By Cheryl Wischhover
Every few years, an expensive, near-mythic skin-care product makes the rounds. La Mer, SK-II’s Treatment Essence, Biologique Recherche’s stinky P50, and Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum are just a few to have achieved this coveted cult status.
The most recent brand entrant into this rarefied group is Augustinus Bader, launched in 2018. While the brand offers a collection of different products now, the Cream and Rich Cream are its anchors. Each costs $85 for 15 ml, $170 for 30 ml, and $265 for 50 ml. You can buy them at Nordstrom, Saks, Sephora, and a range of specialty shops.
Along with the buzz surrounding any pricey potion comes the inevitable question: “Is it really worth it?” I’ll get to that, but first, some context. Augustinus Bader was a scientist and physician in Germany researching burn-healing technologies when he met a French financier who convinced him to develop a skin-care brand to fund his medical research. The Cream was born. Celebrities soon followed, thanks to … Melanie Griffith?
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“ It’s part of the marketing story; if it’s expensive, consumers are conditioned to believe it’s really good. So go into it knowing you’re definitely overpaying for whatever it is.”
According to a brand spokesperson: “Before anything went to market, lab samples were sent to Melanie Griffith, who handed them out to her daughter, Dakota Johnson; her ex-husbands; and Sat Hari Khalsa, who does vitamin-drip therapies for very famous people.” Griffith loved the product so much, she invested in the brand. So did Courteney Cox and Carla Bruni. Griffith gave it to her friend Cassandra Grey, the well-connected, LA-based founder of teeny-yet-luxe beauty emporium Violet Grey. Other famous people followed. Gwyneth Paltrow sells it on Goop. Victoria Beckham loves it so much that she collaborated with Bader on a moisturizing primer for her own beauty line. TikTok and Instagram can move markets, but A-listers are the original influencers.
Now, back to whether it’s worth the price. My unsatisfying response here is: It depends. If it’s going to stress you financially to get the $85 size (which you could stretch to last a month if you use skimpy pumps), know that there is no topical product that’s worth that much. All beauty products have astronomical margins, but luxury brands’ mark-ups are multiple percentage points higher than Target’s. It’s part of the marketing story; if it’s expensive, consumers are conditioned to believe it’s really good. So go into it knowing you’re definitely overpaying for whatever it is.
The Bader creams have different ingredient lists and feel different on the skin, but at the heart of the formulas is a proprietary blend called TFC8 that contains vitamins, amino acids, and unspecified “synthesized molecules.” They’re both basically souped-up moisturizers. (This is not meant to be denigrating. Youthful-looking skin is plump and glowy, and a good moisturizer will do this for you, at least temporarily.)
The Cream is a traditional thin lotion that blends nicely on the skin and works great under makeup, while the Rich Cream feels more like a barrier cream, with lots of oils on the ingredient list and a thicker, more-coated sensation on the skin (save it for night or makeupless days). The packaging isn’t that attractive and neither is the scent, which a friend describes as “yeasty and weird.” (Accurate.) But it’s not overwhelming or objectively bad, and I prefer it to the over-fragranced luxury brands of yore, like La Prairie.
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“No product works for everyone, and there are very few people who rely on only one product. It takes a village in your medicine cabinet. ”
So, does it work? Augustinus Bader has done both clinical studies (which test objective measures of skin improvement with various instruments) and user trials (which are the scientific equivalent of reading a Sephora product review). The range of results include a reduction in fine lines, increase in firmness, and all sorts of perceived improvement in things like dullness and feeling of hydration.
There are always caveats. We don’t know what other products these people were using, or how old they were, or what their skin baseline was. Skin is dynamic. It changes based on hormones and weather and emotional state. No product works for everyone, and there are very few people who rely on only one product. It takes a village in your medicine cabinet.
“For people looking at these sorts of clinical trials, it’s always important to keep perspective in mind. It’s possible that consistent use of sunscreen and other actives like Vitamin C, retinol, and prescription tretinoin could yield similar results,” Stephen Alain Ko, a cosmetic formulator who spends a lot of time online educating beauty consumers how to interpret ingredients and studies, says to me over email.
When I took an informal poll of beauty editors and beauty civilians alike, I got a mixture of “love it!!!” to “overrated” to “I like Victoria Beckham’s version.” The friend who said it smelled yeasty also said it worked as a good adjunct for her tretinoin.
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“It’s a good workhorse. I would buy the mid-size regular Cream to use in the winter when my skin is looking its most haggard, but breaking the $200 barrier on a single product is a mental hurdle I haven’t jumped yet. ”
I get a lot of free products to try and I’ve been slathering moisturizers of all price points on my middle-aged face for a decade. I’ve purchased things like SkinCeuticals, M-61 PowerGlow peel pads, and Vintner’s Daughter at full retail for years, which I mix with various inexpensive cleansers and K-beauty creamy essences for moisture. I can say the Augustinus Bader formulas (I’ve gone through several free press samples) are excellent. Both creams go on beautifully, they don’t pill with other products, and my skin feels soft and supple the next morning, even after I cleanse. It’s a good workhorse. I would buy the mid-size regular Cream to use in the winter when my skin is looking its most haggard, but breaking the $200 barrier on a single product is a mental hurdle I haven’t jumped yet.
In the end, like buying stock in GameStop or choosing to watch the Gossip Girl remake, buying a cream that costs as much as a decent bag is a personal choice.
Cheryl Wischhover is a journalist and former nurse practitioner who has covered the beauty industry and retail for over a decade. Her formative years were spent listening to Madonna.
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