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*This Drunk Elephant Dupes post was a labor of love. I truly hope you enjoy it!*
I’ll be the first to admit, I really enjoy Drunk Elephant products. I love that they make it easy to put together a skincare routine. Of course, I appreciate the efficacy of the products and the great active ingredients. I even enjoy the pretty packaging and the air pump design.
That said, Drunk Elephant products come with a pretty hefty price tag. With $90 serums and $80 masks, Drunk Elephant products don’t fit in everyone’s budget.
If you don’t have the money, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great skincare routine. You just need to find the best alternatives.
To do that, you have to take a deep dive into each product’s ingredients. You need to understand the hero ingredients, the other actives, and how they work together. Then from there, you can identify product dupes.
Are there Drunk Elephant Dupes?
Finding *exact* Drunk Elephant dupes is pretty impossible because they stuff their formulas with a ton of ingredients. However, after tons of testing and research, I have found some products that are pretty comparable.
So without further ado, these are the best Drunk Elephant dupes and alternatives.
Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Cream Dupe
Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream vs. Acure Radically Rejuvenating Whipped Night Cream
The Original: Drunk Elephant’s Protini Polypeptide is a favorite in the beauty community. It’s one of my personal favorites, so I understand the hype. Packed with peptides, sodium hyaluronate, marula oil, and folic acid, the DE Polypeptide cream hydrates while reducing the look of fine lines.
The Dupe: If the $68 price tag of the DE is a bit much, you will love that the Acure Radically Rejuvenating Whipped Night Cream is priced at around $20. This drugstore option is formulated with peptides, ferulic acid, and Vitamin C to hydrate, smooth the skin, and reduce the look of fine lines.
What’s The Catch? While the Acure moisturizer has a lot of the same active ingredients, the formula is a bit thicker and takes longer to absorb into the skin. After using it, you can see why they call it a night cream.
Other Options: OleHenriksen Strength Trainer Peptide Boost Moisturizer
Drunk Elephant Lala Retro™ Whipped Moisturizer with Ceramides Dupe
Drunk Elephant Lala Retro vs. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream
The Original: DE’s Lala Retro Whipped Moisturizer is a rich moisturizer. It is formulated with a blend of African plant oils, fermented green tea, and ceramides to hydrate the skin while protecting the skin barrier.
The Dupe: The CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is the closest and most affordable dupe for the Lala Retro. It is formulated with ceramides and hyaluronic acid to moisturize the skin and protect the skin barrier.
What’s The Catch? The CeraVe is a 64% match for the Drunk Elephant Lala Retro. The DE moisturizer is formulated with a blend of oils, while the CeraVe relies on petrolatum, dimethicone, and hyaluronic acid to moisturize the skin.
Other Options: Naturium Ceramide Rich Moisture Cream
Drunk Elephant B Hydra Serum Dupe
Drunk Elephant B Hydra Serum vs. Acure Ultra Hydrating Facial Gel Cream
The Original: Drunk Elephant’s B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum contains sodium hyaluronate, a hyaluronic acid derivative, plus skin-brightening ceramides, niacinamide, and vitamin B5 to lock in moisture. Using the B-Hydra will hydrate while smoothing texture over time.
The Dupe: Another dupe by Acure! The Acure Ultra Hydrating Facial Gel Cream is an 86% dupe for the B-Hydra.
What’s The Catch? While Acure gel-cream serum contains a lot of the same ingredients the texture is a little. different. The B-Hydra has a thicker consistency, while Acure is a bit more gel-like. With the dupe, you are also missing out on niacinamide.
Other Options: First Aid Beauty Hydrating Serum
Drunk Elephant C-Firma™ Vitamin C Day Serum Dupe
Drunk Elephant C-Firma vs. Maelove The Glow Maker
The Original: Drunk Elephant’s C-Firma Vitamin C Day Serum is a powerhouse serum. It is formulated with ascorbic acid to brighten the skin and pumpkin ferment to smooth the skin’s texture. DE also added antioxidants, ferulic acid, marula oil, and sodium hyaluronate. That’s a lot of stuff!
The Dupe: The closest serum alternative is the Maelove The Glow Maker Serum. Maelove is also formulated with 15% L-ascorbic acid, Vitamin E, and ferulic acid.
What’s The Catch? The Maelove serum does not have pumpkin ferment or the other fruit extracts that are included in the Drunk Elephant serum.
Other Options: Paula’s Choice C15 Vitamin C Super Booster, Naturium Vitamin C Complex
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos™ Glycolic Resurfacing Night Serum Dupe
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Resurfacing Night Serum vs. First Aid Beauty Resurfacing Liquid
The Original: Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum is formulated with a blend of AHAs and BHAs to exfoliate the skin. Marula oil and sodium hyaluronate are added to help soften the skin.
The Dupe: There are tons of AHA-based serums available on the market. The most similar in formula is the First Aid Beauty Resurfacing Liquid. The First Aid Beauty also contains 10% AHAs.
What’s The Catch? The First Aid Beauty serum does not contain any BHAs. However, it is formulated with cerimides and oat to help sooth the skin.
Other Options: Good Molecules Overnight Exfoliating Treatment
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial™ AHA + BHA Mask Dupe
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial vs. Paula’s Choice 25% AHA + 2% BHA Exfoliant Peel
The Original: The Sukari Babyfacial is an intense mask formulated with a highly concentrated blend of AHAs and BHAs. The fruit extracts paired with glycolic acid, salicylic acid, and lactic acid, help to remove dead skin and brighten dark spots.
The Dupe: The closet formula dupe for the Babyfacial is the Paula’s Choice 25% AHA + 2% BHA Exfoliant Peel. It is formulated with the same percentages of AHAs and BHAS.
What’s The Catch? The Paula’s Choice utilizes a different mix of AHAs. It contains glycolic, lactic, mandelic, tartaric, and malic acids. The dupe does not contain the fruit extracts. Also, the texture of the Paula’s Choice product is a bit thinner and easier to spread.
Other Options: Tula So Smooth Resurfacing & Brightening Fruit Enzyme Mask, Pixi Peel & Polish
Drunk Elephant Protini™ Powerpeptide Resurfacing Serum Dupe
Drunk Elephant Protini Serum vs Biossance Squalane + 10% Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night Serum
The Original: Drunk Elephant’s newest product is the Protini™ Powerpeptide Resurfacing Serum. The main ingredient in this serum is not peptides, but lactic acid. The 10% lactic acid helps to gently exfoliate the skin while the peptides help to soothe and hydrate.
The Dupe: The best dupe is a product from Biossance. The Biossance Squalane + 10% Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night Serum utilizes lactic acid to exfoliate and squalane to moisturize the skin.
What’s The Catch? The Drunk Elephant Protini Powerpeptide Serum has a whopping 77 ingredients! The Biossance only has 19. By using the Biossance serum you are missing out on the peptides, amino acids, and some skin conditioning oils.
Other Options: The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + HA
Drunk Elephant A-Passioni™ Retinol Cream Dupe
Drunk Elephant A-Passioni™ Retinol Cream Dupe vs. CeraVe Skin Renewing Retinol Face Cream Serum
The Original: Drunk Elephant’s retinol cream is formulated with vegan retinol, a peptide blend, and ceramides. DE isn’t specific about the form of their vegan retinol, but they do claim a 1% concentration. The DE formula also contains a handful of different oils to help reduce the irritation from the high concentration of retinol. This retinoid product is strong. Only people that have built up a tolerance to retinol should use this product.
The Dupe: The CeraVe Retinol Face Cream serum doesn’t specify the percentage of retinol, but it is encapsulated retinol. The encapsulated retinol slows the release of the retinol, reducing irritation to the skin.
What’s The Catch? The CeraVe Skin Renewing Retinol Face Cream Serum doesn’t specify the percentage making it impossible to know how closely the active ingredients match the DE. Also, the CeraVe formulation includes silicones and hydrogenated palm oil.
Other Options: LilyAna Naturals Retinol Cream for Face, RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Filler
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Thank you SO MUCH for this post! Really informative and insightful. Definitely helped me feel confident in my decisions.
what a fantastic analysis and great review. Thank you for your time and effort you took to put this together.