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9 best neck creams for rejuvenating and firming results

These gravity-fighting formulas are your décolletage’s best friend

Sabine Wiesel
Monday 04 November 2024 11:09 GMT
The neck is often neglected in skincare routines
The neck is often neglected in skincare routines (Necessaire/Elemis/Skinceuticals/iStockThe Independent)
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No matter your age, there’s no reason not to include your neckline in your skincare routine. Our necks are more susceptible to showing signs of premature ageing as neck skin is much thinner than facial skin, with fewer oil-producing sebaceous glands.

As we age, we produce less collagen and elastin, which means our skin is more prone to sagging, wrinkling and suffering from UV damage.

What’s more “the skin on our neck is more extensible and elastic,” says dermatologist Dr Sonakshi Khorana who works with Faace. “It is significantly influenced by constant movement, weight and sun exposure.” This isn’t helped by what’s now been dubbed ‘tech-neck’, our constant screen use forces us to look down at our phones, tablets and laptops exasperating creasing of the neck.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using the same products on your neck that you do on your face. Just pay attention to the ingredients list, as delicate skin is more likely to be sensitive or react to potent actives.

Nevertheless, don’t think a dedicated neck cream is an indulgent buy – there are benefits to using a separate product. Not only will it encourage you to give the neck area the same TLC you give your face but, with ingredients that actually target the delicate area, you are going to get the best results: be it combating crepiness, sagginess, discolouration or lines and wrinkles.

How we tested the best neck creams

A selection of the best neck creams that earned a spot in this review
A selection of the best neck creams that earned a spot in this review (Sabine Wiesel)

Our tester put the latest neck creams on trial, using them for a minimum of 30 days. Each was used as instructed by the brand, both as part of a morning and evening skincare routine. We looked at how they made the neck and décolletage feel but, ultimately, we looked at whether they made a difference to the skin’s appearance. Let us introduce you to the neck’s best thing….

Why trust us

Sabine Wiesel is a beauty editor with over 14 years of experience in the cosmetics field, specifically for women over 30. She’s an expert on all things affordable and luxury anti-ageing skincare and used her in depth product know-how to curate this, the conclusive guide to the best neck creams.

The best neck creams for 2024 are:

  • Best overall – Neostrata triple firming neck cream: £59.64, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best budget buy – Prai ageless throat and décolletage crème: £28.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best for sensitive skin – Meder arma neck cream: £90, Mederbeauty.com
  • Best for firming – Strivectin TL advanced tightening neck cream: £48.49, Amazon.co.uk

Neostrata triple firming neck cream

Best neck creams Neostrata triple firming neck cream indybest
  • Best: Overall
  • Key ingredients: Neoglucosamine, neocitriate, and pro-amino acid
  • How to use: Smooth over neck and décolletage twice daily
  • Size: 80g
  • Why we love it
    • Non-greasy
    • Hard-working ingredients
    • One pump is all you need
    • Results in just three days
    • Lifts and firms sagging skin
    • Targets discolouration

Rich, yet non-greasy, this neck cream targets multiple signs of ageing. If you’re not familiar with the key ingredients, the triple blend of hard-working actives works to resurface and brighten discolouration, stimulate collagen production and support the skin’s structure to plump and smooth lines and firm the neckline.

One pump is all you need in your morning and evening skincare routines, applying in upwards motions from your décolletage to your jawline. We loved how quickly we saw results with this product. After just three days of use, the nourishing formula made our skin feel beautifully smooth. Play the long game, as we did, and you can expect to see a more even skin tone and texture after a month, with a firming effect taking place, too.

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Prai ageless throat and décolletage crème

Best neck creams Prai ageless throat and décolletage crème indybest
  • Best: Budget buy
  • Key ingredients: Sepilift dphp, saxifrage and grapeseed extracts, shea butter
  • How to use: Apply in gentle upward strokes from cleavage to chin AM and PM
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Affordable and effective
    • Hydrates and brightens
    • Quick results for fine lines
  • Take note
    • Have to persevere for benefits to sagging and crepey skin

One of these cult neck creams is said to be sold every 60 seconds worldwide. The reason this award-winning neck cream is so popular is it’s affordable and effective – boasting squalane, hyaluronic acid and shea butter to hydrate and lock in moisture, vitamins A, E and F to protect and repair, and a handful of natural extracts to brighten and help with age spots. The company’s not-so-secret ingredient, sepilift, which has a firming and moisturising action on the skin, is another stand-out that makes the formula unique.

It promises results in just seven days, and we quickly started to see results in the form of less visible fine lines, but we found you do have to persevere for it to work on sagging and crepey skin.

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Elemis pro-collagen neck & décolleté balm

Best neck creams Elemis pro-collagen neck & décolleté balm indybest
  • Best: For crepiness
  • Key ingredients: Tree fern extract, sea buckthorn oil and marine actives
  • How to use: Massage a pea-sized amount using upwards strokes
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Iconic collection
    • Antioxidant and vitamin rich
    • Boosts hydration
    • Smooths lines and firms skin
  • Take note
    • Doesn’t feature as many anti-ageing ingredients s competitors for the price

Part of the iconic pro-collagen collection, if you’re a fan of Elemis’s marine cream (who isn’t?) you’ll love this formula dedicated to the delicate neck area. This also contains marine extracts that are teamed with antioxidant and vitamin-rich ingredients for a skin-protecting and rejuvenating formula.

For some instant gratification, the super-light, slightly fragranced, balm immediately absorbs into the skin, leaving the area feeling silky and supple, but its youth-boosting properties get to work quickly, too. After one month’s use, we were impressed to see crepey skin looking smoother and a reduction in the look of fine lines.

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Necessaire the neck serum

Best neck creams Necessaire the neck serum indybest
  • Best: For fine lines and wrinkles
  • Key ingredients: Multi-peptides, niacinamide, squalane
  • How to use: Massage upwards for day and night use
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Chic packaging
    • Nourishes and hydrated as well as smooths and firms
    • Lightweight luxurious texture
    • Helped create a more defined neckline

Much more than just chic, minimalistic packaging, Necessaire uses results-driven ingredients in its bodycare products, for real replenishing and renewing results. A stand-out for us in its line-up is this fragrance-free neck serum that we can’t get enough of. It’s a powerhouse of five skin-strengthening peptides that help support the production of collagen, leading to smooth and firmer skin. It’s further boosted with nourishing squalane and superstar active niacinamide, which diminishes lines and improves uneven skin tone.

Light and luxe in texture, the serum leaves the neck feeling comfortably cushioned with a veil of dewiness on the skin when first applied. After a few days of use, we started to notice a difference in how well-hydrated the area not only felt but looked. With ongoing use, we started to see a more defined neckline.

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Gatineau Paris defi lift firming neck and decollete gel

Best neck creams Gatineau Paris defi lift firming neck and decollete gel indybest
  • Best: For brightening
  • Key ingredients: Peruvian tara fruit extract, elkhorn sea moss extract, valine and vitamin E
  • How to use: Apply AM/PM using upwards movements
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Velvety gel texture
    • Instant hydration
    • Perks dullness and reduced redness

When you first apply this velvety gel, you notice how cooling it feels on the skin. Left to absorb, it leaves the neck and décolletage instantly feeling better hydrated (our skin would drink up the formula) but best of all it also blankets the skin in glow. This is thanks to its infusion of rejuvenating ingredients that not only work to tone and firm the skin but perk-up dullness and reduce redness.

We saw ongoing benefits the longer we used this gel. It brightened the skin tone, toned crepiness and smoothed necklace lines so well that we missed it in our routine when we stopped using it – always a sign of a great product. The key with this one is to keep going and you’ll see better and better results.

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Strivectin TL advanced tightening neck cream

Best neck creams Strivectin TL advanced tightening neck cream indybest
  • Best: For firming
  • Key ingredients: Gravite-CF lifting complex, NIA-114, botanical brightening complex
  • How to use: Apply to clean skin in the morning and night, massage into neck in an upward motion and around decollete in circulate motion
  • Size: 30ml
  • Why we love it
    • Strengthens the skin barrier to prevent moisture loss
    • Tightens, lifts and firms
  • Take note
    • Features soybean oil which is comodogenic

As it’s the number one bestselling neck cream in the US, we expected big things from this product.

It’s powered by a form of niacin, or vitamin B5, that strengthens the skin barrier and prevents moisture loss – a hero ingredient in all the brand’s formulations. It’s also full of lifting and brightening ingredients.

This did nothing but impress, as, after two weeks of continuous use, lines and creases looked less visible and a toning effect had already set in.

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Meder arma-neck cream

Best neck creams Meder arma-neck cream indybest
  • Best: For sensitive skin
  • Key ingredients: Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7, almond oil, vitamin E
  • How to use: Apply to clean skin of the neck and décolleté with gentle upward strokes
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Great choice for sensitive skin
    • Skin-plumping collagen
    • Calms any skin irritation

Dermatologist-founded skincare brand Meder focuses on microbiome-friendly formulas without any harsh actives, making it a fine choice for those on the sensitive side or susceptible to irritation.

The hero ingredient in this bottle is a powerful peptide that stimulates the production of skin-plumping collagen, calms skin irritation and increases the skin’s hyaluronic acid levels.

Teamed with anti-oxidant and nourishing sweet almond oil and vitamin E, you can expect an all-round gentle formulation, which we found smoothed lines in a matter of weeks.

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SkinCeuticals tripeptide-r neck repair

Best neck creams Skinceuticals tripeptide-R neck repair Indybest
  • Best: Retinol formula
  • Key ingredients: Pure retinol, ripeptide concentrate, laucine complex
  • How to use: Apply one or two pumps every other night from décolleté to jawline by massaging the product in an upward motion, after a week apply every night
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Retinol formula
    • Visible long term results
  • Take note
    • Must wear it with SPF
    • Have to build up tolerance

Perfecting a formula that contains retinol – the gold standard in skin-rejuvenating actives – but is still tolerable to the delicate neck area was always going to be a tough ask. However, if there’s a skincare brand that could do it, and do it well, it’s SkinCeuticals. The brand has always been ahead of the game when it comes to retinol skincare.

You have to build up a tolerance with this one, so, go easy to start with. Try every other night to begin with, in your evening skincare routine only, and remember to wear SPF the next day, applied down to your chest, as the retinol will make the skin more sensitive to the sun.

Like all retinol formulations, perseverance is key. We started to see visibly long-term results after a month with this one, in the form of a stronger and firmer skin texture, teamed with a reduction to the look of deeper lines.

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Sisley neck cream

Best neck creams Sisley neck cream Indybest
  • Best: High-end buy
  • Key ingredients : Oat seed extract, soy fibre extract, caffeine with red algea and horse chestnut extract
  • How to use: Massage in circling motions on side of the neck, upwards motions on the front and left to right below the chin
  • Size: 50ml
  • Why we love it
    • Refreshing
    • Lightweight
    • Immediately firming

While most skincare brands are new to neck creams, Sisley first introduced one back in the Eighties, so, they know a thing or two about formulating a top-tier product.

The light, luxe texture of this cream felt refreshing when massaged into the skin and it melted in an instant, thanks to soothing and nourishing shea butter and sunflower oil.

The immediate firming effect we saw comes from oat seed extract and rhatany, which is a plant-based astringent that tightens the skin temporarily. However, for long-term results, the caffeine, red algae and horse chestnut work their magic alongside moisturising ingredients that smooth and plump fine lines.

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The verdict: Neck creams

Targeting all the signs of ageing on our necklines, the Neostrata triple-firming neck cream bags the top spot as our best buy. Make it part of your daily morning and evening skincare routine and you can expect to see a more even skin tone from the jawline to the décolletage, as well as less prominent lines and a firmer feel and look to the skin.

Looking to spend less outright? The Prai ageless throat and décolletage crème is effective, too, and our favourite purse-friendly option.

Nothing protects the skin better than a good SPF – these are the best sunscreens for your face that offer non-greasy coverage

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