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. The products help keep skin soft and smooth through ingredients like salicylic acid and collagen, though users should note that some formulas contain fragrance.
BioMed Research International, 2020Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 2022
What are St. Ives's best products?
St. Ives offers products tailored to specific skin types, with the BHA Exfoliant achieving a High fit for oily and acne-prone skin. Meanwhile, the Apricot Scrub and moisturizers generally rate Average across most skin types on this page.
BioMed Research International, 2020Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024
Which St. Ives moisturizer is best for dry skin?
Renewing Collagen & Elastin Moisturizer is the best option among the moisturizers on this page for dry skin, though both it and Renewing Moisturizer rate Average for dry skin. Collagen helps support aging and wrinkles.
Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 2022Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 2024
Does St. Ives cause breakouts?
St. Ives includes products that may help prevent breakouts, such as BHA Exfoliant, which Lovi rates High for acne-prone skin. Other items like the scrubs and moisturizers are rated lower for oily and acne-prone skin, so they may not suit everyone prone to blemishes.
BioMed Research International, 2020Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024
Is St. Ives fragrance-free?
No, the St. Ives products on this page include fragrance except for one out of the four items. Only a selection of the range is fragrance-free.
What are the key ingredients in St. Ives products?
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 BHA Exfoliant depending on skin type, and finish with a moisturizer such as Renewing Moisturizer. Lovi rates St. Ives-focused routines Superior for dry, oily, sensitive, combination, 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. These similar skincare brands also have dedicated pages on Lovi for shoppers to explore.
St. Ives vs CeraVe: which is better?
St. Ives and CeraVe both perform very well, with Lovi rating the St. Ives-focused routine Superior for dry, oily, sensitive, combination, and acne-prone skin. CeraVe routines also rate High or Superior for these skin types.
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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