topic Re: RE: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts! in Oily Skin

Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:17:47 GMT

I just felt the need to warn anyone who may suffer from acne or oily skin that Drunk Elephant may not be the best brand for you because it certainly was not for me. I am 35 years old and have not suffered from ANY acne or breakouts in well over 10 plus years. I do have oily skin but thankfully not acne. However within two days of starting on the complete Drunk Elephant skin care line my face was erupting in horrible cystic acne everywhere, whiteheads appearing everyday and my skin was ten times more oily then it has ever been. My pores looked so congested and clogged.I was shocked because I read some great reviews from others on this line but it destroyed my skin! I stuck it out for 4 1/2 months and it just got worse and worse to the point I couldn't use it any more in fear I was going to get permanent scarring. I thought it may have been "purging" but I highly doubt your skin "purges" for well over 4 months. Now I don't even believe in this purging thing. If my skin was clear for years prior to using these products then I really can't see there being such horrible invisible issues happening beneath the skin for years that suddenly decide to surface. Not only that but it had been over 4 months and it was getting worse!

After doing some research on the ingredients I found out that pretty much every product in the line has marula oil in it and if you look up this ingredient you will see that it has an EXTREMELY high comedogenic rating and potential to clog pores-it's comedogenic rating is 4/5 (with 5 being the highest)!. Also the C-firma's 5th ingredient is Laureth-23 is rated 3/5 on the comedogenic scale! Thankfully after researching all the ingredients to find out what could be causing these breakouts on my skin I was able to see why and stop using them. Thankfully now my skin is healing from these breakouts now that I have switched to a different line.

I REALLY REALLY wanted to love these products so bad! I spent so much money on them and thought the packaging was so cute and loved the whole all natural, non-toxic approach since I only use clean products. And for anyone who may say the standared DE response of "what happened was caused by other brands I must have been using and NOT DE" I can assure you this is impossible considering I ONLY used DE for the entire 4 months-DE cleanser, C-firma, TLC and the SPF. Literally did not use ANYTHING else on my skin and also I do not wear makeup ever. Unfortunately I have nothing else to attribute the acne and breakouts on other then the DE products. As I mentioned I had not had any issues with acne or break outs whatsoever in well over 10 years UNTIL I started using these products. I even decreased the amount of the serums thinking maybe I was using too much and it made no difference whatsoever.

I am sure others have had these experiences and just wondering what your thoughts are.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Kim888 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 15:37:37 GMT

@Anonymous there are quite a few posts on this already if you want to check them out. Personally the TLC serum is a holy grail for me. Once I got over the purging period of introducing actives to my skin, my skin looked great. But what works for some doesn't work for everyone. The Vitamin C didn't work for me for example.

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Acne-Prone-Skin/DRUNK-ELEPHANT-OR-SUNDAY-RILEY/m-p/2749240

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/Honest-advice-on-the-Drunk-Elephant-brand/m-p/3852019

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Sensitive-Skin/Drunk-elephant-for-sensitive-skin/m-p/3788973

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/Drunk-Elephant-Framboos-Purging/m-p/3930016

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Acne-Prone-Skin/Anyone-has-horrible-purging-breakouts-using-Drunk-Elephant/m-p/2787767

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:14:27 GMT

Thx for your reply. Don't know which of them was the worst for me or if it was simply all of them combined. I posted a review on their actual website on my experience and shockingly they deleted it within the hour! Any company who does that I find to be very shady and dishonest. Not okay to delete someone's honest review that could potentially help others.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

blackivy24 — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 04:55:39 GMT

I’m sorry to hear that DE didn’t work for you. I’m shocked to learn about them deleting your review though. You would think they would want to reach out to you like some other Companies. Unfortunately I can speak on the fact that not all of their products worked for me as well. I’ve tried almost everything in their line with the exception of their eye creams and Lala. Lala got bad reviews from oily girls. I also tried two of DE products at a time and expanded once I decided I like them. The 2 worst products in their to me is the cleanser and the Marula oil. The cleanser left my face greasy and dirty. It didn’t thoroughly cleanse my skin. I haven’t tried it again since it first launched, I don’t care how many times they changed the formula. I just couldn’t take that risk. The Marula oil is something I liked at first but as I continued to use it I noticed that it never sunk in, it just sat on my face which caused clogged pores and brought back cystic acne. I still use the T.L.C. serum and the Babyfacial. Those two are staples in my skin care routine and they worked well for me. I haven’t experienced any purging when I tried both of them. I forgot about protini. That was something else that I wasted my money on. I’ve tried it several times and each time it starts out fine but then acne come back. That’s another moisturizer that just doesn’t sink in and causes clogged pores. I liked the c firma and b-hydra as well but I can live without it. They didn’t cause any harm but I have found something else that is clean/natural and works just as well and less expensive. Hope you to can find something that works for you too.

RE: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

sahmed92 — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 11:37:15 GMT

Hi there, This is exactly what happened to me after purchasing DE’s littles collection. No idea which specific product(s) caused such severe acne around my jawline, ear area, as well as upper neck. I’ve never experienced those areas breaking out so badly. So sorry you are experiencing this as well. I honestly stopped using the products after about two weeks because it hurt to even put on makeup towards the end. It took at least a month, but I started a much more simple skin care routine and my face is finally looking better! Best of luck and I’m happy to provide any other helpful info!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 23:36:29 GMT

I wish skin care brands would stop falsely claiming that they work for everyone. I recently bought several DE products and was using the Lala Retro Whipped Cream first. I have a very minimal skin care routine of cleansing, essence, and then a moisturizer, so I was really surprised by the tingling, redness, and scaly rash I got on top of increased acne after only three days of using this cream. It almost looked like a very mild chemical burn, or very severe wind rash. I have sensitive, dehydrated, combination, and acne prone skin these days (I'm 40). I've since been doing a lot more research watching videos on youtube (love Gothamista) and have realized that Marula oil is probably just a bad fit for my skin type. I also have vexing issues with Shea butter - just dries me out like a squid in the sun - so it gets annoying double checking the ingredient lists all the time.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

GG84 — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 23:39:03 GMT

@Anonymous When did DE make a declaration that their skincare products will absolutely work for everyone? I missed that announcement

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 23:56:46 GMT

If you look on product details they almost always list for every product that they work for almost all skin types. This is a common feature of a lot of brands, not just DE. Since a person's skin often doesn't just fall into just one category of either, normal, dry, combination, oily, sensitive, acne-prone, etc. I am always a bit skeptical when a product is supposed to be good for completely different skin types like dry AND oily. I understand that brands cannot necessarily take into account that some people will have specific issues with some of the ingredients (that they are often not themselves aware of when trying products, until they have a bad experience). However, I would like all brands to take the negative experiences of people who WANTED to love their products more seriously and not dismiss them or erase them. I would much rather brands stated openly that some customers with such and such skin issues have reported that this particular product was not a good match for them and we would instead recommend this other product that we also sell (as an example).

RE: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

schnosi — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 00:08:52 GMT

Same thing happened to me. Like you I’ve had no major breakouts in 10 years and as soon as I started using DE my skin became blotchy, irritated, tight & dry under the surface, oily with daily breakouts. Like you I do not wear make up. I stopped using it after 2 months. It was insane! My husband even told me to just stop! My skin was a wreck. By the way Lala Retros 3rd ingredient is “ Isopropyl Isostearate” , which is highly comedogenic (5). This whole experience made me really question all skincare brands and from now on I look at each ingredient. Its tedious but I don’t trust the skincare lines any more and neither should the consumer trust all the positive reviews or fall for the hype. Look at Sunday Riley Fake reviews exposure. They are not the only ones. Even Sephora deletes negative reviews. It’s all business. Don’t believe everything and everyone.

Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

alexageorgia — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 23:37:28 GMT

agreed.. i tried c-firma a few years ago and had the worst breakout!! it was awful.. not just a rash or a few pimples like cystic acne huge under the skin bumps.. i have not had good results with DE and i will not try any more from them.. personally

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

AnnaCassandra — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 00:14:09 GMT

It's pretty shady of them to delete your review, I agree. And sorry I know this is kind of an old post- but you said you were using the cleanser, c-firma, framboos and the SPF- but I don't see any mention of a moisturizer/ hydrator, this might have been the cause of your breakouts not necessarily an ingredient in any of the products. The SPF is more of a barrier cream than a moisturizer and the c-firma, framboos and cleanser can all have a fairly drying effect on your skin which could have sent your skin into oil overdrive- I had this happen to me personally when I tried pro-active and any other time I tried something geared towards Acne-prone or "oily" skin. I just started using DE products about a week ago so while I'm happy so far, I can definitely see how they could dry out and potentially inflame sensitive skin if you're not using the moisturizers and hydrating products. I'm also not really on board with their "skin is skin" mentality- to a certain extent they are right in that what we put on our skin is probably causing a lot of the issues we have and that a simple cleans-treat-moisturize routine can work wonders for skin issues, but there are also certain issues that are genetically determined that we have no control over- like pore size- I don't believe there is anything I can apply to my skin that's going to make my pores disappear.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

illianamarie — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 21:01:54 GMT

Hi, I know your commend is months old, but if you don't mind me asking, what did you find to replace the C-Firma and B-Hydra? I also liked, not LOVED them, and would love to see a less expensive alternative to try out!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 02:22:59 GMT

I received a sample of the facial moisturizer as a freebie for being an insider. Anyways it worked fine for a few days and then all of sudden I had what looked like a heat rash from my cheeks bones down to my jaw line and above my lip. You can’t really see the rash unless the light hits it in a particular way, but I can certainly feel the little bumps.

Note that I wash my face after work, then moisturize, then go and workout. When I started to sweat, it’s like the skin on my face wasn’t able to breathe. This was the night prior to me getting the rash.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

DanielleTheExp — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 05:17:28 GMT

I use

I have very oily, acne prone skin but my skin hasn't reacted any differently using this product. I typically breakout along my left jawline and forehead due to stress or touching my face. I have no complaints about the product but I'm glad you mentioned it, so that maybe I could venture towards a different moisturizer in the future. What are you using now?

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

liuliu — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 02:41:05 GMT

Same here!!!! I’ve been using strictly DE products for the last two weeks and my skin started breaking out super bad all over the face I might have one or two pimples here and there but definitely not all over my face. I have dry skin and it’s not sensitive. I read so many good reviews and I also really want to love it because it is non-toxic. Unfortunately I returned to my original skin care routine. I SUPER recommend Laniege Sleeping Mask as a moisturizer for people with dry skin!!!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

michellencgolf — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:23:20 GMT

SAME here!!!!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Levans1009 — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 23:44:10 GMT

Most DE products are formulated with Coconut Alkenes, which are comedogenic AF. Every product of theirs breaks me out except for Baby facial. I really don't understand how people can use their protini AT ALL-it is like an acne machine. Their new retinol is also formulated with Coconut Alkenes. The products are so well reviewed, beautypedia loves them, but the are not ok for anyone with sensitive skin. I have clear skin and break out every time I use a product from them, except for baby facial. When I wrote to them about their inclusion of coconut alkenes they said my skin just wasn't used to their non-irritating products and had to acclimate to well formulated products. Uh, RUDE. Nice try DE, maybe stop using well known comedones and then we can talk.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Levans1009 — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 23:01:42 GMT

I just try to do my research, scan beautypedia for reviews and thats that!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

quspork — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 23:56:00 GMT

I'm glad PC works for you, @Levans1009, but it is by no means the only option for acne-prone skin.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Levans1009 — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:13:51 GMT

Cool!