Best vitamin C & retinol

[yoyy]

Hello,

Read on here these are the best things to fit anti-ageing. What brands would people recommend?

thanks

I don't retinol but I am very much liking Sali Hughes X Rev Must-C.

It's the only vit c I've been able to tolerate and it makes a real difference to my face!

Thanks that's reduced in black friday sales too which is what I was hoping for!

I’ve only just started using retinol and currently using The Ordinary. I didn’t want to spend loads as wasn’t sure it would agree with my skin, but I’ve found it really good so far.

For vitamin C I like Lumene, they do a couple of different ones but their Valo vitamin C serum is nice, feels really lightweight.

I like Eclat brand that I get from Amazon. All been fab so far....

Love lumene vit C, medik8 retinol or beauty pie if a member

Medik8 for retinol, the Crystal Retunal is brilliant. Expensive but 30% off for Black Friday.

I would definitely recommend Geek & Gorgeous as a brand. You can't get it in shops but not expensive and has some really good products which focus on good active ingredients.

I love their Vitamin C serum - its a great dupe of the Skinceuticals but so much cheaper.

I use prescription strength tretinoin on my face, but I use the Geek and Gorgeous retinaldehyde cream on my neck as I can't tolerate it there. I've been pretty impressed with it so far.

I like Face Theory Amil-C Whip - it really suits my skin and last ages no retinol in it, but you can add that separately - I don't use retinol daily

Firstly, if you are looking at using retinol and vit C for the first time (or changing brands) do it one at a time. If you want a really effective vit C then it should be at least 15% and I'd second C Glow by Geek and Gorgeous. As mentioned above, it's a good dupe for Skinceuticals which is the gold standard vit C. There's currently 15% off everything.@Farmageddon, do you know G&G now have a UK website and is now shipped from the UK?

I'd also look at prescription tretinoin rather than over the counter retinol.

Medik8 Retinol and their Vit C are both fab

@TattiePants yes I was going to introduce one at a time.

Can I ask the difference between retinol & tretinoin? What do you use?

Thanks for all the recommendations

Vitamin c - I’m loving Paula’s choice c15. I’ve also heard good things about the drunk elephant one.

Retinol - I follow a few dermatologists on YouTube and they have some excellent videos on retinoids explaining the differences between retinol, retinal, tretinoin etc and also handy tips for using retinols (see Doctorly, Dr Dray). They also have some great product recommendations. I’m using Paula’s choice 1% retinol and the 0.3% with 2% bakuchiol. The 1% is very strong so I alternate them.

Thanks for that. I'm not in the UK, but it's great to hear they are shipping from there now.

Tretinoin is basically a really strong version of retinol, which is why you can't get it over the counter.
It works by increasing collagen production in the skin and increasing cell turnover, both of which decline as we age - retinol also does this, but tretinoin is thought to be about 10 - 20 times stronger than retinol (retinol has to be converted by your skin to tretinoin in order to use it), so you get better results over time with tretinoin. However it's pretty strong stuff so can be irritating to the skin at first.
I found it really horrible to use at first, with my skin peeling and lots of irritation, but I acclimatised after a while and now its fine, I use it pretty much everyday - however some people have reported using it without those problems so I suppose it depends on your skin type.

Though some people just stick to retinol and it's fine, but over time the results are much better with tretinoin - it's just a hassle to get hold of and can take some time for your skin to acclimatise to.

It's usually only gotten by prescription from a dermatologist, but there are some subscription services in the UK that sell it (Dermatica and Skin & Me). I'm not in the UK so I get mine from an online pharmacy, which sounds a bit dodgy but I have been using them for a few years and it's been fine.

thanks @Farmageddon