Interestingly, the beauty and skincare experts over at Byrdie conducted their own in-house study to determine which is better for dry skin: Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer or CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. They liked that the Vanicream comes in a tube, which is less likely to become contaminated than a tub of cream with a twist-off top. Further, the subjects were glad to know that Vanicream does not clog pores. Some did notice, however, that the product can cause a slight burning on dry skin directly after application. The burning went away quickly, however, as the cream was absorbed.
What the Byrdie team liked about CeraVe was that it felt deeply nourishing, had a creamy consistency, and can be used on both face and body. However, they were concerned that it can clog pores and didn't like that the product comes in a large tub with a twist-off top. The bottom line, however, and what made the team choose one over the other, was the fact that Vanicream proved less likely to cause irritation, cause breakouts, or trigger allergic reactions in the form of rashes. Considering that this particular Vanicream formulation earns a 1 on the EWG scale, making it even safer than its body cream counterpart, and given what we know about the EWG's rating and allergy concerns where it comes to CeraVe, this makes sense to us.
Therefore, based on all of these factors, we recommend Vanicream over CeraVe for dry skin.
