e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream for oily acne-prone skin
Sodium Hyaluronate
Peptides
Niacinamide
Squalane
Trehalose
Average
- AverageOily Skin Fit
- AverageEffectiveness
- HighSafety
Works for oily acne-prone skin; other sunscreens fit it better.
This fit is calculated for the concerns frequently associated with oily acne-prone skin: shine, breakouts, blemishes, and enlarged pores. For scores and recommendations based on your full skin profile, including your 12D face scan results and any goals or preferences you have, please use the Lovi app.
Page built Nov 8, 2026How the Fit score works
Lovi Assistant explains
- Offers moderate suitability for your oily skin due to the presence of niacinamide which offers seboregulation, but lacks sufficient mattifying ingredients for optimal results.
- The product provides excellent moisturizing due to the presence of glycerin and sodium hyaluronate in concentrations that hydrate and plump the skin, though it lacks targeted ingredients for your acne and blemishes.
- There are no risks of irritation for your oily skin due to the absence of prohibited or harsh ingredients.
How to apply
- Use your moisturizing sunscreen every morning. Reapply throughout the day if you are outside.
- Apply this moisturizing sunscreen as the final step of your morning routine after your moisturizer.
- Gently smooth a nickel-sized amount over your face and neck, avoiding harsh rubbing to keep oily areas calm.
- Apply this moisturizing sunscreen on clean, dry skin to ensure even coverage and protection.
- Avoid getting the product into your eyes and do a patch test before your first use.
People Say
★4.7Overall rating based on 5.9k+ reviewsBased on a very large amount of data, this moisturizer is widely celebrated for delivering deep hydration with a lightweight, non-greasy feel that rivals high-end luxury creams. It is generally praised for smoothing skin texture and working well under makeup. Some users with acne-prone skin experienced breakouts, and others found the scented version too overpowering.
Highlights
Effective hydration Mostly Mentioned
- “skin looks plump and nourished”
- “keeps my skin hydrated without feeling greasy”
- “relieves dry, tight skin”
Lightweight & fast Mostly Mentioned
- “sinks in quickly to leave smooth, soft skin”
- “absorbs almost instantly”
- “lightweight feel... without feeling greasy”
Excellent value Often Mentioned
- “unbeatable price point”
- “comparable with more expensive face creams”
- “fraction of the price”
Makeup compatible Often Mentioned
- “layers smoothly under makeup”
- “works as more of a primer”
- “makeup just glides on”
Beneficial ingredients Sometimes Noted
- “packed with skin-loving ingredients like hyaluronic acid”
- “peptides to promote collagen”
- “niacinamide to brighten”
Strong fragrance Sometimes Noted
- “scent is pleasant but... overpowering”
- “heavy fragrance”
- “smells like old school sea salt”
Caused breakouts Rarely Noted
- “got pimples the other day”
- “caused a little acne break out”
- “skin was fighting against it”
Greasy residue Rarely Noted
- “texture feels pretty greasy to me”
- “leaves a weird film”
- “looks oily around my nose”
Not for dry skin Rarely Noted
- “dried out my skin”
- “not moisturizing enough for very dry skin”
- “dry spots even just 15-20 mins later”
Packaging concerns Rarely Noted
- “wish it came with a spatula”
- “prefer a tube... for hygiene”
- “putting my finger into the jar”
Sources: lovi.care, ulta.com, target.com, walmart.com, elfcosmetics.com, byrdie.com, and more
Questions and answers
How well does e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream work for oily acne-prone skin?
This cream works moderately well for your oily skin because niacinamide helps balance oil, but it lacks enough mattifying ingredients. It also hydrates and plumps the skin well without causing irritation, though it does not target acne and blemishes. A moisturizer for this skin needs ingredients that hydrate without clogging pores, offer a lightweight and non-greasy feel, control excess oil, and help clear blemishes.
Which ingredients make this cream a good fit for oily acne-prone skin?
Niacinamide helps balance oil, while glycerin and sodium hyaluronate keep your skin plump and hydrated. To truly work for oily, acne-prone skin, a product of this type needs additional mattifying ingredients and targeted blemish-fighting ingredients.
What does Hyaluronic Acid do for oily acne-prone skin?
Hyaluronic acid helps calm oily acne-prone skin by reducing sebum production and lipid synthesis in sebaceous glands. It also supports skin barrier function and improves hydration while helping deliver treatments without causing irritation.
The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2017Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2022
What do Peptides do for oily acne-prone skin?
Peptides help calm oily, acne-prone skin by targeting acne-causing bacteria and reducing redness and swelling. Advanced delivery methods like nanomicelles may also improve how deeply these helpful ingredients sink into the skin.
Where does this cream go in a skincare routine for oily acne-prone skin?
This moisturizer goes in the morning routine after a cleanser and hydrating toner, followed by sunscreen. Oily acne-prone skin needs a product of this type that also includes oil-absorbing powders or mattifying ingredients to control shine, alongside blemish-fighting actives.
Can I use this cream with retinol, and in what order?
You can use this cream with retinol by applying the cream after your retinol treatment to help keep your skin calm and moisturized. This type of skin needs a moisturizer that balances oil with ingredients like niacinamide, while also bringing soothing and acne-fighting additions to keep breakouts clear.
How often should I use this cream?
You can use this cream twice a day as part of your morning and evening routine, because it provides good hydration without heavy irritation risks for your oily skin. Daily application of this type of moisturizer helps maintain skin moisture and barrier function.
Can it clog pores, cause breakouts or purging for oily acne-prone skin?
This cream is unlikely to cause irritation for your oily skin, though some reviewers report breakouts. Oily acne-prone skin needs lightweight, non-greasy moisturizers with oil-controlling ingredients and blemish-fighting additions to stay clear.
Is this cream fragrance-free and alcohol-free?
It has no drying alcohol and contains fragrance (parfum). Cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol, which soften the skin.
What the research says
A single application of a moisturizing fluid containing hyaluronic acid 1%, glycerin 5%, and Centella asiatica stem cells extract significantly increased skin hydration by 29% and reduced transepidermal water loss at 24 hours compared to baseline and an untreated control site in twenty healthy women.
Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2017Topical application of 0.1% hyaluronic acid formulations of different molecular weights led to significant improvements in skin hydration and elasticity, with low-molecular-weight formulations also significantly reducing wrinkle depth in seventy-six female subjects compared to a vehicle control.
Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, 2011Topical application of hyaluronic acid in conjunction with free gingival graft significantly reduced donor site postoperative pain until day 7 compared to normal saline, with no significant differences in graft dimensions or patient satisfaction.
Clinical Oral Investigations, 2022Treatment with a hyaluronic acid-containing mouth rinse or topical gel led to significant lesion reduction, pain relief, and normalization of lesion color in adult patients with minor recurrent aphthous stomatitis, with the gel formulation showing an earlier healing onset at 3 days.
BMC Oral Health, 2019Topical post-laser application of human adipocyte-derived mesenchymal stem cell media combined with niacinamide significantly improved wrinkle index, melanin index, patient satisfaction, and investigator esthetic improvement scores compared to vehicle cream in patients with aging skin.
Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2021Topical nicotinamide prevented solar-simulated UV-induced immunosuppression in healthy volunteers, and men experienced immunosuppression at solar-simulated UV doses three times lower than those required for women.
The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2008Topical 5% niacinamide applied twice daily for 12 weeks reduced fine lines and wrinkles, hyperpigmented spots, red blotchiness, and skin sallowness, and improved skin elasticity compared to vehicle control in 50 female white subjects with facial photoaging.
Dermatologic Surgery, 2005Squalane at 0.005-0.015% counteracts UVA-induced oxidative stress, inflammation, and collagen metabolism inhibition while stimulating fibroblast migration in human dermal fibroblasts.
Molecules, 2025Plant-derived squalane protected human dermal fibroblasts against UVA-induced damage by counteracting ROS formation, suppressing apoptosis-related proteins p53, caspase-3, caspase-9, and PARP, and restoring the pro-survival p-Akt/mTOR pathway.
Antioxidants, 2025Sodium trehalose sulfate decreased transepidermal water loss and increased stratum corneum water content in participants with low stratum corneum water content when applied for 4 weeks compared to placebo.
Skin Research and Technology, 2024Topical chloramphenicol-betamethasone combined with sodium hyaluronate/trehalose/carbomer gel compared to chloramphenicol-betamethasone alone reduced most subjective symptoms at 1 week but increased blurred vision at 4 weeks following strabismus surgery in 31 patients, with no significant differences in conjunctival inflammation between treatments.
Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2019Topical treatment with Thealoz Duo significantly improved dry eye disease symptoms, tear break-up time, and restored tear lipid layer functionality by reducing inflammatory response proteins in moderate to severe dry eye patients over 56 days.
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025
Why other sunscreens fit oily acne-prone skin better
Biomimetic hyaluronic acid-stabilized zinc oxide nanoparticles selectively inhibited C. acnes, outperformed erythromycin in preclinical acne models, and safely reduced acne lesions and redness in a clinical trial.
Journal of Controlled Release, 2025Topical 0.5% hyaluronic-ZnO nanogel applied twice daily reduced inflammatory-lesion counts by 58% at week four in human subjects compared to baseline without causing erythema.
Biomedicines, 2025
Ingredients
Water, Isohexadecane, Stearyl Heptanoate, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Isopropyl Isostearate, Niacinamide, Cetearyl Olivate, Trehalose, Squalane, Dimethicone, Stearic Acid, Aluminum Octenylsuccinate Starch, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Silica, Sodium Hyaluronate, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Panthenol Vb5, Sorbitan Olivate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Polyethylene, Disodium Edta, Polyacrylate-13, Polyisobutene, Polysorbate 20, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Parfum, Carbomer
Behind this fit score
Lovi calculates every fit score 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.
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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
How does it fit your skin?
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