Okay so everyone is still obsessed with hyaluronic acid and honestly? Boring. This 2026 formula from The Inkey List uses polyglutamic acid and it’s like HA’s overachieving cousin who actually shows up.
It holds 4x more water on your skin. Not 10% more. Four times. My desert-dry cheeks stopped flaking by day three.
It’s $14.99 for 30ml. That’s less than a mediocre cocktail in NYC. The claim that made me hit buy: “holds 4x more water than hyaluronic acid.” Yeah, sure, I thought. But the science is actually wild — it pulls moisture from the air into your skin.
Sodium Polyglutamate
The big molecule that sits on top and drags water in. Like a sponge that actually works.
Glycerin Base
Not watery. It’s a thick, slip-heavy gel that doesn’t evaporate.
No Fragrance, No Dye
My sensitive rosacea skin didn’t even blink. Zero sting.
Photo: ONNE Beauty / Unsplash
It’s a Japanese-origin amino acid chain derived from fermented soy. Basically, it forms a flexible film that locks moisture in while letting your skin breathe. You don’t need both this and HA — they do the same job, but PHA does it better.
- Sodium Polyglutamate: Binds 4x more water than HA at the same concentration
- Glycerin: Humectant that pulls moisture from the deep dermis
- Propanediol: Enhances penetration without that sticky residue
- Tocopherol: Vitamin E to calm the barrier
Photo: Vedansh Agrawal / Unsplash
First squeeze: it’s thick. Like honey that forgot how to flow. I thought it would sit on my face like a mask. But it absorbed in under 15 seconds. No film. No tack. Just a weirdly satisfying squishy feel.
Week two: my makeup stopped sliding off by noon. That’s the real win. My skin looked bouncier — not greasy — just actually hydrated for the first time since winter started.
Yes. My fine lines around the eyes looked less etched because the skin was plumper. My pores? Same. It’s not a pore-refiner — don’t expect that and you won’t be mad.
It’s the hydration step you didn’t know you needed. If you’ve been loyal to HA for years, try this for one month — your skin will feel the difference by day five.