SkinMedica Age Defense Retinol Complex 0.5 (1 fl. oz.)

I started using this product and noticed a difference in my skin in about a week. I’ve started to have trouble with small bumps triggered from rosacea around my jaw line and pore size. This product definitely smoothes out your skin. It’s 100% a keeper!! Totally hooked!

I've used this retinol for over a year now (just a couple times per week due to sensitive skin issues in general) and it works so well. My skin is always soft and smooth after applying this at night.  I always do a layer of moisturizer first to avoid irritation.

Emptied the SkinMedica .25 bottle with very good results and no purging, no peeling, and felt prepped to start the .50 bottle. The .50 was yellowish in color, similar texture to the .25, no discernable odor. However, the .50 did absolutely nothing for my skin over four months of use, using it 3-4x/week. The improvement that my skin had made with the .25 (decreased in forehead lines, lines around eyes, forehead bumpiness) actually diminished over time and I realised that the .50 wasn't doing anything to maintain or even improve upon those results. I stopped the .50 on my face and switched back to the .25 and within a week of using the .25 again, I could see improvements in my skin. My forehead had that little bit of plumped-up glow again. I'm using up the rest of the .50 bottle on my chest and it's not making any difference to the skin there. No idea why the .50 was a dud for me.

At first I thought I was just using it too often, so I scaled back from twice weekly to once weekly. Rash. Intensely itchy maculopapular rash covering my face, neck, around my eyes, even my ears, neck, chest. I use several items from Dermstore for my regimen other than this retinol, so I phased everything out and then used one at a time to make sure I knew what the problem was. I waited about 2 weeks to try the retinol again, and sure enough, the next day, rash broke out and was even worse than the last time. I know retinol causes skin peeling, but this is an allergic reaction. Dang.

Every time I use this product, my skin looks like its radiating the next morning. When I get a post acne mark, this helps the mark go away super fast, making my skin look brand new.

This product has been a solid retinol. My skin did a wonderful purge initially and I was thrilled with all my deep pores coming clean. There is definitely a build up with this product but once my skin was used to it I use it about 6x a week.

Gentle, and leaves skin feeling soft. FYI I called skinmedica just to make sure their squalane was not animal derived and they assured me it's plant derived.

I typically use prescription prescribed retinol, but got a sample of this. I tried it out hoping it would not be as drying as my regular retinol. Although, it broke my skin out and caused a lot of redness. I usually love all of Skinmedica's products, but this did not react well on my skin.

My dermatologist recommended this and I'm glad she did. I see a difference in skin texture and discoloration, without any irritation. I started with once a week, as directed, and had no redness or flaking. I plan to purchase the 1.0 product next.

Loving this product. Goes on very smooth and is not causing much irritation so far!