Ducray Keracnyl PP Anti-blemish Soothing Cream review

Today’s review will be about a moisturizer from a somewhat obscure (to me at least) brand called Ducray. I picked up this moisturizer on an advice of a pharmacist in Bordeaux, France. She recommended me three creams total and all three turned out to be really good for my skin. Prior to her recommendation I’ve never heard of this brand, but after some quick research I found out that the brand is part of Pierre Fabre Group that owns such brands as Avene, A-Derma and Klorane among others, and it is widely represented in pharmacies around Europe and overseas. Ducray has skincare and hair care lines treating different concerns.

Time used before review: 2,5 months

Brand claims:

• It helps to reduce inflamed spots
• It promotes tolerance of topical medicinal treatments aka soothes the skin when you use harsh topical treatment
• It reduces residual marks aka post acne scaring
• The product is fragrance free and non-comedogenic

Ingredients: water (aqua), propylene glycol dicaprylate/dicaprate, cetearyl alcohol, isohexadecane, niacinamide, butylene glycol, dimethicone, polymethyl methacrylate, glycerin, benzoic acid, bht, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter) (butyrospermum parkii butter), caprylic/capric triglyceride, cetearyl glucoside, dicaprylyl carbonate, dipotassium phosphate, disodium edta, disodium phosphate, myrtus communis leaf extract, phenoxyethanol, polyacrylate-13, polyisobutene, polysorbate 20, serenoa serrulata fruit extract, sodium cetearyl sulfate, sodium hydroxide, sorbitan isostearate, stearyl glycyrrhetinate, tocopherol, xanthan gum.

Ingredients to pay attention to:

• Niacinamide - yet again my favorite ingredient is here :), aside of anti-age properties, it also soothes the skin, helps to reduce visibility of pores and evens skin tone. Ducray calls it vitamin PP in marketing materials, which is one of many names for niacinamide.
• Shea butter - has anti-inflammatory, soothing , softening and healing properties. It’s non-comedogenic
• Myrtacine is a Ducray’s innovation and registered ingredient, it shows anti bacterial properties and helps reduce the amount of p.acne bacteria, I assume in the INCI list it’s myrtus communis leaf extract in formulation with other ingredients. However while doing my research it looks like myrtle and its extracts in general are controversial ingredients, some citations say it can cause irritation and others praise its benefits for oily skin in terms of sebum regulation and pore tightening
• There are also some silicones and humectants in the list

So let’s not fool ourselves by fancy marketing names, clear star of this formulation is Niacinamide - that’s one ingredient that suppose to do all the heavy lifting in this product in combination with silicones, humectants and shea butter. Interestingly, Ducray also lists sabal serrulata among the cream’s actives. However in ingredient list I can only see serenoa serrulata fruit extract, which has no proven benefits when used in skincare.

Usage and consistency:

The cream comes in a very interesting tube with a very precise tip. At first I even thought that maybe it’s a topical treatment and I misunderstood the pharmacist but no, it’s a cream for your full face that can be applied AM and PM. By consistency it’s your typical cream: not too thick but not too fluid-like either. It smells like cream too, I guess that’s that shea butter smell ? Though it is barely there.

I use this cream as a moisturizer in the end of my routine in the morning and rarely at night. As mentioned above it’s creamy but not too thick, it absorbs fairly quickly for a cream; it takes about 2-3 minutes on my oily skin. In itself it can be a good makeup primer, but if you choose to add a primer on top, it wouldn’t peel. Basically after full absorption you would even forget it’s there, which is what I love in a morning cream.

The results and conclusions:

I started using this cream at first when my skin was more or less okay and didn’t notice anything significant so I put it aside, but two weeks or so later with all the quarantine and personal life changes and stress, my skin started to break out and get irritated. That’s when I remembered about this cream again and firstly tried it in the evening, but it can be too light if you want something more occlusive so finally I switched it to the morning routine and that worked out the best way for me. I started noticing first results about 5-6 days after using this cream, it definitely helped to even the tone slightly and dry out active pimples. In regards to soothing I didn’t notice anything major, and frankly speaking I saw more soothing results from my toners, mists and serums at the time.

For acne scars it’s really hard to tell as I for sure know that Niacinamide serums helped me reduce them significantly. Did this cream do anything for my leftover scars? I am not sure, but it’s more no than yes. At the same time it didn’t irritate and with the new pimples there was no scaring afterwards.

Would I repurchase again: that’s a tough one, in general I enjoyed this cream. It’s pretty basic but at the same time didn’t irritate and somewhat helped with new blemishes. I would say “maybe” because it’s not a bad cream and also I prefer to put my money into actives (aka serums) so a basic cream can be good to have. At the same time, are there better more interesting formulations out there that I would like to try before picking this cream up again? For sure.

Who would this product be good for: young blemish prone skin that needs basic skincare routine

You can buy Ducray Keracnyl PP Anti-blemish Soothing Cream at:

• CareToBeauty.com for cca 21 USD for 30 ml
• SweetCare.com for cca 18 USD for 30 ml
• any pharmacy near you, check if it’s sold near you on official website