The story behind Darphin Skincare
Inspired by French women who have used rare botanicals and essential oils to enhance their beauty for centuries, kinesiotherapist Pierre Darphin founded Darphin Skincare in 1958. Not only did he formulate products with the purest, most concentrated plant essences, he combined these products with advanced kinesio massage treatments to enhance the benefits to the skin. In this review, we’ll discuss some of the brand’s best selling products, key ingredients, Darphin Skincare reviews from real customers, and more.
What are the Best Skin Care Products of 2023?
What are the best selling Darphin Skincare products?
Darphin Skincare offers a variety of products to treat many common skin concerns, such as sensitivity and redness, lack of hydration, lines and wrinkles, oily skin, dark circles and puffiness, and more. If you aren’t sure where to get started with this brand, check out these best selling Darphin Skincare products.
Darphin Skincare Aromatic Cleansing Balm transforms with water into a silky, non-oily, non-comedogenic milk to clean skin and remove makeup. Instead of making the skin feel tight and uncomfortable, this cleansing balm is said to help skin feel nourished and supple. Darphin Skincare Aromatic Cleansing Balm can be used both morning and night.
Darphin Skincare Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum is intended to be used by those with sensitive skin in order to reduce the appearance of redness and minimize discomforts associated with irritated skin. This serum can be used both morning and night.
Darphin Skincare Stimulskin Plus Reshaping Divine Serum was created to mimic the results of Pierre Darphin’s effectual deep massage. It is designed to help lines and wrinkles, loss of firmness, loss of elasticity, and sagging. The brand does not indicate whether this is a day or night serum.
What are the key Darphin Skincare ingredients?
The key ingredients found in Darphin Skincare products include a variety of botanical extracts and essential oils. For example, one of the botanicals found in the Aromatic Cleansing Balm is jojoba seed oil. Interestingly, the chemical composition of jojoba oil mimics the skin’s natural sebum more closely than any other oil. Research has shown that jojoba oil improves the skin’s barrier function and helps to prevent transepidermal water loss. It also has proven anti-inflammatory effects and can provide soothing effects upon application. Overall, jojoba oil promotes softer, healthier, and better hydrated skin.
Some of the key ingredients in the Darphin Skincare Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum include chamomile extract, peony root extract, and hawthorn flower extract. Both chamomile extract and peony root extract provide anti-inflammatory effects, thereby calming the skin and reducing redness. Hawthorn flower extract functions as an astringent, antioxidant, and anti-irritant, thereby making this an excellent ingredient for problematic skin.
Darphin Skincare Stimulskin Plus Reshaping Divine Serum features a unique ingredient called Sea Emerald. Discovered on the Philippines sea bed, Sea Emerald is a rare plant that helps to improve skin’s cohesion in order to restore its natural bounce and firmness, and supports collagen production. Another interesting ingredient in this serum is Commiphora mukul, which is reported to possess anti-wrinkle effects in ancient Ayurvedic literature. A final key ingredient in this Darphin Skincare serum is Siegesbeckia Orientalis, also known as St. Paul’s wort, which functions as a skin-conditioning agent and also has anti-inflammatory properties. Unfortunately, there is very little research showing that St. Paul’s wort extract has any benefit for skin.
One problem with Darphin Skincare products is that they are laden with fragrance ingredients (even the products meant for sensitive skin!). We understand that consumers appreciate when products smell pleasant, however, fragrance ingredients (both natural and synthetic) are well known to cause skin irritation and damage. You see, fragrance ingredients impart scent through a volatile reaction, and this natural reaction almost always causes a sensitizing reaction on skin. Even if you don’t have a full blown reaction to the fragrance ingredients, the damage may still be occurring every day. Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term.
All Darphin Skincare products are free from parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, and formaldehyde. However, several formulations do contain artificial colorants. For example, Darphin Skincare Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum contains Red 4, Ext. Violet 2, Yellow 5, Red 33, and Blue 1.
Where is Darphin Skincare sold?
Darphin Skincare is sold on the brand’s website, as well as third party retailers such as Sephora, Nordstrom, Walmart, and more. There is a store locator on the brand’s website so you can find a store or spa near you that sells Darphin Skincare products.
What is the Darphin Skincare return policy?
The Darphin Skincare return policy states, “Our Online Customer Service Team will be happy to assist you for eligible returns, with a free return label, return instructions and the return shipping address. If you are not satisfied with your purchased and want to change it or received the item as a gift, contact us and directions will be provided. Only products purchased on darphin.com may be returned.”
Is Darphin Skincare cruelty free?
Darphin Skincare is not cruelty free. The brand does not conduct animal testing on their products or ingredients, nor ask others to test on their behalf, except when required by law (such as in mainland China).
Darphin Skincare reviews
Darphin Skincare reviews on the brand’s website are overall positive, however, there aren’t very many customer reviews. There are quite a few reviews for the Darphin Skincare Aromatic Cleansing Balm that mention this product works well for sensitive skin. For example, one reviewer comments, “I use the cleansing balm every evening and I enjoy it so much, that I actually look forward to cleaning my face. I love everything about it, from the scent, to the feel of it on my skin. I think it is a very good product for aging sensitive skin.” However, there are a couple negative reviews that mention this cleansing balm actually made skin worse over time.
The majority of the Darphin Skincare reviews for the Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum confirm that it does help to calm redness. Then again, there are a handful of reviews from customers who experienced no relief from this serum. For example, one reviewer says, “The scent was nice. However the serum is so watery that application was challenging and messy, I expected a thicker serum. For the price a thicker formula would last longer. I also did not see any redness reduction, I returned the product.”
Darphin Skincare reviews for the Stimulskin Plus Reshaping Divine Serum mention that it really does provide an instant firming and tightening effect. For example, one reviewer says, “Super expensive and a very long ingredient list with lots of goodness. If you have an important event that you want immediate results with, this one is it! Would highly recommend and smells so, so good.”The only negative comments about this serum are concerning the price ($325 for just 1 ounce).
What are some alternatives to Darphin Skincare?
If you’re looking for skincare products to address the signs of aging, we recommend Carrot & Stick. Carrot & Stick maximizes the use of powerful ingredients and minimizes the use of superficial ones, resulting in advanced skincare solutions that help promote healthy, more youthful-looking skin. We recommend The Defence Serum, followed by The Moisturizer.