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If you’re past age 30, perhaps firming creams have been on your mind. It’s a fact of life that everything changes with time, including our skin. While most of us got used to a dewy, healthy glow and plump, toned complexion in our teens and 20s, everything changes as we approach our 30s and beyond.
One of the most challenging aspects of the aging process is when taut skin starts to sag. While there’s no such thing as a miracle product that can reverse the loss of tone, there are skin tightening creams on the market that can help improve skin laxity.
Not sure what to look for in a firming face cream? No worries. Here at the Derm Review, we’ve reviewed hundreds of products with a scientific lens to ensure you’re creating a skincare regimen that’s safe and effective. Ahead, 11 of the best skin firming creams and face tightening creams to help you restore a more youthful-looking complexion.
Best Firming Treatments
BEST OVERALL
BEST FIRMING TREATMENT: Carrot & Stick Repair Serum
BEST CREAM: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
BEST COMPLETE FIRMING ROUTINE: Carrot & Stick Life & Smooth
FULL LIST
Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter
La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream
The Science Behind Firming Treatments
Firming the skin comes down to stimulating collagen production. Starting around the age of 25, collagen production declines at a rate of approximately 1% each year. Since collagen is the component that gives the skin structure, it progressively becomes less firm and saggier as we get older.
When we reach our early 50s, collagen production ceases, and any existing collagen that remains gradually breaks down and becomes weaker, exacerbating skin laxity. There’s also elastin to consider because it gives the skin its elasticity — or bounce. It’s around a thousand times more flexible than collagen. Together, collagen and elastin are the main structural protein components of the skin.
The best firming creams have something in common: ingredients that can help stimulate collagen and elastin production — although some products suitably deliver these compounds into the skin better than others. Even so, don’t expect your skin to go back to what it used to look like in the past.
Best Skin Tightening Cream Ingredients
- Retinol: When it comes to the best firming face cream over-the-counter, vitamin A (retinol) is the most effective (OTC) ingredient for stimulating collagen production to firm up the skin because it directly stimulates our skin cells.
- Peptides: These messengers help keep the firm and smooth by communicating with your skin cells to do a specific job. The first peptide to be developed stimulates collagen, so they are often found in firming creams to improve elasticity and firmness while strengthening the skin.
- Antioxidants: Certain antioxidants like B3 (niacinamide), E, and coenzyme Q10 neutralize free radicals (sun exposure, pollution, cigarette smoke) that can lead to the breakdown in collagen, while vitamin C may stimulate it.
- Alpha-Hydroxy Acids: AHAs stimulate collagen production and firm the skin, among several other benefits.
What to Expect from a Firming Face Treatments
Creating new collagen doesn’t magically happen by applying a topical cream, so don’t expect miracles. Even the best face moisturizer or firming face cream in the world can give you the same results as a cosmetic procedure. However, with consistent, daily use, a face tightening cream can provide a temporary tightening effect to help make sagginess less noticeable.
Best Firming Treatments
Best firming face cream for sagging skin? You may already have a lot of the best skincare products, but we’ve got 11 top picks to address laxity.
BEST OVERALL
Carrot and Stick Repair Serum
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.
Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
Say goodbye to lax skin with the plant-powered The Moisturizer.
Carrot & Stick Lift & Smoth
A powerful firming routine for the full face and neck.
FULL LIST
Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
Wrinkles and sagging skin are no match for Formulyst’s Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream. The rich cream is formulated with a powerful blend of botanicals and lipids to help keep the signs of aging at bay. Moringa seed oil delivers intense hydration, while evodia ruteacarpa fruit extract brightens and refines the complexion. Rounding out the ingredients list is peony extract which helps leave the skin looking smoother and firmer.
Chanel Le Lift Cream
This key ingredient in 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.
Estee Lauder Resilience Lift
This lightweight anti-aging moisturizer sculpts, contours, plumps, and lifts, thanks to Estee Lauder’s advanced Photo-Activated Lift Complex. Plankton extract and Thermus thermophilus ferment strengthen the skin, provide deep hydration, and protect fibroblasts — the cells that produce collagen — against free radicals.
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, causing the skin to sag.
This firming 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.
La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream
La Prairie is known for its luxurious formulations, and this firming face cream is no exception. The main ingredients that address the loss of tone 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. Palmitoyl tripeptide-8 soothes by reducing inflammation, while acetyl decapeptide-3 stimulates collagen and elastin to firm, tighten, and sculpt the skin.
Best Lifting and Firming Treatments: The Bottom Line
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 optiminal results, we recommend Carrot & Stick Lift & Smooth regimen.
A caffeine boost, peptides, and amino-collagen help perk up lax skin, while five distinct coconut elements help with cell renewal and overall conditioning.
Firming the skin comes down to stimulating collagen production. Starting around the age of 25, collagen production declines at a rate of approximately 1% each year. Since collagen is the component that gives the skin structure, it progressively becomes less firm and saggier as we get older.
When we reach our early 50s, collagen production ceases, and any existing collagen that remains gradually breaks down and becomes weaker, exacerbating skin laxity. The best firming creams have something in common: ingredients like retinol, peptides, antioxidants, and alpha-hydroxy acids that can help stimulate collagen and elastin production.
What’s the best firming face cream, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below!
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about firming creams.
FAQs
While the natural aging process is responsible for collagen loss, the sun is one of the biggest culprits of sagging skin. Over time, prolonged exposure to the sun’s damaging rays breaks down the elastin in the skin and weakens it. Think of it as a rubber band that has lost its bounce-back quality and has started to sag and droop.
Also, as we get older, our skin loses its ability to retain moisture, so it becomes drier. Significant weight loss and medications such as steroids can also lead to crepey-looking skin. Environmental and lifestyle factors also wreak havoc on the skin. The degradation of elastin is also accelerated by a poor diet, alcohol consumption, inadequate sleep, and smoking.
As the saying goes, necks don’t lie. Loss of firmness is often seen on the neck and décolletage first, as the skin is thinner.
Gravity doesn’t help either, especially as most of us spend hours hunched over screens, which can also lead to “tech neck.” The neck also contains fewer oil glands than other parts of the body, which means it doesn’t get as much moisture naturally.
Some firming creams contain caffeine to restrict or tighten the skin, which gives it a temporary “lift.” Other products rely on skin exfoliators to create a smoother-looking surface and minimize the appearance of fine lines.
Some firming creams are packaged in tubes with roller ball massage applicators to help stimulate circulation and boost skin smoothing effects.
