What we think
Drunk Elephant did one important thing: it made fragrance-free, essential-oil-free formulation a mainstream selling point at the prestige tier, which pushed the whole category in a sensible direction.
It also built that on the "Suspicious 6" — a list of essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical sunscreens, fragrance and SLS the brand excludes. Excluding fragrance and drying alcohol is well-founded. Grouping silicones and modern chemical sunscreen filters in with them is a marketing construct, not a dermatological consensus, and it has made a lot of people needlessly afraid of ingredients that are fine.
Formulas and ingredients
Protini Polypeptide Cream is a good peptide moisturiser. C-Firma is a well-made L-ascorbic acid serum with the stability problems every L-ascorbic serum has. T.L.C. Framboos is a competent AHA/BHA night serum.
None of these are bad. All of them have close equivalents at a third of the price — the Framboos in particular does very little that Paula's Choice BHA does not do for less.
Price and value
The lowest value score on this site. A $68 moisturiser and an $80 vitamin C serum have to substantially outperform a $17 CeraVe cream and a $30 Paula's Choice booster, and they do not.
Shipping, returns and support
Good. Sephora distribution, reliable delivery, generous returns.
Who it is for
Someone whose budget makes the price irrelevant and who values a fully fragrance-free prestige range. Anyone shopping on value should look at four other brands on this list first.
