If You Love CeraVe's Best-Selling Moisturizing Cream, Try This Affordable Hack

With a tagline touting "developed with dermatologists," CeraVe is synonymous with no-frills skincare solutions that simply work, so it's no wonder nearly all of its products boast thousands of glowing reviews on Amazon. A brand best-seller? CeraVe's intensely hydrating Moisturizing Cream with nearly 50,000 five-star ratings. But regardless of its $16 drugstore price point, reviewers claim they've found a surprising hack for obtaining similar results—and it involves an even more affordable product from the brand.

CeraVe Baby Moisturizing Cream is a rich moisturizer that claims to hydrate, protect, and maintain delicate skin without leaving behind a heavy, greasy feel. It's popular in its own right with nearly 4,000 five-star ratings on Amazon, plus prestigious stamps of approval from the National Eczema Association and pediatric dermatologists. Its fragrance-, dye-, and paraben-free formula is suitable for babies, toddlers, and children with sensitive skin types, but the cream has reviewers of all ages arguing it's "not just for babies," featuring gentle restorative properties that make it "amazing for adults," too.

Some shoppers actually "prefer it to the 'adult' version" for reasons that go beyond its substantially cheaper $10 price. A big win over the original, the baby formula is phthalate-free, but it otherwise contains largely the same ingredients—including skin-plumping hyaluronic acid and all three of the brand's namesake ceramides—listed in a different order according to their priority level. At the top of the list, dimethicone is promoted to an active ingredient used to trap water and prevent moisture loss, making it ideal for eczema-prone skin.

To buy: $10 (was $13); amazon.com.

Reviewers also favor the baby cream's mess-free, portable 5-ounce tube over the original 19-ounce jar tub, citing how it's better suited for use on the go. Also, thanks to its squeeze-out packaging, you won't have to stick your fingers in to snag a scoop, making the application process far more sanitary. As one reviewer who made the switch said, "We used to use the tub, but I hated constantly dipping my hands in because [of the] germs and what not. The tube is great."

"You can buy smaller tubes of the cream, since the big tub is, well, a big tub, and tubes are more portable, but this is probably more cost-effective," wrote another shopper. "It's not exactly the same formula, but it seems to have the same ceramides and most of the same ingredients but in different places in the list. I think it seems to be even richer, and makes a perfect hand cream. For baby use, the tub of the original cream would be great for the changing table or bathroom counter, but this is way easier to tote, and neater!"

Hack Amazon's best-selling body cream with the CeraVe baby moisturizer that offers a near-identical formula for a fraction of the cost.