The Best Wrinkle Creams for Aging Like Fine Wine

Every line on your face tells a story, but if you’d rather leave some of those stories untold, then the best wrinkle creams might help smoothen things out. We’re not saying these recommendations will leave you completely wrinkle-free, but these are some of the best options for slowing down the signs of aging on the skin.

When it comes to anti-aging skin care products—or any skin care in general—active ingredients are key. “I kind of like to break it down with anti-aging ingredients: What happens with age that these ingredients can prevent?” Dr. Muneeb Shah, also known as the “DermDoctor,” a board-certified dermatologist and founder of the new skincare brand Remedy, says. “So, loss of collagen and elastin, thinning of the epidermis, slowing down of skin cell turnover…anything that’s going to support collagen and elastin is going to be beneficial with aging.”

After months of testing anti-aging products (and some overall guidance from the good doctor), we narrowed down our medicine cabinet to the top 12 best wrinkle creams for nearly every skin type and issue.

The Best Wrinkle Creams for Men, According to GQ

• The Best Wrinkle Cream Overall: Jaxon Lane Relax and Repair, $36
• The Korean Skincare Favorite: Cardon Hydro Boost Gel Moisturizer, $29
• The Best Luxury French Wrinkle Cream: Beau Domaine The Cream, $209
• The Best Upgrade Wrinkle Cream: Skinceuticals A.G.E. Interrupter Advanced, $185
• The Best Retinol Cream: Dr. Loretta Concentrated Firming Moisturizer, $70
• The Best Night Cream: Geologie Retinol Night Cream 0.1%, $59
• The Best Morning Cream: Grown Alchemist Skin Renewal Day Cream, $62
• The Affordable All-in-One Wrinkle Cream: CeraVe Skin Renewing Day Cream with Sunscreen, $28 $23
• The Best for Deep Wrinkles: RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Anti-Aging Night Cream, $20
• The Bets Custom Moisturizer: Prose Custom Moisturizer, $52
• The Best Wrinkle Cream for Improving Skin Elasticity: Kiehl’s Super Multi-Corrective Anti-Aging Cream, $95
• The Best Easy-to-Absorb Wrinkle Cream: Kiehl’s Age Defender Cream Moisturizer, $47

The Best Wrinkle Cream Overall: Jaxon Lane Relax and Repair

It’s amazing how many research-backed anti-aging ingredients are contained in this $36 face moisturizer for men. It’s proof that you don’t have to spend $100 to start your own anti-aging skin care routine (there’s a reason it won a GQ Grooming Award. The ingredients include niacinamide, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, squalane, and botanical extracts from ginseng and Indian pennywort. Guys, especially those with sensitive skin types, will appreciate the lightweight formula, which is also fragrance-free.

The Best Korean Skincare Wrinkle Cream: Cardon Hydro Boost Gel Moisturizer

Cardon is a Korean skincare brand that’s a favorite of ours here at GQ Recommends. The brand won back-to-back GQ Grooming Awards in 2022 and 2023. We previously named this one of the best moisturizers for oily skin, but anyone can benefit from its potent formulation of niacinamide and botanicals. Apply this anti-aging moisturizer at night to the entire face and neck. For guys in their 20s and 30s who aren’t quite ready for a retinol, make this your new everyday moisturizer.

The Best Luxury French Wrinkle Cream: Beau Domaine The Cream

Speaking of $200 luxury French skincare products, Beau Domaine is the result of a partnership between Brad Pitt and famed French winemaker Marc Perrin. Along with the brand’s face serum and cleanser, this moisturizer gave my skin an undeniable glow-up in just four weeks. It contains patented antioxidants derived from grapes and other natural hydrating agents. It’s a luxe unisex moisturizer and wrinkle cream, and one of the best I’ve ever reviewed. If you really love skincare and want rapid wrinkle repair with natural ingredients, then this cream is worth the splurge.

The Best Retinol Cream: Dr. Loretta Concentrated Firming Moisturizer

This dermatologist-founded brand makes some of my favorite anti-aging products. I recommend this wrinkle cream for anyone dealing with more than just fine lines—although it helps with those, too. It contains retinoid derived from vitamin A to fight wrinkles, improve overall skin brightening, and smooth out skin, while antioxidants such as Co-Q-10 support your body’s natural collagen. The formula isn’t oily at all, and I found it absorbed quickly into the skin. Just a couple small drops was enough to keep dryness at bay for my entire face.

The Best Night Cream: Geologie Retinol Night Cream 0.1%

If you prefer to apply skincare products at night, then go with Geologie’s Night Cream. I love this product because it’s available with three concentrations of retinol—0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%. You can start with the lower concentration in your 30s, and as your body gets used to the formula, you can increase the concentration for improved results. In addition to retinol, this moisturizer also contains niacinamide and hyaluronic acid.

The Best Morning Cream: Grown Alchemist Skin Renewal Day Cream

Are you a morning person that likes to apply skincare products in the a.m., fresh out of a shower? Then opt for this Grown Alchemist day cream. The formula contains niacinamide (vitamin B3), glycerin, peptides and botanical extracts from reishi mushrooms and echinacea. In our review, we found it to be a luxurious cream that absorbed quickly. It even contains green tea to help fight blemishes, making it a smart face moisturizer for acne-prone skin types.

The Best Upgrade Wrinkle Cream: Skinceuticals A.G.E. Interrupter Advanced

One of the newest products in this guide, this award-winning Skinceuticals anti-wrinkle cream does more than moisturize. It supports your body’s elastin and collagen production, which means it can fight wrinkles at the source. It also contains more proven anti-aging ingredients such as niacinamide and licorice extract. While it’s a pricey balm, it’s worth it if you’re fighting deep wrinkles. This is a good option if you don’t tolerate retinol, although it would be a good complement to a retinol moisturizer, too.

The Custom Moisturizer: Prose Custom Moisturizer

Prose takes customization seriously. For instance, the brand might add extra UV protection to your products based on your sensitivity, location, and the season. I recently tested the brand’s new custom skincare regimen, and I actually liked it more than the famous Prose hair products. The vegan formula I received contains moisturizers such as glycerin and squalene, as well as anti-aging ingredients such as red algae, amino acids, and niacinamide. I normally prefer fragrance-free products, but I love the scent of this gel-like moisturizer, which is non oily. Like all of the best anti-aging moisturizers, it’s also cruelty-, phthalate-, and paraben-free.

The Best Wrinkle Cream for Improving Skin Elasticity: Kiehl’s Super Multi-Corrective Anti-Aging Cream

Wrinkles and fine lines aren’t the only signs of aging you need to worry about. Kiehl’s multi-purpose anti-aging moisturizer was formulated with vitamin A, chaga mushroom extract, and hyaluronic acid to even skin tone and improve elasticity on the face and neck. Apply it every day to the face and neck and you should see a plumping and smoothing effect in four to six weeks.

The Affordable All-in-One: CeraVe Skin Renewing Day Cream with Sunscreen

Tired of the sight of fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots? You don’t need to pay $200 for a luxe French face moisturizer (though we can recommend a few). This affordable drugstore brand face moisturizer is one of the few that combines broad spectrum SPF 30, for daily sun exposure, with retinol to protect and repair the skin. This day cream also uses hyaluronic acid to as the moisturizing agent, and it’s suitable for all skin types. For a $28 product on Amazon, it’s punching way above its weight class.

The Best for Deep Wrinkles: RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Anti-Aging Night Cream

Need a concentrated dose of anti-aging ingredients in an affordable package? Not only does this wrinkle night cream contain retinol to fight wrinkles, but it also contains exfoliating glycolic acid to help with dark spots and other signs of aging. Additional moisture comes from squalane and shea butter. Suitable for men and women, we recommend saving this product for deep wrinkles.

The Best Easy-to-Absorb Wrinkle Cream: Kiehl’s Age Defender Cream Moisturizer

Kiehl’s anti-aging moisturizer for men contains two potent ingredients: salicylic acid and caffeine. The former is a powerful exfoliating agent, useful for more than just acne, and the latter helps to energize the sensitive skin under the eyes, just like your favorite eye cream. It also has additional botanicals and moisturizers and a subtle, masculine fragrance. The whipped-cream like texture is soft to the touch and absorbs quickly.

Which Skincare Ingredients Are Proven To Reverse Signs of Aging?

If you’re fighting wrinkles, it’s all about retinol, retinol, retinol. But what other ingredients will help give your skin a glow-up?

“Retinol is probably the most studied ingredient over time for all the signs of aging,” Dr. Shah says. “Niacinamide is a great ingredient for this…Exfoliating acids like glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid, salicylic acid, can all be beneficial.”

With anti-aging products, you also need to manage expectations and practice patience. While some of the best wrinkle creams can provide near-instant plumping and firming effects, long-term results take time. That’s because the skin cells in your face take months to fully turn over. “So when you see a product that says, like, results in 24 hours, that’s generally just due to the moisturizing effect. It’s not really a long-term effect on your collagen or elastin,” Dr. Shah says. “With texture, you should see an improvement in texture in like, two weeks. If you’re talking about dark spots, discoloration, uneven skin tone that you see with aging skin, give it a month, six weeks. Anything like fine lines, wrinkles, you gotta give it at least three months, and probably a lot of times six months, to see results, quite honestly. And, if you think about it, how long did it take you to form wrinkles? A decade for you to develop wrinkles? And so it does take time, just like exercising, to kind of reverse those things.”