La Mer vs Sisley 2024 (The Definitive Guide)
For all of the skincare lovers and enthusiasts out there, it’s time for the long-awaited La Mer vs Sisley comparison.
Both being popular luxury brands in the skincare world, La Mer and Sisley bring a lot to the table when it comes to their best-selling products.
While the American brand is known for its famous Miracle Broth—their trademarked fermented kelp concoction—and for showing off with long winded ingredient lists, its French competitor Sisley markets plant-based cosmetics that are ideal for all skin types, intentionally catering to sensitive skin as well.
These high-end brands have very different approaches when it comes to their skincare formulas, giving us all the more reason to take a closer look at some of their best-sellers to figure out which is best for you.
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Creme De La Mer vs Sisley Black Rose Infusion
Crème de la Mer stands strong as the brand’s leading product, famous for offering rich, soothing moisture and renewing the skin by diminishing the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. Having ranked highly throughout the years amongst other luxury moisturisers, this La Mer product is still highly sought-after today, continuing the brand’s legacy for great skincare that really works.
Not many products can stand alongside the La Mer fan-favourite, but Sisley's Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream has also earned its spot at the top. Now, let’s get to our Crème de la Mer vs Sisley showdown; scroll down to see these products in more detail, followed by our conclusions.
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest differences between these two luxury products is their texture. While La Mer offers a heavy, thick cream, Sisley opts for a more gel-like, lightweight formula. Also, while they are both marketed for all skin types, this feature of both moisturisers plays a big role in determining the perfect choice for you.
Let’s break it down: If you are dealing with drier skin or looking for a cream to get you through the colder months, Crème de La Mer might be the one for you. On the other hand, if you deal with sensitive skin, enjoy a thinner layer of cream under your makeup, and find yourself in warmer weather, the Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream is calling your name.
Creme de la Mer
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Renewing moisture meets radiant rejuvenation.
What makes it special?
Like many of their products, Crème de la Mer famously features the Renewing Miracle Broth - a skincare cocktail that includes self-regenerative Sea Kelp and other vital nutrients subject to slow-craft fermentation for a 3 to 4 month period. This long and seemingly intense process accounts for the price tag on this moisturiser and makes for a truly soothing product that instantly hydrates the skin.
The continued use of the product promises even better results, such as firmer skin and less visible wrinkles and fine lines for a renewed, fresh look. Having earned incredible online reviews from customers all around the world, this product might just earn a place on your bathroom shelf, too.
Which skin types? All skin types.
Key Ingredients: Formulated without parabens and phthalates, this Petrolatum-based cream relies instead on Seaweed Extract, Mineral Oils, Lime Tea, Glycerine, amongst others. Includes Fragrance.
Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream by Sisley
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
All the power of Black Rose extracts at the heart of a remarkable texture.
What makes it special?
Dealing with dullness and looking for a refresh? This gentle and replenishing cream claims to give you just that. Restoring bounce to the skin, this product works to smooth the existing texture of the skin to provide a supple appearance and that sought-after healthy glow.
This non-comedogenic moisturiser is suitable for all, relying on natural ingredients to provide hydrating and rejuvenating features.
Which skin types? All skin types, including sensitive skin.
Key Ingredients: Black Rose oil extract, Black Rose aqueous extract, Alpine Rose extract, May Rose Water, Alkekengi Calyx extract, and Padina Pavonica extract. Includes scent from essential oils of rose, magnolia, and geranium.
La Mer vs Sisley Cleanser
Before moisturising, we need to cleanse - but what’s the best way to do it?
La Mer’s The Cleansing Foam is our first great option, said to gently provide purification for all skin types without any dreaded drying effects. Sisley's Soapless Gentle Foaming Cleanser proves to be a very worthy contender in this regard, too, making it ideal for our second side-by-side comparison!
Both well reviewed online, these products seem to both do a good job of following up on their promises. Despite both cleansers coming in a delicate foam texture, their differences in formula and approach are quite significant.
When it comes to La Mer vs Sisley, the ingredient lists are always bound to come up. La Mer’s cleansing foam features a chemical-heavy, long list of ingredients amounting to double the amount of Sisley’s alternative. While chemicals are definitely not always as scary as they may sound, added substances like fragrances might result in a more irritation-prone, drying formula.
If you have dry to very dry skin, you might want to give Sisley a shot at winning you over first; if dryness is not one of your top concerns, La Mer can be a great addition to your skincare regimen.
The Cleansing Foam by La Mer
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Delicate foam purifies and revitalises.
What makes it special? No surprise here! This La Mer foam features the famous Miracle Broth, but it doesn’t end there. Beyond the magic fermented Sea Kelp formula, this cleanser includes the brand’s exclusive “Deconstructed Waters” technology, effectively mimicking the body’s natural breakdown of water and making it easier for vital and active ingredients to be delivered to the skin.
Which skin types? All skin types.
Key Ingredients: Formulated without parabens, phthalates, and sulfates, this cream includes Miracle Broth, Tourmaline, Glycerine, Myristic Acid, Lauric Acid, amongst others. Includes Fragrance.
Soapless Gentle Foaming Cleanser by Sisley
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Gently cleanses and respects the epidermis.
What makes it special?
Ridding the face of makeup and built-up dirt throughout the day is necessary, but the wrong product can make it damaging, as well - and is exactly what Sisley works to avoid. The Soapless Gentle Foaming Cleanser leaves your skin soft and clean, altogether eliminating that uncomfortable, tight feeling that leaves you desperately reaching for your moisturiser. This soapless, non-alkaline formula is made to avoid any irritation to the skin, leaving it fresh, supple, and revitalised.
Made from 100% natural-origin active ingredients, this formula stays true to Sisley’s brand values, delivering a quality plant-based product that works for everybody.
Which skin types? All skin types, including sensitive skin.
Key Ingredients: Shea butter, Cypress, Geranium, Sunflower Oil
La Mer vs Sisley Eye Cream
Featuring a significantly shorter ingredient list than La Mer’s The Eye Balm Intense, Sisley’s Botanical Eye and Lip Contour Balm seems to more effectively dodge irritation claims and rake in less controversial reviews with its significantly more affordable product.
If you ask us, we say Sisley wins this round of La Mer vs Sisley. Read on for the full lowdown.
The Eye Balm Intense by La Mer is a soothing balm specifically designed to diminish the appearance of puffiness and smooth out fine lines and wrinkles. It is a multi-purpose product aiming to address early signs of aging, rejuvenate tired skin, and provide hydration.
It's formulated without parabens, phthalates, and sulfates, and includes unique ingredients like Miracle Broth, Marine De-Puff Ferment, Seaweed Extract, Butylene Glycol, Polyethylene, and Malachite. Notably, it also contains Sesame Seed Oil and fragrance, with some fragrance ingredients being potential allergens. Despite its past popularity, some recent reviews have reported irritation and dryness, potentially linked to these fragrance ingredients.
On the other hand, the Botanical Eye and Lip Contour Balm by Sisley is formulated to be a stimulating, revitalizing, and smoothing balm, targeting both eye and lip contours. This dual-function balm is designed to protect and care for these sensitive areas, which often show early signs of aging. Sisley's formulation claims to de-puff under-eye areas, smooth the skin, correct fine lines and wrinkles, and combat dryness.
The key ingredients in this product include Tomato and plant protein hydrolysates, Witch Hazel Water, Water, and Glycerine. Unlike La Mer's balm, the Sisley product doesn’t specifically mention the absence of parabens, phthalates, and sulfates, nor does it highlight the inclusion or exclusion of fragrance, which might be a consideration for those with sensitive skin or fragrance sensitivities.
The Eye Balm Intense by La Mer
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Soothing balm diminishes the appearance of puffiness, smoothes the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
What makes it special? This self-proclaimed soothing balm sets out to visibly diminish puffiness and smooth the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. We rely on eye creams for a number of issues, from helping us deal with the early signs of ageing on our skin to making us look fresher and more awake to take on the day, and this hydrating formula aims to tackle it all.
Key Ingredients:
Formulated without paragons, phthalates, and sulfates, this balm includes Miracle Broth, Marine De-Puff Ferment, Seaweed Extract, Butylene Glycol, Polyethylene, Malachite, Sesame Seed Oil, amongst others. Includes Fragrance.
Though it has been a widely beloved product in the past, some recent reviews claim irritation and dryness as a result of the product - while it’s uncertain why that is, it might have something to do with some common fragrance ingredients used in the formula for this product, which are also common possible allergens; these include linalool, lomelene, and benzyl salicylate.
Botanical Eye and Lip Contour Balm by Sisley
Our rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
A stimulating, revitalizing, and smoothing eye balm.
What makes it special? Formulated from a shortlist of ingredients, this multi-functional balm protects both the eye and lip contours of the face, two delicate areas that most dramatically display signs of ageing and require special care. Staying in line with the goals of eye creams and balms in general, Sisley’s take on the eye balm claims to de-puff the under-eye area, smooth the skin, correct fine lines and wrinkles, and fight off dryness for a well-rested look.
Key Ingredients: Tomato and plant protein hydrolysates, Witch Hazel Water, Water, Glycerine, amongst others.
La Mer vs Sisley Conclusion
2024 update: As far as the products featured in this article are concerned, nothing has changed over the past couple of years since we originally published. That said, there are a couple new arrivals worth noting from each brand:
The consensus with regards to the two brands as a whole follows neatly from the inferences we drew from the moisturizer comparison. To reiterate, both brands absolutely excel in delivering top-notch quality and unique skin-nourishing experiences. When it comes to deciding between the two, the biggest difference is the fact that Sisley caters more towards the sensitive skin community than La Mer, so if that is a big factor for you, it makes for an easy choice. Whichever you decide to go for, though, be confident in the knowledge that *both* are serious cult-favorites, with thousands of rave reviews vouching for them.
So as not to ramble on forever, this article comprised comparisons of the most popular, best-selling products from the two brands. To round off our review, though, here are our recommendations for the alternative skincare products that La Mer and Sisley offer.
Best La Mer Products
For the body:
Try The Body Creme
For skin renewal:
Try The Renewal Oil
For skin improvement:
Try The Concentrate
Best Sisley Products
For ageing skin:
Try the L'Integral Cream
For hydration:
Try the Express Flower Gel
For overnight results:
Try the Velvet Sleeping Mask
Work in progress
You have been reading a post that we are constantly updating. Be sure to bookmark this page, subscribe, and come back later to see additions to the definitive La Mer vs Sisley guide!
This article was originally published on January 26th 2022, but it has been reviewed and updated with the latest available information on January 24th 2024 by Sara Mckay, MA.
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Calum Torrington is the founder of FemmeNordic. He has worked as a beauty editor since 2020 and employs his analytical background in mathematics to thoroughly scrutinize complex INCI lists. Now, he helps over 1 million people per year to find the best beauty products.