I’ve been sitting on this review – the plan is that it’s the first in a series – for far too long. I think the current situation has put my brain on lockdown too and it’s caused a bit of a writing block for me. But here goes – a post taking a closer look at the Instagram-favourite Drunk Elephant. So let’s get stuck in to the Drunk Elephant brand review.
Drunk Elephant brand review – Post features a mix of products provided as PR samples and purchases. PR samples marked with a *
Tiffany Masterson is the brand founder was motivated to create the brand when becoming a mum made she felt more interested in the ingredients in the beauty products she was using. One of the big messages behind Drunk Elepant is around the ingredients they use and how in a vast number of beauty products there are in fact only a fraction of ingredients that genuinely make a difference. So the brand aims to remove the unnecessary and leave you only with the ones that work.
Eliminating ‘The Suspicious Six’ is part of the brand’s philosophy. These are six ingredients they as a brand feel are potentially detrimental to health and skin function. These six are: essential oils, drying alcohols, silicones, chemical sunscreens, fragrances/dyes, and SLS.
Whilst the ehtos behind the idea of eliminating ingredients that some consumers might have question marks over is a pretty valid thing to do. I don’t personally like the idea of fear mongering over ‘toxic’ ingredients. The ethos is fair – products focussed on effective and quality ingredients, but at the same time I think it’s a fine line between the positive side of focussing on the ingredients that work and avoiding any scare mongering to get there. A line Drunk Elephant treads pretty carefully on it’s own site overall.
Drunk Elephant started as all about skincare, ranging from solid cleanser bars (a nod the founders initial steps in the beauty industry where she was selling on an imported solid cleanser). They have a selection of cleansers, serums, treatments and moisturisers to suit a variety of different tastes and skin types.
The products are all in their signature white with bright colours packaging that has largely been a force behind making the brand so lusted after and popular. But ultimately, the products in side the pretty packaging is what truly matters and what gives a brand longevity.
Which brings me on to a mini review of the products I have tried so far, the ones I rate, would repurchase and the one’s I’d maybe skip next time. Slight caveat in that I haven’t tried every single product from the brand. I’ve only tested skincare so far but feel like I’ve tested a good range to share a decent overview.
Drunk Elephant F-Balm™ Electrolyte Waterfacial * (£44 Space NK)- I feel a little bad but I’m going to kick off with a lacklustre product. Everything about this one appeals to me. The idea of a hydration boost in a serum like texture. It’s everything I look for in a product but it just didn’t hold up for me. It feels lovely on first use but I just don’t feel like the moisture lasts. For that reason alone, it wouldn’t be top of my repurchase list from the brand.
Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Cream * (£57 – SpaceNK – ad affiliate link) – On the other end of the scale is the Protini Polypeptide Cream, a definite brand favourite for me. It’s a great all rounder of a moisturiser product. One I’ve finished and since repurchased myself and would do so many times over. Packed with peptides to help skin barrier function, something we could all benefit from so I don’t think there’s a skintype out there this wouldn’t work for.
Drunk Elephant C-Firma™ Day Serum * (£67 – SpaceNK – ad affiliate link)- One thing I would say about the Drunk Elephant range is that they don’t scrimp on the actives in things like vitamin C and retinol. This is their vitamin C serum and is no exception. It has a sort of ‘smoked’ scent to it (backing up that they don’t add fragrance’. I found when I first started using this I did have the odd breakout, which can happen with a vitamin C. I take it as a sign it’s working…
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos™ Glycolic Night Serum * (£76 – SpaceNK – ad affiliate link) – This is an interesting one. A real opinion splitter of an overnight treatment designed to refresh skin overnight. On my first couple of uses of this one it was LOVE. I am always a big fan of something that works overnight with minimal effort from me. This ticked that box. The only element of opinion splitting on this is that I do suggest you go easy on frequency of use.
Drunk Elephant B-Hydra™ Intensive Hydration Serum * (£44 SpaceNK – ad affiliate link)- Another winner of one of the top spots for products I’ve tried from Drunk Elephant and loved. One of those serums dehydrated skin will just love but light enough for all skin types that might need a bit of a drink. Works well with other products for both AM and PM, a definite recommendation from me. I’ve had both a full size and a mini – the mini has been amazing for travel* (*when allowed) and the full size was one of those times when it was finished I felt a bit sad. Always the mark of a good product.
Drunk Elephant A-Passioni™ Retinol Cream (£62 – SpaceNK – ad affiliate link) – Now for another interesting opinion splitter. The Drunk Elephant Retinol has quite the reputation. It contains 1% retinol, which for a non-prescription retinol is pretty high. Before I purchased this one I did quite a bit of reading around, I know retinol to be an incredible anti-ageing ingredient. But I also know it can pack a punch and isn’t one to go in all gung-ho on. Which is exactly what this is. Not a product to go gung-ho on. It is pretty intense, go slow or else you can risk the sensitisation that retinol is prone to cause if over used. If you have sensitive skin I’d advise start with a lower % retinol product and work your way up gradually before going for the big guns of the 1%. That being said, if you’ve done that and worked your way up or you just go easy and infrequent with the usage then this is a great retinol product to include in your routine. Just make sure you wear and SPF and I wouldn’t use it in day time (something they do include as a daytime smoothie on the website and personally I don’t agree with due to the extra sun-sensitivity retinol products can cause).
Drunk Elephant Lippe Balm (£15 – SpaceNK – ad affiliate link) – The first product I tried from the brand and the one that made me realise they were something interesting. Sure, it’s ‘just a lip balm’ but then there is just a lip balm and something a bit more interesting. I’m not going to town on the words to describe a lip balm but it’s something about the short chunky shape and the texture that’s just really lovely to use.
That’s it for the list of products I’ve tried so far. Of course there’s the recent brand expansion into hair and bodycare and YES I am keen to give them a whirl. Especially since in the hair range has a scalp scrub. Always my weakness when there’s a scalp product in there. So I might have to update this when I get chance to try out for myself. I also have a couple of products from the brand ‘waiting in the wings’ for a test (the oil shown in the photos here and a mini duo of the solid cleansing bars). So will update this post with mini reviews of those once tried.
The brand as part of it’s ethos is that it’s affordable quality skincare. Arguably affordable is very much a relative term. But with products ranging from £15 for the Lippe Balm up to £113 for the 50ml Framboos Night Serum. The average product price is around the £40-50 mark. I would say that the price point sits more premium than affordable overall. It’s not a spree purchase, more of an investment. The value for the products really does vary – Framboos is the most expensive, but also one of the top performers in terms of results. One of the great things about the brand is the ‘Little’s’ kits (ad – affiliate link) they do, they’re great if you want to try a range of products before you shell out for the full size. They do these for a number of single and duo products not just the bigger kits.
Drunk Elephant could easily be branded as ‘just pretty packaging’, it’s bold and colourful and stands out. It has ‘shelfie appeal’ by the bucket load, but that doesn’t mean it’s all packaging and no substance. It’s ‘entry point’ is definitely the stand out packaging that catches the eye and really does make it so social media friendly.
However, it’s true that the products are (by and large) very much standing up to the hype. However that’s not to say that some of them fall short of expectations or just simply won’t be suited for everyone. But then what brand doesn’t have that? My top recommendations would be the B-Hydra and the Protini moisturiser. The one product I would skip would be the F-Balm, not that it’s not a lovely product but cost for impact just doesn’t justify a repurchase.
Post features a mix of products provided as PR samples and purchases. PR samples marked with a *
I’ve heard some really great things about this brand!
Great post and summary. Thank you so much