Retinol

[meagain3]

After being recommended using skincare with retinol in I picked up the ordinary retinol serum

it leaves my face so greasy and oily!! Is this just a usual thing with retinol or is there a better affordable brand out there?

Maybe you are using too much?

I love the packaging and price point of The Ordinary, but some of their stuff is just not that good, unfortunately. I found the same with their retinol serum. I really like the Youth to the People one that has niacinamide in it as well and I'm really oily. It's £66 usually, but if you're after one a bit cheaper, try La Roche Posay Retinol B3 - it's £48 full-price but often goes on sale.

I really liked The Inkey List. I started with their normal retinol serum and then moved up to their super solutions one which is quite a bit stronger.

The one with Squalane?

Was that to me re the Inkey List?

If so, yes, it has sqaulene. This one: https://uk.theinkeylist.com/products/retinol-serum

I then moved onto: https://uk.theinkeylist.com/products/scar-mark-and-wrinkle-solution

Both were great and I found improvement in skin tone almost immediately. Slight wrinkle improvemnet didn't come until the later one, really. But retinol is the long game, as they say...

I've sinced move dup to Tret so no longer use them, but they were both very good, imo.

It depends on the brand and the strength too. So here goes my routine if you would be interested:
Morning:
Using water to wash your face,
Sebamed clear face gel,
Garnier spf on my face and sun bum on the body
Cicaplast
Evening:
LRP moisturizer,
Tretinoin (0.1) from skinorac
Sebamed clear facial gel

@DisapprovingSpaniel I was asking OP because I had used the one with squalane from the Ordinary (and I liked it), but I am like you, I have moved on to Tret now.

I use The Ordinary. I put the retinol on at night so I don’t notice if it’s oily.

100% agreed

The ordinary does an emulsion retinoid if you prefer a creamer texture. I get on well with mine despite its yellow tint. If you're new to it ease yourself in slowly is the advice I think.

It's always greasy even with a pea sized amount