The Story Behind Caudalie
In 1993, the idea for Caudalie was born by its founder Mathilde Thomas and her husband Bertrand. Working on her family’s vineyard in Bordeaux France, Mathilde discovered a treasure with the assistance of world-renowned polyphenols specialist, Professor Joseph Vercauteren. The vine and grapes that Mathilde harvested on the vineyard had the potential to provide amazing benefits to the skin. Led by Professor Vercauteren, who serves as the Caudalie brand’s scientific advisor, Mathilde began extracting these superior benefits from the vines, advancing to create a patent for this process, and officially forming the Caudalie brand. In fact, Caudalie was the first brand to use grape seed extract in a cosmetic formulation. Caudalie has expanded since then and now offers a range of natural skin care products featuring extracts from the grape vine as key ingredients. In this review, we’ll discuss the brand’s best selling products, key ingredients, Caudalie reviews from real customers, and more.
What are the Best Skin Care Products of 2021?
The Top 5 Best Selling Caudalie Skin Care Products
Caudalie offers a variety of skin care products, including cleansers, toners, facial mists, serums, masks, scrubs, moisturizers, night treatments, eye care, lip care, and even beauty supplements. In this section, we’ll discuss the top five best selling Caudalie skin care products.
Beauty Elixir
Inspired by the Youth Elixir of the Queen of Hungary in the 16th century, Caudalie Beauty Elixir is a multi-purpose mist that is said to set make-up, tone the skin, and reveal the skin’s natural radiance. Caudalie claims that all skin types can use this mist. However, there are several problematic ingredients used in the formulation of this product that can aggravate the skin. We’ll discuss these ingredients in the next section.
Vinoperfect Radiance Serum
Vinoperfect Radiance Serum is a skin-tone evening serum that contains Caudalie’s patented Viniferine that is said to be 62 times more effective than vitamin C at boosting radiance and evening the complexion. Suitable for all skin types, Vinoperfect Radiance Serum works to reduce the appearance of dark spots, including pregnancy marks, acne marks, sun pigmentation and age-related dark spots, and prevents them from reappearing.
Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet
Specifically designed for sensitive skin, Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet is a gel-to-water formula that melts into the skin upon contact, leaving it soothed, moisturized, and strengthened. It is said to replenish the skin’s water reserves and strengthen the skin to reduce skin sensitivity.
Instant Detox Mask
Caudalie Instant Detox Mask is a clay mask that is said to minimize pores in just 10 minutes. In addition, this mask is claimed to visibly refine skin texture and promote an even, radiant complexion. Like most clay masks, the formula consists of two natural clays: bentonite and kaolin, which we will discuss more in the next section.
Premier Cru The Serum
Inspired by Mathilde Thomas’s travels to South Korea, Caudalie Premier Cru The Serum is an anti-aging serum with a water-like texture that is said to improve the skin’s firmness and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
What Are The Key Ingredients In Caudalie Skin Care Products?
The key formulation behind Caudalie skincare products starts with the grapevine. According to founder Mathilde Thomas, “The vine is an inexhaustible treasure of benefits and riches. The vine extracts that we use come from French Vineyards (Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy).” Caudalie uses grape seed polyphenols, grape water, vine resveratrol, and viniferine from grapevine sap throughout their line of skincare products.
While Caudalie skincare products provide your skin with beneficial extracts from the grape vine, it’s also important to note what the brand does not use in their products. Caudalie does not use any mineral oils, paraffin, synthetic dyes, parabens, phthalates, phenoxyethanol, sodium laureth sulfate, or animal-derived ingredients. Below we’ll discuss the formulation details behind each of the key products mentioned above.
The Caudalie Beauty Elixir formula is actually pretty disappointing since it is packed with ingredients that can potentially harm the skin. First, the second highest concentration ingredient in this formula (after water) is alcohol (ethanol). A high concentration of alcohol is problematic for all skin types because this type of alcohol is well known to cause skin dryness, irritation, and even disruption of the skin barrier, especially when used in high concentrations. Furthermore, Beauty Elixir is packed with volatile essential oils and fragrances, such as bitter orange flower oil, parfum (fragrance), peppermint oil, citral, citronellol, geraniol, limonene, linalool, and many more. These fragrance ingredients have the potential to cause allergic reactions and skin irritation, especially for those with sensitive skin.
Vinoperfect Radiance Serum contains Viniferine (palmitoyl grapevine shoot extract) as the key ingredient. After being absorbed into the skin, Viniferine controls tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for the production of melanin. Ultimately, this helps to reduce the appearance of dark spots and prevent them from reoccurring. Other beneficial ingredients in Vinoperfect Radiance Serum include squalane, vitamin E, and bisabolol.
Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet features key ingredients such as grape fruit water, shea butter, and grape seed extract. Grape fruit water is filled with active ingredients, including soothing minerals and moisturizing sugars. It boosts the skin’s natural hydration system, allowing water to be continuously distributed, which in turn, boosts your skin’s hydration levels. Shea butter is a rich fat extracted from nuts of the African shea tree. It works as an occlusive emollient, locking moisture into the skin so that it feels soft and moisturized. Grape seed extract contains potent polyphenols that help the skin combat free radicals, the unstable molecules that contribute to the formation of premature wrinkles and fine lines on the skin. Even though Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet is claimed to be designed for sensitive skin, it’s worth pointing out that this product does contain a blend of fragrances. It’s well known that fragrances, whether natural or synthetic, have the potential to irritate skin and cause sensitization.
As we mentioned above, Caudalie Instant Detox Mask includes the natural clays kaolin and bentonite as key ingredients. Both of these clays have excellent absorption properties, which means they can absorb excess oil from the pores and help to reduce shine. They also function as gentle abrasives that can exfoliate the top layers of skin, removing any accumulated dead skin cells to reveal a brighter, smoother complexion.
One of the key ingredients in Caudalie Premier Cru The Serum is niacinamide, the amide form of vitamin B3 (niacin). Niacinamide is a precursor to the coenzymes NADH and NADPH, which play an important role in cellular metabolism. A publication in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology states that niacinamide can repair the skin barrier and improve skin moisture, as well as reduce inflammation, blotchiness, hyperpigmentation, acne, and wrinkling. The rest of the key ingredients in Caudalie Premier Cru The Serum are mostly hydrating ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, betaine, and ribose.
Where Are Caudalie Skin Care Products Sold?
Caudalie skin care products are sold on the brand’s website, as well as several third party online retailers such as Dermstore.com, Sephora.com, Skinstore.com, and more.
What is the Caudalie Return Policy?
The Caudalie return policy states, “Don’t worry, if all or part of the order is not what you expected, you have 14 days to return your items. Products must be presented in their original packaging without having been used, along with the gifts sent with the order, if applicable. Refunds will be made on the products to the credit card used for the order. Shipping costs incurred for product returned will not be refunded.”
Is Caudalie Cruelty Free?
Caudalie is not cruelty free. While the brand is against animal testing, Caudalie skin care products are sold in mainland China where animal testing is required by law.
Caudalie Reviews
Caudalie reviews on the brand’s website are overall very positive, with most products receiving either 4 or 5 star reviews. The positive Caudalie reviews mention that these products lead to noticeable changes in the skin pretty quickly. For example, one review for the Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance Serum says, “This is my second time purchasing. I have been known as a product junkie in the past and am known for trying so many serums. Each time, I come back to this wondering why I dare to use others. Within 2-3 days my skin literally looks and feels better. I’ve been getting compliments on my skin and I know that it’s because of this serum.”
The negative Caudalie reviews point out that the products are heavily fragranced and many customers even experienced breakouts after use. There are other negative Caudalie reviews from customers who did not see the results they were expecting from these products. For example, one review of the Vinoperfect Radiance Serum says, “I bought this product a few months ago (8), it did not work at all. Then, when I contacted the customer service they said it just works to prevent hyperpigmentation, not to remove it. It is not an economic product for the price I expect some kind of result that I never saw.”
What are some alternatives to Caudalie?
It’s clear that Caudalie uses plenty of beneficial botanical extracts and oils in their skin care products, primarily those extracted from the grape vines of the French Vineyards. However, it’s important to keep in mind that many of their products are laden with fragrances, essential oils, and even drying alcohol. So what can you do if you want the benefits of grape extracts but don’t want to expose your skin to these harmful ingredients? We invite you to consider Formulyst Nourishing Oil.
An age-defying face oil made with 100% pure ingredients, Formulyst’s Nourishing Oil helps to preserve, restore, and hydrate while visibly refining your complexion. The formula is enriched with an abundance of omega-rich oils – including amaranth, olive, macadamia and avocado – which all help to restore and strengthen the skin’s natural barrier function. Nourishing Oil also features vitamin C-rich grape seed oil to smooth and even skin tone while protecting against free radicals.
References:
1. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2010 Feb; 3(2): 22–41
Ttf Original review: Aug 28, 2018.
I bought the Vino source serum some time back and it triggered contact dermatitis on my face. Broke out it itchy tiny red rash around my nose and mouth a few hours after putting it on. Passed the bottle to my mum hoping that she would be able to use it and she broke out as well. I’ve also experienced similar reaction when using Babor skincare products too. I guess I’m just allergic to French brands