Drunk Elephant Made My Skincare Low Maintenance and I’m Eternally Grateful

I’m unapologetically a product whore—loud and proud. Consider me a benzoyl peroxide loving, retinoid devotee who swears by the power of the perfect primer.  

I follow my dermatologist prescribed skin care regimen with the same intensity as Pete Davidson and Arianna Grande’s romance. By all conventional standards, my face should be flawless.  

Alas, my skin sucks. 

When puberty hit, I battled the oh-so terrible cystic acne in all its red and painful glory. Thankfully, my hormones have since normalized and I haven’t had a “friend” on my face in a solid five years.  

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I confronted the horror of having combination skin (insert groan here). While my forehead and cheeks were synonymous with sandpaper, my nose and chin resembled a slip n’ slide. Let’s just say: not a good look.  

Long story short, I became addicted to products. Bring on the aqua bombs and mattifying setting sprays. My make up bag was undoubtedly approaching the size of Kylie’s net worth. To compensate for my acne prone, dry, oily and overall horrible skin I loaded on creams, serums, primers and prolong wear.  

Anti-acne face wash—check.  

Oil control primer—check.  

Blackhead treatment—check.  

12,000 other purchases from Sephora—check, check AND check.  

I was overloading my face with chemicals and heavy cosmetics in a futile effort to fight my bad rosacea and big *ss pores.  

Equipped with nothing but dwindling hope, I made a last ditch effort to find a cure. Two hours of research and about a $300 splurge later, and I had a few products from Drunk Elephant Skincare line in a FedEx box—express delivery.  

Best. Impulse. Buy. Ever. Period.  

The product line scared me, not going to lie. I was a member of treat-everything- with-different-products-and-chemicals mentality. But, Drunk Elephant treated nothing, zero, zip, zilch. Instead, the aim is to simply restore the skin with non-toxic products rather than fight a specific issue. Tiffany Masterson, Drunk Elephant CEO, told The Cut, “My job as a skincare formulator is to support the skin’s natural state and nourish it and protect it. It’s not to treat anything.” Masterson banned the “Suspicious 6” from her line. Say goodbye to: essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical screens, fragrance/dyes and SLS.

Interesting concept, right? So fresh faced and optimistic, I began exclusivelyusing Drunk Elephant. Granted, I had my fair share of doubts, and a love for  essential oils, so I started off with just a few products.

Long story short: I’m never, ever, in a million years, using any other product because I am head over heels in love with Drunk Elephant. And I’ll scream it from the rooftops.

Within a week and a half my entire complexion changed. I wasn’t dry, flakey or overproducing oil. My skin was calm and soft—breakouts subsiding. I even had that envious dewy but most definitely not greasy look going on. I felt supple and fresh, a new me.

And here’s all it took to make it happen:

1. Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleanser: I apply a dime-sized amount of the face wash on my hands and massage the cleanser into my skin. With no icky fragrance or essential oils, the cleanser left my skin feeling clean and fresh. The best part? It completely took the makeup off my face. Seriously. I’ve been known to wash my face and dry off only to find foundation residue on the towel. So gross, but whatever. But, the Jelly Cleanser actually left my face cleansed. No make-up residue, clean skin and overallamazing.
2. B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Gel: This was my moisturizer. I apply right after I wash my face; while my skin is still just a little wet. It’s a little tacky a first but eventually seeps into the skin. I’ve always had dehydrated skin—flakey, peeling and icky. While the Hydration Gel definitely burned the first few times (yes, I was THAT dry), after three days my skin was visibly brighter, softer and smoother. The provitamin B and pineapple cermide allow the moisturizer to continuing hydrating throughout the day. I was shocked that the lightweight gel did more for my fine lines and dryness than any heavy aquabomb I had used in thepast.
3. Virgin Merula Luxury Oil: It’s is the holy grail of skin care. To quote Bad Gal RiRi, I’m drunk on love with this product. The Cleanser and B-Hydro Gel totally restored my skin and diminished my excess oil. Alas, I didn’t have thatglow. But, after a week of using the Merula Oil, my skin was undeniably dewy and balance. I’m not kidding, this is a miracle worker. With vitamin E, flavonoids, omega 6 and 9 and a few other critical antioxidants, the oil completely changed my skin. The oil didn’t leave me greasy—at all. It smoothed over every line, dry spot or weird texture and left my face glowy. After two uses, my skin felt like it belonged to another person, in the best way possible. Consider me next level obsessed.