Like the mouthfeel of a wine, the texture of skincare products is incredibly important—it’s one of the most important factors that helps me decide if I like a skincare product or not. Many of the unpronounceable ingredients in typical skincare products are there to provide texture.

Before I go any further, I want to include an excerpt from one of my favorite poems: E. E. Cummings' Somewhere I Have Never Travelled:

I think of this poem every time I hear the word “texture.” Texture is important. Much of the time, aren’t we looking for skincare products that help improve the texture of our skin?

Skincare texture, viscosity, and feel

Here are a few of the main questions I ask myself every time I try out a new product:

• Immediate impressions: How does my skin feel immediately after I apply the product?
• Mid-length impressions: How about 10 minutes later?
• Overnight or all-day impressions: How about 10 hours later? Does it leave my face feeling like an oil slick?
• Ease of blending: How quickly does it blend into the skin?
• Irritation factor: Does it have a strong fragrance? Does it make my skin itch or burn?

Comparing the “skinfeel” of CeraVe products

If you can’t tell, CeraVe is one of my favorite skincare brands. It’s widely available, it’s pretty affordable, its ingredient lists are relatively simple. Plus, its products are fragrance free. But there’s even a wide selection of products from this one brand alone, which might make you feel a bit confused about where to start. If you’re new to CeraVe, maybe you want to know what the texture of these products feels like, before deciding to buy one.

This post will endeavor to explain what four kinds of CeraVe products feel like to me. Maybe they’ll help you decide if these products will be a good fit for your skin personality, too.

In the image below, I’ve included a visual comparison of the four products I’ll talk about here. In order from left to right, they are:

• CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser
• CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM
• CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion
• CeraVe Moisturizing Cream

Just by visually assessing this photo, we can see that the cleanser has the most watery/least opaque appearance. Don’t worry, I’ll get into less obvious details about the texture of each of these products later in this post.

CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser texture

CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser is a nice lightweight cleanser that contains ceramides (like all CeraVe products) and doesn’t strip the skin of moisture.

This is very close in feel to Whole Foods Gentle Skin Cleanser and Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser (reviewed here). Creamy, watery, and doesn’t strip the skin of moisture. Here’s what it looks like when you start rubbing it in:

Not suitable for: Heavy-duty cleansing. It’s not heavy-duty enough to dissolve or remove makeup, or even tinted, water-resistant sunscreen like Australian Gold. You can, however, use it as a second step after an oil cleanser like Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil (reviewed here).

CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM vs. CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion texture

Both of these products are lightweight moisturizers that contain ceramides and hyaluronic acid, both excellent ingredients for moisturizing the skin. CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM contains niacinamide pretty high in the ingredient list, while CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion does not.

Here’s the texture of CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM (note that I still own the old formula):

And here’s the texture of CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion:

CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM does feel ever so slightly richer than CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion, but not that different overall. I’d say that these two products are interchangeable, but go for the CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM if you want the extra boost of niacinamide. If you use a separate niacinamide product like The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, I’d go for the more affordable CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion instead (even if it doesn’t say “Facial” in its name like CeraVe PM, you can still use it on your face).

Not suitable for: Very dry skin. It feels a little too lightweight at times, especially if you have very dry skin that is visibly flaking. If you’re using a drying product like Differin, you need something that’s a bit richer, creamier, and will sit on top of your skin and seal moisture in. Something like CeraVe Moisturizing Cream.

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream texture

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is much thicker than any of the other products listed here, but not quite as thick and oily as pure petrolatum or Vanicream Moisturizing Cream. It’s quite a bit silkier than Vanicream, which lends a nicer feel overall.

It comes packaged in a tub, though you can buy a version that includes a pump (my preference). It does contain petrolatum, which means that it leaves a bit of an oily texture. I only use it at night when my skin feels extra-dry or in need of pampering, such as after I’ve applied a treatment like The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% (reviewed here). I don’t apply it in the daytime, because I think it would turn my face into an oily slick by the end of the day.

This product provides a great way to seal in the beneficial ceramides and hyaluronic acid included in this formula. Note that it also contains silicones like dimethicone, which help it feel really luxuriously silky. If your face doesn’t tolerate petrolatum and it makes you break out, definitely don’t go for this moisturizer. But I haven’t noticed it aggravating my acne at all. Sometimes it’s the only way I can reduce redness associated with irritation from dryness (probably caused by Differin and alpha hydroxy acids).

Here’s what it looks like if you try to blend it in:

It feels pretty oily on the face, and sits on top of it without blending in, but I think that’s fine for overnight use. I don’t recommend it for daytime use unless you have really dry skin.

Related reading

• CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM review
• CeraVe vs. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream
• CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM Update: What changed in the new formula?
• Whole Foods Gentle Skin Cleanser vs. Cetaphil: Which one reigns supreme?