Skincare: What’s In and Soon to be Out

by Caroline March ’24

Debriefing popular skincare trends with Caroline! Clearly right now on social media, Alix Earle is the hot topic. She’s influencing people to purchase different products and brands, but only occasionally for the benefit of the audience. Drunk Elephant has become a new internet sensation because of their cute colors and cute packaging, but they are quite expensive and not the best for people with different skin types. As much as they are pretty, and make people feel and look “glowy”, they are not the most practical for everyday use. 

Unfortunately for people with acne prone skin like me, Drunk Elephant is not the most practical, affordable, and not worth it for your every day;here’s why: People have reported getting serious breakouts from certain Drunk Elephant products and it’s throwing off their skin for weeks. People reported getting cystic acne from Drunk Elephant and, after research, some of Drunk Elephants leading ingredients are marula oil, coconut oil, and soybean oil, which can have a negative effects on people with acne prone skin, oily skin or just skin in general. These ingredients are known to clog pores and cause horrific issues in the skin that can cause some serious pain and long term effects like scarring, especially for people with young, hormonal or sensitive skin. Drunk Elephant also uses lots of chemicals. In one of their night serums they use 12% AHA/BHA when most companies use anywhere from 2%-10%.In another serum they use 25% AHA / 2% BHA with glycolic, tartaric, lactic, citric, and salicylic acids, which is a lot of acid to put on your skin.   It can cause extreme dryness as well as severe sensitivity and redness if too much is used regardless of your skin type. Another negative effect is that Drunk Elephant is not gluten free or vegan, they use wheat extractions which are not friendly for people with gluten allergies or severe reactions to gluten, and there is no disclaimer on their website without having to dig for it. The founder of Drunk Elephant, Tiffany Masterson also believes every skin type should be taken care of in the same way even though not every skin type is different. So as much as you might love the packaging, or spending $72 on whipped oil, there are alternatives if Drunk Elephant isn’t right for your skin! 

Some alternatives that use much better ingredients are: the L’oreal Lumi Glotion, Heatwave bronzing essence drops or the Lancaster infinite bronze face bronzer spf 15. Obviously not everyone’s skin is the same, and things that work for popular influencers might not work for you.