Avène Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream, postbiotic skincare for sensitive skin, helps restore skin barrier, face and body, safe for infants, children and adults

Ok, So I heard great things about this cream and decided to order. I ordered on May 28th and I live on the Gulf Coast of Texas and it is in the low 90s right now. I was worried mine would arrived separated like many others claimed to have gotten theirs, and sadly it did. Warm weather or not, blue water shot out of the tube the minute I squeezed it. Luckily, I read Mia P's review and submerged my tube in warm water (hot water actually straight out of my instant hot water faucet). I left it for about 5 minutes then shook it vigoroously. It seemed to help but was still a bit wonky so I repeated the process again and success! My tube is totally fine now and comes out in a thick, rich, emollient cream as it is supposed to. I will update my review after I use it more but so far I love the way it feels on the skin. It is very thick but spreads nicely and completely absorbs into the skin and leaves no greasy residue which is a big deal because I have oily skin. I purchased this to help with my Retin A uglies (I actually am using Musely with .05% tretinoin) and am hoping it helps with the redness and peeling I am having. I will update my review once I've used it for a while but wanted to post this review as I saw so many people complaining about the separating and just thought I'd mention that you can fix this issue if you have it (and there is a good likely hood that you will).Update: I've been using this for a week now and I am absolutely in love with this cream! It is the most hydrating and healing cream I've ever used. Usually, thicker face creams like this would cause issues for me with acne or clogged pores as I do have oily skin that can break out if I use products with occlusive ingredients, but this one does not. In fact, my skin has never looked better! This is a must-have if you are using Retin-A/Tretinoin and going through the red/peely phase with your skin. The separation that occurred when I first received it has not been a problem and the cream is staying thick and free from any strange liquidy issues after I put it in hot water as mentioned in the first part of my review.

I wanted to love this product so much because of the great ingredients it has, that are very beneficial for the skin. But each time I got this in the mail (I reordered it once, just in case the first time around was just a fluke), the ingredients had separated inside the tube in transit, and so when I opened the tube to squeeze some out, the water part that has separated would come squirting out the top and gush everywhere, losing a lot of product, and the thicker ingredients that the watery part had separated from had settled on the bottom, and no matter how much kneading of the tube that I did, I could never get the ingredients to combine back together again. Very frustrating for how expensive this is. Won’t recommend unless you buy in person, nor will I repurchase online

Updated review 02/29/24:I'm so glad I didn't return this because the thermal spring water was separated from the cream. This is my favorite moisturizer. Once you mix it well a few times, kneading the tube well with your fingers, it stays beautifully creamy. I've put it on subscribe and save. Don't give up on it. It's worth it! I love their eczema line too, but my poor eczema skin likes this moisturizer best.*Updated Review:Half the tube emptied out, a bunch of blue liquid. I was going to return it, but my facial eczema hurt so much. My eyelids were red, scaley, swollen. In desperation, I soaked the tube in hot water and kneaded it a lot. Let it cool, and then it was a nice cream! THICK, because most of the spring water was lost, but it really helped calm down my skin. I'm buying their eczema line and hoping to heal my skin enough to go out in public and not be embarrassed of looking like a leper. Before I put this on my eyelids, they were scaly and rough. That was healed right away. So it was worth it to keep and use my compromised half-tube.I would give it 4 1/2 stars if I hadn't lost half the tube after opening it.Original Review:I should've believed the reviews about half the product containing blue liquid. I shook it. Kneaded it. It was about half blue liquid and a thick cream, and I lost most of the blue liquid. I don't know if it separated due to the cold. I should return, but I'm desperate for relief.

I read the reviews, but it was on a 50% sale, so I decided to give it a try. It was watery at first, but I didn’t want to return it. So, I did what others suggested and put it in hot water. I had to do this three times on the first day and twice on the second day. I placed it in hot water until the water was no longer warm and mixed it by pressing the tube several times. I didn’t throw any water out of the tube. Now, it’s creamy, and I’m crossing my fingers it stays that way.Another note: squeeze out as much air as possible from the bottle. I didn’t do this, and it became watery in less than 24 hours. On the second day, I tried to squeeze out as much air as possible, and it’s been more than 48 hours now, and the consistency is thick and creamy.

I usually don't write reviews but this cream was a life saver. The spring water sometimes separates, but the tube is pretty pliable where I just squeezed it from top to bottom a few times and it really wasn't a big deal for me at all. It's very refreshing, It served two purposes for me. It took away the itch of mosquito bites and I had also scratched myself enough to break skin and since I am under a medical treatment at the moment this causes me to heal slower. This cream provided so much relief, it soothed and I believe it even helped the scar heal. I am so grateful that I found it.