Who wouldn’t want to get their hands on youth in a jar? Luckily the idea isn’t wholly a fantasy.
While there is no such thing as a miracle deep wrinkle cream that can turn back time, there are plenty of skincare formulas that can help with fine lines and wrinkles.
Every year new advances in science bring us one step closer to achieving our best-looking skin. That means a glowing, hydrated complexion where deep wrinkles aren’t the first noticeable trait for most of us.
Best Deep Wrinkle Creams
BEST TREATMENT: Carrot and Stick The Repair Serum
BEST CREAM: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
BEST ROUTINE: Carrot & Stick The Complete Collection
FULL LIST
Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter
Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream
SK-II Power Cream
Exuviance Age Reverse Night Lift
SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight Cream
Estée Lauder Advanced Time Zone Night Wrinkle Cream
Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream
The Six Main Types of Wrinkles
Wrinkles are classified as visible creases or folds in the skin. Wrinkles less than one millimeter in width and depth are defined as fine wrinkles. Those that are one millimeter or more in width and depth are defined as coarse. Here are the six main types of wrinkles:
Expression Wrinkles: As the name implies, these wrinkles are caused by repeated facial expressions, such as wrinkles on the forehead, smile lines, wrinkles under the eyes, mid-cheek lines, or vertical smoker’s lines around the mouth from making a repetitive puckering movement.
Atrophic Crinkling Rhytids (Crinkle Lines): Crinkle lines are one of the first signs of aging. These fine lines aren’t too deep yet and disappear when the skin is pulled taut. Lifestyle habits, such as an overabundance of sun exposure, can significantly influence how early on in life atrophic crinkling rhytids start to appear.
Permanent Elastotic Creases: Individuals with a fair complexion who have spent a lot of time out in the sun (likely, without adequate protection) are susceptible to getting this type of wrinkle. They develop where the skin naturally creases (lips, cheeks, the bottom of the neck), and unlike crinkle lines, these are deep wrinkles.
Atrophic Wrinkles: Deep parallel lines that appear between the eyebrows (known as the 11s) are furrowed.
Compression Wrinkles: Creases that appear on your face, neck, and chest from poor sleep habits like sleeping on your stomach.
Gravitational Folds: The skin loses 1% of its collagen each year as we age (somewhere around 25 years.) With continued loss of elasticity, the skin eventually begins to sag and create folds known as jowls around the neck and chin areas.
Expression Wrinkles: As the name implies, these wrinkles are caused by repeated facial expressions, such as wrinkles on the forehead, smile lines, wrinkles under the eyes, mid-cheek lines, or vertical smoker’s lines around the mouth from making a repetitive puckering movement.
Atrophic Crinkling Rhytids (Crinkle Lines): Crinkle lines are one of the first signs of aging. These fine lines aren’t too deep yet and disappear when the skin is pulled taut. Lifestyle habits, such as an overabundance of sun exposure, can significantly influence how early on in life atrophic crinkling rhytids start to appear.
Permanent Elastotic Creases: Individuals with a fair complexion who have spent a lot of time out in the sun (likely, without adequate protection) are susceptible to getting this type of wrinkle. They develop where the skin naturally creases (lips, cheeks, the bottom of the neck), and unlike crinkle lines, these are deep wrinkles.
Atrophic Wrinkles: Deep parallel lines that appear between the eyebrows (known as the 11s) are furrowed.
Compression Wrinkles: Creases that appear on your face, neck, and chest from poor sleep habits like sleeping on your stomach.
Gravitational Folds: The skin loses 1% of its collagen each year as we age (somewhere around 25 years.) With continued loss of elasticity, the skin eventually begins to sag and create folds known as jowls around the neck and chin areas
Best Face Cream for Deep Wrinkles: The Top
What is the best deep wrinkle creams and skincare products on the market?
BEST OVERALL
BEST CREAM: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
Say goodbye to aging skin with the plant-powered The Moisturizer. This cream does it all to deliver your best-looking, radiant skin. It helps to hydrate, firm, and revitalize the skin.
Suitable for all skin types, The Moisturizer is formulated with plant proteins, vitamins, peptides and amino-collagen. A caffeine boost helps perk up skin wrinkles, while five distinct coconut elements help with cell renewal and overall conditioning.
BEST ROUTINE: Carrot & Stick The Complete Collection
This routine contains targeted treatments for aging skin.
FULL LIST
Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
This deeply nourishing cream was designed to help reclaim a youthful-looking complexion. Formulyst’s Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream is a true multitasker. It helps lift, smooth, and refine the appearance and tone of the skin. The velvety formula contains a powerful blend of lipids and botanicals that have targeted anti-aging benefits.
Key ingredients include moringa seed oil for intense moisture, evodia ruteacarpa fruit to help brighten and refine, and peony extract to help skin look smoother. Over time your complexion feels firmer and looks lifted and more radiant.
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 in the skin. This anti-wrinkle 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.
Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream
Elemis’s Pro-Collagen Marine Cream promises results in as little as two weeks. This anti-wrinkle cream is formulated with algae and other plant extracts to replenish the skin with much-needed moisture. Gradual loss of moisture, as well as the breakdown of proteins like collagen and elastin, are what lead to wrinkle formation in the first place. Padina pavonica and chlorella vulgaris are two of the algae extracts used in this cream, both of which have antioxidant tendencies to fight off free radical damage that degrades collagen.
SK-II Power Cream
This anti-wrinkle cream from the venerable SK-II brand targets several aging concerns, including loss of elasticity, dryness, wrinkles, and sagging. Like most SK-II products, the main ingredient is pitera. This substance is highly rich in vitamins, minerals, organic acids, and amino acids to truly nourish and revitalize skin.
Pitera is derived from a fermentation process featuring secret ingredients that also include yeast strains. This ingredient was discovered when sake brewers found that they’re beautifully unlined, unaged hands that seemed to be directly a result of the yeast used during the fermentation process. This cream is especially recommended for dry skin as it has a very rich texture.
Exuviance Age ReverseNight Lift
This anti-wrinkle, anti-aging cream goes to work while you sleep to help you wake up with radiant, glowing skin. Peptides help create the lifting effect in this face-firming wrinkle cream. Palmitoyl oligopeptide and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 firm skin and reduce wrinkles by stimulating collagen synthesis.
SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight Cream
As the name suggests, this intense, results-driven night cream harnesses the power of an alpha hydroxy acid and a retinoid to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while improving elasticity and tone. Thanks to SkinBetter’s proprietary retinol technology (and a blend of skin-soothing ingredients), you’ll reap all the benefits minus any irritation. The addition of glycolic acid visibly improves the skin’s texture while stoking the other components to increase efficiency.
Estée Lauder Advanced Time Zone Night Wrinkle Cream
The main ingredient in this anti-aging cream is the brand’s proprietary Tri-HA Cell Signaling Complex. According to in vitro testing, this superhero ingredient can increase the amount of natural hyaluronic acid in the skin by as much as 182%. Other vital ingredients include hydrating avocado and jojoba seed oils, wrinkle-reducing apple fruit extract and acetyl hexapeptide-8, antioxidant-rich grape seed, watermelon, and cucumber plant extracts. This wrinkle cream is ideal for normal and combination skin and is non-comedogenic.
La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream
La Prairie is known for its luxurious formulations, and this anti-wrinkle cream is no exception. The main wrinkle-fighting ingredients 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. It helps clarify skin texture to smooth out rough spots and make wrinkles less noticeable.
Palmitoyl tripeptide-8 soothes the skin by reducing inflammation while acetyl decapeptide-3 stimulates collagen and elastin to make firm, tighten, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
hree essential ceramides throughout the day and night. You’ll immediately notice an improvement in dry, crepey skin — but even more so with continued use.
Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream
Dr. Barbara Sturm has a cult-like following for her pricey yet effective products. Her Face Cream is a rich, highly moisturizing product with ingredients like panthenol, squalane, and shea butter, as well as several antioxidants to help protect against free radical cell damage.
The key ingredient in this moisturizer is Dr. Sturm’s signature purslane, an herbaceous plant that reportedly has regenerative properties. According to Dr. Sturm herself, “Purslane protects the DNA of the cells from age-related dysfunction, thereby maintaining the cells’ repair function and strengthening them with the natural antioxidant system contained in these compounds.”
Best Wrinkle Cream: The Bottom Line
What is the best wrinkle product on the market? Overall, we suggest Carrot & Stick Repair Serum. Followed by the Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer.
We recommend The Complete Collection routine.
The best anti-wrinkle cream need not empty your wallet. Still, it should be formulated with evidence-based ingredients like retinol, peptides, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and vitamin C to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles effectively.
Consider your skin type and age before settling on a formula. What works in your 30s isn’t going to have the same effect in your 40s or 50s. You’ll need a more potent formula that contains additional ingredients to target the progressive signs of age.
What’s the best deep wrinkle cream, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments below!
FURTHER QUESTIONS
If you’re wondering if you should use a cream or a serum, the answer is “both.” Serums and creams perform different functions, and to get the optimal anti-aging benefit, they should be used together.
A serum is lightweight, water-based, and quickly absorbed into the skin. Because serums don’t contain thickeners and fats like a moisturizer, they are highly concentrated- which means they deliver a hefty dose of skin-healthy ingredients right where you need it. Serums are often called the workhorses of a skincare routine as they do the heavy lifting.
Wrinkles are a normal part of the aging process and a multitude of factors cause them. As the Cleveland Clinic notes, the dermis (the middle layer of the skin) starts to thin as we get older. The dermis is made up of elastin and collagen, which give the skin firmness and support, so as it weakens, wrinkles are more prominent.
Older skin also retains less moisture and takes longer to heal, which all contribute to wrinkles. Other factors which accelerate the aging process include sun exposure, smoking, dehydration, and repeated facial movements.
There is no single product that can solve every anti-aging concern. The best approach to skincare is a multi-prong one, using multiple types of products such as creams, serums, and spot treatments.
If you had to boil down an anti-aging skincare routine to the basics, it would include a moisturizer, sunscreen, serum, toner, spot treatment, and night cream. Still, it makes sense to identify the ingredients needed first and then find the appropriate product that contains them.
