Here at the Derm Review, we’ve reviewed hundreds of products with a scientific lens to ensure you’re creating a an anti aging skincare regimen that’s safe and effective.
Ahead, 19 of the best anti aging creams for every budget, age, and gender.
For optimal results, we recommend Carrot & Stick’s Lift & Smooth routine. Use code DERM20 on the brands website for an additional 20% off.
Best Anti Aging Face Cream
BEST OVERALL
BEST CREAM: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
Say goodbye to aging skin with the plant-powered The Moisturizer. This cream does it all to deliver your best-looking, radiant skin. It helps to hydrate, firm, and revitalize the skin.
Suitable for all skin types, The Moisturizer is formulated with plant proteins, vitamins, peptides and amino-collagen. A caffeine boost helps perk up skin wrinkles, while five distinct coconut elements help with cell renewal and overall conditioning.
Apply this anti-aging serum daily to keep skin hydrated and protected from free radical damage. The Repair Serum by Carrot & Stick helps lift, tighten and firm the look of skin thanks to seven plant-based neuropeptides, while synthesized growth factors help keep skin looking radiant. It’s the best anti-aging serum for 30s — and beyond.
For optimal results, we recommend Carrot & Stick’s Lift & Smooth routine. Use code DERM20 on the brands website for an additional 20% off.
FULL LIST
Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
This deeply nourishing cream was designed to help reclaim a youthful-looking complexion. Formulyst’s Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream is a true multitasker. It helps lift, smooth, and refine the appearance and tone of the skin. The velvety formula contains a powerful blend of lipids and botanicals that have targeted anti-aging benefits.
Key ingredients include moringa seed oil for intense moisture, evodia ruteacarpa fruit to help brighten and refine, and peony extract to help skin look smoother. Over time your complexion feels firmer and looks lifted and more radiant.
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter seeks to reduce damage from advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, resulting from excess sugar that negatively impacts collagen and elastin in the skin. This anti-wrinkle cream helps counteract collagen and elastin loss with potent ingredients like proxylane, blueberry extract, and phytosphingosine. Pro Xylane helps support the skin’s glycosaminoglycan (GAG) synthesis. GAGs like hyaluronic acid, keep skin plump, firm, and hydrated.
Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream
Elemis’s Pro-Collagen Marine Cream promises results in as little as two weeks. This anti-wrinkle cream is formulated with algae and other plant extracts to replenish the skin with much-needed moisture. Gradual loss of moisture, as well as the breakdown of proteins like collagen and elastin, are what lead to wrinkle formation in the first place. Padina pavonica and chlorella vulgaris are two of the algae extracts used in this cream, both of which have antioxidant tendencies to fight off free radical damage that degrades collagen.
Dior Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Creme
The key ingredient in this anti-wrinkle cream from Dior’s Capture Totale anti-aging skincare line is longoza, a flower from Madagascar that Dior researchers discovered approximately 20 years ago. According to the company, this ingredient revitalizes skin by boosting fibroblast, collagen, and elastin production, which helps skin look tighter and firmer. The cream is available in three textures — light, rich, and universal — to accommodate various skin types, including sensitive, oily and dry.
SK-II Power Cream
This anti-wrinkle cream from the venerable SK-II brand targets several aging concerns, including loss of elasticity, dryness, wrinkles, and sagging. Like most SK-II products, the main ingredient is pitera. This substance is highly rich in vitamins, minerals, organic acids, and amino acids to truly nourish and revitalize skin.
Pitera is derived from a fermentation process featuring secret ingredients that also include yeast strains. This ingredient was discovered when sake brewers found that they’re beautifully unlined, unaged hands that seemed to be directly a result of the yeast used during the fermentation process. This cream is especially recommended for dry skin as it has a very rich texture.
Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Moisture Cream Broad SPF 30
Three key ingredients team up to provide long-lasting hydration and anti-aging benefits in Elizabeth Arden’s Prevage Anti-Aging Moisture Cream — idebenone, thiamine, and retinyl linoleate. Idebenone is an antioxidant that reduces and helps prevent free radical damage that can significantly degrade the skin. Thiotaine is also an antioxidant that works to make idebenone even stronger. Retinyl linoleate is a vitamin A derivative that softens the look of fine lines and wrinkles via exfoliation. Bonus points for the addition of SPF 30.
Dermalogica Age Smart Super Rich Repair
A thick, rich cream that still absorbs quickly, Dermalogica’s Age Smart Super Rich Repair is a great anti-wrinkle cream for anyone with extremely dry skin. Arginine and palmitoyl tripeptide-5 discourage wrinkle formation and encourage collagen production for smooth, supple skin. Arginine helps calm the muscles responsible for creating forehead wrinkles and other lines that may form around the mouth and eyes. Apple seed extract has been shown in some studies to be effective against wrinkles as well.
Exuviance Age Reverse Night Lift
This anti-wrinkle, anti-aging cream goes to work while you sleep to help you wake up with radiant, glowing skin. Peptides help create the lifting effect in this face-firming wrinkle cream. Palmitoyl oligopeptide and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 firm skin and reduce wrinkles by stimulating collagen synthesis.
SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight Cream
As the name suggests, this intense, results-driven night cream harnesses the power of an alpha hydroxy acid and a retinoid to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while improving elasticity and tone. Thanks to SkinBetter’s proprietary retinol technology (and a blend of skin-soothing ingredients), you’ll reap all the benefits minus any irritation. The addition of glycolic acid visibly improves the skin’s texture while stoking the other components to increase efficiency.
EltaMD UV Clear Broad-Spectrum SPF 46
Sun exposure is the number one cause of aging skin, so an SPF should be included in your skincare routine daily. The sunscreens from EltaMD are favored by dermatologists and the Skin Cancer foundation alike. This particular version is formulated with niacinamide (vitamin B3), hyaluronic acid, and lactic acid, promoting healthy-looking skin while protecting it from harmful UVA/UVB rays. It’s lightweight and suitable for even the most sensitive skin types. It’s your choice if you want to wear it alone or with makeup, but it should always be applied after your moisturizer.
Estée Lauder Advanced Time Zone Night Wrinkle Cream
The main ingredient in this anti-aging cream is the brand’s proprietary Tri-HA Cell Signaling Complex. According to in vitro testing, this superhero ingredient can increase the amount of natural hyaluronic acid in the skin by as much as 182%. Other vital ingredients include hydrating avocado and jojoba seed oils, wrinkle-reducing apple fruit extract and acetyl hexapeptide-8, antioxidant-rich grape seed, watermelon, and cucumber plant extracts. This wrinkle cream is ideal for normal and combination skin and is non-comedogenic.
La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream
La Prairie is known for its luxurious formulations, and this anti-wrinkle cream is no exception. The main wrinkle-fighting ingredients are peptides. Hexanoyl dipeptide-3 norleucine acetate is a synthetic peptide that helps overall skin renewal, accelerating the speed at which cells renew to reveal a more refined complexion. It helps clarify skin texture to smooth out rough spots and make wrinkles less noticeable.
Palmitoyl tripeptide-8 soothes the skin by reducing inflammation while acetyl decapeptide-3 stimulates collagen and elastin to make firm, tighten, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
Dr. Brandt Hyaluronic Facial Cream
Anyone with dry, aging skin knows that if they skimp out on moisturizer just once, their parched facial features pay the price. While we don’t want to give you an excuse to become lazy with your skincare routine, this peptide-packed moisturizer keeps the skin moist and supple for an impressive 72 hours while targeting loss of tone in the process. As the product’s name implies, hyaluronic acid works to hydrate and plump the skin, reducing the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme Global Anti-Aging Cream
This luxurious cream’s secret ingredient is moringa extract, which contains nourishing nutrients like vitamin C to help fade discoloration and hyperpigmentation while promoting collagen synthesis.
Hydrating ingredients in this formula include sodium hyaluronate (the salt of hyaluronic acid, which can retain 1,000 times its weight in water) and squalane.Estée Lauder’s laboratory testing found that 96% of women in the study felt they had firmer skin after just four weeks of consistently using this moisturizer.
Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream
Dr. Barbara Sturm has a cult-like following for her pricey yet effective products. Her Face Cream is a rich, highly moisturizing product with ingredients like panthenol, squalane, and shea butter, as well as several antioxidants to help protect against free radical cell damage.
The key ingredient in this moisturizer is Dr. Sturm’s signature purslane, an herbaceous plant that reportedly has regenerative properties. According to Dr. Sturm herself, “Purslane protects the DNA of the cells from age-related dysfunction, thereby maintaining the cells’ repair function and strengthening them with the natural antioxidant system contained in these compounds.”
Chanel Le Lift Crème
A trusted and revered company, Chanel knows a thing or two about beauty. The Le Lift line was specifically created to target the most apparent signs of aging — wrinkles and sagging. The key ingredient of this firming face cream is dicaffeoylquinic acid, or 3.5-DA, derived from the Edulis morning glory. Chanel researchers labored for 12 years to isolate this potent extract that promotes collagen synthesis to improve skin elasticity.
The Bottom Line
What is the best face cream for aging skin? Overall, we suggest Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer.
Use a serum as part of your anti-aging routine. Serums penetrate deeper and contain a higher concentration of active ingredients. We recommend Carrot & Stick Repair Serum.
For optimal results, we recommend Carrot & Stick’s Lift & Smooth routine. Use code DERM20 on the brands website for an additional 20% off.
