I'm Always Being Asked If This Rich Cream Is Worth the Price (Yes), But Here Are 10 Less Spendy Alts
Just in case.
It happens like clockwork. As soon as the weather dips below 40°, at least one person per week hits me with some version of the following: Is the Augustinus Bader Rich Cream really worth it? To this, I immediately respond, "Yes, yes it is."
The confection in question doesn't just coddle chapped skin with soothing fatty acids and barrier-supporting antioxidants. It also stimulates cell renewal with a patented complex called TFC8, softening fine lines, tightening skin, and brightening tone. It's both an effective winter moisturizer and a potent powerhouse for addressing skin aging.
You could theoretically use it year-round, but like its name suggests, the texture is quite dense (friends with oily or combination skin, you should know it leaves behind a dewy sheen), so I like to slather it on during the colder months. In fact, I have multiple bottles stashed in my beauty cabinet to save for winter's first chill as if I'm some hardworking squirrel preparing for hibernation. As you can probably tell by my hoarding, I firmly believe the bottle is 100% worth the hype.
The only issue? A 1.7-ounce bottle is tagged at $315. It's definitely a luxury (one that merits the price, I assure you), so I understand if dropping that much coin doesn't make sense for your skincare budget. When my friends and family members come to me with the aforementioned ask, I often suggest a happy medium: Treat yourself to the AB elixir on special occasions—a birthday perhaps or whenever the bottle goes on sale—and rely on less spendy alternatives with similar benefits in the interim.
After testing hundreds of whip-thick moisturizers over the years, I've come up with a superb list of swaps for the Rich Cream curious. Below, explore the 10 perfect alts.
10 Moisturizers to Try If You Love the Rich Cream
Okay, this is kind of cheating, but I'd be remiss not to call out AB's new collaboration with Dua Lipa. The three-product lineup contains a similar patented technology called TFC5, which similarly enhances the skin's resilience but is tailored to a younger clientele. (TFC8 specifically has mature skin in mind.) In addition to the proprietary complex, you'll find a pre- and postbiotic blend, peptides, and daisy-flower extract in the formula to plump, balance, and smooth skin. It's more lightweight than the original Rich Cream, but rest assured, it's dense enough to leave you dewy all night long. Take it from Lipa herself, who called the cream her "secret for plump, dewy skin, from morning to midnight."
When you take the AB collaboration out of the equation, this luxuriously creamy moisturizer from InnBeauty Project is, hands down, the most similar to the famous formula. (Redditors agree!) The consistency is nice and dense, and it contains potent actives such as peptides, retinol, and ceramides clinically shown to firm and contour the face. WWW Beauty Director Erin Jahns once called it "the best face cream to ever exist." She added, "If I could bathe in InnBeauty Project's Extreme Cream, I would."
Texture-wise, this French barrier balm isn't an exact Rich Cream swap. It's a solid serum, so you'll want to warm it up between your palms before massaging it into your skin. However, the healthy-looking glow it provides is identical to that Bader sheen, and the formula is sneakily pumped with 68 (yes, 68!) highly concentrated actives. A few standouts are peptides, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, fatty acids, and prickly pear and hibiscus native cells.
If you have combination skin like me, then you unfortunately know that rich moisturizers that actually don't clog pores are few and far between. Celebrity aesthetician Sofie Pavitt decided to launch her own after countless clients begged for a Goldilocks formula, and let me tell you, it's gorgeous. She's certainly thick, but the rich, fragrance-free blend delivers on its noncomedogenic promise. It's the moisturizer I'll forever turn to when I experience winter breakouts, which have befallen me more than I'd care to admit—yay.
Yep, this is what I'd imagine cuddling a cloud feels like. The fluffy, whip-thick formula instantly soothes my irritated complexion with ceramides, and peptides and niacinamide plump and brighten my skin tone. My skin has never felt softer since I added it to my routine years ago. Bonus points for the sleek gold beauty spatula, which makes the cream feel like a little luxury.
ICYMI, Dieux launched a silky recovery cream to address winter dryness, and it's quite literally a safety blanket for chapped, irritated skin. With colloidal oatmeal, glycerin, licorice root, and a soothing complex of Tasmanian pepperberry, bisabolol, allantoin, and panthenol, it's top-notch for those looking to simply nourish their skin.
Whether you use it as a mask, moisturizer, or spot treatment for especially chapped areas (try it on flaky patches around your nose, and thank me later), this glycerin- and hyaluronic acid packed cream will leave you glowing. Anything Pamela Anderson uses on her own skin immediately earns a spot in my lineup, and I'm happy to report that this versatile formula definitely doesn't disappoint.
Cosmetic chemist Javon Ford considers this Make Beauty blend the ultimate Rich Cream alternative, noting that it has a similar unique consistency thanks to its inverted emulsion.
"Most moisturizers have oil suspended in water. [The Rich Cream] is water suspended in oil, and when thin enough and formulated with esters, it can leave a shiny film on the skin without it feeling very heavy," he explains on Instagram. "Because this is a thin formula with an inverted emulsion, it has a similar texture to Augustinus Bader's Rich Cream. It also has squalane high up on the ingredient list, similar to the Rich Cream, plus ceramides to reinforce the skin barrier." And it's tagged at $36—the ultimate steal.
This under-$30 cream feels like it should be three times the price. With sophisticated actives like peptides and ferulic acid, it firms skin and smooths fine lines in addition to combating cold-weather woes. In fact, in a clinical study conducted by the brand, 100% of participants showed firmer skin in four weeks, softer wrinkles in eight weeks, and an immediate improvement in hydration. "Impressive" doesn't even begin to cover it.
Tatcha's newest face cream was formulated specifically for fatigued skin. It not only strengthens the skin barrier, preventing dullness, but it also leaves behind a post-facial finish so healthy that it practically shimmers. The gel-cream consistency is more lightweight than the Rich Cream, but it deeply hydrates just as well and makes your skin look noticeably bouncy. Trust me. I'm forever a Tatcha moisturizer stan (honorable mention to the Indigo Overnight Repair Cream, which also deserves a spot on this list), and this new launch has quickly become my number one obsession.
