There are two numbers on this bottle and only one of them matters. The front says eight forms of hyaluronic acid — hydrolysed fragments and seven molecular weights of sodium hyaluronate — which is the language of Naturium's bestselling face serum transplanted to a body wash. The back, in smaller type, says 30 percent glycerin. Hyaluronic acid is a water-binding polymer that rinses away with the water it binds, at every molecular weight; glycerin at 30 percent is an extraordinary load for a cleanser, several times the norm, and enough of it survives rinsing to change how skin feels afterward. The Booster is a glycerin wash wearing a hyaluronic label, and once that is understood it is an easy product to like.
Naturium, an e.l.f. Beauty brand since 2023 and a start-up before that, built its body line on named actives — glycolic, salicylic, retinol — and this, launched in March 2024, was the wash for skin that wanted none of those: a plain hydrating gel for dry and reactive body skin. The list is short and clean. Water, glycerin second, then cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, a cationic guar conditioner, coco-glucoside, sodium lauroyl glutamate and a taurate — a four-surfactant, sulfate-free system with an amino-acid anionic that is about as mild as a foaming gel gets — then panthenol, the two hyaluronic entries, a trace of vitamin B12 that tints the gel pink, lotus root water, oat beta-glucan, a foam booster and a preservative system. No oil, no fragrance, no alcohol, no essential oils. It is oil-free enough for fungal-acne-prone chests and bland enough for the most reactive back.
In the shower it does what the glycerin promises. The gel is slippery in the hand and builds a soft, low lather on a cloth — thin on bare palms, which is the one texture complaint — spreads easily, and rinses to skin that feels smooth and slightly cushioned rather than squeaky or coated. On dry shins and forearms the post-shower tightness that a standard wash brings does not arrive, and a lotion applied afterward seems to go further because it is not repairing the wash's damage first. On the face it is a perfectly good gentle gel cleanser, and on a teenager's oily-but-dehydrated back — the skin that most 'hydrating' washes make greasy and most 'acne' washes make raw — it is a rare fit, because there is no oil to feed a breakout and no sulfate to strip one. Anyone who has alternated between two body washes for two problems can retire one of them. The brand's advice to leave the lather on for a few minutes 'for added benefits' is harmless and nearly pointless: a little more glycerin settles, the hyaluronic acid gains nothing, and the minute is better spent putting lotion on damp skin.
The hyaluronic acid deserves a plain sentence. Hyaluronic acid works in a leave-on by holding water at or just under the skin surface; in a rinse-off it holds water in the lather and leaves with it, and neither hydrolysing it nor supplying seven weights changes that. Studies of rinse-off deposition find negligible retention for hydrophilic polymers of this kind, and the honest description of this wash's hydration is glycerin plus mild surfactants plus a cationic conditioner, all of which have real evidence for reducing post-wash dryness. The B5 and B12 on the label are a little soothing panthenol and a pink tint respectively. None of this is a criticism of the wash — it is a criticism of the name.
The limits are the format's. Very dry, flaky or eczema-prone skin will find the wash spares the barrier and does not restore it, and needs a cream or the brand's urea serum within minutes of towelling; the ceramide Calmer in the same line leaves more behind for that skin, at the cost of being too rich for oily backs. The thin gel wants a cloth, and a full pump pressed over an open palm tends to run through the fingers before it gets there. The cocamidopropyl-type surfactant is an uncommon cross-reactor for people sensitised to amidoamine. And the wash has not made it onto Target's shelves like its acid siblings, so it is more of an online order than an impulse.
Seventeen dollars for 16.9 ounces is the line's fixed price, and for a sulfate-free, fragrance-free, oil-free gel with this much glycerin it is competitive with the dermatology-brand hydrating washes it resembles and lasts two to three months at daily use. The hyaluronic acid is not a reason to pay more, and the brand is not charging more for it.
So: for dry, dehydrated, sensitive or breakout-prone body skin that wants a gentle daily gel wash that leaves it soft and asks nothing else of it, this is a good one — the oil-free choice for skin that is dry and acne-prone at once, and the neutral cleanser beneath a retinol or acid body lotion. Read the front of the bottle as a nod to the brand's face serum and the back as the truth, and put the lotion on while the skin is still damp.
