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La Roche-Posay vs Kiehl's

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

La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's are enduring skincare labels under L'Oreal ownership that offer tailored solutions for mature skin and skin with dark spots. The French brand, founded in 1975, features nourishing serums, rich moisturizers, gentle cleansers, and targeted eye products formulated with glycerin, soothing thermal water, and niacinamide, while the American counterpart, established in 1851, provides a thoughtful array of moisturizers, serums, toners, and eye products anchored by glycerin and squalane. Both brands excel in addressing specific concerns through standout offerings like facial cleansers, targeted creams, and lightweight lotions. Ultimately, they differ in their foundational ingredients, with one emphasizing thermal water and niacinamide and the other relying on squalane.

La Roche-Posay is a French skincare brand founded in 1975 and owned by L'Oréal S.A. since 1989.

laroche-posay.com.aufr.wikipedia.org

Kiehl's is an American skincare brand founded in 1851 and owned by L'Oréal S.A. since 2000.

loreal.comen.wikipedia.org

This page compares some of the most popular La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's products; for every product of both brands, with a fit score for your own skin, use the Lovi app.

Popular La Roche-Posay vs Kiehl's products

People Say

La Roche-PosayKiehl's
  • Texture Improvement and Skin Softness Mostly MentionedMostly Mentioned
    • “skin feels incredibly soft afterwards — Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque”
    • “feels like nothing — Kiehl's Better Screen UV Serum”
    • “absorbs instantly without residue — Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream”
    • “lightweight and absorbs quickly — La Roche-Posay Mela B3 Serum”
  • Skin Sensitivity and Irritation Mostly MentionedMostly Mentioned
    • “Great retinol for beginners — La Roche-Posay Retinol B3 Serum”
    • “Only cream that doesn't sting — La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermallergo Eye Cream”
    • “experienced zero irritation — Kiehl's Retinol Skin-Renewing Daily Micro-Dose Serum”
    • “works on dark skin — Kiehl's Better Screen UV Serum”
  • Hydration and Moisture Mostly MentionedMostly Mentioned
    • “absorbs instantly — La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer”
    • “skin feels plump — La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Serum”
    • “Keeps skin moisturized for 24+ hours — Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream”
    • “Feels like a drink of water — Kiehl's Hydro-Plumping Serum Concentrate”
  • Brightening and Dark Spots Sometimes NotedOften Mentioned
    • “Acne marks are gone — Kiehl's Clearly Corrective™ Dark Spot Solution”
    • “woke up glowing — Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate”
    • “Skin looks radiant — Kiehl's Clearly Corrective™ Dark Spot Solution”
    • “skin looks brighter — La Roche-Posay Mela B3 Serum”
  • Tint and Makeup Compatibility Rarely NotedSometimes Noted
    • “concealer glides on smoothly — Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado”
    • “no pilling — Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream”
    • “no pilling — Kiehl's Better Screen UV Serum”
    • “makeup sits perfectly — La Roche-Posay Anthelios”
  • Value and Pricing Sometimes NotedMostly Mentioned
    • “expensive for the size — La Roche-Posay Hyalu B5 Serum”
    • “Too expensive for the size — La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermallergo Eye Cream”
    • “Tube is tiny for the price — La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Gel B5”
    • “pricy daily staple — Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream”
  • Texture and Pilling Issues Often MentionedOften Mentioned
    • “pills like crazy — La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer”
    • “Very sticky — La Roche-Posay Pure Vitamin C10 Serum”
    • “hard to spread — Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado”
    • “too radiant for oily skin — Kiehl's Better Screen UV Serum”
  • Stinging and Adverse Reactions Sometimes NotedSometimes Noted
    • “burns my eyes — La Roche-Posay Anthelios”
    • “burned my face — La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer”
    • “burned my face immediately — Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque”
    • “stings my face and feels like burning — Kiehl's Super Multi-Corrective Cream”
  • Packaging and Design Issues Often MentionedRarely Noted
    • “dipping fingers is unsanitary — Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream”
    • “Dropper doesn't reach bottom — Kiehl's Clearly Corrective™ Dark Spot Solution”
    • “pump stops working — La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+M Triple Repair Moisturizing Cream”

La Roche-Posay vs Kiehl's routines for dry skin

See multi-brand routine · 98% fit

La Roche-Posay vs Kiehl's routines for oily skin

See multi-brand routine · 95% fit

La Roche-Posay vs Kiehl's routines for combination skin

See multi-brand routine · 94% fit

Questions and answers

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which is better?

Both brands offer a High routine fit across most skin types on the products on this page, but La Roche-Posay achieves a High fit for acne-prone skin while Kiehl's is Average. Reviewers indicate that Kiehl's does better for texture improvement, brightening, and tint compatibility, whereas La Roche-Posay offers better value and pricing.

What is the difference between La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's?

La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's both offer High routine fit levels for dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature, dark-spot, dry-sensitive, and oily-acne-prone skin, but La Roche-Posay is rated High for acne-prone skin while Kiehl's is Average. Kiehl's performs better in texture improvement, skin softness, brightening, dark spots, tint, and makeup compatibility, whereas La Roche-Posay offers better value and pricing.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's for dry skin?

Both La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's offer a High routine fit for dry skin. The products on this page for both brands share key moisturizing ingredients like glycerin and shea butter, while La Roche-Posay also features soothing thermal water and Kiehl's incorporates hydrating squalane.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which cleanser is better?

Both brands offer cleansers with a High fit level for various skin types on this page, but Kiehl's stands out with Superior fits for oily and oily acne-prone skin from products like its Rare Earth Deep Pore Daily Cleanser and Ultra Facial Oil-Free Cleanser. La Roche-Posay also provides strong options like its Toleriane Hydrating Foaming Gel, which achieves a Superior fit for dry and sensitive skin.

Which is more affordable, La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's?

La Roche-Posay is more affordable than Kiehl's, as value and pricing is an area where La Roche-Posay does better.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which brand is better for reducing dark spots?

Kiehl's does better than La Roche-Posay for brightening and dark spots. Both brands are a High fit for skin with dark spots on the products on this page.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which offers more products containing fragrance?

Kiehl's offers fewer products with fragrance than La Roche-Posay does. Specifically, 26 of the 28 products on the Kiehl's page list no fragrance, leaving only 2 fragranced products, whereas 21 of the 35 products on the La Roche-Posay page list no fragrance, leaving 14 fragranced products.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which brand is better for mature skin?

La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's are both great choices, as Lovi rates the routine fit for mature skin as High for each brand. The products on this page help improve aging skin with ingredients like retinol and hyaluronic acid.

The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2000Dermatologic Therapy, 2022

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's for oily skin?

Both La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's offer a High routine fit for oily skin on this page. Reviewers note that both brands provide lightweight moisturizers, and Niacinamide in the products on this page helps regulate oil and sebum production.

The British Journal of Dermatology, 2002Antioxidants, 2021

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which moisturizer is better?

Both La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's offer moisturizers with a High routine fit for dry skin. La Roche-Posay uses key ingredients like glycerin and shea butter, while Kiehl's relies on ingredients such as squalane and vitamin E to provide deep hydration.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's for sensitive skin?

Both La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's are a High fit for sensitive skin. La Roche-Posay also offers fragrance-free options for 21 of the 35 products on this page.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's: which sunscreen is better?

Both La Roche-Posay and Kiehl's offer sunscreens with a High fit for oily acne-prone, dry, and dry sensitive skin on the products on this page. Anthelios achieves a Superior fit for skin with dark spots, sensitive skin, combination skin, acne-prone skin, mature skin, and oily skin.

La Roche-Posay or Kiehl's for acne-prone skin?

La Roche-Posay is a better fit for acne-prone skin, achieving a High routine fit while Kiehl's reaches an Average fit. Both brands offer products that help improve skin, but La Roche-Posay's targeted range is consistently well-suited for acne-prone concerns.

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

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