If you follow me on Instagram (or can simply read the title of this post) you will know exactly what this post is going to be about. For all of you that know me personally (or even virtually) you'll know that my road to perfect skin has been a rather bumpy one. I suffered from severe acne in my teens and have super oily skin (the oily skin part, I can deal with). All of these struggles led to acne scars, enlarged pores, pigmentation, you name it. As I've gotten older I've learnt to really invest in my skin and do
Prepare for an overload of information on both...
Retinol is like the superman of skincare ingredients. It helps with a number of issues, such as improving pigmentation, texture and tone, enhancing collagen production, skin smoothing and an overall evening of pigmentation, it helps fight the signs of ageing, reduces wrinkles, treats acne, brightens skin and increases the blood flow to the skin.
To see the full effects of using retinol it is recommended that you use it for around 12 weeks. Whilst most brands claim that the benefits of retinol will take effect pretty much immediately, this is very unlikely, unless you're using a prescribed Retin-A product which is a lot stronger than any product you can purchase from the drugstore, in which case you would see results a lot sooner but it is recommended that you only use this with the advise of a doctor.
For sensitive skin you should use a product which has a low concentration of retinol, you can gradually begin to use products with more of the ingredient as your skin becomes tolerant.
A lot of skincare products can cause irritation to the skin, especially for people with sensitive skin (my skin can be sensitive at times), but when it comes to retinol, it is recommended that you continue to use it, just not as often or switch to a product which has a lower concentration. As your skin cells will eventually adapt to tolerate it a little better.
You may have read or heard that you should not to use retinol around the eyes (I’m someone that read this and didn’t use it around my eyes for a while), but apparently this is untrue. In fact you should use it around your eyes, studies have previously shown that people who use it around their eyes, as well as the rest of their face, see the best results (holla @ me baby faced Yogita with the bright under eyes). Whilst dark circles aren't really a concern of mine and may not be to some of you, it's always better to prevent than treat, in my opinion.
Retinoids, Retinol and Retin-A. What's the difference I hear you say? To sum this up in plain understandable English, Retinoids are basically a chemical class in which Retinol and Retin-A fall under.
Retinol is something I have been looking into for a while and I found that it was the safest option in terms of irritation or side effects. Although it may take longer to see results, I wasn’t willing to damage my skin in order to see results. Take it from someone who has used nearly every skincare product under the sun and experienced some not so pretty results. When it comes to your skincare you do not want to take risks.
I prefer to use Retinol as part of my evening skincare routine, as I know I won’t be going out in the sun and it gives the product time to sink into my skin. Retinol actually breaks down in the sun and makes your skin more sensitive. Although most of us are going absolutely nowhere at the moment (thanks a lot Coronavirus, thanks a lot), in my opinion you are better off using it at night (after cleansing your skin), although this is a matter of preference. Regardless of when I use any product or whether I am going out or not, I always use SPF. UV rays can pretty much get to your skin from anywhere, sunshine or not. Exposure to the sun can cause premature ageing and damage that isn't necessarily visible to us. It would be pretty much pointless going out in the sun without SPF and then expecting Retinol to reverse the damage you've just caused or just simply breaking down and doing absolutely nothing for our skin. Instead we can encourage them to be besties like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton and work together in helping to turn us into glowing gods and goddesses.
When it comes to products that contain Retinol, a little goes a long way. I've been using The Inkey List Retinol Serum for a while now and I honestly cannot fault it. It has made such a huge difference to my skin. My skin has never looked so good. My pores have become visibly smaller (I think Niacinamide has been a helping hand with the pore situation), the texture of my skin is smooth, I've had no breakouts and the overall tone of my skin is even. A tiny pea sized amount is more than enough to cover my whole face and neck. I started off by using it once or twice a week to start off with and slowly built up how frequently I used it because we can never be too sure about how our skin will react to new products, it's better to be safe than sorry!
The texture of the serum is beautiful (can I use that word to describe a serum?) It is slightly more thicker and has a yellow tone in comparison to the Niacinamide Serum, which is a little more runny and looks pretty much like water. It sinks into the skin ever so quickly, isn't sticky and as far as I can see, it does exactly what it says on the tin tube.
Niacinamide is another skincare ingredient that I think everyone needs to know about, especially because of its versatility.
It minimises pores (this was the main point that got me to start looking into Niacinamide), it improves uneven skin tone, softens fine lines and wrinkles, strengthens the surface of your skin and also helps reduce the impact of environmental damage because of how well it improves the skin's barrier (this was also a huge + for me). Another great thing about Niacinamide is that it also tackles any damage that your skin has endured in the past. We've all neglected our skin for various reasons in the past, so it's always great when a product can help repair that damage (yep, you guessed it. This was another selling point for me).
Niacinamide is an ingredient that will work incredibly well with other products in your skincare routine. It's a great product for people with sensitive skin or rosacea, because it doesn’t cause any sensitivity.
Niacinamide helps to restore and renew the surface of your skin, to prevent moisture loss and dehydration and to help improve the skin’s natural production of skin strengthening ceramides.
If you are someone that suffers from dry or flaky skin, Niacinamide is a great option to add to your skincare routine because it is extremely good at boosting the hydrating properties of any moisturisers you use and helps to retain that moisture.
Just like Retinol, you can also use Niacinamide around your eyes. You may find that it improves the look of dark circles and also helps to smooth out the appearance of fine lines around the eyes.
I've been using The Inkey List Niacinamide Serum along with the Retinol Serum. I mix a pea sized amount of both and apply them to my face and neck, I wait ten minutes before applying my moisturiser, just to allow the products to sink in before applying anything else. My biggest concern was my pores, I hated looking in the mirror and seeing these huge pores basically screaming back at me (OK, slight exaggeration). This is where I've seen the most improvement, along with the texture of my skin and overall evenness. I am someone that is pretty pale and a lot of the time this can be mistaken for for having vibrant or glowy skin; but when you see your face at least once everyday in the mirror you truly see a difference when your skin is genuinely beginning to look bright and even. You could say this difference might have come from other products I use, but in fact I've only recently began to see a difference and it's because of the two products I've added to my routine. I was kind of playing it safe prior to adding these two products to my routine.
Honestly, there are a lot of products out there that contain these two ingredients and claim to do a lot of things overnight. I would love to try all the different Retinol and Niacinamide products on the market, but for now, these have worked wonders so I intend to stick with them!
The reason why I chose to use The Inkey List is because of their no nonsense approach to the market, their products are exactly what they say they are. There's no fancy packaging or any claims to turn you into a golden god or goddess with glittery skin overnight (with a little more dedication to my skincare, I reckon I'm halfway there). The Inkey List stand for everything that I believe in when it comes to skincare. Knowledge is power. The more research you do, the better equipped you are. I did my research, read as much as I could into these ingredients, read reviews on various different products including these and then took the plunge with what I thought would work best for me.
The Inkey List website is a great tool if you are unsure about what products might work for you. I recently discovered their skincare recipe tool, you can pop all your skincare issues into their questionnaire and BOOM, The Inkey List will answer your prayers, along with all the information you need about their products and what they might help with. Safe to say I have an Inkey List shopping list in my notes now (sorry not sorry).
I purchased my Inkey List goodness from Cult Beauty, but they are also available at Feelunique, Boots, Lookfantastic and Selfridges.
I really hope you enjoyed this post as much as I loved writing it, it has been a long time coming (mainly in my mental to-do list).
Any questions, as always pop them in the comments or catch me on my socials!
Stay at home, stay safe and I'll see you all again soon!
Yogita x