I used Kiehl’s £37 cream until I found something better for half price

If there’s an expert on how to save your skin from winter, they live in my home state of Minnesota.

Just this week, temperatures plunged to a soul-suckingly cold -26C, later rebounding to -9C – so mercifully balmy my siblings called it spring and shorts weather.

So when one of my best friends from home said she stocks up on Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream for winter some years ago, I listened.

Its no-nonsense branding evoked trustworthiness, albeit at luxury prices (£37 for a small 50ml pot at Boots or £65 for 125ml) – even so, I’m on my third tub of the stuff and a regular Kiehl’s sales hunter.

Beauty Pie’s cream wasn’t on my radar, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it’s strong competition for Kiehl’s – and at half the price.

The Beauty Pie skincare kit

The Superstar Facial Kit contained:

This little glass pot of cream had the two angels of timing and necessity on its side. 

With a kit of the brand’s skincare bestsellers freshly arrived in the post, I decided to really test its mettle on a long weekend from Glasgow to London and bring no other products. 

I arrived in London at the same time as a named storm. Freezing temperatures and skin-sapping winds warranted bringing a long puffer jacket all the way from Glasgow. It protected me from the elements, whilst roasting me on the tube even when shucked off – a bundle of dead weight in my arms.

Thus, the canvas for this all-new skincare routine was a face both dry, oily and literally weathered. Skincare isn’t a miracle, so my expectations were realistic.

Beauty Pie Super Health Skin Cream review 

I wasn’t looking for a replacement, but the Beauty Pie cream was good enough to carve itself a niche in my skincare routine. 

If Kiehl’s cream is my favourite oversize sweatshirt, Beauty Pie’s Super Healthy Skin cream was the knee-length down parka with fur-trimmed hood when I needed it.

It’s a gently scented lovely thick cream that offers more oomph needed in the depths of winter or for anyone with dry skin. A little went a long way to soothe and hydrate my chapped skin, leaving a supple and silky finish that persisted the next day when I applied it at night.

Of course, the cream doesn’t get all the credit. The overall effect was also thanks to the rest of the travel-size products in the Beauty Pie kit. The Youthbomb serum felt particularly high-end and worth buying alone.

While I rated them all – except the mascara which did little – the cream felt the loveliest on application and remains the one I most want to buy a full-size version.  

Everyone’s skin is different but it’s remarkable all these new-to-me products didn’t irritate my skin but properly hydrated and soothed it.

The catch

The barrier to entry here is exactly what makes Beauty Pie unique – its membership setup.

Anyone can buy directly from Beauty Pie’s website but at a premium so great it feels pointless for me to buy without signing up. The cream, for example, is £50 for the uninitiated or £19 for members. 

The Skincare Superstar kit came with a free three-month membership and while it is no longer for sale, other kits offer a trial too. And it’s easy enough to wait around for a free trial promotion or just buck up and pay – memberships start from £2.41 a month. 

The part of me that’s allergic to paying for shipping doesn’t relish coughing up just a few quid, but the savings here are significant.

Prior to this, I’d bought a few Beauty Pie products through an aunt that subscribed. They very much deserved a repurchase: the perfectly balmy Japanfusion face wash and the heavenly botanically-scented dream that is Body Moisture Crème. 

Though I’m sitting on a nuclear stockpile of skincare, I’ll be glad to get my hands (and face) on them again.