19, 2021

Hello beauties, my name is Uyen, aka Mindy. I'm currently taking a Cosmetics course at Seneca College in Toronto. Today, let's jump into my top 5 moisturizers for this winter.

Photo by Mindy

Talk a little bit about my skin. I had an oily-combination skin when I was in Vietnam, while in Toronto, my skin turned to be a dry combination type. Now I still have an oily T-zone, but the oil level was nothing compared to how it was in Vietnam. The other areas on my face are expected to be dry, sometimes itchy.

Please note that all I write down here just based on my personal experience and perspective.

1. Belif - Aqua Bomb

Belif was founded by a Victorian botanist and herbalist – Duncan Napier. Their products are formulated with selected herbs directly sourced from Scotland, which is evident in a herbal cosmetic brand. I love Belif because their products exclude hazardous chemicals such as Synthetic Preservatives, Synthetic Dyes, Synthetic Fragrances, Mineral Oil, or any Animal Origin Ingredient.

Aqua Bomb is one of Belif's best seller products, as Lady Mantle extract is the highlight ingredient here. It has anti-inflammatory properties. Lady Mantle also contains tannin, salicylic acid, which helps to minimize the visibility of pores. Therefore, Aqua Bomb is recommended to those who have oily or acne prone skin. By the way, please do note that there is Alcohol Denat in this product. I know that there are so many opposite opinions about having alcohol in the skincare product out there. I'm also not a fan of alcohol if it is used at a high concentration (ex: Aqua Bomb Hydrating Toner - Alcohol Denat is the 3rd ingredient in the INCI list) because if using AD, in the long run, will dehydrate the skin, which will make your skin worse, but somehow it helps the products go in and get absorbed more easily.

Aqua Bomb has a lightweight gel texture. The first impression is that it is so cool and absorb so quickly on the skin, doesn't leave any uncomfortable feeling. I have used Belif since I was in Vietnam, and I still kept using it when I came here. In winter, I only use Aqua Bomb in my morning skincare routine. For the night skincare routine, I prefer something more intense and more dense cream texture.

I tried several gel moisturizers such as Clinique Moisture Surge, Tatcha Water Cream, Drunk Elephants B-Hydra™ Intensive Hydration Serum, and I still like them, but nothing comes close to this one.

Rate: 4/5

2. Kiehls - Ultra Facial Cream

I feel like I don't need to talk too much about Kiehl's because everyone already knows this brand.

Ultra Facial is one of the top moisturizing lines of Kiehls. They have "Ultra Facial Gel" (alcohol denat is the 3rd ingredient in this product) and "Ultra Facial Cream." I tried the gel one, hmm tbh I prefer the cream more even though I have oily-combination skin.

Ultra Facial Cream has a cream texture but not too thick or heavy, so it doesn't make my skin feel sticky at all. I love using this one as a sleeping mask whenever I use some treatment such as BHA 9 or retinol. In the evening, I apply a thick layer and massage until everything is absorbed, and then the morning after that, my skin is so smooth and hydrated.

As I said above, I prefer using cream texture in the evening, so I only use this one in my night routine. However, this is just my habit. You can still use this in the morning since the texture is relatively light.

Rate: 4/5

3. Fresh - Rose & Hyaluronic Acid Deep Hydration Moisturizer

Fresh is also a well-known natural skincare brand in the USA, and one of its signature products is the toner with the rose petals inside.

According to Fresh, this moisturizer is a lightweight gel-cream that uses advanced hyaluronic acids and time-release hydro-patches to deliver up to 24 hours of hydration for dewy-, plumped-looking skin. If you have oily skin, live in the south of Vietnam, especially in Sai Gon, please never buy it. Base on my experience when I used it in Sai Gon, this one has such a heavy cream texture that it is difficult for it to be fully absorbed into the skin. It made my skin unbreathable. I never thought that I would buy this ever again until last winter, I had no moisturizer left to use, and my skin was so dry, so I decided to give this one a second chance, and surprisingly it worked on my skin. Since I had a bad experience with it before, I didn't apply it directly on my skin but put it on my palm, warm the cream with my hand and gently pressed it on my skin.

Rate: 3/5. Although this is an excellent moisturizer to use in winter, I wouldn't say I like the product's scent at all. The rose scent is too strong that I could never stand it even though I used two bottles of it. And also, as I mentioned above, I'm not too fond of the texture. Therefore it lost 2 points in my opinion.

4. Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Moisturizer

Drunk Elephant is another USA brand that I am so obsessed with it. The only thing I don't like is the price, lol. All DE products are claimed to not contain: essential oils, drying alcohol, silicones, chemical sunscreen, fragrances/ dyes, SLS.

Right now, I'm at the age that can't ignore the sign of ageing anymore. When I was young, I prefer some extra treatment, treat acne, brightening, etc., while now I focus on anti-ageing products, improving the skin elasticity, moisturizing. Therefore, peptide becomes one of my favorite ingredient at this moment. It is a chain of amino acids that helps to maintain protein and natural moisture within the skin, from which stimulates the production of collagen.

Because of peptide prosperity, I choose this moisturizer from Drunk Elephant because I'm so in love with the brand. I'm in love with the gorgeous packaging that can help the product quality last longer and hygiene. When it comes to anti-ageing, it's all about time. I can't say that I realize any significant results on my skin thanks to this product because I feel nothing, but my skin is more hydrated. I can use this one both in the morning and night routine because the texture is so lightweight, I don't need to wait too long for the product to be fully absorbed to use sunscreen after that.

Rate: 4/5

5. iUNIK Beta Glucan Daily Moisture Cream

iUNIK is a Korean natural skincare brand. I knew this brand since 2017 when I worked for a startup of Korean domestic beauty brands, so I had a chance to try almost all of their products. It is so weird about this brand that the most expensive items are not serums or moisturizers but toners. I tried so many products in their categories, from cleanser, cleansing oil, serum, toner, moisturizer, and I can say that I like them all. The price is also very affordable, so I highly recommend this brand to students.

Now talk about the product, Beta Glucan Daily Moisture Cream – the highlight ingredient is Beta Glucan, which is also a very well-performed humectant like Hyaluronic Acid but little-known because of the hype of Hyaluronic Acid.

Beta-glucans, written as β-glucans, are polysaccharides (multiple sugars, starch, cellulose bonded together) found in yeast, bacteria, fungi, seaweed, and grains like oats. So you can ingest them in food, or they can be extracted and applied to your skin. It can boost hydration levels while decreasing the look of wrinkles, redness, and irritation. At the same concentration, Beta Glucan is 20% more hydrating than Hyaluronic Acid.

In this product, besides Beta Glucan, other ingredients such as fruit extraction help to brighten the skin, centella extract, and aloe vera that can calm and protect the skin. Although on the packaging, it said this is Brightening & Wrinkle Care, tbh I only care about the moisturizing prosperity. When it comes to brightening, reducing wrinkles, I believe that serum, treatment products will give more effect.

Another think I like about the product is the packaging – hygiene, affordable price, good moisturizer. I used this one during the fall and winter.

Rate: 5/5