Kelly Driscoll has reviewed a lot of moisturizers, and her record shows she is hard to disappoint. She approved most of the more than 50 she tested, gave a few mixed takes, and skipped only a handful, landing an approval rate of 85%. A few products earned her highest praise as category winners. But the small pile of skips is where things get interesting.
What does Kelly Driscoll recommend in moisturizers?
Across her approving takes, Kelly keeps coming back to the same things. She wants a moisturizer to actually support the skin barrier, and she lights up when the formula backs that up with ceramides, peptides, or urea. She praised the Prequel Half & Half Peptides & Ceramides Fluid Moisturizer for being built around exactly that kind of barrier-first thinking. She called out the CeraVe Intensive Moisturizing Lotion with Urea as a standout for hand care because its 5% urea is, in her words, 'an amazing humectant' that draws water into the skin. She also cares about feel and practicality. The Bubble Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer won her over by feeling richer and more hydrating than she expected at the price point. She has recommended the Geek & Gorgeous Happy Barrier Cream and Geek & Gorgeous Hydration Station Moisturizer repeatedly because they are, as she put it, 'no nonsense, they get the job done.' Her category winners, the Avène Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream, the Bubble Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer, and the iUNIK Beta Glucan 3X Barrier Cream, all share that mix: solid ingredients, real results, and a texture that works. She has emptied two jars of the iUNIK Beta Glucan 3X Barrier Cream and ordered a third.
Kelly Driscoll's moisturizer picks, in her words
"I've been jamming on this all summer long. I love this. This is a moisturizer that can function into the later fall months for me. Personally, it is occlusive, protective. It really fights dehydration. And it feels really good on my skin. It also works really well underneath sunscreen and makeup. It's just a really good one overall. I've emptied my third jar of this in a row."
"I am putting this on the area and it really does work. It really speeds up the healing like two times faster. If I [...] just did normal skincare, I think that it's a lot slower to mend up on its own. Using this cream, it closes it up so much faster. But it doesn't just promote the healing by closing the wound; it really does promote the healthy healing of that wound, that smooth skin. I think it helps to cut down on the hyperpigmentation if you suffer from that."
"It sinks into the skin really beautifully and does a lot of the moisturization deeper within the skin, not sitting on a greasy layer on top. There's good occlusivity here that fights transepidermal water loss, and it has panthenol, B5, for hydration, but it's also barrier supportive with low-key ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. Let's put some love back onto this moisturizer, it is so darn good."
"I absolutely love this especially for hand care. [...] Hand care becomes increasingly important to me in the winter time because this season causes my hands to feel really dry, dehydrated, sometimes even itchy, irritated, and I get rough skin around my nail beds and hang nails. [...] What's different about this than the original moisturizing lotion [...] is the intensive version includes 5% urea."
"For about $28, you can get Prequel Half & Half Peptides & Ceramides Fluid Moisturizer. This has a really similar texture to Haruharu, although it does feel a little bit lighter on the skin."
"If you want a creamy moisturizer that bursts into hydration on your skin, I honestly think the Bubble Slam Dunk is more hydrating than Laneige. [...] This is a very, very surprisingly hydrating and very refreshing on the skin while still maintaining a richness and a creaminess and a moisturizing, comforting feel on the skin, with a little bit of occlusivity to hug everything in. But this is still a medium to lightweight type of cream."
How many moisturizers has Kelly Driscoll reviewed?
Kelly Driscoll has reviewed 52 moisturizers, for an approval rate of 85%. 44 approved, 3 mixed, and 5 skipped.
What has Kelly Driscoll skipped in moisturizers?
Her skips follow a pattern. Kelly passed on the Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream mostly because of price. She liked the texture but said $72 was hard to justify when K-beauty and J-beauty options deliver the same experience for far less. The Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream was a more personal skip. She had named an earlier version one of her favorite moisturizers of the year, but a reformulation changed the texture and feel enough that it no longer worked for her skin. The Torriden Cellmazing Firming Cream let her down because she felt the firming ingredients were not compelling enough. And for the Dr. Althea 345 Relief Cream, her issue was the delivery format: a cream-mist that she felt pulled the product back from being useful in any meaningful way. None of these were harsh dismissals, but she was clear that they did not earn her recommendation.
"It definitely felt nice on application just didn't hold up throughout the day for me. [...] It's a middling moisturizer in my opinion at best. [...] I don't think there's anything in here that's bad, I just don't understand the price and I don't understand why it got hyped up, especially for the young crowd."
"I'm not super impressed with this. I was excited about it because it was a product I wasn't super familiar with from [Torriden], but I was a little let down. It's just a nice lotiony type cream. It's not quite enough for my skin. It's a nice pleasant cream, but it didn't really blow me away like the other lines from [Torriden] have. I looked at the ingredients a little side-eyed because maybe they could have thrown in a few more compelling firming ingredients."
"The reformulated Aestura felt a little too tacky and sticky for me. It didn't feel like it was settling fully into my skin. I was not a big fan of that reformulation. I don't think it's a bad product, I just don't personally love it and I'm salty about the reformulation. This cream right now would not perform for me in winter. It would be way too light."
"I'm just really not impressed by it that much. [...] I don't feel that this product falls into that at all. I think there's a very specific type of person that will be really thrilled with this product and I will be honest with you I am not that person. [...] My skin type does not jive with this product at all. [...] I do have combination skin so I do produce a little bit more oil in my T-Zone area and then my U Zone area is more dry and prone to dehydration."
What should you take from Kelly Driscoll's picks?
Kelly's record here is warm but not uncritical. She approves freely when a moisturizer earns it, and her category winners give you a solid starting point. Her skips are mostly about value, reformulations, or formats that did not deliver, and she names those reasons plainly. If you are shopping for a moisturizer and want to know what a thoughtful skincare expert actually reaches for and what she quietly sets aside, her takes on this category are about as useful as it gets.
Watch Kelly Driscoll say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Avène Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective CreamNamed a winnerWatch at 10:01
- Bubble Slam Dunk Hydrating MoisturizerNamed a winnerWatch at 9:58
- iUNIK Beta Glucan 3X Barrier CreamNamed a winnerWatch at 14:51
- Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide CreamSkipped itWatch at 8:03
- Torriden Cellmazing Firming CreamSkipped itWatch at 20:39
- Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream (2025 reformulation)Skipped itWatch at 14:14
- Dr. Althea 345 Relief CreamSkipped itWatch at 6:13
- Tatcha Dewy Skin CreamSkipped itWatch at 12:21
- Hero Cosmetics Rescue BalmRated itWatch at 5:49
- COSRX Hydrium Moisture Power Enriched CreamRated itWatch at 7:51
- CeraVe Intensive Moisturizing Lotion with 5% UreaRated itWatch at 0:36
- Prequel Half & Half Peptides & Ceramides Fluid MoisturizerRated itWatch at 3:45
- Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Soothing CreamRated itWatch at 12:15
- Geek & Gorgeous Happy Barrier CreamRated itWatch at 31:43
- Geek & Gorgeous Hydration Station MoisturizerRated itWatch at 10:10
- Anua 3 Ceramide Panthenol Moisture Barrier CreamRated itWatch at 19:35
- Eucerin Urea 10% CreamRated itWatch at 5:24
- Purito Dermide Relief Barrier MoisturizerRated itWatch at 20:18
- Etude House SoonJung 2X Barrier Intensive CreamRated itWatch at 19:07
- Mary&May Idebenone Blackberry Intense CreamRated itWatch at 16:17
- The INKEY List Super Solutions 10% Urea MoisturizerRated itWatch at 23:35
- Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm+ Red CorrectRated itWatch at 15:42
- COSRX Full Fit Propolis Light CreamRated itWatch at 15:29
- Saie Glowy Super GelRated itWatch at 11:13
About this expert
See everything Kelly Driscoll has reviewed
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This guide reflects what Kelly Driscoll said across her videos about 52 products in moisturizers, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products she approved. It is general information, not medical advice.