One older brand making a modern-day resurgence is Derma E, and they’re getting the ClothedUp treatment today. Keep reading to find our Derma E reviews, including everything you need to know about this natural skincare brand and whether they really do have breakthrough skincare, or if this is just your mother’s eye cream.
What Is Derma E?
Derma E is a skincare brand founded in 1984, beginning in a small health food store in California. They claim to use natural yet effective ingredients to treat a variety of skin concerns.
Overview Of Derma E
Overall: ★★★★
Shipping ★★★★★: The shipping at this company is almost perfect. We did find a few complaints, but it’s a minuscule number considering how long the company has been operating.
Product Quality ★★★: Unfortunately, we had to knock off a few points here. It’s not necessarily that the products are bad, it’s that the company is so reluctant to disclose their concentrations. If we’re buying skincare, we want to know exactly how much of the active ingredient we’re getting.
Customer Service ★★★★★: The customer service at this company is top-notch. The return policy is excellent even for sale products and they are super quick to answer questions even if they’ve been repeated.
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Derma E Reviews
Derma E sells products for many skin concerns including acne and scarring, discoloration and sun damage, dryness, fine lines and wrinkles, oil control, and more. Below, we’ll break down a few of the most popular products this brand has to offer.
Vitamin C Serum Review
This vitamin-C concentrated serum claims to brighten your skin with powerful antioxidants and vitamins.
Plus, it evens out skin tone, reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, and gives an intense boost of hydration to your skin.
Vitamin C Intense Night Cream Review
Another vitamin C favorite, this night cream claims to nourish and protect your skin, all while you sleep.
It gives your skin a more youthful appearance by reducing wrinkles, improving discoloration, and promoting collagen health.
Microdermabrasion Scrub Review
Derma E’s microdermabrasion scrub is called a “luxurious” treatment that exfoliates the skin with dead sea salt and fine-textured crystals.
Smooth the look of acne scars, discoloration, uneven texture, and even wrinkles with this skin-transforming scrub.
Note: These items and all of Derma E’s skincare products claim to be: vegan, plus free of parabens, sulfates, petrolatum, mineral oils, and phthalates.
Derma E Customer Reviews
Reviews for this company’s products are glowing. Out of all the Derma E products on Ulta, the lowest rating was around four stars with similar results on the company website. In particular, customers reviews mentioned most often:
- Affordability
- Hydrating
- Some say it caused breakouts for sensitive skin
- Prone to pilling
- Smooths and tones
To get a more specific idea of what makes this brand so great, here are some customer reviews:
“I’ll preface by saying that I have dry and very sensitive skin. The fragrance does smell exactly like fruit loops, which was nice at first, but then began to bother my sensitive skin. I used it every morning after a hydrating facial cleanser (followed up with a moisturizer) for about a month and it started drying out my skin even more, to the point where there was flaky skin around my eyes and the rest of my face had an almost leather-like texture. May work for some people, but was not it for me.” Hannah- Ulta
“Derma E is fantastic! I’ve always found that their actives are quite strong and the products are well formulated. IMHO, they are leaps and bounds better than Pacifica, which is all about cute packaging and nice user experience rather than serious skincare. I have very different needs, but my favorites are the glycolic acid anti-wrinkle cleanser (it’s like having a mini peel every time you wash your face) and the anti-aging regenerative night serum.” – IntergalacticLoop on Reddit
Is Derma E Vegan and Cruelty-free?
To their credit, Derma E is pretty upfront with the ingredients that they use, providing an entire glossary of what they use in their formulations.
The list is pretty standard for the beauty industry, containing things like argan oil, vitamin A, and brown seaweed.
In addition to telling you what they do use, they have a “refuse to use ” list containing over 2500 ingredients that are not to be used in their products. This includes animal products and cruelty since Derma E is also certified by Leaping Bunny and PETA as cruelty-free.
This all sounds well and good, but we’ve encountered a few problems trying to verify some other claims. First, it doesn’t appear that Derma E is certified vegan. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they put animal ingredients in their products, but it certainly makes us doubt their claims since vegan isn’t a term that’s regulated by the FDA or USDA.
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Is Derma E Reef Safe?
In addition to being vegan, the company also claims that its mineral sunscreen is “reef-safe.” While it is true that certain ingredients in sunscreen have been found to be detrimental to the health of marine life, including shrimp and coral, reef safe is another term that is not regulated by any government body in the United States.
Derma E claims that their mineral sunscreen is nano particle-free, but nanoparticles aren’t the only ingredient that might be damaging to marine life, so that doesn’t mean they’re in the clear.
We cross-referenced the ingredients list on Derma E Sun Defense Mineral Oil-Free Sunscreen with this list from the National Ocean Service. We did not find any matches but, as with any brand, they could make these claims with no way for consumers to verify them.
Derma E Formulations
We’ve covered vegan and eco-friendly claims above, so in this section, we’re going to be talking about exactly how much of the active ingredients you’re getting in Derma E products.
Concentrations are mostly absent in their ingredient lists, and nearly every time someone asked for a concentration in the Q&A section, they got identical answers:
“Thank you for your interest in our ingredients. While I can’t disclose the exact percentage of [ingredient] in this formula, I can tell you that it is always formulated at the concentration recommended for maximum results without irritation.”
If multiple people asked the same question in the Q&A section of a product, the response was practically verbatim each time. There were certain exceptions to this, as a few products did actually have concentrations, and certain customers would sometimes get answers if they cited medical concerns over the active ingredients.
Unfortunately, the numbers they got seemed disappointingly small. It’s normal for things like vitamin E to hover around 0.5% in skincare, but the few vitamin C products we could find concentrations for usually hovered somewhere below 10%.
We understand that these products are meant to be used together and therefore that the concentrations between products are going to be a little bit lower, but we find these numbers a little flat.
Pricing
Derma E’s products are surprisingly affordable, especially for a clean and vegan skincare brand.
A 2-ounce bottle of their concentrated vitamin C serum is $24.50, while similar products at the 2-ounce size come in at about $30 at ASDM Beverly Hills and $15 at Radha Beauty. Estee Lauder charges around $78 for a bottle half the size.
The same can be said for the majority of their products, which usually cost somewhere between $15 and $30 for a single bottle. The highest price for a single item is $36.50, a far cry from the high prices of a lot of skincare brands.
You can find products a couple of dollars cheaper than the ones you’ll see here, but Derma E is certainly within the price range of someone on a $50 skincare budget.
Derma E Return Policy
If there’s one thing this company has really nailed, it’s the return policy. If you’re not satisfied with a product, Derma E has a 100% money-back guarantee. Simply ship your item back to them along with a packing slip or the original order confirmation within 30 days of receiving the item for 100% of the purchase price back.
If you purchase something as part of a buy one get one 50% off promotion, you will receive your money back for the returned item minus 50% of the cost for the non returned item. For example, if you buy one item for $30 and get another $30 item half off for $15, you get $15 back.
It is admittedly a bit convoluted, but it’s nice to know that you can try stuff from this company for a full month and still send it back, especially since a lot of skincare products don’t have instant results.
Bottom Line
Overall, Derma E is a decent place to start if you’re looking for “green” skincare, but it might be a safer bet to go with a more transparent company.
They have an affordable price range with products for almost every skin type, but it’s disconcerting that they don’t disclose the number of active ingredients in their products. The concentrations we were able to get our hands on were disappointing for the price.
Derma E products also usually contain some form of essential oil fragrance, so be cautious if you have allergies or sensitive skin.
A lot of customers seem to be very happy with their purchases, all in all. If you have tried these products and absolutely love them, that’s great! But if you’re concerned about any transparency regarding active ingredients, we recommend finding another brand.
