St. Ives skincare
St. Ives is an American skincare brand founded in 1980 and owned by Yellow Wood Partners LLC / Unilever PLC since 2024.
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St. Ives is widely celebrated for its thoughtful balance of moisturizers, exfoliants, and serums, all grounded in carefully crafted formulas. Its products suit combination and balanced skin types best, offering gentle yet effective daily care. For specific concerns, the brand features the BHA Exfoliant for acne-prone skin, the Apricot Scrub for skin with dark spots, and the Renewing Moisturizer for mature skin. Through these reliable offerings, users consistently find accessible solutions for their daily skincare routines.
This page covers some of the most popular St. Ives products; for the whole St. Ives range, with a fit score for every product, use the Lovi app.
Other St. Ives products
People Say
★4.6Overall rating based on 24.4k+ reviewsReviewers most often praise St. Ives for deep exfoliation, a gentle and non-drying formula, and softening skin without feeling heavy. The most common complaints are physical exfoliants being too abrasive and insufficient hydration or irritation.
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Questions and answers
Is St. Ives worth it?
Yes, St. Ives is worth it because Lovi rates the St. Ives-focused routine Superior for dry, oily, sensitive, combination, and acne-prone skin.
What are St. Ives's best products?
The St. Ives BHA Exfoliant rates High for oily, oily acne-prone, and acne-prone skin, while other products on the page generally rate Average for most skin types. St. Ives-focused routines rate Superior across dry, oily, sensitive, combination, and acne-prone skin types.
Which St. Ives moisturizer is best for dry skin?
The Renewing Collagen & Elastin Moisturizer is the best St. Ives option for dry skin, followed by the Renewing Moisturizer, with both rated Average for dry skin by Lovi.
Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 2022Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 2024
Does St. Ives cause breakouts?
St. Ives is unlikely to cause breakouts when shoppers choose the right product for their skin type, as the BHA Exfoliant rates High for oily and acne-prone skin. However, moisturizers like the Renewing Moisturizer and the Renewing Collagen & Elastin Moisturizer rate Low for oily and acne-prone skin and may clog pores for those skin types.
BioMed Research International, 2020Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024
Is St. Ives fragrance-free?
No, the St. Ives products on this page are not all fragrance-free, as only one of the four products lists no fragrance.
What are the key ingredients in St. Ives products?
St. Ives products feature ingredients such as collagen, glycerin, and green tea extract, which help support skin hydration and condition. Salicylic acid is also included to assist with acne-prone skin.
Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 2022Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 2024
How do I build a St. Ives skincare routine?
To build a St. Ives routine, start by cleansing the face, then apply a targeted serum like the BHA Exfoliant, and finish with a moisturizer such as the Renewing Moisturizer. Lovi rates the St. Ives-focused routine Superior for dry skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, combination skin, and acne-prone skin.
What are good alternatives to St. Ives?
Good alternatives to St. Ives include CeraVe, Cetaphil, Paula's Choice, Neutrogena, Kiehl's, and Dermalogica, which all have dedicated pages on Lovi. These alternative brands offer similar skincare options that may help you find products suited to your specific routine.
St. Ives vs CeraVe: which is better?
St. Ives and CeraVe perform similarly well, as Lovi rates both brands Superior for dry skin, oily skin, sensitive skin, combination skin, and acne-prone skin.
Who owns St. Ives, and where is it from?
St. Ives is an American brand founded in 1980, owned by Yellow Wood Partners LLC / Unilever PLC since 2024.
Is St. Ives cruelty-free?
Yes: PETA lists St. Ives as cruelty-free.
Research behind St. Ives's key ingredients
Behind these ratings
Lovi rates every product from its full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.
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Co-founder, Medical Director
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer
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Co-founder, CEO and CTO
PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex
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Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc
Medical Board
Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine
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Medical Board
Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD
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Medical Board
Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member
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Medical Board, Medical Advisor
Dermatology MD
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Elina Nazarenko, MD
Medical Board
Dermatology and diagnostic consultant
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Victoria Derkova, MS
Medical Board
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist
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