Serums for my tired face - any recommendations?

[CallingOccupantsOfInterplanetaryCraft]

I think my 40-something face needs something with a bit more oomph these days as I thunder towards perimenopause and waking up at 5 am every fucking day. I prefer to use a v good serum and then just cerave rather than spend loads on moisturiser. I have combination skin with mild rosacea. I got the sarah chapman platinum pep 8 serum in a beauty box and it is seriously good. It's the only product I could see actually working as I put it on and it makes me glow so much I'll start to attract moths soon but it is v v expensive. If it continues to work this well I may just grit my teeth and get it again but if anyone can recommend something under £60 that they love please share. I'm seeing really good reviews for the cosrx snail serum that's only a tenner on amazon and can get over the ick of slathering mollusc juice on my cheeks if it works tbh. I don't like anything fragranced or with niacinamide as it breaks me out. Thanks.

No7 serums are good!

The ordinary retinol. Start with 1 or 2 per cent then increase to 5 when your skin has acclimatised. Worked wonders for me (started in my early 50s, 60 now, nice skin, very few wrinkles)

You may break out for a week or two, perfectly normal, don’t give up.

Oooh thanks, never even thought of number 7. Any particular one you like? @MrsSkylerWhite I've used retinols before but they were irritating so perhaps I should have stuck it out. 😕Did it improve the condition of your skin too? I'm not as conscious of wrinkles at the moment it's more that I started to look dull and washed out.

The Clarins Double Serum is a really good general serum and while it's crazy expensive, it lasts forever. The medium size bottle does me for about 9-10 months.

Vitamin C is really good for boosting the glow. I just use The Ordinary ones but they are quite marmite - some people love them (me) and some people hate them.

I also found my skin really benefited from a weekly application of Clarins Smoothing Gentle Peeling cream.

Yes it did. Smoother and much more even skin tone.

They do tend to irritate at first. Took about 3 weeks to become used to it.

Olay have a new serum out and it's cheaper on Amazon. About £18.

I use their Regenerist and Vit C overnight gel cream after switching from Clinique years ago. I rate them highly.

I have very sensitive skin but so far, these suit me.

Thanks, everyone. Sounds v promising @MrsSkylerWhite so I'm going to try the ordinary retinol and see how it goes. @Girlslikepearls is it this one? @IdLikeToBeAFraser I always swerved Clarins as it was fragranced - is the serum quite gentle? There's so much choice! 😩

Boots Online Doctor will prescribe trifarotene, the newest retinoid. (Tret is the first prescription retinoid). In studies it has very similar properties to tret, including stimulating collagen production. It has only been approved for a few years.

Boots Trifarotene is £55 for a whopping 75g. Skin and Me is £29.90 for 15g and Dermatica is £24.90 for 12.5g; they work out at around 3x the cost of the trifarotene. (Admittedly the latter two are ‘bespoke’ in that you get other ingredients; but those ingredients are available OTC anyway much more cheaply.)

I am just starting it now, as the derm who checks my moles and two who I follow online think it probably compares well to tret. Everything is good so far but it is very early.

Sorry, posted above to the wrong thread

Yes that's the Olay one.

I'm def going to try it but at the moment I'm happy with the day cream and Vit C night cream.

I have tried some of the Ordinary products and wasn't impressed. I find retinol too strong.

Another company you might like to look at is Evolve Beauty. They are UK based and all their products are organic. I've had a few of their products and liked them. Most are around the £20-£25 mark.

I like nip fab vitamin c and niacimide serum. Combined with olay vitamin c moisturiser

Prai Gold - smells amazing too

I got the sarah chapman platinum pep 8 serum in a beauty box and it is seriously good. It's the only product I could see actually working as I put it on and it makes me glow so much I'll start to attract moths soon but it is v v expensive. If it continues to work this well I may just grit my teeth and get it again

I always think if you find your Holy Grail stick with it . Otherwise you'll spend £££ on other products that don't hit the mark and you;ll be searching for the next one and the next one .

I learned years ago that my hairs HG was Aveda Shampure so I buy the litre bottle and it lasts me a year , even with my DS helping himself !

Be very careful with active ingredients such as vitamin a and retinol if you have rosacea OP. You might find they are too harsh for your face and it causes damages that will take ages to reverse. I damaged my skin barrier a couple of years ago and my skin still isn't back to normal.

My only recommendation if you want to see some drastic improvements is a subscription with dermatica or skin and me. You can tell them your problems and what you're trying to achieve and they will prescribe accordingly. It's worked wonders for my skin.

How about a face oil? I love the Emma hardie one

If you have rosacea you may well find that retinols don't suit you. Your skin may be just too sensitive for it. I tried retinols, building up slowly, buffering with moisturizer, and could never tolerate it. In fact, it not only worsened my rosacea it also caused peri-oral dermatitis that needed a course of antibiotics to sort. A serum with less aggressive active agents in it would be best.

I like the sound of that @Girlslikepearls is there a particular product you recommend to start with?

@CallingOccupantsOfInterplanetaryCraft The Olay serum mentioned by @Girlslikepearls does have a fragrance - I looked at the link and checked the ingredients. I prefer to avoid fragrance too as it tends to cause adverse reactions. I would add though, that I heard Olay are helpful if you don't get on with one of their products.

Another one who didn’t think retinols were recommended for rosacea so I’d be careful there, though I’m no expert. I like the inky list hylauronic acid serum used on damp skin after cleansing and before moisturising. It’s not expensive and is good before cerave (I also have rosacea).

Try Sugar House Organics 22 Cream over their Goodnight Beautiful serum. This combination really sorted out my old, tired skin.

Youthbomb serum from beauty pie. It's seriously good.

I don't find the clarins double serum heavily scented. But the overal scent of clarins products is one I lke so I might not notice it.

L'Oréal the red "anti fatigue' cream is brilliant
It's literally a red cream and gives you a bit of ooomph. Loving it

And Begin does a Serum-in-a-Cream specially for midlife skin with prescription ingredients such as tretinoin - the most effective retinol that you can only get on prescription - because it actually works!!!

The Olay serum really isn’t very good. Sali Hughes recommended it when it first came out and I was very disappointed in it. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to stick with the one you know works @CallingOccupantsOfInterplanetaryCraft. You could go through a lot of money buying other serums that disappoint.