Facial moisturizer is an essential part of every skincare routine. This is especially true in dry climates, during cold seasons, and for anyone with less-than-perfect skin. Finding the right natural face moisturizer can be challenging, as there are quite possibly too many options — and not all of them stack up.
So how do you find an organic and natural face moisturizer that also works well? What’s the best moisturizer for your skin type and concerns? Read on to learn more about what to look for in a moisturizer, and which brands to start with.
Cover Image: The Organic Skin Co
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Why Choose Organic & Natural Moisturizers?
It might be easy to buy whatever moisturizer you see at the drugstore. But there are potential consequences to buying a facial moisturizer without digging deeper into its ingredients. Excessive exposure to parabens in personal care products links to diseases such as breast cancer. Additionally, sulfates, commonly used in cleansers for their foaming properties, can pose potential health risks. Sulfates can become toxic when heated during manufacturing, potentially leading to cancers and long-term illnesses.
But wait — how can something you put on your face affect other parts of the body? That’s because our skin is extremely absorbent. So, if you use a moisturizer with sulfates and parabens, those ingredients can be absorbed from your skin into your bloodstream, where they could cause damage to your body down the line. Additionally, everyone reacts to these ingredients in different ways. So, rather than taking a risk with additives and potentially cancerous ingredients that you can’t pronounce, it’s best to stick with the natural ingredients that you know will keep you safe.
Organic and natural moisturizers use healthier, safer ingredients and often come from ethical, eco-friendly production methods. For example, companies that use toxic products may also contribute to environmental pollution by bringing those products into the world (not to mention the waste that their factories can produce). Another perk to organic and natural skincare is that it tends to be better for the environment once you use it, whether it’s the excess that goes into the water supply when you wash your face, or the trace materials in the bottles long after they’ve been recycled.
Our Top Picks for Organic & Natural Moisturizers:
1. Purity Woods Age-Defying Dream Cream
Price: $64
Truly a 'dream cream,' Purity Wood's line of USDA Certified Organic skincare leaves your skin feeling soft & hydrated.
With its powerful natural ingredients (25 of nature's best botanicals), this formula restores your skin's vitality. Harnessing the nourishing power of botanicals like maple leaf extracts, aloe vera, and shea butter, this unique formula effectively targets the visible signs of aging, helping to smooth over wrinkles, fine lines, and dullness. Perfect for all skin types, each application deeply hydrates and nourishes, enhancing elasticity and leaving your complexion beautifully smooth.
It also has a very refreshing scent and a 60-Day money-back guarantee!
2. The Organic Skin Co Moisturizer Line
Price: $25-30
The Organic Skin Co is an ultra clean, superfood-forward skincare brand that’s committed to supporting organic farming, utilizing compostable packaging, and sourcing ingredients from ethical community farms in India.
They even plant a tree with every purchase through their partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects.
Many of their botanical ingredients are Co2 extracts — a process of accessing botanical nutrients without heat and preserving all of their compounds and benefits. Their Daily Rituals moisturizer balances the skin’s pH and has a bright, illuminating effect thanks to sea buckthorn and rosehip. For a more calming cream, Task Force Nine aids dry patches, breakouts, and other minor skin concerns with turmeric, calendula, honeysuckle, and a load of other fresh ingredients.
3. Herbivore Botanicals Cloud Jelly
Price: $50
Herbivore Botanicals emphasizes high-quality, natural ingredients intended to restore the skin to its natural radiance without the use of harmful chemicals or production processes. Herbivore avoids chemicals, sulfates, parabens, fillers, and other toxins, and focuses on plant-based, food-grade cold-pressed oils and other certified organic ingredients. Cloud Jelly is a hyaluronic acid alternative that relies on tremella mushroom and vegan collagen to plum and moisturize skin.
In fact, this mushroom ingredient is proven to hold up to 5000 times its weight in water, making it much more effective than mainstream lab-made ingredients. This serum is also balancing and smells light and floral.
4. Osea Seabiotic® Water Cream
Price: $54
Osea is a Malibu-based skincare brand that leverages seaweed to create nutrient-rich skincare products that are climate neutral, vegan, and cruelty-free. Their Seabiotic® Water Cream combines the benefits of seaweed with probiotic for a visible boost in hydration and softness. Weightless, fragrance-free, and designed to deliver 72-hour moisture, this cream can be used both morning and night and is known to absorb quickly into the skin.
It also contains only clean, non-pore-clogging ingredients, and since it’s dermatologist-approved, it’s great for all skin types. If you live in Los Angeles, you can bring back empty products for recycling and for every six bottles, receive a $40 facial treatment credit.
5. Fleur & Bee Youth Fairy Retinol Moisturizer
Price: $80 (on sale for $40)
Fleur & Bee's Youth Fairy Retinol Moisturizer is a vegan and cruelty-free cream specifically designed to address signs of aging. It contains 0.03% retinol, plant stem cells, organic evening primrose oil, and squalane to help reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots.
In a six-week study, 87% of participants reported improvements in fine lines and wrinkles, 90% noticed a more even skin tone, and 87% felt that their skin was smoother. This moisturizer is free from parabens, sulfates, silicones, GMOs, and artificial fragrances. Additionally, it is packaged in sustainable materials, reflecting Fleur & Bee's commitment to eco-friendly practices.
6. Erleia Anti-Aging Face Balm
Price: $20
Erleia's Anti-Aging Face Balm is a solid moisturizer specifically designed to restore and nourish mature skin. Formulated with organic jojoba oil, almond oil, and kokum butter, it melts on contact for easy application, effectively locking in hydration and promoting a healthy skin barrier. Vitamin E and organic calendula extract help reduce inflammation, while organic tamanu and ylang ylang oils work to smooth and soften the skin.
Packaged in a biodegradable, compostable paper tube, this vegan and cruelty-free balm provides a sustainable skincare solution. It is ideal for normal, dry, sensitive, and mature skin types, addressing concerns such as dryness, uneven texture, fine lines, and dullness.
7. Tata Harper Water Lock Moisturizer
Price: $68
Tata Harper is a high-end skincare and makeup brand that never uses toxic ingredients and chemicals. Instead, they focus on plant-derived formulations and high performing ingredients that make skin look more beautiful, naturally. Across Tata Harper’s line, they use over 300 raw ingredients sourced directly from 68 different countries, sometimes with over 40 of those powerful ingredients in a single product, which explains the higher price point in Tata Harper’s luxury skincare line.
Their Water Lock Moisturizer is a light hydrating facial lotion free of parabens and full of hydrating ingredients like orange and pomegranate. This lotion is a moisturizer-primer hybrid, so you can skip primers and add makeup directly over the skin.
8. Glitz Soap Co’s Nourish + Glow Renewing Night Cream
Price: $27
If you love the scent of fresh roses, this natural face moisturizer will be a dream to put on before bed every night! This nighttime moisturizer enhances skin glow and radiance. With hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, peptides, rosehip, and jojoba oils, it evens your skin tone, minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, & leaves your skin smooth and plump.
Glitz Soap Co is a Pennsylvania-based beauty brand that is committed to providing eco-conscious bath and personal care rituals.
9. Acure Ultra Hydrating Moisturizer
Price: $20
Acure has a passion for making healthier, high-quality skin and hair care more accessible for everyday people. They steer clear of parabens, sulfates, and other synthetic additives and don’t allow animal testing for any of their products. Acure’s natural face moisturizer line spans multiple powerful products, including their Ultra Hydrating Ceramide Day Serum, which provides deep moisture but also a light feeling, making it perfect for everyday wear.
Similarly, their Ultra Hydrating 12 Hour Facial Moisturizer nourishes deeply dry skin with ingredients like ashwagandha, kale, holy basil, reishi, and more. For an overnight moisturizer, try the fluffy, melatonin-infused Ultra Hydrating Overnight Dream Cream, which seals in moisture and helps users wake up feeling bright and flowy.
10. Mad Hippie Face Cream
Price: $27
Mad Hippie is on a mission to foster beauty inside and out. $1 of every sale on Mad Hippie’s website goes to conservation organizations such as the National Resources Defense Council.
Plus, they partner with TerraCycle to ensure their products are recyclable.
This brand’s Face Cream has ingredients like niacinamide, aloe, and vitamin E to nourish skin and reduce redness.
One standout benefit of the Face Cream is its versatility; it can be confidently layered with an additional facial oil or cream to provide extra hydration when you need it. Thanks to the natural ingredients and soothing antioxidants and peptides, this natural face moisturizer is great for evening out skin tone and providing a radiant glow.
About the Author
Michelle Polizzi is an independent writer and storyteller with 7 years of experience creating content online. Her writing has appeared in leading publications like Bitch, WELL+GOOD, Insider, and Healthline, and she covers topics like sustainable living, mental health, and intersectional feminism. Currently, she's pursuing an MFA in creative writing.
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