Creme de La Mer is a highly coveted moisturizer known for its power to heal and hydrate the skin. The luxe cream is made with the brand’s proprietary “miracle broth,” which is a potent anti-irritant that helps calm the look of redness and other signs of inflammation.
While the product’s efficacy is not contested, the steep price tag often is. So why this product so expensive? Well, it starts with the biannual kelp harvest off of Vancouver Island. Sea Kelp is the star ingredient in the cream, and the process includes fermenting the kelp for months using specific pulsed light.
While it does contain a slew of all-star ingredients, you’re undoubtedly also paying for brand prestige–La Mer has amassed millions of loyal followers who happily buy it on a regular basis without thinking twice about the $175+ price tag (and that’s just one a one oz. jar). But if you’re simply not willing to drop the big bucks on this cult classic, we’ve rounded 10 strikingly similar products that rival La Mer’s skincare offerings, but without the high-end cost.
1. Weleda Skin Food
is a unique, ultra-rich, whole-body cream that deeply hydrates, restores and protects skin with nourishing plant oils and extracts. Sometimes referred to as a “natural La Mer,” this product feeds the skin with the same intense nourishment and hydration and utilizes anti-inflammatory extracts of organic calendula flowers that gently nourish and care for parched skin.
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2. Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream
Mario Badescu’s Seaweed Night Cream hydrates skin while sleeping with a rich, La Mer-like broth. Elastin, collagen and hyaluronic acid work to nourish dehydrated skin and calm irritation. The main ingredient, “bladderwrack,” is a type of natural seaweed that softens and nourishes skin to achieve smooth, dewy, younger-looking skin overnight.
3. Marine Hyaluronic Acid Water Skim Moisturizer
Naturium has created a moisturizer that’s as biocompatible as it is effective, making it an excellent, super affordable alternative to Creme de La Mer. This moisturizer uses Hyaluronic acid, marine-based polysaccharides and phytonutrients to hydrate your skin deeply, and form up the surface by attracting and retaining water. It helps restore your skin’s lipid barrier for effective, visual results you’ll notice with consistent use.
This moisturizer harnesses the power of both natural and synthetic ingredients for a powerful formula, and uses sufficient levels of active ingredients that are pH-appropriate. This moisturizer is also cruelty-free, paraben-free, vegan and fragrance-free as well.
4. Philosophy Take a Deep Breath Eye Cream
This oxygenating eye gel cream from Philosophy is an intense moisture cream that reduces puffiness, lightens dark circles and rejuvenates tired eyes. By harnessing the power of caffeine and a blend of nourishing peptides, combined with Malachite extract, this eye cream brightens and smooths fine lines and wrinkles.
Malachite (a natural and powerful mineral) is also a main ingredient found in La Mer’s famous $200 Eye Concentrate. Philosophy says that in their in-house trials, 83% of women saw a brighter, well-rested eye area, “like they got a good night’s sleep.”
5. Aveda Exfoliating Creme Cleanser
Aveda’s Exfoliating Cream Cleanser is a daily facial cleanser that helps increase cell turnover, conditions skin and removes skin-dulling surface cells and impurities. It contains the same tourmaline as La Mer’s cleansing gel and is widely used in exfoliating products. A natural gemstone, tourmaline helps dissolve excess oil without disrupting skin’s natural moisture balance.
6. Bu + L Facial Serum Concentrate
Bu + L Buriti-Li Sagging Skin Facial Serum Concentrate provides skin with the support it needs to stay bright and youthful. Ingredients sourced from the Amazonian forest help boost collagen production to help firm and redefine facial contours, while lime oil firms the connective skin tissues, facilitating tighter and tauter skin. Similar lime extracts are found in the powerful serums of La Mer to help defend the skin against free radicals for healthier looking skin.
7. Follain Blemish Balm
This super lightweight moisturizing cream from Follain uses the power of algae and tea tree oil to replenish even the most sensitive of skin types. It’ll moisturize without sitting heavily on the surface, and minimizes and prevents breakouts when used consistently.
It’s designed for daily use and has SPF to protect your skin while leaving it feeling clean and fresh.
8. Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream
Drunk Elephant specializes in biocompatible skincare products that can be used in any order. This is their premiere moisturizer made with amino acids that’s designed to immediately improve skin’s tone, firmness and overall texture. They use signal peptides, pygmy waterlily, supportive amino acids and growth factors to moisturize skin deeply and naturally using its own mechanisms.
Drunk Elephant believes “sensitive” skin is just skin that’s been sensitized over time due to exposure to harsh irritants, so they make their products as effective and good for your internal/external health as possible. This moisturizer is a bit more expensive than some of the other alternatives, but it’s nowhere near the price of Creme de La Mer.
9. Ghost Democracy Lightweight Daily Face Moisturizer
This moisturizer is oil-free, so if you’ve got skin on the oilier side (you still need to moisturize!), this lightweight cream will help. It’s designed to hydrate and balance out skin’s moisture so you get plump, firm skin without a surface sheen. The formula contains a mixture of probiotics, niacinamide, oat seed extract and a touch of vitamin B5 for skin health. Their formula contains no junk, and it’s also quite affordable at less than $30 per unit.
10. Aesop Mandarin Facial Hydrating Cream
Aesop is another high-end skincare brand that makes a great moisturizer that’s more affordable than Creme de La Mer. This lightweight cream is made with citrus oil that hydrates and replenishes skin’s moisture naturally. It’s designed to be rapidly absorbing as well as cooling and toning for balanced skin. Aesop only uses scientifically-backed, high-quality ingredients in all of their products, so you know what you’re applying daily is legit.
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