Perricone is a very famous name in skincare, Dr Nicholas Perricone was one of the original proponents of cosmeceutical skincare. He has written several books, including The Wrinkle Cure and The Perricone Promise: Look Younger Live Longer in Three Easy Steps, all about how to stay young for as long as possible. Perricone skincare contains some unusual skincare ingredients, that I’m really interested to try. In this post I’m going to examine the ingredient lists and see what each product has going on.
About Perricone MD skincare-
I have the High Potency Classics Intensive Trio to review. This includes small sizes of the Perricone MD Nutritive Cleanser 59ml / 2fl oz, Growth Factor Firming & Lifting Serum 15ml / 0.5 fl oz and a full size Hyaluronic Intensive Moisturiser 30ml / 1 fl oz.
The links in this post are affiliate, which means that if you click the link and spend, then you will be supporting my blog. The products are gifted which does not affect my opinion.
Full size £33 for 177ml / 6fl oz
Ingredients list– Water/Aqua/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Lauryl Glucoside, PPG-2 Hydroxyethyl Coco/Isostearamide, Dimethyl MEA, Thioctic Acid, Fragrance/Parfum, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Copper Gluconate, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol
Notable ingredients run through-
Nutritive Cleanser come in an attractive matte brown tube. It’s a water based clear foaming gel cleanser. If you have read my mega post on cleansers, you will know that water based foaming cleansers are good for oily skins or as a second cleanser after removing heavy makeup or sunscreen with an oil based product. This Perricone cleanser has a gentle foam and a quite pronounced powdery smell. I’m famously not a big lover of fragrance in skincare. It’s not so much of a big problem in cleanser as it’s going to be rinsed off, but if you are eczema prone or very sensitive to perfume this one might not be for you as the smell is quite pronounced.
I like that there are nice skincare ingredients in the Nutritive cleanser. The Copper and Zinc Gluconate will help with blemish prone skin. I’m not sure if there will be much benefit from the DMAE and Alpha Lipoic as they will be rinsed off. I’m not a big user of foaming cleansers as my skin is quite fragile in general from using Tretinoin on a daily basis, but Nutritive Cleanser doesn’t leave my skin feeling overly tight or dry. Make sure you use a hydrating toner straight after cleansing to prevent any water loss.
Full size £113 for 59ml / 2 fl oz
Ingredients– Water/Aqua/Eau, Butylene Glycol, Heptyl Undecylenate, Lecithin, Alcohol Denat., Polymethyl Methacrylate, Niacinamide, Pentaerythrityl Adipate/ Caprate/Caprylate/Heptanoate, Phosphatidylcholine, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Hydrolyzed Egg Shell Membrane, Tricaprylin, Retinol, Tocopherol, BHT, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Dipropylene Glycol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Spermidine, Sodium Polyacrylate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance/Parfum, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Citronellol, Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol.
Ingredient analysis-
There are a lot of great ingredients here, this was the product I was really keen to try. There are lovely vitamins, emollients and barrier supportive ingredients. Unfortunately, Growth Factor Firming & Lifting Serum also contains a lot of fragrance which I’m not so keen on. I know a lot of people are perfectly happy with a perfumed product but my skin doesn’t love it unfortunately.
Growth Factor Firming & Lifting Serum comes in a nice matte brown glass pump bottle. The serum has a lovely gel texture and a slight yellow colour. As you apply, it blends to a liquid texture and feels beautifully emollient. It has a very strong fruity smell, it almost smells of mangoes. I haven’t been able to use it solidly to give it a good skin trial because of the perfume irritation, but short term I could see straight away that it plumped my skin and smoothed my fine lines.
Essentially Growth Factor Firming & Lifting Serum is a good serum, but it has a big drawback for me. If they did a fragrance free version that would be great.
Full Size £61 for 30ml / 2 fl oz
Ingredients– Water/Aqua/Eau, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Pentylene Gycol, Niacinamide, Butylene Glycol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Squalane, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Benzyl Alcohol, Urea, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Bisabolol, Dimethyl MEA, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Carbomer, Sodium Polyacrylate, Phosphatidylcholine, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Citric Acid, Allantoin, Hyaluronic Acid, Polysilicone-11, Triacetin, Xanthan Gum, Tocopheryl Acetate, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Sodium Lactate, Lactic Acid, Serine, Sorbitol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Docosahexaenoic Acid, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Copper Gluconate.
Notable Ingredients-
So many gorgeous ingredients! And no fragrance, yey!
Hyaluronic Intensive Moisturiser comes in a jar. This means that the product will inevitably be exposed to air every time you open the container, so you just need to make sure you use it up within it’s use by date- for this product that is 6 months after opening. It’s also best to use a small spoon or spatula to dispense the product so that you don’t introduce anything you shouldn’t.
The cream is oil free and has a rich gel texture. It feels lavish and hydrating, it absorbs well and doesn’t have any greasiness. I like to make sure that my skin is well hydrated before applying moisturiser so that the beneficial ingredients absorb well and the moisturiser has some hydration to trap in the skin. I think Hyaluronic Intensive Moisturiser would work well as a makeup primer as it has some silicone, it will give a good smooth base.
I think of the three Perricone skincare products I have tried, the Hyaluronic Intensive Moisturiser is my favourite. The ingredients are great, it makes my skin feel moisturised and comfortable and it has no fragrance.
Grossman, R. (2005). The role of dimethylaminoethanol in cosmetic dermatology. American journal of clinical dermatology, 6(1), 39-47.
Kalman, D. S., & Hewlings, S. (2020). The effect of oral hydrolyzed eggshell membrane on the appearance of hair, skin, and nails in healthy middle‐aged adults: A randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled clinical trial. Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 19(6), 1463-1472.
Seiichi Matsugo, Toshinori Bito & Tetsuya Konishi (2011) Photochemical stability of lipoic acid and its impact on skin ageing, Free Radical Research, 45:8, 918-924.