Protini™ Polypeptide Cream
Expert Review
Drunk Elephant’s Protini™ Polypeptide Cream is advertised as a “breakthrough protein moisturizer”. Let’s look in more detail at its ingredients and the claimed benefits.
Cosmetic Claims
We found nine cosmetic claims for this moisturizer. However, we could not find any reference to published scientific literature. When we approached the Drunk Elephant, they declined to share information about the evidence supporting the claims they make for this product.
Most of the cosmetic claims refer to an effect within a pre-specified time frame (such as “immediate improvement”, “from first application”). To support these types of claims, a clinical study would be needed that would actually measure these changes. Unfortunately, Drunk Elephant’s team did not share the evidence that would support the claims they are making about this moisturiser.
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Visible and immediate improvement in the appearance of skin’s:
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a) Tone
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b) Texture
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c) Firmness
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Younger, revived-looking skin, almost from the first application
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Lines, wrinkles appear reduced
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Signs of sun-damage appear reduced
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Skin feels strengthened
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Skin feels moisturised
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Replenishes and restores your skin back to a strong, healthy state
Legend
Ingredient review and safety:
We found a high proportion of ingredients that condition the skin, act as emollients and humectants (such as Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Glycerin, and Cetearyl Alcohol). Therefore, the claims “lines, wrinkles appear reduced” and “skin feels moisturized” can be partially supported.
Water/Aqua/Eau, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Bacillus/Soybean/ Folic Acid Ferment Extract, Nymphaea Alba Root Extract, sh-Oligopeptide-1, sh-Oligopeptide-2, sh-Polypeptide-1, sh-Polypeptide-9, sh-Polypeptide-11, Copper Palmitoyl Heptapeptide-14, Heptapeptide-15 Palmitate, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Alanine, Arginine, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Valine, Acetyl Glutamine, Coconut Alkanes, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Aspartic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Lecithin, Butylene Glycol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Sodium Lactate, Sodium PCA, PCA, Sorbitan Isostearate, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Polysorbate 60, Lactic Acid/Glycolic Acid Copolymer, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Xanthan Gum, Isomalt, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Chlorphenesin, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol, Sodium Benzoate, Phenylpropanol, Glyceryl Caprylate, Symphytum Officinale Callus Culture Extract.
Allergen free?
Preservative free?
Chlorphenesin
Phenoxyethanol
Sodium Benzoate
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
EU restricted ingredient free?
The ingredients listed do not contain any known fragrance allergens. The cream contains some preservatives (Chlorphenesin, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate). The first two are restricted for use in the EU and by the CIR and allowed at maximum concentrations of 0.3% and 1%. CIR recognizes Sodium Benzoate as safe in concentrations of up to 5% and the EU limits its use to 0.5%. We approached the Drunk Elephant to confirm whether these ingredients follow the CIR/EU safety guidelines, but they declined to comment.
Conclusions
Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Cream doesn’t seem to have much evidence to support its claims. Evidence of a well-designed study, with good results, would have given it a score of about 100. Looking at the ingredient list, we could find evidence to only partially support two of the nine claims, giving it an overall poor evidence score of 4.4.
Evidence of a well-designed study, with results that support all claims Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Cream would have given it a score of about 100. The current formulation only partially supports two of the nine claims, giving it an overall poor evidence score of 4.4.
Pros
- Ingredient list suggests that it might make lines and wrinkles appear reduced and make skin feel moisturized
- No known fragrance allergens
Cons
- Drunk Elephant is unwilling to share with the public any evidence of clinical studies that would support their claims.
- Listed ingredients contain preservatives, which are often limited to maximum concentrations. We could not confirm if the preservatives listed here follow the common safety guidelines.