Bargain Beauty: CeraVe Moisturizers

Today, while posting on one of my favorite website forums (Lipsticks & Lightsabers- thanks to the awesome Anastasia for setting up the forums for us!) I realized that I've totally dropped the ball in telling you about one of my favorite skincare finds, CeraVe Moisturizing Creme. I mentioned it briefly in my 2010 Best of Beauty post. And, OK, once again when I posted about my skincare routine, but I guess I feel like it deserves its own separate post to celebrate it's glory.

I rarely trust my skin to drugstore brands, so when I find something I like it's all the more special. Now, I'll admit, I'm far from the first person to extol the virtues of this cream- I must have read about CeraVe about 100 times in magazines, on "best of" lists, in "dermatologist recommends" columns, etc...before I finally hunted it down.

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream comes in a gigantic (for face cream) 16oz jar and runs about $15. It's pretty bare bones- the jar looks generically medicinal, and the cream doesn't feel as luxurious as many upscale creams, but it's my first choice when my skin is angry and won't put up with anything else! The medium-weight cream feels slightly waxy at first, but spreads easily and soaks in within a few minutes without ever feeling greasy on my skin. It's got glycerin to hydrate, hyaluronic acid to attract & hold in moisture (in case you haven't noticed, hyaluronic acid is a favorite ingredient of mine!) and ceramides to help strengthen the skin's natural protective barrier. It's fragrance free, non-comedogenic (won't clog pores) and it's actually time-released so it works throughout the day.

For oilier skin, CeraVe does offer a lotion formula. Since my skin is dry to severely dry, I've not used the regular lotion, but I do like the new AM version (around $13.99 for 3oz). Aside from all of the components listed above, it's got SPF 30 and the anti-aging ingredient niacinamide (a friggin' wonder ingredient, it does everything!) I like the SPF lotion, though occasionally it can seem a little light for my skin (but only when I'm super parched). The only other minus to the AM version is it's scent; probably because they don't add fragrance or other ingredients to mask the natural scent, the lotion smells strongly of sunscreen, and that smell lingers a bit when you first apply it. It is, however, a small price to pay, in my opinion, and I'd still give the CeraVe AM lotion a big thumbs up!

So...what's your favorite drug-store steal?