Paula's Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer Review

This product has been discontinued

We are keeping this review up because people still search for it, but the headline is simple: Paula's Choice has stopped selling the Omega+ Complex Moisturizer, and there is no live listing left to buy. We have removed the buy link rather than send you to a dead page. If you came here to replace an empty tube, skip to what to buy instead.

What it was

Paula's Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer took a different route to the barrier than most ceramide creams. Instead of stacking up ceramide types, it paired a single ceramide — ceramide NP — with a matrix of omega fatty acids from chia seed and flaxseed. It was a lightweight, fragrance-free formula pitched at sensitive and mature skin, and it was a genuinely thoughtful piece of formulation rather than a marketing sticker.

The logic held up. Fatty acids are one of the three lipids your barrier is built from, alongside ceramides and cholesterol, and the lipid-ratio research is exactly why a formula leading with omega fatty acids and ceramide NP together made sense: it fed two of the three barrier lipids at once. For the background on what ceramide NP does once it is on the skin, Cleveland Clinic's overview still covers it well.

What we said about it at the time

Our assessment never changed: it earned its premium on the omega matrix and the formulation, not on ceramide count — it disclosed one type. It was lightweight for how nourishing it was, so it layered cleanly morning or night, and the fragrance-free formula kept it friendly to easily-provoked skin. The honest caveats were a premium cost-per-ounce for a single disclosed ceramide, and a small tube. We are leaving that verdict, and the scores below, exactly as they were — it is a record of what we thought while you could still buy it.

What to buy instead

If you liked this because it was a fragrance-free Paula's Choice barrier moisturizer, the direct answer is the brand's RESIST Barrier Repair Advanced Face Moisturizer. It is also fragrance-free, and on the ceramide list it is a clear step up: five named types — NP, AP, AS, NS and EOP — plus cholesterol, with palmitoyl tripeptide-5 for firmness. It has taken this product's place in our roundups and comparisons.

If what you actually valued was the fatty-acid side of the formula, the Skinfix Triple Lipid review covers the one cream here that delivers the complete ceramide-cholesterol-fatty-acid trio. And if the appeal was simply a gentle fragrance-free moisturizer at a saner price, the sensitive-skin roundup leads with fragrance-free value picks.