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Comparison · Face moisturizer

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream vs CeraVe Moisturizing Cream: Is the $72 Jar Worth It?

Including what 148,543 CeraVe buyers and 8,102 Kiehl’s buyers agree on, the complaint each jar can’t shake, and the one kind of man the expensive one is for.

Updated: 27 September 2026 · Listings inspected 26 September 2026

A small frosted glass jar and a larger plain white tub of thick white cream, lids off, on a dark slate slab beside a wooden scoop, lit from a side window.

Short answer

Buy CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. It has eighteen times the ratings, a slightly better distribution, and costs about a dollar an ounce. Buy Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream only if CeraVe feels too heavy on your face. Its buyers describe it as lighter, and that is most of what the extra money buys.

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream is $72.00 for 4.2 fluid ounces on Amazon. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is $17.80 for 19 ounces. Per ounce, that is roughly $17 against 94 cents. Both prices were read on 26 September 2026.

A gap that size would be easy to justify if the buyers disagreed. They don’t. CeraVe holds 4.7 stars across 148,543 ratings, with 95 per cent in the four-to-five band. Kiehl’s holds 4.7 across 8,102, with 93 per cent.

Both work, then. The useful question is what the extra $16 an ounce buys. We looked in three places: the ingredient lists, the critical reviews, and one registry neither brand’s ads bring up.

Both carry the same eczema seal

The National Eczema Association runs a Seal of Acceptance program and publishes every accepted product in a searchable directory. We searched it on 26 September 2026. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is in it. So is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream.

That matters because this comparison is usually framed as the dermatologist’s drugstore staple against the department-store splurge. On the one sensitive-skin program we could check, they sit in the same list.

The directory doesn’t publish how each product was assessed, and we found no per-product protocol. Treat the seal as a floor that both clear.

What is actually in each jar

CeraVe publishes its full ingredient list. The working parts are three ceramides (NP, AP and EOP), cholesterol, phytosphingosine and sodium hyaluronate, with petrolatum and dimethicone as occlusives. That is a barrier-repair formula built from lipids skin already uses, then sealed in.

Kiehl’s product page leads with 4.5 per cent squalane, glacial glycoprotein and what it calls pro-ceramides. We could not find the full ingredient list on the page we read, so we won’t guess at the rest. Squalane is a light, non-greasy emollient. That matches how its buyers describe the texture.

Kiehl’s also cites testing. Its page claims 72-hour hydration based on an instrumental study, and says 85 per cent of 21 subjects showed less visible redness at 24 hours. Twenty-one people is a small study. It is still more detail than CeraVe’s page gives, which says the cream is clinically tested and stops there.

The two jars side by side

Everything in this table was read from the Amazon listings on 26 September 2026.

Product	Size	Price	Per ounce	Ratings	5★	4★	3★	2★	1★	4–5 band	Seller
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream	19 oz	$17.80	$0.94	148,543	85%	10%	3%	0%	2%	95%	Amazon.com
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream	4.2 fl oz	$72.00	$17.14	8,102	84%	9%	3%	1%	3%	93%	Kiehl’s Since 1851

Two points of four-to-five band separate them. The price separates them by a factor of eighteen.

What the critical reviews complain about

Amazon’s star filters work when you are signed in. So on 26 September 2026 we read every critical review the one-, two- and three-star filters would serve for each jar: 39 for Kiehl’s and 40 for CeraVe, after removing duplicates and anything from Amazon’s free-product program. Then we sorted them by what they say.

Very few are about whether the cream works.

For Kiehl’s, the biggest single complaint is the jar. Fourteen of the 39 say the container looks smaller than the one they used to buy, though the label still reads 4.2 fl oz. A three-star from December 2025 is typical: “A few months ago I purchased 125 ml. And in November I purchased 125 ml again. Look at the size difference.”

Eight more say it isn’t moisturizing enough for the price, and six describe a reaction or breakouts.

For CeraVe, the biggest complaint is the seal. Nine of 40 say the tub arrived without one. One reviewer called CeraVe about it in September 2026 and “was told that no cellophane seal is on the inside of the tub”. If you expected foil under the lid, that is why there isn’t any.

Five more CeraVe critics find it too heavy. A September 2026 three-star: “The cream feels very heavy on my skin and doesn’t seem to absorb well.”

That split is the whole comparison in small. CeraVe’s critics find it too much. Kiehl’s critics find it too little for the money.

CeraVe

Moisturizing Cream, 19 oz

Grooming Score 9.4/10

Best overall

Typically $16–20

Check price on Amazon

The better buy for almost every man reading this, and the numbers aren’t close.

148,543 ratings at 4.7 stars, read 26 September 2026, with 95 per cent in the four-to-five band and 2 per cent at one star. The 19-ounce tub is $17.80, or 94 cents an ounce. It is on the National Eczema Association’s accepted list, and one August 2026 five-star sums up the loyalty: “I’ve spent a fortune over the years on luxury moisturizers, and none of them outperform this one.”

The catch is weight. It is thick and takes a minute to sink in, and five of its 40 critical reviews call it heavy or waxy. On an oily forehead in August it will feel like too much. It is also a tub, so fingers go in it, and it ships without an inner seal.

Sold and shipped by Amazon.com. If the daytime feel bothers you, use it at night and something lighter in the morning.

Kiehl’s

Ultra Facial Cream, 4.2 fl oz

Grooming Score 9.2/10

Lighter feel

Typically $65–75

Check price on Amazon

If CeraVe sits on your face like a coat of primer, this is the one to try, and that is the whole case for paying more.

8,102 ratings at 4.7 stars, 93 per cent in the four-to-five band, read 26 September 2026. Buyers keep using the same word: a September 2026 five-star says it “feels smooth and lightweight on my skin”. The 4.2-ounce jar is $72.00, about $17 an ounce. The 1.7-ounce size was $39.00 the same day.

The catch is value, and its own critics raise it. Fourteen of 39 critical reviews are about a jar that looks smaller than it used to, and eight say it doesn’t moisturize enough for what it costs. If your skin gets properly dry in winter, it may not be enough on its own.

Sold by Kiehl’s Since 1851 through Amazon, Premium Brand Sourced. Try the smaller jar first.

Who should pay for Kiehl’s

A man with oily or combination skin who wants something he can wear under a beard or before work without feeling it. That is the buyer the Kiehl’s reviews describe, again and again.

Everyone else is mostly paying for the jar and the name. A three-star from January 2026 put it more bluntly than we would: “There doesn’t seem to be any significant appeal to this product outside of its name.”

If you already own Kiehl’s and like it, nothing here says switch. If you are choosing for the first time, start with CeraVe and move up only if the texture is the problem.

How we compared them

Ratings, prices, sellers and distributions come from each Amazon listing, read in a logged-in session on 26 September 2026. The complaint counts are our own. We read every critical review the star filters would serve, removed duplicates and free-product reviews, and sorted them by hand.

Two limits are worth stating. Amazon serves a capped set of reviews per filter, so these are the critical reviews we could read, not every one ever written. And we could not read Kiehl’s full ingredient list, so the ingredient comparison covers what each brand chose to publish.

For the Kiehl’s against Aesop question, we have a separate comparison. For a ranking of heavier creams, see the best moisturizers for dry skin.

Questions men actually ask

Is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream better than CeraVe?

Not on the buyer record. CeraVe had 148,543 ratings to Kiehl’s 8,102 on 26 September 2026, and a slightly better distribution: 95 per cent in the four-to-five band against 93. Kiehl’s is lighter on the skin, which is the reason its fans give for paying about 18 times more per ounce.

Can you use CeraVe Moisturizing Cream on your face?

Yes. CeraVe sells it for face and body, and it carries the National Eczema Association’s Seal of Acceptance. It is thick, so men with oily skin often prefer it at night. Five of the 40 critical reviews we read call it heavy, which is the usual reason someone moves to a lighter cream.

Why does my new Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream jar look smaller?

Kiehl’s changed the jar, and 14 of the 39 critical reviews we read raise it. The label still states 4.2 fl oz, or 125 ml. We have not weighed a jar, so we can’t say whether the fill changed or only the container. If it matters to you, compare the net contents printed on the box.

Does CeraVe Moisturizing Cream come with a seal?

Not an inner foil seal. Nine of 40 critical reviews we read complain about that, and one reviewer reports CeraVe customer service confirming there is no cellophane seal inside the tub. If the lid or outer packaging looks tampered with, return it.

Is Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream good for sensitive skin?

It carries the National Eczema Association’s Seal of Acceptance, as does CeraVe Moisturizing Cream. That said, six of the 39 critical reviews we read describe a reaction or breakouts. Patch-test on your jaw for a few days before using it across your whole face.