When Protini, an anti-aging cream from the American “clean” and innovative skincare brand Drunk Elephant was released, I was very excited. It’s a face cream with an irreproachable composition, but packed with innovative high-tech anti-aging ingredients? Sign me in!
Because to be honest, this trend with skincare products “X-free” is becoming very boring. I want my skincare products with all the ingredients, not without them! A very safe cosmetic is cool, but if it’s not effective, I don’t really see the point!
I ordered Protini when it was released (last January) and I used two jars since. They lasted me about 4 months each.
Protini gets its name from the star ingredients it contains, peptides, which are often talked about at the moment. They are very small molecules, precursors of proteins, acting on the skin as a trigger with a very precise reaction. In the case of Protini, the selected peptides stimulate the collagen production.
The product also contains extracts of pygmy waterlily stem cells that stimulate the skin cells renewal and are also an excellent source of antioxidants for the skin. Perfect cream for a good environmental protection!
Mini-review:
I started introducing peptides into my skincare routine a year or two ago, usually in the form of serum.
I already talked about it in my review of Drunk Elephant’s Lala Retro cream, I tend to turn to serums when I want a targeted and effective product. I’m a little more careless regarding my day or night creams. For me, face creams have a more protective role. They generally contain more “occlusive” ingredient in their formula which remains on the surface of the skin (because that’s what you want with a face cream, protection!). For a deeper effect, serums with their usually more liquid texture are a better fit!
Protini has a gel-cream formula and the brand does not really promote it as an anti-aging occlusive face cream but rather as a product to add into your routine to boost it. The brand’s creator, Tiffany Masterson, had the idea to create Protini because of the protein powders she added every morning to her breakfast smoothie!
In conclusion:
Except when you have a combination skin like me, this principle doesn’t really work well. Unless it’s very very cold, I can’t add another cream on top of Protini, my skin wouldn’t absorb it. So I used Protini as a day cream, not really as a concentrate to add to my routine.
And maybe that’s why Protini left me a little bit unsatisfied. I wasn’t really expecting incredible results on my wrinkles (they’re not very pronounced anyway) but I didn’t find that this cream had more effect than my other peptide serums (that are not the same price). I know that peptides, like many other anti-aging cosmetic ingredients, require regular and long-term use. That’s why I’m gonna keep using them in my routine. But I also think that the fact that Protini is in a cream format bothers me a little…
In short, Protini is not a bad product at all, and I think I’ll probably repurchase it occasionally because I really enjoyed using it (its texture is a real joy, a super silky gel-cream!) but it hasn’t become a must-have in my routine.