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Clinique vs Estée Lauder

Rated by Lovi · Unbiased, science-based skincare AI trained on real user outcomes · How the Fit score works

Clinique and Estée Lauder are American skincare brands owned by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Founded in 1968, the former is widely loved for its thoughtful range of moisturizers, serums, makeup removers, and eye products, which thoughtfully incorporate hydrating hyaluronic acid, nourishing glycerin, and invigorating caffeine. Founded in 1946, the latter is beloved for a comprehensive range of moisturizers, serums, eye products, and cleansers, all expertly formulated with hydrating hyaluronic acid and glycerin. While the first suits dry sensitive skin and oily skin best, the second suits acne-prone skin and mature skin best, with both differing in their founding years, specific ingredient combinations, and targeted product solutions.

Clinique is an American skincare brand founded in 1968 and owned by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc..

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Estée Lauder is an American skincare brand founded in 1946 and owned by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc..

en.wikipedia.orgelcompanies.com

This page compares some of the most popular Clinique and Estée Lauder products; for every product of both brands, with a fit score for your own skin, use the Lovi app.

Popular Clinique vs Estée Lauder products

People Say

CliniqueEstée Lauder
  • Hydration and Moisture Often MentionedMostly Mentioned
    • “skin drinks it up immediately — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair”
    • “The formula is incredibly hydrating and leaves my skin feeling smooth. — Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv”
    • “texture is dreamy — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Gel-Creme”
    • “Keeps my dry patches at bay all day — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+”
  • Lightweight and Fast Absorbing Texture Mostly MentionedSometimes Noted
    • “sinks in immediately — Clinique moisture surge”
    • “sinks in instantly — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel”
    • “Absorbs quickly without feeling sticky — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+”
    • “Absorbs quickly into the skin — Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme+”
  • Gentle and Suitable for Sensitive Skin Mostly MentionedRarely Noted
    • “never irritated my eyes — Clinique All About Eyes”
    • “No stinging eyes — Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm”
    • “doesn't dry out — Clinique all about clean”
    • “doesn't strip the skin — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Cleansing Gelée”
  • Skin Texture Improvement Sometimes NotedSometimes Noted
    • “skin feels silky smooth — Clinique Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Serum”
    • “leaves face porcelain smooth — Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula”
    • “skin feels like a baby's bottom — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair”
    • “silky smooth — Estée Lauder Micro Essence Treatment Lotion”
  • Exfoliation and Cleansing Often MentionedSometimes Noted
    • “gentle enough for everyday — Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula”
    • “You will see the dirt with one wipe — Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2”
    • “Skin feels squeaky clean — Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2”
    • “Lathers well — Estée Lauder Soft Clean Moisture Rich Foaming Cleanser”
  • Good Base for Makeup Often MentionedSometimes Noted
    • “foundation glides on — Clinique moisture surge”
    • “holds concealer in place — Clinique All About Eyes”
    • “perfect primer base — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel”
    • “doesn't pill — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Gel-Creme”
  • High Price Point Often MentionedMostly Mentioned
    • “jar is too small for the cost — Clinique moisture surge”
    • “quite pricey — Clinique Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Serum”
    • “Expensive for cleanser — Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm”
    • “way too expensive for the size — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair”
  • Unpleasant Scent or Strong Fragrance Rarely NotedOften Mentioned
    • “Smells like old oil — Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm”
    • “Has a weird plastic-like smell — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+”
    • “smells like plastic — Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel”
    • “Scent is too overpowering — Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme+”
  • Packaging Issues Rarely NotedSometimes Noted
    • “Unhygienic tub — Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm”
    • “prefer a pump dispenser — Clinique All About Eyes”
    • “pump dispenses too much — Clinique Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Serum”
    • “lid is hard to open — Estée Lauder Advanced Night Cleansing Gelée”

Clinique vs Estée Lauder routines for dry skin

Buy Clinique routine · $370.23 · 74% fitBuy Estée Lauder routine · $271.00 · 74% fitSee multi-brand routine · 99% fit

Clinique vs Estée Lauder routines for oily skin

Buy Clinique routine · $440.07 · 78% fitBuy Estée Lauder routine · $399.42 · 75% fitSee multi-brand routine · 98% fit

Clinique vs Estée Lauder routines for combination skin

Buy Estée Lauder routine · $503.90 · 77% fitBuy Clinique routine · $440.07 · 74% fitSee multi-brand routine · 97% fit

Questions and answers

Clinique or Estée Lauder: which is better?

Clinique is better for lightweight textures, gentle care for sensitive skin, and exfoliation, while Estée Lauder is better for deep hydration and combination skin. Lovi rates both brands as having High fit levels for oily, sensitive, acne-prone, and mature skin. Key ingredients like hyaluronic acid and glycerin help support skin moisture across the products on this page.

Dermatologic Therapy, 2022Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015

What is the difference between Clinique and Estée Lauder?

Clinique is better for lightweight textures, sensitive skin, and exfoliation, while Estée Lauder stands out for deep hydration and combination skin routines. Both brands offer products with no fragrance across most of their pages and share key ingredients like hyaluronic acid and glycerin.

Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015Dermatologic Therapy, 2022

Clinique or Estée Lauder for dry skin?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder offer an average routine fit for dry skin on the products on this page. Clinique helps provide lightweight and fast-absorbing moisturizers, whereas Estée Lauder helps deliver deep hydration. Hyaluronic acid helps maintain skin moisture.

Dermatologic Therapy, 2022Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015

Clinique or Estée Lauder: which cleanser is better?

Clinique is better for gentle cleansing, as the products on this page are rated as a High fit for dry sensitive and sensitive skin and review themes show Clinique does better for being gentle and suitable for sensitive skin. Estée Lauder also offers gentle and non-drying cleansers with a High fit for sensitive and dry sensitive skin, but its foaming cleanser lists fragrance while Clinique's products on this page list no fragrance.

Which is more affordable, Clinique or Estée Lauder?

Reviewers note a high price point for both Clinique and Estée Lauder, meaning neither brand is clearly more affordable on the products on this page.

Clinique or Estée Lauder: which brand has fragrance in its products?

Estée Lauder has fragrance in some of the products on this page, while Clinique lists no fragrance across all of its products.

Clinique or Estée Lauder for oily skin?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder are a High fit for oily skin. The products on this page help provide good hydration without heavy textures, though Clinique is often noted for being lightweight and fast-absorbing.

Clinique or Estée Lauder: which moisturizer is better?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder offer effective moisturizers, with Clinique known for lightweight and fast-absorbing options and Estée Lauder noted for deep hydration. For specific skin types on the products on this page, Lovi rates Clinique and Estée Lauder as having equal fit levels for dry, oily, sensitive, acne-prone, mature, and dry sensitive skin moisturizers.

Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015Dermatologic Therapy, 2022

Clinique or Estée Lauder for sensitive skin?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder have a High Lovi fit level for sensitive skin. Clinique's products on this page list no fragrance, whereas 2 of Estée Lauder's products list fragrance.

Clinique or Estée Lauder for acne-prone skin?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder are well suited for acne-prone skin, as Lovi rates their routines as High fit for this skin type. The products on this page for both brands feature key ingredients like hyaluronic acid and glycerin to support hydration without heavy oils.

Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2015Dermatologic Therapy, 2022

Clinique or Estée Lauder for mature skin?

Both Clinique and Estée Lauder offer High Lovi fit levels for mature skin. Reviewers note that Clinique excels in providing lightweight and fast-absorbing textures, while Estée Lauder stands out for deep hydration.

Clinique or Estée Lauder for combination skin?

For combination skin, Estée Lauder provides a High Lovi routine fit, whereas Clinique is on average rated Average. Both brands feature hyaluronic acid and glycerin across their products on this page, but Estée Lauder may deliver deeper hydration for combination skin types.

Dermatologic Therapy, 2022

Research behind their key ingredients

Behind this comparison

Lovi compares products by their fit scores, calculated from the 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.

  • Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Co-founder, Medical Director

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer

  • Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Co-founder, CEO and CTO

    PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex

  • Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc

    Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc

    Medical Board

    Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine

  • Aishani Shah, MD

    Aishani Shah, MD

    Medical Board

    Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD

  • Asya Zubkova, MS

    Asya Zubkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member

  • Hanna Kurets, MD

    Hanna Kurets, MD

    Medical Board, Medical Advisor

    Dermatology MD

  • Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Medical Board

    Dermatology and diagnostic consultant

  • Victoria Derkova, MS

    Victoria Derkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist

How does it fit your skin?

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