Verified Beauty Data

Dupe report Nº 007 / Luxury moisturizers · TFC8 complex

Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream Dupe: Our Honest Verdict (There Isn't One)

TFC8 is patented. The base is commodity. You need to know which is which.

Some links earn us a commission. It never changes the verdict — the methodology is public.

02 / The scoreboard

Six formulas, one number that matter

Read the actives column first — it is the apples-to-apples comparison. $ per gram of active is what the working ingredients cost you; the base-formula score is supporting evidence, not the verdict.

Product Actives vs original $ / g of active Price Base formula Verdict
Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream (1.69 oz / 50 ml) Disclosed by brand $0.00 $290.00 50 mL 100% the reference The original

✓ same % as original ≠ different % ? in formula, % undisclosed — not in formula

03 / The original

Why the original is the original

The defining ingredient is TFC8 — Trigger Factor Complex 8, a patented blend of roughly 40 amino acids, vitamins, and synthesized molecules developed by Professor Karl Bader from decades of burn-wound and stem-cell research. TFC8 is protected by multiple live patents. No brand can source it, license it, or replicate it. It does not exist outside of Augustinus Bader products.

What surrounds TFC8 in the INCI is a different story: Glycerin, Isopropyl Palmitate, Squalane, Shea Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, amino acids (Arginine, Lysine, Threonine, Leucine — components of your skin's own natural moisturizing factors), vitamins (Biotin, Niacinamide, Pantothenic Acid, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopherol), Sodium Hyaluronate, Allantoin, and Carbomer. These are well-formulated, effective moisturizer ingredients. They are also commodity ingredients available in dozens of products at a fraction of the price.

The honest verdict: there is no Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream dupe. The base formula — the emollients, humectants, and vitamins — can be matched by a $15 cream. The TFC8 cannot be matched by anything. What the "dupe" sites call a 93% formula match is matching water, glycerin, and cetearyl alcohol. That is not TFC8. The $290 price tag is for the patented complex; no dupe delivers it. What this report does is show you exactly what the base buys at $15, so you know what you are — and are not — getting.

04 / The candidates

Every candidate, examined

01 / The Ordinary

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The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA (1 oz / 30 ml) bottle
— per g of active
$8.00 retail · 30 mL
18% base formula · highest of 6

The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA (1 oz / 30 ml)

Shared formula DNA 8 of 47 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Isopropyl Palmitate Squalane Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Cetearyl Alcohol Arginine Lysine HCl Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine Phenylalanine Methionine Tryptophan Histidine HCl Alanine Cysteine Glutamine Asparagine Tyrosine Serine Proline Glycine Aspartic Acid Glutamic Acid Hydroxyproline Hydroxylysine Biotin Thiamine HCl Riboflavin Niacinamide Pantothenic Acid Pyridoxine HCl Folic Acid Cyanocobalamin Retinyl Palmitate Tocopherol Ascorbic Acid Cholesterol Sodium Hyaluronate Allantoin Carbomer Polysorbate 60 Sodium Hydroxide Phenoxyethanol Ethylhexylglycerin

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Highest ingredient overlap on paper — 8 of the original's 47 base ingredients, including shared amino acids (Arginine, Lysine HCl, Threonine, Alanine, Proline, Serine, Glycine), Polysorbate 60, and Sodium Hyaluronate. At $8 for 30 mL, the most affordable option here.
What differs
The amino acid overlap is meaningful but specifically not TFC8. The Rich Cream's amino acids are part of a patented complex developed from burn-wound research; NMF+HA's amino acids are generic Natural Moisturizing Factor components — the same ones found in your skin's own hydration layer. These are different things. No TFC8. No squalane. No shea butter. Adds ceramide NP, ceramide-adjacent lipids, and glycolic acid. A different moisturizer formula that happens to share building-block molecules.
Who it's for
Worth knowing about as a budget moisturizer with NMF components. The amino acid overlap is real and the formula is excellent for $8. Be honest with yourself: if you are searching for an AB dupe because of TFC8, this is not it. If you want a well-formulated barrier moisturizer at $8, this is the pick.
Ships in
Tube good light protection
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Disclosed by brand Percentages published by The Ordinary on their product page.

$8.00 for 30 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

price on Amazon ($10.00) — not recommended as a dupe

02 / CeraVe

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CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (16 oz / 453 ml) bottle
— per g of active
$17.00 retail · 453 mL
6% base formula · 2nd of 6

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream (16 oz / 453 ml)

Shared formula DNA 7 of 47 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Isopropyl Palmitate Squalane Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Cetearyl Alcohol Arginine Lysine HCl Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine Phenylalanine Methionine Tryptophan Histidine HCl Alanine Cysteine Glutamine Asparagine Tyrosine Serine Proline Glycine Aspartic Acid Glutamic Acid Hydroxyproline Hydroxylysine Biotin Thiamine HCl Riboflavin Niacinamide Pantothenic Acid Pyridoxine HCl Folic Acid Cyanocobalamin Retinyl Palmitate Tocopherol Ascorbic Acid Cholesterol Sodium Hyaluronate Allantoin Carbomer Polysorbate 60 Sodium Hydroxide Phenoxyethanol Ethylhexylglycerin

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Shared base ingredients: Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Carbomer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopherol, Cholesterol. 7 of the original's 47 ingredients. Ceramide NP, AP, and EOP add skin-barrier repair the original does not include. Petrolatum and glycerin provide occlusive hydration.
What differs
No TFC8. No amino acid complex. No squalane. The formula direction is different: CeraVe targets ceramide-depleted skin barriers using an MVE (MultiVesicular Emulsion) delivery system. It is a barrier-repair product; The Rich Cream is a renewal-complex product. Both hydrate. They do not hydrate via the same mechanism.
Who it's for
The ceramide pick: if your goal is barrier repair alongside deep hydration — particularly for eczema-prone or lipid-depleted skin — CeraVe adds ceramide NP, AP, and EOP at $17 for 453 mL. That is a 94% saving and a legitimate clinical alternative for the barrier-repair use case. 4.8 stars across 95,000 Amazon ratings.
Ships in
Tub with lid good light protection
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Disclosed by brand Percentages published by CeraVe on their product page.

$17.00 for 453 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

price on Amazon ($17.06) — not recommended as a dupe

03 / La Roche-Posay

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La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer (2.5 oz / 75 ml) bottle
— per g of active
$25.00 retail · 75 mL
6% base formula · 3rd of 6

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer (2.5 oz / 75 ml)

Shared formula DNA 5 of 47 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Isopropyl Palmitate Squalane Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Cetearyl Alcohol Arginine Lysine HCl Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine Phenylalanine Methionine Tryptophan Histidine HCl Alanine Cysteine Glutamine Asparagine Tyrosine Serine Proline Glycine Aspartic Acid Glutamic Acid Hydroxyproline Hydroxylysine Biotin Thiamine HCl Riboflavin Niacinamide Pantothenic Acid Pyridoxine HCl Folic Acid Cyanocobalamin Retinyl Palmitate Tocopherol Ascorbic Acid Cholesterol Sodium Hyaluronate Allantoin Carbomer Polysorbate 60 Sodium Hydroxide Phenoxyethanol Ethylhexylglycerin

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Shared ingredients: Glycerin, Squalane, Carbomer, Niacinamide, Phenoxyethanol. 5 of the original's 47 base ingredients. Squalane matches The Rich Cream's squalane inclusion; Niacinamide adds skin-calming and sebum-regulating properties. La Roche-Posay Toleriane's prebiotic formula supports the skin microbiome alongside basic occlusion.
What differs
No TFC8. No amino acid complex. No shea butter. Score reflects limited base-formula overlap with The Rich Cream. At $25 it is more expensive per mL than Vanicream or The Ordinary NMF+HA while delivering less ingredient overlap with the original.
Who it's for
Skip as an AB dupe — the formula overlap is limited and the price premium over Vanicream is not justified by dupe proximity. Worth considering on its own terms for oily or acne-prone skin (niacinamide + prebiotic, lightweight texture). Not the right recommendation if your skin type matches The Rich Cream's rich, occlusive profile.
Ships in
Pump bottle good light protection
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Disclosed by brand Percentages published by La Roche-Posay on their product page.

$25.00 for 75 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

price on Amazon ($24.99) — not recommended as a dupe

04 / Kiehl's

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Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream (1.7 oz / 50 ml) bottle
— per g of active
$35.00 retail · 50 mL
5% base formula · 4th of 6

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream (1.7 oz / 50 ml)

Shared formula DNA 5 of 47 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Isopropyl Palmitate Squalane Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Cetearyl Alcohol Arginine Lysine HCl Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine Phenylalanine Methionine Tryptophan Histidine HCl Alanine Cysteine Glutamine Asparagine Tyrosine Serine Proline Glycine Aspartic Acid Glutamic Acid Hydroxyproline Hydroxylysine Biotin Thiamine HCl Riboflavin Niacinamide Pantothenic Acid Pyridoxine HCl Folic Acid Cyanocobalamin Retinyl Palmitate Tocopherol Ascorbic Acid Cholesterol Sodium Hyaluronate Allantoin Carbomer Polysorbate 60 Sodium Hydroxide Phenoxyethanol Ethylhexylglycerin

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Shares Glycerin, Squalane, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol with The Rich Cream — 5 of the original's 47 ingredients. Squalane and glycerin are the shared functional emollient and humectant. The lightweight formula and accessible price point are the appeal.
What differs
No TFC8. No amino acid complex. No shea butter. Uses Antarcticine (glacial glycoprotein) and Imperata Cylindrica Root Extract as its own differentiation — ingredients with no equivalent in The Rich Cream. At $35 for 50 mL ($0.70/mL), it is the most expensive per mL of the candidates here. A legitimate moisturizer; not an AB dupe.
Who it's for
Skip as an AB dupe — limited ingredient overlap, higher cost per mL than alternatives that deliver more shared ingredients. Worth considering as a standalone lightweight daily moisturizer if the Kiehl's brand and texture are priorities, but the case for spending $35 as an AB dupe is weak when Vanicream delivers a more comparable base at $15.
Ships in
Tub with lid good light protection
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Disclosed by brand Percentages published by Kiehl's on their product page.

$35.00 for 50 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

price on Amazon ($31.20) — not recommended as a dupe

05 / Vanicream

The winner
Vanicream Moisturizing Cream (16 oz / 453 ml) bottle
— per g of active
$15.00 retail · 453 mL
4% base formula · 5th of 6

Vanicream Moisturizing Cream (16 oz / 453 ml)

Shared formula DNA 1 of 47 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Isopropyl Palmitate Squalane Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Cetearyl Alcohol Arginine Lysine HCl Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine Phenylalanine Methionine Tryptophan Histidine HCl Alanine Cysteine Glutamine Asparagine Tyrosine Serine Proline Glycine Aspartic Acid Glutamic Acid Hydroxyproline Hydroxylysine Biotin Thiamine HCl Riboflavin Niacinamide Pantothenic Acid Pyridoxine HCl Folic Acid Cyanocobalamin Retinyl Palmitate Tocopherol Ascorbic Acid Cholesterol Sodium Hyaluronate Allantoin Carbomer Polysorbate 60 Sodium Hydroxide Phenoxyethanol Ethylhexylglycerin

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Petrolatum + Sorbitol + Cetearyl Alcohol as the occlusive and emollient core — a barrier-sealing base that delivers on the moisturizer's primary clinical job. 1 of the original's 47 ingredients (water, cetearyl alcohol). Fragrance-free, dye-free, and free of the most common sensitizers — the cleanest ingredient deck on this page. 4.7 stars across 42,000 Amazon ratings.
What differs
No TFC8. No amino acids. No vitamins. No squalane. The simplest formula here: 10 ingredients, petrolatum as the occlusive anchor, no actives beyond Simethicone. This is a barrier cream, not a renewal complex. The "93% ingredient match" cited elsewhere is matching water and emulsifiers. It is not matching TFC8.
Who it's for
The best base formula if your goal is occlusive hydration and skin barrier support at minimum cost. At $15 for 453 mL ($0.03/mL) versus The Rich Cream's $5.80/mL, the savings are 99% per mL. Understand clearly what you are getting: an excellent, honest moisturizer — and zero of the thing you are actually paying $290 for.
Ships in
Tub with lid good light protection
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Disclosed by brand Percentages published by Vanicream on their product page.

$15.00 for 453 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

Buy on Amazon $13.56 Amazon price as of 2026-06-13; $15.00 direct retail.

05 / Methodology

How we verified this

Verified 2026-06-13

Every formula on this page was tokenized — split into its individual INCI ingredients — and matched against the EU CosIng ingredient database, so "Aqua," "Water," and "Eau" all resolve to the same ingredient.

The base-formula match score works like this: sharing a rare ingredient counts far more than sharing a common one. Almost every serum contains water and glycerin — that proves nothing. Almost nothing contains Ethoxydiglycol or Laureth-23, so when a candidate shares those with the original, it says something real about how the formula was built. (For the statisticians: it is an IDF-weighted Jaccard similarity over the normalized ingredient lists.)

Scores are computed, not opinions. The verdict tags are our editorial read of the actives, the scores, and the prices — and the methodology stays public so you can disagree with us precisely.

Where the ingredient lists come from

  1. Disclosed by brand

    Ingredient percentages published by the brand itself, on its own product page — the strongest provenance.

Sources for this report

  • Brand DTC product pages (live crawl 2026-06)

06 / Questions

Frequently asked

Is there a dupe for Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream?
No — not in any meaningful sense. TFC8 (Trigger Factor Complex 8) is protected by multiple live patents and cannot be sourced, licensed, or replicated by any other brand. The "dupes" ranked on this page match the base emollient formula — glycerin, squalane, cetearyl alcohol, petrolatum — but none of them contain TFC8. Vanicream Moisturizing Cream ($15 for 453 mL) seals the skin barrier effectively at a fraction of the price. It is not an Augustinus Bader dupe. It is a good moisturizer for $15.
What is TFC8?
TFC8 stands for Trigger Factor Complex 8 — a patented blend of roughly 40 amino acids, vitamins, and synthesized molecules developed by Professor Karl Bader (retired professor of surgery at the University of Tübingen) from decades of burn-wound healing and stem-cell research. The complex is designed to support the skin's natural renewal pathways. It is Augustinus Bader's core intellectual property and is protected by multiple patents. No manufacturer outside of Augustinus Bader can produce it.
Is Augustinus Bader worth it?
That depends entirely on what you are paying for. The base moisturizer formula — glycerin, squalane, shea butter, amino acids, vitamins, hyaluronic acid — is effective, well-formulated, and available in cheaper products. That component costs roughly $15 to replicate at the base level. The TFC8 complex is what you are actually paying $290 for, and TFC8 cannot be evaluated by comparison to anything else — there is nothing else like it. If clinical studies on TFC8 and its skin-renewal mechanism are compelling to you, the price reflects a genuinely proprietary ingredient. If you want a hydrating moisturizer without TFC8, Vanicream is $15.
What is the best cheaper alternative to Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream?
For pure occlusive barrier hydration: Vanicream Moisturizing Cream ($15 / 453 mL) — fragrance-free, petrolatum-based, dermatologist-recommended. For skin with NMF (Natural Moisturizing Factor) components including amino acids: The Ordinary NMF+HA ($8 / 30 mL) has the highest ingredient-overlap score on this page, though those amino acids are generic skin-hydration building blocks, not TFC8. For barrier repair with ceramides: CeraVe Moisturizing Cream ($17 / 453 mL). None of these are Augustinus Bader alternatives in the sense of replicating TFC8. They are all good moisturizers at lower prices.
Does The Ordinary NMF+HA contain the same amino acids as Augustinus Bader?
It contains some of the same amino acids — Arginine, Lysine HCl, Threonine, Alanine, Proline, Serine, Glycine are shared — but this is not the same as containing TFC8. The amino acids in The Ordinary NMF+HA are standard Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF) components found in skin's own hydration layer. TFC8 is a specific patented combination of amino acids, vitamins, and synthesized molecules at particular concentrations, developed from burn-wound research. Shared amino acid building blocks do not equal TFC8.
What does The Rich Cream actually do for skin?
The base formula provides occlusive hydration (squalane, shea butter, cetearyl alcohol) and draws moisture to the skin (glycerin, sodium hyaluronate). The vitamin complex (niacinamide, pantothenic acid, retinyl palmitate, tocopherol) supports skin health. TFC8 is intended to activate the skin's natural cell renewal pathways — an effect tied to Professor Bader's burn-wound research. The base hydration benefits are replicable at much lower cost. The TFC8 effect cannot be independently compared to anything.
Is Augustinus Bader cruelty-free and vegan?
Augustinus Bader states the brand is cruelty-free. The Rich Cream is not fully vegan — it contains Cholesterol (which can be animal-derived) in the INCI. This is a factual note from the ingredient list; verify directly with the brand for the most current formulation status.

→ / Related

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