My Beauty Empties This Week: Paula’s Choice Azelaic Acid and Aestura Atobarrier 365
These two tubes are just about emptied, so it seemed like the perfect time to write them up and start our new series!
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This is actually my 4th tube of Aestura, if that tells you anything right off the bat. And this was my first time using Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster.
I wanted to try this PC (Paula’s Choice) in lieu of a vitamin C serum. I had finished a bottle of the coveted SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic and had the strange realization that, well, nothing happened! Seriously. Nothing. I noticed no difference this time around. So instead of splurging on another bottle of it, I actually used a new tool we’re developing to analyze my skin and recommend a few new products to add to my routine. (More on that soon!)
Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster
Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster
A gentle way into azelaic acid for redness, small bumps, and the marks blemishes leave behind. Mixes into a serum or moisturizer, so you can start slow. Certified cruelty-free (PETA).
If azelaic acid is new to you, the short version is that it’s a mild acid found naturally in grains like barley and rye, and it’s one of the few things that works on redness and breakouts at the same time. It calms the inflammation behind rosacea-type flushing, slows the dead-cell buildup that turns into little bumps, and slowly fades the dark marks old blemishes leave. A 2023 review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology looked across the research and found it holds up for acne, rosacea, and discoloration, which is a lot of ground for one tube to cover.
My main concerns starting it were some ruddiness and small bumps I’d begun noticing, and I’m happy to say they’re less noticeable now. A couple of things happened around the same time, in fairness: I got a long-overdue facial, and I started using a gentle exfoliator (the Dermalogica rice one, which I’m low-key obsessed with and will write up as soon as I empty it). But I’d been using the PC for a couple of weeks before any of that, so I think it earned some of the credit. I’m clearly not the only one who saw movement on redness fast. One reviewer with the same issues I had wrote, “I started using PC azelaic acid booster a few weeks ago for redness and texture and results so far are great.” Another put it more plainly: “The PC azelaic acid is a staple for me. It is the main product that keeps my rosacea from flaring up.”
The texture is part of why I’d reach for this one over a cheaper azelaic. One commenter who’d tried a few called it “worlds better than The Ordinary in terms of elegance,” and that matches what I felt: it sinks in instead of pilling. The honest caveats: it isn’t the cheapest version of this ingredient, and a couple of reviewers pointed that out, with one noting a similar drugstore option “is just as good and has Vitamin C too.” A few people also find 10% tingles if they layer it over other actives. I didn’t have any stinging or burning sensation, but I often combined it with my COSRX Peptide serum. Chance of me buying again? 8/10.
Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream
AESTURA Atobarrier 365 Cream
A ceramide barrier cream that feels lightweight and rich at once, never greasy. The one I keep rebuying in any season.
I first bought this after reading Emily Schuman’s Substack on her first foray into Korean skincare. I bought everything she listed. This is the one product I’ve kept in the routine, along with the COSRX Peptide serum, which as I said I combine with the PC in the morning and my tretinoin prescription at night. (The peptide serum on its own doesn’t do much for me, but I like it as a way to dilute stronger acids.)
Worth knowing what Aestura actually is, because it isn’t a random K-beauty pickup. It’s Amorepacific’s dermocosmetic line, the one that started inside the company’s pharmaceutical side for eczema-prone and barrier-damaged skin, and it’s been the top brand in Korean skin clinics for years. The cream works the way good barrier creams do: your skin barrier is built from ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids, and when those run low your face gets tight and flaky. This puts all three back, with ceramides doing most of the lifting, which is why it holds up over a thinner lotion. One quick heads-up if you track ingredients: the current version added niacinamide in a recent reformulation, so skip it if your skin is touchy about that.
This is one of the best moisturizers I’ve ever used. It feels both lightweight and rich, and never greasy. I use it in the muggy Florida summers where we live, and I’ve used it visiting my in-laws in Ohio in the winter, and it’s great no matter the season. I’ve also used it as a body moisturizer in a pinch and it’s equally good. I sort of wish they made a body version! The reviews that won me over sound a lot like my own. One person called it “an absolute love” that “got me through the dry winter.” Another, who uses tretinoin like I do, said the cream “saved me on most days” and called it “a great and heavy-duty moisturizer for whole year round.” A third, who has eczema, called it “one of the few creams” she can use on it and “so nourishing” that one night application carries her skin straight through to morning.
It isn’t for everyone, so take note.The most common complaint is breakouts on acne-prone skin. One reviewer who really wanted to love it said it “broke me out very bad” with “painful under-the-skin bumps and whiteheads,” even though a different ceramide cream never did. A few people also find the texture a little gritty going on, with one noting “the tiny beads don’t dissolve as easily as I hoped.” I’ve never had either problem across four tubes (and I tend to break out easily), so do with that info what you will! Chance of me buying again? 10/10.
What were your beauty empties this week? Email me about it!
A cruelty-free mark means the brand is certified by PETA, Leaping Bunny, or both at the time of writing. A missing mark doesn’t mean a brand tests on animals; it just means the brand isn’t certified by these programs.
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