Drunk Elephant Skincare Review: Juju Bar, Pekee Bar, C-Firma Day Serum, B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel, TLC Framboos Gylcolic Night Serum & Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil

Ahhh ... Drunk Elephant Skincare! I ALWAYS hear really good things about this HIGH END skincare company. Just like Tatcha (that I reviewed yesterday), Drunk Elephant also has deluxe sample sizes for many of their products. Yaaay! So this past Christmas (just as I did with Tatcha), I decided to pick up a few things from the Drunk Elephant skincare line to try out for about a month. Let's see, shall we!

Drunk Elephant Baby Pekee Bar and Juju Bar Travel Duo ($18)

Drunk Elephant has TWO types of CLEANSING BARS! Yes, they look like SOAP (but they are considered SOAP-FREE); Drunk Elephant wants you to call them cleansing bars. The JuJu Bar (brown one) is for use in the MORNING! The Pekee Bar (white one) is for use at NIGHT! You can get BOTH of them in this travel duo (they'll be slightly smaller) or you can purchase them separately (full size). I bought the travel duo. The bars are just large enough to see if you want to incorporate them into your skincare system or not. Below are my thoughts on each.

Sweet-Bittersweet-NotSweet

supersweet(run & buy it) sweet(really good,buy it) bittersweet(ok, issues)not sweet(not good,don't buy this stuff)

 

Drunk Elephant Juju Bar 

(Normal, Combination, Oily Skin - Sweet) // (Dry Skin - Bittersweet)

MORNING CLEANSING BAR (Travel Duo $18 / Full Size Bar is $28)

This bar is to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin. The formula is thermal mud and bamboo powder. I must admit, this is an excellent exfoliator! It lathers up really well. As you lather, it releases these exfoliating particles (but do know, this bar "melted" faster than the Pekee Bar below). You can feel the particles! This bar leaves your skin clean, smooth & polished. I have dry/sensitive skin. I never experienced any major adverse reaction while using this bar. After use, I had slightly rosy cheeks (probably from the exfoliation), but no major redness or peeling. This bar started off really good with my skin, but around the second week I did experience some dryness. Never dry patches or flakiness, but dry skin. In comparison to my other cleansers, this didn't seem as gentle (for everyday use) to my skin as my REN cleanser or Tatcha enzyme cleanser. Over the long run, I feel this is too much to use DAILY for dry/sensitive skin types. Maybe WEEKLY or Bi-Weekly. I feel this would work better for Normal, Combination & Oily Skin Types. If you have dry or sensitive skin, I would use caution using this daily. I'm definitely not a dermatologist, but I don't think dry/sensitive skin types need this amount of daily exfoliation.

Drunk Elephant Pekee Bar 

(Normal, Combination, Oily Skin - Sweet) // (Dry Skin - Bittersweet)

EVENING CLEANSING BAR (Travel Duo $18 / Full Size Bar is $28)

This bar "DEEPLY CLEANSES, tones and moisturizes without stripping or irritating the skin". This bar lathers up really well. It's creamy. If I had to sum up this bar in one word, I would say CLEAN. Your face feels REALLY clean after using this (usually when it is this clean, there is some type of stripping). I think you can almost skip removing your makeup and just use this. HaHaHa I do think over the long term (just like the Juju Bar above), this is better for Normal, Combination & Oily Skin Types. Again, I didn't experience any major adverse reaction while using this bar, but I did experience some dryness around the second week. It sounds funny saying, but for dry/sensitive skin people, I worry that it's TOO CLEAN for everyday! Maybe once or twice a week for a deep clean, but not daily.

Drunk Elephant Rise + Glow Set (when I purchased this set, it was called Day Glow) ($23)

C-Firma Day Serum (Full Size Price is $80) - Sweet

B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel (Full Size Price is $52) - Bittersweet

Let's start with the C-Firma Day Serum! It's suppose to FIRM & BRIGHTEN the skin! It does a great job at doing both! It made my skin feel FIRMER and my skin looked BRIGHTER. My skin felt firm, plump & refreshed (those were the end results). When you apply this, it feels WET. Then it turns a little STICKY. It takes about 15 minutes for it to DRY DOWN. I kid you not! It dries without leaving a residue or any stickiness and you'll get those great results. I might consider incorporating this into my skincare system. I recently tried a product from REN that firms & tightens the skin. It is absolutely amazing! Review will be coming soon. But it doesn't brighten like this product!

The B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel is suppose to quench (ultra-hydrating vitamin B5) dry thirsty skin & brighten it as well. Well, my skin is still thirsty! LOL This WILL NOT give DRY SKIN TYPES intense hydration. IT WILL NOT! If you have normal, combination or oily skin, it will probably give you the moisture you need, but NOT IF YOU HAVE DRY SKIN. It's just not enough. This applies wet. Then turns a little sticky. It takes 15 minutes to dry down. Put them both on and allow for 30 minutes for them to dry down on your face.

Drunk Elephant Night Bright Set ($28)

T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum ($90) - Supersweet

Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil ($72) - Supersweet

Both of these are really, really good. You should start off using the TLC Framboos Glycolic Night Serum! It's a serum to be used at NIGHT, that refines & resurfaces the skin. It's a 12% AHA/BHA serum. You should then apply the Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil. It's suppose to be rehab for your skin, rich in antioxidants and omegas. NOW, YOU MAY NOT LIKE HOW THEY LOOK OR FEEL ON YOUR SKIN WHEN YOU FIRST APPLY THEM (I DON'T)! They apply wet. Then they turn a little sticky. Then they dry down. But let BOTH JUST MARINATE (HaHaHa) ON YOUR SKIN OVERNIGHT. You will wake up to such SOFT, SUPPLE, GLOWING glorious skin. My skin LOVED these (IN THE MORNING, HaHaHa)! The prices are crazy outrageous, but I love how my skin FELT and LOOKED. I could definitely see that it was re-textured. I never used them separately! Only together! So I don't know how they perform separately. The website also mentions that you may experience a tingle. I never experienced that.

My Final Thoughts: Overall, I think Drunk Elephant Skincare is more appropriate for Normal, Combination, and Oily Skin Types. If you have Dry or Sensitive skin, definitely try the deluxe sizes before investing in full sizes. See how your skin reacts. I experienced some dryness around the second week of using some of these products. The only thing I don't like about most of their products (serums, moisturizers) is that they're so STICKY! However, that stickiness goes away. For me, the products are not very pleasant to put on. So I'll be sticking with REN or Tatcha at the moment. I SUPER LOVE Drunk Elephant's nighttime products! I may incorporate them into my nighttime routine. I feel they are beneficial to all skin types. I am interested in trying Drunk Elephants TLC Sukari Babyfacial and their Lala Retro Whipped Cream. Have you tried Drunk Elephant? Tell me what products? What did you like/didn't like?