Retinol has been one of those skincare ingredients that many recommend having in your skincare routine due to its anti aging benefits. I have been lazy about it since its something I've seen recommended for older people, but it can benefit younger ones as well! I'm in my mid 30s now and getting to me late 30s so I figured I should really start on retinol!
Since retinol can be irritating I wanted something gentle to start off with. I'm new to retinol so when looking at reviews on retionol products I've noticed some mention the percentage. It seems percentage of retinol is important and not every product tells you this. I would assume its because its really low that companies choose to not say it.
I saw this CeraVe Retinol Serum (ad link, your support is appreciated! ty) has good reviews so I figured I try it! Its a 1 fl oz bottle so it lasted me about 5 months of use. I did not use it everyday. It hasn't irritated me at all so its a good sign for me that I can go for a higher percentage product next time! This doesn't disclose any retinol percentage so I assume its really low. I don't really see much skin improvements but I do regularly use exfoliating products. I think this product is a good stepping stone to retinol and its does feel a bit calming and hydrating on my skin. I did get a higher retinol product which does sting slightly so I find using this CeraVe on days my skin is more sensitive is better. Overall I do recommend this product! Its relatively scentless and affordable!
This was part of the White Lucent bag but I have been using it
separately. Its a very light serum and goes on like water and absorbs
into the skin quickly. It has a light scent that isn't perfumey or
chemical-like. I can't say I see any difference in my sun and acne
spots, but its a nice serum to nourish your skin with. This doesn't seem
to be the kind of serum to expect any huge differences on your skin. If you have spots
they will take at least two months to fully get rid of. A visit to a
dermatologist will give you faster results. As I've said in previous
reviews that using more than one spot correcting serum will have more
noticeable and faster difference. I believe serums are a good investment for the
health of your skin. They are mostly to fix problems rather than
preventing, but using good products will prevent your skin from getting
worse or developing new problems.
Overall, I think this product is nice to have around as a secondary back-burner serum, but not necessary for the money it costs.
I’ve been hearing about Naruko products from youtubers who raved about them so I decided to try their acne line since its the one problem I have the most trouble with. Plus, the products are affordable. The acne line are green, but it seems almost every Naruko product are in purple bottles that are semi translucent with white caps. It makes sense for the acne line to be green since its key ingredient is Tea Tree Oil. The packaging box is nice because its thicker than most skincare products and you can change them into colorful boxes to hold anything. They all include instructions on how to make them. I never successfully made one, but not to say its overly difficult. This is a Taiwanese product but the instructions are like Ikea where its just pictures. There is a paragraph buts its not in English. The product descriptions are in both Chinese and English. It describes every product in the acne line and its instructions on how to use them. Naruko does have a USA website you can order products from but I ordered mine from an Hong Kong online store. The US website does show images and descriptions of their products so I advice going there to learn more and see.
I bought the older version of this acne serum because the newer one was out of stock, but I hear both are pretty good. People say the older one has a more alcohol smell to it. I smelled it and its not bad at all. Their products are fairly light in scent and nothing overly gross at least to me it isn’t. It just smells typical skincare smell which is a bit chemically, but that should mean it has no fragrance which can cause health problems. The bottle is not too small for a serum, and it has a dropper which you pump. The instructions say to use two pumps, but some days I just use one. Its really light. The texture is clear-ish white and its like saliva by the way it sticks to the bottle. This stuff works right away! After using for a couple weeks I have noticed that my acne hasn’t significantly reduced in numbers but it has made them so much smaller. I usually get pencil eraser sized pimples but using this serum there are much smaller at least half! I have never used an acne product that worked this well. It guess it helps that I am also helps that I use an acne cleaner too. But just using an acne cleanser hasn’t shown any noticeable changes to my acne as this serum does. And after a month it has continue to work well for me. Some say it helps for hormonal acne, but during the time of the month for me it really didn’t help, haha. Sure it did make them smaller but its still awful that I breakout so much during this time than any other time or causes of my acne. I have been keeping track of how often I’ve been getting acne, and ever since starting using this serum its slowly becoming less often. The downside is that I’m easily running out of this since I use it twice a day and its only 30ml.
Since this product has impressed me, I have gone out to buy more of this line, and of the newer version called Oil Out. The bottle is lighter in color and instead of a dropper its now a pump with is good because it might mean more product since the dropper did take up quite a bit of space. The size is still exactly the same. The new version works just as well. After using the serum for months now, I can definitely say it lowered the number of breakouts I had. Before I would get a pimple about 13 times a month, but now I get about 5-7 breakouts a month. They are very small, do not stick around too long and the scarring isn't as bad. It didn't help much with my oiliness or my pore size though. After using it so long, I have been using it a couple times a month so my skin doesn't get immune to it.
I will try an experiment with pairing this serum with another acne product and see if it helps me completely get rid of my acne.
Overall, this product is great and recommend this brand for anyone. Not everything they have will work so wonderfully, but at least one will! Thanks for reading!

I've been hearing about this brand for awhile and have always
wanted to try because I hear its amazing however its also expensive.
But I have noticed Imomoko sells a slightly cheaper (as in under $100)
of the product and decided to buy it. The bottle seems to be part of a
set but imomoko is selling it separately which I appreciate. The bottle
is 75ml which is good amount of product. Its a glass bottle with a
plastic screw cap. The bottle has a opening at the top but doesn't
easily drip the product out so you have to shake it to get the product
out. I can tell you it come spill out alot cause you have to shake it a
bit to get much out. You hardly need more than a couple drops.
What
SK-II is known for is their ingredient they called Pitera. Years ago,
SK-II scientist noticed the youthful and flawless skin on the hands of
workers in a sake brewery, and have spent years researching it. Its very
natural and nutrient rich. The product looks and feels like water, but
has a mild smell. It absorbs quickly onto the skin. I haven't heard
anything bad about this product from anyone yet. Out of all the products
I've used, I've never had one that worked so well so quickly. After
using it for a day my skin has totally looked better. Its looks
healthier and youthful. My pores are not as noticeable and it seems to
help my skin heal those nasty acne scars better too. Not to say this
will replace all my skincare, its not that amazing, but I definitely
helps alot and I will be using it day and night!
I've always been
skeptical on purchasing skincare products that are over $50 because I
don't know if it be worth, but this one is definitely a winner! I highly
recommend!