Drunk Elephant launches in Boots: These are the products worth buying

Slaai has quickly become one of our favourite cleansing balms (use it as the first stage in a double cleanse to remove your make-up). It’s fairly loose in texture compared to some balms once it’s out of the tub, use the handy scoop for maximum hygiene, and melts across skin with very little work, dissolving grime and make-up. We also love that it has zero sting when used on the eyes. It contains a rich, conditioning blend of African oils; marula, baobab, kalahari melon, mongongo and ximenia to leave skin soft and plump.

Drunk Elephant’s retinol has a cream texture, which acts as a buffer to make it gentle on the skin, and contains one per cent retinol, which is a moderate but effective concentration. It also contains nourishing, hydrating oils; marula, passionfruit, apricot and jojoba and peptides, fatty acids and antioxidants such as kale leaf extract. The result is an exfoliating, tightening and brightening serum that improves skin’s texture and appearance without stripping moisture or causing irritation.

This contains vitamin C, peptides and ceramides, antioxidants and plant oils; all of which are incredible for conditioning skin and restoring it to its natural, glowy brightness. It left the skin around our eyes soft, hydrated and firmer, with fine, papery lines plumped out. We love the vitamin C-appropriate orange cap, too.

We love an overnight mask for their ease (the ultimate in lazy skincare) and promised transformative powers. F-Balm is a cooling, hydrating cream that has an ingredients list that made us squeal: niacinamide (for clarity, tone and texture), super hydrating squalane and hyaluronic acid, no fewer than five ceramides to strengthen the skin barrier, and vitamin F, two soothing fatty acids. The so-called electrolyte blend is of coconut water, sodium PCA, magnesium PCA and prickly pear extract; we’re not 100 per cent sold on the idea of electrolytes in skincare, but this sounds like a solid list of humectant and antioxidant ingredients.

This AHA/BHA gel serum contains glycolic, tartaric, lactic, citric and salicylic acids to slough away dead skin cells and reveal clearer smoother skin. There’s also the soothing raspberry fruit extract, cactus extract and horse chestnut, as well as a low weight hyaluronic acid and, of course, virgin marula oil, all of which help keep the application experience gentle, with just a light tingle. Apply it on cleansed skin at night before other products, as its exfoliation will improve the absorption of the rest of your regime.

B-hydra is probably the least exciting sounding product in the range, but it’s quietly dependable. Its velvety cream texture feels more like a moisturiser than a serum on first application, and it dries to a tacky, thin layer. It combines hyaluronic acid with vitamin B5, with its moisturising and soothing properties, and pineapple ceramide, which brightens skin.

This contains the same blend of African oils as the Slaai cleaning balm; marula, baobab, kalahari melon, mongongo and ximenia as well as passion fruit oil, which is rich in fatty acids and vitamin C. You’ll also find a light molecular weight hyaluronic acid for deep penetration, and a blend of soothing plant derived ceramides that strengthen the skin’s natural barrier and prevent moisture loss. It’s a comforting, relieving cream that leaves skin bouncy and baby soft.

One of our favourite things about Drunk Elephant cleansing products is the generous sizes: you won’t feel like you’ve wasted a penny with this chunky tube. Beste No 9 is a clear, gel textured cleanser that has a very light foaming effect when massaged into damp skin, but isn’t at all drying. We find this isn’t heavy enough to remove all our make-up on first pass, but we love to use it in the morning and as our second cleanse in the evening.

We’ll be honest, we’ve yet to be able to get our hands on a sample of this, but it’s such a much loved Drunk Elephant product that it feels amiss not to mention it. It was one of the brand’s late launchers in the UK, only arriving at the end of last year, to much hype. It’s a weekly mask that is supposed to act as a mini facial (hence the name), with a smoothing blend of 25 per cent AHAs and 2 per cent BHAs: glycolic, tartaric, lactic, citric and salicylic acids.

If you still don’t know where to start The Littles is a brilliant kit of eight minis including many of our favourites, from C-Tango eye cream to TLC Framboos serum, plus some others, such as the Virgin Marula Facial Oil. It’s also great if you want to travel with your favourite Drunk Elephant products without making the effort to decant.