Cicatricure is a drugstore brand that offers a small collection of anti-aging skin care products, as well as products for scars and hyperpigmentation.
Below we’ll review the 5 best Cicatricure skin care products, including the key ingredients in these products and the research that supports (or doesn’t support) their use in skin care.
We’ll also share some Cicatricure reviews so that you can get an idea of what customers really think of these products.
What Are The Top 5 Best Cicatricure Skin Care Products?
Here’s our breakdown of the top 5 best Cicatricure skin care products.
Cicatricure Gold Lift Day Cream
One of the most popular products by this brand is the Cicatricure Gold Lift Day Cream, a daytime moisturizer with sunscreen. The formula glides onto the skin effortlessly, creating a weightless velvety finish that’s invisible; no white cast or greasy mess with this day cream!
That’s because the brand uses four chemical sunscreen ingredients in this product, including avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene. Together, these ingredients provide broad spectrum SPF 30 protection.
The silky feel of Cicatricure Gold Lift Day Cream is created with the high concentrations of silicones and emollients in this formula, such as polymethylsilsesquioxane, caprylic/capric triglyceride, and caprylyl methicone, just to name a few.
The rest of the formula isn’t particularly exciting; there’s low concentrations of peony extract and hyaluronic acid. And, just as the name suggests, there’s a small amount of gold in this formula.
While gold adds a sense of luxury to this cream, there’s no published research showing that gold offers anti-aging benefits.
Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Tsippora Shainhouse tells Healthline, “Gold may have some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but there is no evidence that it’s better than any other more commonly used ingredients that have more scientific data.”
Lastly, we wanted to point out that this Cicatricure cream contains a synthetic fragrance blend (see the Key Ingredients section below to learn why this is a problem).
Bottom Line: Cicatricure Gold Lift Day Cream is a lightweight facial moisturizer with sunscreen that provides broad spectrum SPF 30 protection.
Cicatricure Deep Anti-Wrinkle Face & Neck Moisturizing Cream
This Cicatricure cream has a lightweight creamy texture that smooths onto the skin easily, instantly helping to hydrate and soften the skin.
It tackles lines and wrinkles with a powerful anti-aging ingredient — Matrixyl 3000. In case you aren’t familiar with this ingredient, it’s the trademarked peptide that’s made up of two matrikines (palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7).
Matrikines are peptides that regulate cell activities through cell signaling. The two matrikines in Matrixyl 3000 work synergistically to restore and maintain the skin’s youthful appearance by signaling to cells to produce more collagen.
Another peptide in this formula is Argireline, also known as acetyl hexapeptide-8, a six amino acid peptide that is a fragment of SNAP-25 (a substrate of botulinum toxin).
Argireline works by limiting the ability of neurotransmitters to activate movement in your facial muscles, for example, when forming facial expressions such as smiling or frowning. By inhibiting the nerves that cause facial muscles to contract, subtle facial expressions are limited and wrinkles are subsequently reduced.
However, we’re concerned about the presence of synthetic fragrance ingredients and parabens in this formula.
Bottom Line: Cicatricure Deep Anti-Wrinkle Face & Neck Moisturizing Cream helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles with anti-aging ingredients like Matrixyl 3000 and Argireline.
Cicatricure Brightening Face Cream SPF 20
Another daytime Cicatricure cream is the Brightening Face Cream SPF 20. The brand uses five chemical sunscreen ingredients — avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, and oxybenzone — to provide broad spectrum SPF 20 protection.
The formula also includes Matrixyl 3000 to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, as well as skin-brightening ingredients like vitamin C and alpha-arbutin.
Unfortunately, there’s a few problems with this formula. First, the SPF 20 is not enough to protect against sunburn and skin cancer because most organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology, recommend using at least SPF 30.
Second, oxybenzone is known to cause adverse effects. For example, the American Cancer Society says, “Some studies have shown oxybenzone can cause skin allergies. In addition, studies in animals and in human cells in laboratories show that oxybenzone can interfere with how some hormones work.”
Third, there’s a high concentration of alcohol in this formula. One reason for this is because ethanol (alcohol) functions as a penetration enhancer by disturbing the skin barrier, thereby allowing other ingredients to penetrate into the deeper layers of skin. However, since alcohol disturbs the skin barrier, it can lead to skin dryness and irritation.
And the final problem with this Cicatricure cream is that it contains a synthetic fragrance blend.
Bottom Line: Cicatricure Brightening Day Cream contains a few beneficial ingredients, but in our opinion there’s too many issues with this formula for us to recommend it.
Cicatricure Scar Gel
Like many scar treatment products, Cicatricure Scar Gel contains onion extract as one of the key ingredients. It’s theorized that onion extract may help reduce inflammation in the skin which can prevent redness as well as possibly decrease scar size.
Cicatricure Scar Gel also includes an extract from Centella asiatica, which is known by common names such as “cica” and “tiger grass”, a perennial plant native to the wetlands in Asia. It’s been used for centuries in traditional Asian medicine to speed wound healing and reduce inflammation.
According to a publication in the journal Advances in Dermatology and Allergology, the most important compounds in tiger grass are asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic acid, and madecassic acid, due to their pharmacological activity as pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins.
Due to these components, cica extract possesses antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, which can help calm and repair skin.
Additional skin-soothing ingredients in this scar gel include chamomile, aloe vera, and allantoin.
Of note, this is another Cicatricure product that contains parabens.
Bottom Line: The Cicatricure Scar Gel should help to reduce the appearance of scars with ingredients like onion and cica extracts, as well as soothing ingredients like chamomile, aloe vera, and allantoin.
Cicatricure Eye Cream
Cicatricure Eye Cream is an anti-aging eye cream that is said to help improve the appearance of expression lines and wrinkles, and reduce puffiness and dark circles underneath the eyes.
It’s formulated with phytonadione, commonly known as vitamin K, which is theorized to help reduce the appearance of dark circles. Here’s how: Vitamin K is required to produce prothrombin, a key factor involved in blood clotting, which is why vitamin K is thought to speed the healing of wounds and bruises. Applied to the skin, vitamin K may help to improve dark circles under the eyes in the same way it helps bruises to heal when taken internally.
Cicatricure Eye Cream also contains several types of peptides (Argireline, palmitoyl oligopeptide, and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7) to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and promote firmer, more youthful-looking skin.
Bottom Line: Cicatricure Eye Cream combines vitamin K with peptides to help reduce the appearance of dark circles, lines, and wrinkles around the eyes.
What Are The Key Ingredients in Cicatricure Skin Care Products?
We noticed that the key ingredients used in the collection of Cicatricure skin care products are pretty standard and can be found in products by many other brands.
For instance, the brand uses common peptides (Matrixyl 3000 and Argireline), vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, silicones, emollients, and chemical sunscreen ingredients.
Unfortunately, there’s several problematic ingredients used throughout the Cicatricure skin care collection, including fragrance and parabens.
You may already be aware that fragrance ingredients have the potential to cause skin irritation and sensitivity.
But did you know that the brand can use a proprietary blend of chemicals to create the fragrance in their products? On average, this consists of 30 to 50 chemicals (but it can have as much as 200 components).
The worst part is that the brand doesn’t have to disclose which chemicals they use on the label. They are allowed to list this blend as “Fragrance (Parfum)” on the ingredient list.
Furthermore, a 2018 study by Women’s Voices for the Earth discovered that in over 3,000 chemicals reportedly used for fragrances, 1,242 were chemicals of concern – and that included at least 7 possible carcinogenic (cancer-causing) agents.
Then, there’s parabens in nearly all Cicatricure skin care products. Parabens are preservatives used to extend the shelf life of a product by preventing microbial contamination.
The use of parabens in cosmetics and skin care products is controversial because there is conflicting research on the potential health consequences of long term exposure to parabens.
According to the EWG, parabens are easily absorbed through the skin into the body, and can act like the hormone estrogen, thereby disrupting the normal function of hormone systems affecting male and female reproductive system functioning, reproductive development, fertility, and birth outcomes.
How Much Do Cicatricure Skin Care Products Cost?
Cicatricure skin care products are pretty affordable, with the prices being comparable to higher end drugstore brands such as Olay and Burt’s Bees. For example, the Cicatricure Gold Lift Day Cream costs $15.27 USD for 1.7 oz on Walmart.com.
Where to Buy Cicatricure Skin Care Products?
Cicatricure skin care products are not sold on the brand’s website. You must buy Cicatricure skin care products from third party online retailers, such as Walgreens, Walmart, Target, HEB, Amazon, and others.
What is The Cicatricure Return Policy?
Cicatricure does not have a return policy on their website since they do not sell products on their website and, therefore, don’t accept returns.
Is Cicatricure Cruelty Free?
It is unknown if Cicatricure is cruelty free as there isn’t any information available on the company website, Cruelty Free Kitty, PETA or Leaping Bunny.
Our Verdict
Overall, we weren’t impressed with Cicatricure skin care products, and we wouldn’t recommend these products since there’s nothing proprietary about them and most of them contain fragrance and parabens.
Pros
- Formulas contain beneficial ingredients (i.e. peptides, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, silicones, emollients, etc.)
- Many positive Cicatricure reviews
Cons
- Most Cicatricure products contain synthetic fragrance ingredients
- Many Cicatricure products contain parabens
- Nothing proprietary about Cicatricure skin care products
References:
Healthline “Do Gold Facials Really Work?”
American Cancer Society “How Safe Is Your Sunscreen?” Aug 2018
American Academy of Dermatology “Sunscreen FAQs”
Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2013 Feb; 30(1): 46–49.
Women’s Voices for the Earth “Unpacking The Fragrance Industry” 2018
EWG “What Are Parabens, And Why Don’t They Belong in Cosmetics?” April 2019
