DewscopeMoisturizers & Cleansers3 min read
Clinique Moisture Surge 100H Review: Dry Skin or Combination?
Clinique's oil-free gel-cream promises 100 hours of hydration. We read the claims against the formula and user reports to see who it suits: dry skin, combination skin under makeup, or neither.
Our verdict
A light, oil-free gel-cream that sits well under makeup and suits normal, combination and dehydrated skin. Truly dry skin gets water but no seal, so it needs a richer cream on top. The 100-hour claim is a test figure.
Best forCombination or dehydrated skin that wants a light layer under makeup
What we liked
- Oil-free gel-cream that absorbs quickly and wears well under makeup
- Aloe bioferment and two weights of hyaluronic acid for water retention
- Fragrance-free and non-comedogenic, and suited to sensitive skin per Clinique
- Doubles as a five-minute hydrating mask
What held it back
- Humectant-led formula lacks the seal that really dry skin needs
- Some combination-to-oily users reported it felt rich and caused breakouts
- The 100-hour figure is a brand test result, not a refill interval
- $31 per ounce is steep against drugstore gel moisturizers
Moisture Surge 100H is a water-gel moisturizer wearing a "100 hours" label. The hours are a lab-style claim. The useful part is simpler: it is a light, oil-free hydrator that sits well under makeup, and it fits combination and normal-to-dry skin better than it fits truly dry skin. If you need cushion and repair, buy a cream. If you want something that disappears and does not pill, read on.
We did not run a clinical trial. This piece rests on Clinique's own page and numbers, a retailer listing, and the pattern of user reports on ProductReview and similar sites.
What a gel-cream is, and is not
Clinique calls it an oil-free gel-cream that absorbs quickly. The ingredients it puts forward are aloe bioferment (fermented for more than five days), hyaluronic acid in two molecular weights, and vitamins C and E. Hyaluronic acid and aloe are humectants: they draw and hold water. Neither is an oil or a sealing ingredient.
That is the key to the dry-skin question. A product built mainly from humectants can look wonderful on a normal-to-combination face and still run out of steam on very dry skin, because nothing in the formula sits on top to slow water loss. Clinique's page does say it suits all skin types, including sensitive skin, and that it is fragrance-free and non-comedogenic.
