Best Plumping Creams – The Dermatology Review

One of the most challenging aspects of the aging process is when taut skin starts to sag. While there’s no such thing as a miracle product that can reverse the loss of tone, there are skin tightening creams on the market that can help improve skin laxity and plump face.

Not sure what to look for in a face plumping cream? No worries. Here at the Derm Review, we’ve reviewed hundreds of products with a scientific lens to ensure you’re creating a skincare regimen that’s safe and effective. Ahead, 11 of the best skin firming creams and face tightening creams to help you restore a more youthful-looking complexion.

Best Plumping Cream: The List

BEST OVERALL

BEST FACE PLUMPING TREATMENT: Carrot & Stick Repair Serum

BEST FACE PLUMPING ROUTINE: Carrot & Stick Lift & Smooth

BEST CREAM: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer

FULL LIST

Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream

Chanel Le Lift Cream

Estee Lauder Resilience Lift

SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter

La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream

The Science Behind Plumping Creams

Plumping the skin comes down to stimulating collagen production. Starting around the age of 25, collagen production declines at a rate of approximately 1% each year. Since collagen is the component that gives the skin structure, it progressively becomes less firm and saggier as we get older. 

When we reach our early 50s, collagen production ceases, and any existing collagen that remains gradually breaks down and becomes weaker, exacerbating skin laxity. There’s also elastin to consider because it gives the skin its elasticity — or bounce. It’s around a thousand times more flexible than collagen. Together, collagen and elastin are the main structural protein components of the skin.

The best plumping creams have something in common: ingredients that can help stimulate collagen and elastin production — although some products suitably deliver these compounds into the skin better than others. Even so, don’t expect your skin to go back to what it used to look like in the past.

What to Expect from a Pluping Cream

Creating new collagen doesn’t magically happen by applying a topical cream, so don’t expect miracles. Even the best face moisturizer or firming face cream in the world can give you the same results as a cosmetic procedure. However, with consistent, daily use, a face tightening cream can provide a temporary tightening effect to help make sagginess less noticeable.

Best Plumping Creams

Best plumping face cream for sagging skin? You may already have a lot of the best skincare products, but we’ve got 11 top picks to address laxity.

BEST OVERALL

Carrot and Stick Repair Serum
Apply this anti-aging serum daily to keep skin hydrated and protected from free radical damage. The Repair Serum by Carrot & Stick helps lift, tighten and firm the look of skin thanks to seven plant-based neuropeptides, while synthesized growth factors help keep skin looking radiant. It’s the best anti-aging serum for 30s — and beyond.

Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer
Say goodbye to lax skin with the plant-powered The Moisturizer. It helps to hydrate, firm, and revitalize the skin. Suitable for all skin types, The Moisturizer from Carrot & Stick is formulated with plant proteins, vitamins, peptides and amino-collagen. A caffeine boost helps perk up lax skin, while five distinct coconut elements help with cell renewal and overall conditioning. We recommend using Carrot & Stick Repair Serum as the first step in your skin tightening routine. Serums penetrate deeper and contain a higher concentration of active ingredients. 

Carrot & Stick Lift & Smooth
Carrot & Stick routines take the guesswork out of building a lifting routine for face and neck. We recommend Lift & Smooth.

FULL LIST

Formulyst Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream
Wrinkles and sagging skin are no match for Formulyst’s Lifting and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream. The rich cream is formulated with a powerful blend of botanicals and lipids to help keep the signs of aging at bay. Moringa seed oil delivers intense hydration, while evodia ruteacarpa fruit extract brightens and refines the complexion. Rounding out the ingredients list is peony extract which helps leave the skin looking smoother and firmer.

Chanel Le Lift Cream
This key ingredient in this firming face cream is dicaffeoylquinic acid, or 3.5-DA, derived from the Edulis morning glory. Chanel researchers labored for 12 years to isolate this potent extract that promotes collagen synthesis to improve skin elasticity. 

Estee Lauder Resilience Lift
This lightweight anti-aging moisturizer sculpts, contours, plumps, and lifts, thanks to Estee Lauder’s advanced Photo-Activated Lift Complex. Plankton extract and Thermus thermophilus ferment strengthen the skin, provide deep hydration, and protect fibroblasts — the cells that produce collagen — against free radicals. 

SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter seeks to reduce damage from advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, resulting from excess sugar that negatively impacts collagen and elastin, causing the skin to sag. 

This firming cream helps counteract collagen and elastin loss with potent ingredients like proxylane, blueberry extract, and phytosphingosine. Pro Xylane helps support the skin’s glycosaminoglycan (GAG) synthesis. GAGs like hyaluronic acid keep skin plump, firm, and hydrated. 

La Prairie Anti-Aging Night Cream
La Prairie is known for its luxurious formulations, and this firming face cream is no exception. The main ingredients that address the loss of tone are peptides. Hexanoyl dipeptide-3 norleucine acetate is a synthetic peptide that helps overall skin renewal, accelerating the speed at which cells renew to reveal a more refined complexion. Palmitoyl tripeptide-8 soothes by reducing inflammation, while acetyl decapeptide-3 stimulates collagen and elastin to firm, tighten, and sculpt the skin. 

Best Face Lifting and Plumping Face Cream: The Bottom Line

Use a serum as part of your anti-aging routine. Serums penetrate deeper and contain a higher concentration of active ingredients. We recommend Carrot & Stick Repair Serum. Followed by Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer. We recommend these in a routine: Carrot & Stick Lift & Smooth.