Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream review

Oh boy. A review of a product from a controversial brand that I was initially totally smitten with. And then – well, what can I say. I used my brain and changed my mind. More in the following Drunk Elephant Protini Cream review.

What is it

DE wasn’t ever a brand I was particularly interested in. In fact, it seemed downright dislikeable to me. Forward to 2020, when I got a sample of the Protini Cream and fell unwillingly in love. What a texture! What a delight! And when I was able to snag a set including it for 20% off, I snatched. Hard.

So here we are, looking at a moisturizer in a cool jar that’s going to be pitted against my most favourite moisturisers of all time. (And, truth: I got the Protini only because I felt the texture was similarly luxurious as Augustinus Bader The Cream. Boom.)

And still, my regular attitude towards a moisturiser still applies: pricey ones are generally a waste of money, because for me, a moisturiser is supposed to moisturise, and THAT’S IT. For everything else, God gave us serums.

• More: moisturisers 101

• More: Augustinus Bader The Cream review

Brand Description

Again, hooo boy. DE isn’t the most controversial brand out there, but they make it really hard to root for them, at least for me. First, there’s the disregard for their customers, as detailed by Hyram here, and then there’s the refusal to join the pull up challenge and being rather salty about it.

Second, there’s a lot of the brand and its philosophy that warrant a side-eye, at least for me. Their “suspicious six” ingredients they formulate without: silicones, essential oils, fragrance/dyes, drying alcohols, SLS and chemical/synthetic sunscreen filters make the brand skirt dangerously close to “clean” beauty fear-mongering.

While consumers may be feeling safer that the brand apparently doesn’t use ingredients inherently “bad” for skin, actually it’s not true: a skincare product won’t be “safer” because those 6 ingredients aren’t in there. People could be as easily develop contact allergies due to, say, the waterlily in the formula as to essential oils.

Skintypes and “smoothies”?!

Also, the claim that using only DE products and consequently get “normal”, balanced skin is rather garbage – hormonal acne, for example, won’t give a shit about that, because it’s a medical condition. Consequently, saying skintypes like oily and dry come from using the wrong skincare? Sure Jen.

And finally, telling customers to mix their own skincare “smoothies” I’d say that it’s usually not a great idea to wildly mix skincare as most of us aren’t chemists. If you’re mixing, for example, a Vitamin C serum and a retinol cream, you’d not only raise the bar for irritation, but also raise the pH. Not a good idea.

But, well – if that all agrees with your skin and aligns with your skincare philosophy, you do you. It’s your skin. Here’s just my opinion.  

Here’s what they say:

This protein moisturizer combines signal peptides, growth factors, supportive amino acids, and pygmy waterlily for immediate improvement in the appearance of skin’s tone, texture, and firmness.

(…)

Protini’s proprietary formula restores younger, revived-looking skin, almost from the first application. Lines, wrinkles, and signs of sun damage appear reduced, and skin feels strengthened and moisturized.

Drunk Elephant

Ingredients

Peptides

We’re all here to hear about the magical peptides and not about waterlilies, so here goes: there’re various peptides included in the formula, the most famous being Sh-Oligopeptide-1, also called Epidermal Growth Factor, EGF. EGF is controversial: while it definitely has skin renewal properties, there’s a downside. (There’re a few more peptides with basically the same properties as well.)

I will quote in full from Incidecoder:

The first and biggest concern is that if EGF is so good at stimulating cell proliferation, how does it relate to cancer? Is the definition of cancer not “cells proliferating out of control”?  Most experts agree on this answer: EGF is mitogenic (= stimulates cell proliferation) but not mutagenic (= does not alter the cell to make it cancerous). If you do not have cancer, you will not get cancer from EGF. However, if you have cancerous cells, EGF will help them to spread, just like it helps healthy cells. So if you have a lot of moles, excessive UV exposure in the past, or if you have any of the skin cancer risk factors, we suggest you should think twice about using EGF products. The same is true if you have psoriasis, a skin disease related to the abnormal growth of epidermal skin cells. You do not want to add fuel to the fire with EGF.

Incidecoder

Also included is one peptide that makes up the famous Matrixyl 3000 of “like Botox!” fame (more here).

Then there’re a lot of amino acids which are supposed to reduce wrinkles. They’re your skin’s “building blocks” like collagen and elastin that diminish with age.

And, because it’s a moisturiser, there’re a lot of humectants.

Application

I usually don’t comment on packaging, but I was a bit surprised at the jar: you press the surface and the cream shoots up around the little white nipple thingie. Neat.

Generally, I apply this (obvi) at the last step in my PM routine right now. For summer, it’s too rich under sunscreen for me, while in winter, my skin needs a bit more oomph. It’s great for those not-quite-cold-not-quite-hot months.

It still feels luxuriously creamy like double cream, but on very hot days, I do find a bit too waxy. Then it annoyingly lies on the top of my skin without sinking in properly. On other days, it proves to be a nice base for foundation. I’ve never experienced any pilling or patchiness with foundations or sunscreens with it.

Effect

“younger, revived-looking skin” – no

“lines, wrinkles, and signs of sun damage appear reduced” – what?! Is this supposed to cure wrinkles and hyperpigmentation?!?! I mean, we’re speaking about sun damage, right? I’m confused. And no, it absolutely doesn’t.

“skin feels strengthened and moisturized” – this it does, but then: this is exactly what all my other moisturisers do?!

Let me also say that I do have quite a lot of moles and don’t feel exactly comfortable with using products with such a high amount of EGFs in them. Incidecoder suggests a good SPF plus retinoids in that case, which I’m already doing anyways.

Worth it

Well, what do you think?! This is $68 or 65€ for 50ml. My regular moisturisers retail for less, don’t rely on potentially harmful ingredients and honestly, are better allrounders.

If you’re desperate for a cheaper dupe, here’s one. Also, Skinskool suggests Klairs’ Midnight Blue Calming Cream (with EGFs right at the end of the inci list), which actually I wanted to try for a long time, so. 

Where/price/size

Sephora, Douglas, Cult Beauty for example. 50ml are $68. Would I repurchase? Likely not. Would it retail for $48 that would be a maybe.

Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.