Cocokind Resurrection Polypeptide Cream and the Brand Behind It

Priscilla Tsai launched cocokind in November 2014 in San Francisco. Forbes reports she was a former Wall Street banker who had struggled with hormonal acne, and she turned that experience into the brand. These days she has dry skin in a dry climate, and that shapes the cocokind Resurrection Polypeptide Cream, which she says launched in 2022 as something firming and deeply hydrating at the same time.

The name is a real botanical reference. Resurrection refers to resurrection plant extract, from Selaginella lepidophylla, a plant that dries out and comes back. Cocokind says the extract teaches skin how to stay resilient and bounce back from dehydration. The brand lists a plant-based polypeptide complex, squalane from sugar cane and watermelon seed oil alongside it.

I like a brand with a point of view, and cocokind has one: simple formulas, dry skin taken seriously. So this editorial has two grids. The first is the cocokind shelf, the cream plus the serum, eye gel, water cream, cleanser and the rest of what the brand makes. The second is other peptide moisturizers, for anyone who wants to compare textures before choosing.

Here is a test I like: touch the cream to the back of your hand in the morning and check it again at lunch. If the skin there still feels soft and bouncy, you have found your winter moisturizer. If it feels flat, try one of the lighter gel creams in the second grid.

Start with the cocokind cream this is named for. The brand describes the Resurrection Polypeptide Cream as rich, with a cushion-like texture that hugs skin, and says it is best for dry skin or for deep hydration seasonally. It is meant to support the skin's natural collagen and soften the look of fine lines.

The serum and the eye gel work in the same barrier-minded way. The Ceramide Barrier Serum has five types of ceramides and lipids plus beta glucan, and it is designed for sensitive skin. The Peptide Fine Line Eye Gel pairs firming peptides with ceramides and squalane. If you are building a small routine, those two sit underneath the cream naturally.

The lighter side of the brand is the Electrolyte Water Cream, an Allure Best of Beauty winner made with magnesium, sodium and zinc PCA. It is described as fast-absorbing and non-pilling under makeup, for combination, oily and blemish-prone skin. The Texture Smoothing Cream is similar in weight, a cushiony cream the brand compares to a green juice for skin, with a satin finish.

Then the cleansing and treatment steps. The Milky-Soft Face and Body Cleanser is a milky-gel hybrid with ceramides and glycerin. The Beginner Retinol Gel 0.1% is clinically tested for sensitive skin and buffered with aloe and cica. The Rosewater Facial Toner is one spritz to soothe and balance.

Here is a pairing I like: retinol gel at night, then the polypeptide cream over it.

What I would skip: the water cream and the polypeptide cream together on the same morning. Pick by how dry you feel that day.

These are the creams I would hold up next to it. Drunk Elephant's Protini is a refillable peptide moisturizer with nine signal peptides. INNBEAUTY PROJECT's Extreme Cream is another refillable one, made with lifting peptides, bio-retinol and three ceramides, and it is meant for dry and combination skin. OLEHENRIKSEN's Strength Peptide Barrier Boost has eight peptides, three ceramides and two types of hyaluronic acid in a cushiony balm-to-gel texture.

ALPYN's Super Peptide Barrier Repair is the richest of the group, a barrier cream with ceramides, mountain ghostberry and peptides, and its name points at eczema and sensitive skin. Glow Recipe's Watermelon Milk Peptide Cushion Cream is fragrance-free and silicone-free, for dry or sensitive skin, with ceramides and squalane and a weightless finish.

If you want lighter, look at the gel creams. Dieux's Air Angel is a breathable gel cream with a vegan collagen amino acid blend, two peptides and glycerin, and it is made not to clog pores. Paula's Choice Pro-Collagen Peptide Plumping Gel-Cream uses three peptides for a bouncy look. EADEM's Cloud Cushion is a dewy, plumping moisturizer rich in ceramides and peptides, and the brand, founded by Marie Kouadio Amouzame and Alice Lin Glover, focuses on hyperpigmentation and texture across skin tones.

Here is a trick I like: use the gel creams in summer and the richer ones from October. Skin changes with the air.

What I would skip: any peptide cream that feels heavy on a hot day. A heavy cream is not stronger, only hotter.

I think a good moisturizer is mostly about season, not about the peptide count on the label. Cocokind's cream is the one I would reach for when the heat comes on and skin feels papery, and a gel cream is what I would use when it is humid.

A simple rule: one serum, one cream, and change the cream when your skin tells you. Give any new one three weeks before you decide, and do not judge it on the first night, when everything feels good. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Dae Styling Cream and the Arizona Desert Behind the Brand and How an Equity Researcher's Kitchen Experiments Led to cocokind Electrolyte Water Cream.