Battle of the Creams: Cerave v. First Aid Beauty

I used Cerave Moisturizing Cream at night for the past 3 years, but in March, I got sucked into skincare Youtube and felt like I needed to upgrade what I thought was a boring insufficient routine 😅 I heard such good things about the FAB Ultra Repair Cream, and bought a travel size.

First Aid Beauty – Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration

Texture:

the texture is quite whipped. The product feels a bit heavy on the skin at first, but dries down quickly to a matte finish.

Scent:

This product does not contain synthetic fragrance, but it does contain eucalyptus oil. To me, the product smells like milk and eucalyptus.

Application:

the travel size (2 oz) comes in a squeeze tube, as does the 8 oz. The other sizes come in tubs.

Results:

For ~3 months, I used the FAB day and night as my moisturizer. At night, I would mix it with 2-3 drops of squalane oil. At first, my skin loved it! Unlike many of the other daytime moisturizers I tried, FAB kept my skin hydrated all day and I wouldn’t be peeling or flaking on the parts of my skin that are dry. I liked it so much that after I ran out of the 2oz, I spent $42 on the 8oz tube in the photo. But I started to get small, uniform itchy bumps on my cheeks—which was unusual because I rarely break out there. I saw my dermatologist, who confirmed that it was fungal acne ☹️ To be honest, I’m not sure if it was the squalane oil I was using or the FAB that was causing this, but after reading other reviews that claimed FAB caused fungal acne, I suspect it was the FAB that did it for me. Plus I have used the Cerave with squalane, and didn’t experience fungal acne from that.

CeraVe – Moisturizing Cream For Normal To Dry Skin

Texture:

This product is a heavy cream, but it is tacky rather than greasy. It sinks nicely into the skin and has a slightly shiny, glazed donut finish. To me, it feels too heavy to use during the day, but I like that feel for nighttime.

Scent:

this product is scentless and doesn’t have any synthetic fragrance or fragrant oils.

Application:

the full-size version of this product comes in a tub, but you can buy one with the pump or without. I prefer the pump so I don’t have to dip my fingers in the tub (even though it is safe to do so thanks to preservatives 🙂).

Results:

I have used this cream for 3 years and have never had any irritation or acne from this product. I have tried mixing serums and squalane into this, and they mix nicely without pilling. I will say that everyone’s skin is different—I am combo/acne-prone, my bf has dry skin and Cerave stings his skin. So as always, you may want to buy a small size and patch test. Price-wise, Cerave is much cheaper at $15 for 12oz.

🚨 Overall thoughts:

What I learned was the same thing and said in lily’s review of Cerave vs FAB (go read! I was like, “YES, THANK YOU!” 😂): more expensive doesn’t always mean it’s a better product!