Perricone MD Cold Plasma Plus Review: Is It Worth It?

Is the Perricone MD Cold Plasma Plus+ Intensive Hydrating Complex worth it? As a rich, calming moisturiser for dry or sensitised skin, yes. At its full £156 RRP for 59ml, no, and that is the honest catch. The comfort and the way it melts into skin are the best things about it, the anti-ageing actives it is sold on are likely present only in small amounts, and the price only really makes sense once you find it discounted.

I came back to this one during a rough patch. Eczema medication had left my skin dry and reactive in a way I am not used to, and my usual La Mer set it off in red blotches. I worked through most of the cupboard looking for something to calm and hydrate before landing back with Perricone MD, a brand I have had good runs with before.

The full name is a mouthful: Cold Plasma Plus+ The Intensive Hydrating Complex. It is a unisex moisturiser, and it sits at the top end of the Perricone range on price.

How it feels on the skin

The texture is the standout. It is balm-like in the pot, reminiscent of the Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base, but it melts into skin rather than sitting on top. There is no greasy film and no heaviness once it is in.

It sinks in properly and stays comfortable through the day, which is exactly what dry, tight skin wants. It is fragrance-free, so the only scent is a faint one from the base, easy to ignore. If your skin runs oily or combination, be warned that it is a rich cream and can feel like too much.

What is actually in it, and what is worth believing

Strip away the branding and this is, at heart, a well-built rich moisturiser. The bulk of the formula sits near the top of the ingredient list: plant-derived emollient oils and esters (caprylic/capric triglyceride, shea-derived esters, dicaprylyl carbonate), fatty alcohols and a set of hydrogenated plant oils, alongside humectants like glycerin and sodium hyaluronate. There is a little petrolatum too, though it sits lower down. That combination is what actually calms dryness and shores up a compromised barrier, and it does that job well.

The headline actives are a peptide blend (copper tripeptide-1, acetyl hexapeptide-8 and a couple of the Matrixyl-type peptides), a stable oil-soluble vitamin C (tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate), a little glycolic acid and DMAE. These are all genuine ingredients, but they sit well down the ingredient list, which usually points to small amounts, and Perricone does not publish concentrations.

Two gentle corrections to the way this product is often described. Peptides are not really hydrators, that is the hyaluronic acid and glycerin doing the work. And while glycolic acid is on the list, it appears near the very end, so treat it as a trace rather than a working exfoliant.

The DMAE and “Cold Plasma” question

DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol, listed as Dimethyl MEA) is Perricone’s signature ingredient, marketed for a firming, tightening effect. The evidence is thin and mostly older and small-scale, so treat the firming story as a maybe, not a given. “Cold Plasma” is a brand name for the delivery format, not literal plasma, and the omega-fatty-acid angle comes largely from a small amount of Echium seed oil low on the list. None of this is a red flag, it is just worth reading the marketing as marketing.

What Perricone claims

Perricone cites an eight-week study of 39 people in which 100% showed a reduction in fine lines, wrinkles and pores, 85% showed improved elasticity and more even tone, 85% showed less redness, and 80% showed fewer dark spots. Read those as brand claims. It is a small, brand-run study with no independent verification, so the comfort and hydration you can feel are more trustworthy than the wrinkle percentages.

How to use it

Warm a little between your fingertips and press it into cleansed skin on the face and neck, morning and evening, after any serum. A small amount goes a long way.

One thing worth flagging: there is vitamin C and a little glycolic acid in here, and no SPF of its own, so a morning sunscreen still matters. Vitamin C works better under protection, and daily SPF is simply good practice with any active skincare.

Does it actually work?

For the job I bought it for, yes. It calmed the dryness and redness, kept my skin comfortable all day and never felt greasy, which is not a given when skin is this reactive. As a targeted anti-ageing treatment, keep expectations realistic. The actives are there, just not in the quantities the marketing implies.

Is it worth the money, and cheaper alternatives

At £156 for 59ml, roughly £264 per 100ml, this is a lot of money for what is fundamentally a very good rich moisturiser. The saving grace is that it is discounted often and heavily. It regularly turns up well below half price at discount retailers, and warehouse stores like Costco have carried it far cheaper. At those prices it is a genuinely good buy. At full RRP it is hard to defend.

Are Perricone MD products worth it as a rule? The brand makes pleasant, well-formulated products, but you are paying a premium for the DMAE and omega story as much as for measurable results. Shop on discount, and judge each product on its ingredient list rather than the headline.

Worth knowing: in 2025 Perricone launched a separate Cold Plasma Plus+ Advanced Hydrating Complex alongside this one, so the Intensive version may get harder to find over time. If you are buying purely for barrier comfort and hydration, a barrier cream like CeraVe Moisturising Cream, which is built around ceramides, or La Roche-Posay Toleriane does that part for a fraction of the price. What you pay Perricone for is the texture and the extras, so go in knowing that is the trade.