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Drunk Elephant

Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream.

Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream
Moisturizers

About this product

A rich, occlusive moisturizer designed to repair and protect the skin barrier, formulated with ceramides, plant oils, fatty acids, and soothing botanicals.

Type

MoisturizersCream

Key actives

Formula notes

Fragrance-freeNo drying alcohol

Full ingredients

Guru Score

70%

Mixed

7 experts · Strong agreement
7Gurus
5Approved
0Mixed
2Skip

What the gurus are saying

This cream's thickness earns consistent praise for deeply hydrating very dry, sensitive, or compromised skin, though it divides on texture feel. Most gurus love how fast it calms tight, flaky skin and holds moisture, and note it layers well under sunscreen if you let it absorb for five to ten minutes first. One dermatologist flagged that it uses zinc gluconate rather than zinc oxide, making it less effective for inflamed barriers if that's your primary concern. Those with drier skin tend to adore it; if your skin runs on the oilier side or you dislike heavy creams, it may feel too occlusive.
Synthesized from 7 expert reviews · most recent take April 2026
Every take, in full

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Approved takes Critical takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored
~Skip
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream, which I didn't love, but maybe I'll try it again."
All 8 takes from No BS Beauty
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"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream is $69. It's got the shea butter, the jojoba oil, ceramides, palmitic acid, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and it's a good option if you're looking for a richer moisturizer."
Winter Evening Skincare Routine for Very Dry, Sensitive Skin - Fragrance Free Products!
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier cream feels like putting a mask on to me, and with my dry skin I should like that, but I don't. It is so thick. Other people didn't have that same issue so I don't know, maybe I'm just overdoing it, but I'm going to try and finish it."
Prequel Half & Half Peptides + Ceramides Fluid Moisturizer Review, How to, Dupes & Alternatives
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream, which I didn't love, but maybe I'll try it again."
Drunk Elephant Moisturizer Versus - Comparison and Dupes For Bora Barrier, Protini, and Lala Creams
"The Bora Barrier Cream is probably my least favorite of them. I just found it to be a little bit thick, not enjoyable to use, and I didn't find myself benefiting much from it. However, if you have a damaged skin barrier, irritated skin, flaky skin, things like that, a lot of people really like it for that."
New Moisturizers First Impressions - Biossance Overnight Cream & Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream
"It doesn't quite have as much slip to it. It doesn't really have the slip of the other creamy one, but it's not as thick as a la la cream either. I feel like this is going to be one where a little bit does not go a long way. It doesn't feel greasy or anything though, feels kind of nice, feels fine. I just don't think one pump is going to be enough for an entire face because one pump was enough for about half my face. It feels like sunscreen's going to pill unless you give it a minute to soak in. That's the only thing I found that helps with certain moisturizers under sunscreen, and the only thing I found that helps is giving them five to ten minutes to soak in before you put the sunscreen on, otherwise it pills."
Drunk Elephant Skincare 🐘🆕🐘 Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream with 6-Butterlipid Complex Moisturizer
"I kept trying it and I woke up with just pills everywhere of just product it was just gross. Something on this one for me is just lost, but other people absolutely love it. This is just so thick I just don't love it. I can't make any promises but I just did not enjoy using it or applying it. Once it's applied it's okay, but again I wake up this morning with little pills of little blue pills of copper peptide things. It's shiny it feels very mask-like, but I guess for super dry skin I guess it's not a bad thing. I don't love this so much when other people do. It's so thick I couldn't imagine using this one in my daytime routine. What Drunk Elephant really had going for was their products are expensive but very enjoyable to apply unlike things like the ordinary where they're very thick or pill. Things have changed and like they're proteiny now anytime I use it over almost anything it foams. Something's changed."
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"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier cream, I didn't love it. It felt thick, it felt mask like on my skin. They change something in it because it foams up on me every time I apply it over anything. This stuff felt super thick and just mask like, it felt like I was wearing a thick mask that was meant to rinse off. For me it just was a bummer."
Did My Past Self Get It Right? Revisiting My Old Advice on Skin Barrier Repair Products
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Cream is on the thicker side, kind of in the middle between the protein and the LA cream. It's fragrance-free, so that's nice, so no further irritation."
~Approved
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Repair Cream is really rich. It's really good for deep hydration and is ideal for really dry, sensitive, or even compromised skin. It helps repair and protect against moisture loss. The key ingredients are ceramides, plant oils, and fatty acids. You could even use this on top of your regular moisturizer almost like a barrier if you needed to."
~Approved
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier repair cream has a lot of different butters and it's been wonderful for the winter months. Sometimes I will use this in the morning, and surprisingly this sits great underneath sunscreen and makeup. It makes my skin look amazing."
All 3 takes from Sincerely Miss Ash
THE BEST MOISTURIZERS FOR DRY SKIN | WINTER 2024 - SINCERELY MISS ASH
"This is the thickest out of the three, there's a lot of different oils in here and when you use this and your skin is super dry and tight, this is going to make your skin feel incredible within a couple of minutes. I love those different oils in there, especially when your skin needs that moisture. There's also copper and zinc gluconate which can help with redness, so with a compromised skin barrier with irritation our skin can appear quite rosy, and this will help to calm down rosiness. There's Alpha glucan which can help to soothe the skin, and there are six butter lipid complexes in here to help maintain and keep your skin barrier nice and strong and healthy. I really like this and think that this is a great option for everyday. I love this especially for the nighttime routine, but I have used this a few times in my morning routine and it does sit nicely with sunscreen and makeup. But if you are using a sunscreen that is very rich and thick and glowy on the skin, then you might find that this paired up with that might be a little bit too heavy. From my experience testing this out, it can feel a little heavy if your sunscreen is on the thicker side."
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"With anti-redness benefits and powerful antioxidant properties and alpha glucan which is derived from rice and used for its soothing hydration boosting benefits, there's a lot of oils in here like several oils, they have the shea butter, they do have some peptides in here as well, the ceramides. So I can see this being a lovely cream when your skin needs some TLC. I use a lot of actives on my skin that can cause dryness and irritation so I would love to see how this repairs my skin. Drunk Elephant is pricey but I do feel like their products are worth the money and their formulations are truly on point from my experience with them."
MY MORNING ANTI-AGING SKINCARE ROUTINE - SKINCARE OVER 30 (WINTER/SPRING SKINCARE ROUTINE)
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier repair cream has a lot of different butters and it's been wonderful for the winter months. Sometimes I will use this in the morning, and surprisingly this sits great underneath sunscreen and makeup. It makes my skin look amazing."
~Approved
"I ran out of this recently. I've been meaning to pick up another bottle and I keep forgetting and I miss it. It's such a good rich cream that's great for just restoring your skin barrier overnight."
All 5 takes from Allie Glines
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"This was designed for like super dry skin or if you get like a facial done or some sort of laser treatment or something like that and you just need your skin to be nourished and for your skin barrier to be repaired. It's so moisturizing, it's ridiculous, but it's not so oily to where it feels like it's sitting on top of the skin. It sinks into the skin so much moisture gets absorbed into my face. I stopped using this for a couple of days and my skin felt like it was going to just flake off. I didn't realize how much this had been doing for me until I forgot to bring it when I was traveling and my skin really took a toll when I wasn't using it, and it was very happy and like bounced right back as soon as I added this back into my routine. If you're somebody who struggles with super super dry skin on the face, this is one of the best super rich moisturizers that does not break you out. It just feels almost like butter in the best way, but it absorbs into the skin."
How To Make 2024 Your BEST Makeup Year, Ever.
"My current favorite moisturizer is the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier cream. This stuff is so good, especially during the winter. My skin is loving it."
Overcoming Your Fear of Makeup: Part 1
"I've been really into barrier restoring products again, I feel like it just really helps my skin feel and look its best, especially under makeup. So today I went into one of my favorite creams right now, this is the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream. It is so good. It's definitely a very thick moisturizer. If you're somebody with super dry skin, very irritated dry skin, this is something that I feel like you might really like."
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"I ran out of this recently. I've been meaning to pick up another bottle and I keep forgetting and I miss it. It's such a good rich cream that's great for just restoring your skin barrier overnight."
What I'd Buy for YOU at Sephora RIGHT NOW 😍
"The Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Repair Cream is so delicious, especially if you have more dry skin. It's my favorite night cream right now and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It really restores my skin and it has the most amazing rich but not oily or heavy feeling texture. I love it so much."
~Skip
"Drunk Elephant has just come up with their Bora Barrier Repair Cream, and I saw on social that they were duping this and comparing this to a diaper rash cream, but it is not comparable because it is zinc gluconate in this particular product, not zinc oxide. It is a nice barrier cream with squalane, ceramides, and other ingredients. But it's not exactly what I'm referring to when I talk about face basting because of the zinc, the lack of zinc oxide in it. So if you are somebody who is acne prone with dry skin, might be worth looking into this particular product for that reason. But if you're trying to face baste to really repair your skin from an inflamed skin barrier, you could do better than this."
~Approved
"I love that this is very thick texture and it has ceramides and peptides in it so it's going to be very hydrating and repairing of the skin barrier."
~Approved
"I've got on the Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream. This stuff is rich. If you are someone that likes a really thick moisturizer, really juicy skin, it's amazing. It's right up my street. Last night what I did was I put F bam on first and then I used Skin Nova on top of it just to kind of dilute it down a little bit. It's phenomenal."
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Common questions

Frequently asked.

What is Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream?

A rich, occlusive moisturizer designed to repair and protect the skin barrier, formulated with ceramides, plant oils, fatty acids, and soothing botanicals.

Is Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream worth it?

The gurus are split. 5 of the 7 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 2 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 70%.

What is Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream's Guru Score?

Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream holds a Guru Score of 70%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 7 independent expert reviewers we have collected.

Who is Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream best for?

Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream is generally suited to dry skin and sensitive skin.

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