Dr. Althea 345 Relief Cream Review

I’ve been using this cream for about a month and then some now. I bought it because I gave into the TikTok hype and also because I liked the ingredient list.

What I was hoping for-
A decrease in irritation and PIE, lightweight moisturiser and hydration

Climate- extremely humid, I live near the sea as well as hot for nearly most of the year. We only have two or so months of winters and they’re not drying. Just hoodie weather.

Consistency- it has a watery gel like consistency which blends easily. No fragrance when you smell it but definitely has extracts that have been added for fragrance.

Pros- it’s light enough to be used in the summers. Blends in nicely and didn’t cause any breakouts. Has no pore clogging ingredients and you get a reasonable amount that lasts you the entire month at the very least. I used it day and night and it lasted me around 40 days.

Cons- woo boy where do I start? This cream did nothing for me except form a layer on my face.
It also consistently made my sunscreen pill no matter how little or how much more I used. I had to eventually switch to a different moisturiser in the am for my sunscreen to stop pilling. It pilled with all of my sunscreens.

This is not a hydrating or barrier good moisturiser. Ceramides are at the very end of the list and apart from nicinamide the rest of the ingredients are also way down on the list. The gardenia Florida as well as the lavender extract are completely unnecessary and only used to neutralise the smell. They definitely didn’t suit my skin. They’re higher on the list than ceramides which is very odd to me.

Final thoughts-

For the price that you pay and the lack of benefits, I don’t think this cream is worth it. I don’t know what the TikTok people were on about but it has done nothing for my skin even after finishing the whole tube. it didn’t address my drying from benzoyl peroxide and also didn’t decrease inflammation. I had more results with a simple nicinamide serum than this cream.

My routine-
Am
-wash face with bioderma micellar water
– azeliac acid 20% prescription cream
– dr althea 345 cream (which I have now changed to LRP double repair moisturiser)
– sunscreen:etude house sunprise mineral sunscreen/ prem soothing zinc sunscreen

Pm
-wash face with ponds hydrating jelly cleanser
– benzoyl peroxide 5% leave on gel
– dr althea cream

Edit-
Skin type- acne prone skin, not oily anymore due to bp, more sensitive now.