Paula’s Choice CLINICAL 1% Retinol Treatment Cream with Peptides, Vitamin C & Licorice Extract, Anti-Aging & Wrinkles

Read this before you start using it!!!
I was introduced to this product by a friend who has similar skin/complexion. She looks fabulous so I decided to give it a whirl.Things you should know:1. My beauty routine consisted of occasionally washing my face. And by occasional— I mean rarely.2. I was always fortunate to have ‘good’ skin it didn’t break out or have big pores BUT it was super sensitive.3. I’m lazy and will not do anything that requires a lot of work.4. I’m 50. The pictures are in order of progress — blue top was day of first application —the next 3 are from the first 10 days and the last one is as of tonight.With all that said — I was instructed in detail about using the product.1. Start slow — every other night2. Keep it away from your eyes.3. Use sunscreen and be very careful going out in the sun after a treatment.I started slow (2 applications following the instructions) and did not put it ‘near’ my eyes. I stop at my brow and just below my darks circles. It burned my skin off as if I was in Chernobyl when it exploded. It was AWFUL and it took 10 days to heal. (See pics)What I realized was with my sensitive skin I really should have put more time between applications. So once I healed — I then waited 6 days between applications as I had some dryness and a little sensitivity on my cheeks.I’ve been using the product now for a little over 3 weeks only had 4 applications and I’m already seeing marked improvement.My “11s” are much less obvious (see pics). My skin looks brighter and healthier. Lastly it’s a smooth as a baby’s rump — I suspect that has a lot to do with burning off the top 4 layers of skin, but I digress.This product is intense but effective. It will burn if you don’t ease into using it. Also — when they say don’t put it on your eyes — what they mean is anywhere near your eyes. Give a wide birth or else you risk having your face look like mine did. My eyelids were literally burned and I never touched them with the product that’s how strong it is. Now I keep it focused on my cheeks and a very tiny amount on the side of my eye for those dreaded crows feet.Other things of note: this is part of a very simple routine.Morning1. Wash face2. Use hyaluronic acid serum3. Use Vitamin C serumEvening1. Wash face2. Use Retinol (slow at first – then work up to the right cadence for you)3. Use moisturizerI use Beauty Counter products for the serums I use in the morning.I use Verse for my sunscreen and moisturizer.Obviously, PC’s retinolCerave Moisturizing Face WashI purchased everything except the Beauty Counter products through Amazon.I love all of the products and will continue using them.Hope this helps you make good decisions.

This serum seems to be doing good job overall but expensive.
Got this for my wife. Her skin is very sensitive and had bad experience with many serums, so she wanted something with retinol. This serum seem to be working a decent job for her. She has mostly positive feedback for these. These are expensive in the competition but overall recommended.

For first time users just be careful with this stuff!
Make sure you are prepared for this treatment with plenty of hydrating products – serums, moisturizers and oils. My coconut oil saved me through this whole process! Choice coconut oil – Nutiva – it’s right here on amazon so add it to your cart after adding this retinol! It has 50% lauric acid in it and is non gmo, organic, cold pressed, non-comedegenic and smells absolutely divine! I cannot recommend this coconut oil enough!!! My skin would have been a complete mess without it and that’s why I wanted to open up my review with it. It was THAT important for me!This is my first high concentrated retinol and this stuff is intense. My skin is a little on the sensitive side so maybe that was the reason for my skin freaking out a little bit more than usual. It’s a good thing they offer a small trial size for you to get a feel for it so you’re not stuck with a full size that you won’t be using in case it’s not for you.My experience with this, I used it twice in a week as instructed to get your skin acclimated to it. A few days later I started seeing a little bit of peeling and then a few more days in came the rest: some redness, warm feeling and tightness. A little bit of itchiness due to the skin shedding but I understand this is normal especially if it’s your first retinol peel. I must admit I was pretty freaked out. I was sensitive to cleansing so I stuck to a tepid/cool rinse and then added hydrating serums (Skinmedica hydrating complex), moisturizers (Skinmedica ceramide treatment) and globbed on coconut oil to lock it all in – this part felt the best! For a few days whenever I cleansed I would get a little bit red but then it would calm down after applying all of my products and about 30 minutes passed.If this is your first higher concentration of retinol keep it as far from your under eye area as possible! Your skin will get very tight once it starts kicking in and it does kinda pull around the orbital bone and looks like more wrinkles which can be utterly traumatizing! So protect the area with an eye cream and I’m serious when I say I globbed on the coconut oil – especially in this area where the under eye skin connects to the cheek skin. I cannot stress enough that stuff saved me through this whole process! When things start to look and feel too tight just keep on slopping it on and on and on! Gently massage it into areas that are reacting a little more than others.After everything my skin actually does appear a little more plumped. I don’t have a lot of wrinkles so the state of those seem the same but that differs from person to person. I got this trial size to ultimately test the product with my skin type, not to expect miracle results from one use. Although if I got them that would have been a pleasant surprise! lol :PI’m glad I had off from work when all of this was happening because this was definitely not convenient! I’m personally not going to continue with this retinol, at least for now because I think a lesser concentration would be better to get acclimated to first. Didn’t think it would be too bad because it’s retinol not retin-a but the reaction I got seemed more like a retin-a for me. I’m a week in and the redness and sensitivity are gone. The peeling is in it’s final stages. As far as results go I can actually see some subtle evening of the skin but I definitely need something gentler! However, I will say that the positive reviews and happy customers of this product do speak for themselves as many have had great results which was the inspiration behind my purchase of this product. Maybe further down the line I’ll add it to my retinol routine but for now it’s just a little much!I rate this at 3 stars because even though it did what you’d expect retinol to do and my skin really didn’t agree with the concentration the subtle results were nice but not really worth the whole ordeal for me.

Suaviza la piel, ayuda con las líneas de la frente. Elimina los granos durante la noche.

Good Product, but only last a couple of days.

The price is too high