Eveline Concentrated Formula Rejuvenation Serum with 0.2% Retinol Review
By Maychiri's Thoughts - May 08, 2024
Two skincare products this week, but this is the only new
one! This is the Eveline Concentrated Formula Rejuvenation Serum with 0.2%
Retinol!
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I have begun to notice more and more expression lines on my
forehead. Me being an expressive person, I was bound to get them sooner or
later, especially with all the sleep deprivation and poor health I was having
throughout 2023. I usually shrug off these wrinkles, but sometimes they really
start to cause anxieties so I decided to nip those anxieties in the bud and
finally start using retinol! I originally wanted to start with The Ordinary’s
1% retinol serum, but I feared this would cause my skin to peel off since I
have never actually used retinol before. So I had to go search for a lower
strength serum, something that my sensitive skin could learn to tolerate. Out
of all the serums I found both online and in irl shops, I decided to go with
this Eveline serum, because I liked the combination of retinol, ceramides,
hyaluronic acid and pullulan. Sounds very promising! Now, let’s see what it’s
actually like!
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Packaging: a cardboard outer packaging that, to be fair, is
quite soothing in its design. I love the combination of lavender and white, it
is so relaxing and pure, perfect for night-time. The text is large and easy to
read. There’s a ton of text all over, both in English and in Polish. Even the
bottom of the box has text – and important text, to boot! Namely, that is where
you’ll find the PAO and concrete expiration date (regardless of if it had been
opened).
The bottle is relatively heavy for its size, and it’s not a
huge bottle by any means! You might be wondering whether the bottle on the
outer packaging matches the real bottle; the answer is no. I wish it looked so
expensive and cool like the one pictured! The real bottle is made of dark brown
glass that is quite opaque. Makes sense – retinol is photosensitive, after all!
There’s a lavender sticker on the bottle to match the outer packaging, but it
honestly looks plain. Not that that’s such a horrible thing, I just wish it had
this ultra cool, lavender bottle instead. The cap closes extremely tightly, as
it should! The dropper is silver/white and actually feels somewhat heavy for
such a small glass object! The rubber nib is alright, it’s made of grippy
rubber that won’t slip through your fingers easily. It looks alright, at first
glance. We will see in a moment how well it functions.
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Ingredients: glycerine, squalane, retinol (both as pure
retinol and retinyl palmitate), shea (Butyrospermum parkii) butter, pullulan,
ceramides (as ceramide AP and ceramide NP), hydrolysed red algae/rhodophyceae
extract, hyaluronic acid, sea water/maris aqua, vitamin E, betaine, vitamin C
(as pure ascorbic acid and ascorbyl palmitate) for nourishment. No parabens. Oh
yeah, this sounds like a quality ingredients list! Retinol and ceramides are not
too far down the list, so there is a decent concentration of both in the serum!
Also, pure retinol – yeah! I did not expect to see vitamin C and shea butter
alongside everything else! I feel giddy; I hope it has good results on my skin!
The scent is very peculiar! It smells... yogurty?? Kinda like fermented milk,
like kefir or Greek yogurt. It definitely smells milky, although there is
something fragrant about it as well. Some sort of floral note? Idk, it’s very
odd! I would kinda understand it smelling like this if lactic acid was one of
its major ingredients but it doesn’t even have it! Look, I don’t hate this
scent, it just caught me totally off-guard. It’s also pretty intense; I can
smell it clearly as I am applying it to my forehead. Well, if it’s one thing,
it is for sure a fresh smell – yogurty fresh smell, but fresh smell
nonetheless! The expiration date is short, only 6 months.
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The dropper is alright, but I have seen better ones. The dropper doesn’t suck up nearly enough serum for the whole face; since I apply
this serum only on my forehead it is enough, but you really get one, maaaybe
two drops. I don’t know whether that’s because of the serum’s thickness or if
the dropper is to blame. I also cannot dose a small droplet no matter how gently
I squeeze it. So, basically, you can only dose large drops, and since it struggles
to suck in more than 1-2 drops, it will be a hassle if you plan to apply the
serum to your entire face. There also seems to be a lot of serum residue inside
the dropper that cannot be removed.
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The serum is milky off-white, slightly yellowish in
colour... which doesn’t help with the yogurt or kefir similarities! It’s also
thick and looks milky, yeah, they’re definitely going for a yogurt look! The
serum is greasy, but it’s also ultralight, and the greasiness feels more soapy
than truly greasy. It’s super easy to spread it over the face; it dries
remarkably fast, only about a minute and it’s already been fully absorbed! It
doesn’t leave any residues and it doesn’t pill; also, it’s not at all tacky.
It’s a really nice and pleasant formula!
So, at first, this serum feels incredibly refreshing! It’s a
very relaxing cooling sensation that also feels quite hydrating. But
immediately after that I usually start to notice a warming sensation, and with
it, a prickly feeling. This isn’t irritation – it’s expected of retinol to feel
slightly prickly. It’s just the way it works! And that means it is working and
the skin is trying to get used to it. So it’s a mix of a cooling and a warming
sensation, which is pretty odd at first, but as the skin gets used to the
retinol, the prickling becomes less of an issue and the warming sensation
becomes less noticeable. After your skin is completely acclimatised to the
retinol you’ll mostly be left with a very refreshing, hydrating feeling. I
actually love how this serum feels on my skin, I didn’t expect it to feel so
refreshing and cooling and hydrating! And the prickling can be bad sometimes,
so much that it makes me wince for a moment or two, but I don’t mind it because
that means it is working! Also, I definitely didn’t expect my skin to feel so soft
and supple after the serum absorbs! It’s wonderful!
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So, I’ve been using this serum for weeks now. I first started
with two times a week (Mon/Fri), and then upgraded to three times a week
(Mon/Wed/Fri) after a few weeks. This gave my skin a chance to build tolerance
to retinol, so that it doesn’t flake off. Despite the instructions, I do not
use it in the morning, I feel like retinol is way too photosensitive and makes
skin way too sensitive to the Sun to be used in the morning, so I only use it
before bed. I feel like I have used this serum enough now to be able to give my
opinion.
So, this is a serum that is supposed to help regenerate the
skin and make wrinkles less visible. Firstly, I have to mention that retinol
can often dehydrate the skin; fortunately, this one doesn’t! My skin may be
ever so slightly more taut and firm, but it doesn’t seem to be dried out. It
looks healthy and slightly more radiant. It definitely feels firmer and like
it’s stronger, especially when I make any sort of expression. Before, it felt a
bit lax when I formed expressions, now, it’s tight. At first, it seemed like
this serum caused tiny bumps on my skin, but it seems like that isn’t
happening anymore. My skin is smooth now, with not a single little bump. This
also means that this serum doesn’t break me out, which was a huge concern. But
now, the main thing. How well does it treat wrinkles? As a bit of background
information, I have developed expression lines on my forehead from being too
expressive while talking or reacting to stuff. This serum seems to have made
the expression lines less visible over the course of a month. They’re still
there and visible under certain lighting, but it is much, much better than
before! I am definitely noticing signs of the skin repairing itself! Oh yup,
this is what I wanted!
All in all, this is a great serum! There’s few things about
that I truly dislike. The dropper and the scent being the only ones, honestly. The
dropper is not very good as it doesn’t pick up nearly enough serum. There’s
always a single drop inside it no matter how much you squeeze it. But it seems
like there’s a lot of residue inside it?? I’ve had much better droppers in the
past. The scent is another odd thing; it smells very yogurty, very milky and like
it’s fermented. But there’s also a floral note in the background... very odd.
Out of all the types of scents, kefir-like is the last thing I would have said!
Look, I don’t hate it, it’s just very unexpected and weird. The serum itself is
also, apparently, inspired by yogurt as it looks milky, cloudy and thick. Thankfully,
it doesn’t feel like yogurt on the skin! It feels super light but still
somewhat soapy and greasy; it is still very comfortable in spite of that
greasiness. Amazingly, it only needs maybe half a minute to a minute to
completely absorb into the skin! After that, it feels silky and super soft,
leaving the skin supple and feeling nourished. It’s very hydrating, which is
actually very important with retinol, as it is known to dry out skin. There is
also a mix of a warming sensation and a cooling, refreshing one. The warming
one I expected, especially as my skin is slowly getting used to retinol, but
the refreshingly cool sensation is a surprise! It’s the perfect counter-balance
to both that warming and the prickly, pins-and-needles feeling that I often
feel with this serum. This is normal – retinol is fairly aggressive by nature
so this prickly feeling is exactly what skin that hasn’t been conditioned to
retinol yet should feel. It subsides quickly and it doesn’t take too long for
the skin to get accustomed to it, so it tends to feel less prickly with time.
Now, the results are great, actually! Especially for just 0.2% retinol! The
expression lines on my forehead seem to be less visible overall after more than
a month of using this serum. The wrinkles are still there – nothing short of
botox or fillers is going to permanently remove them – but they are definitely
less visible and less deep. My skin looks like it is rejuvenated; I can clearly
see it trying to repair itself! I honestly didn’t expect much, maybe a tiny
reduction in the appearance of expression lines, this is awesome! Now, I know
that I am never going to be able to get rid of them fully using just creams and
serums, but I am so happy that this serum manages to minimise how visible they
are without causing my skin to flake or be irritated! Am I going to continue
using retinol? Why, yes. Am I planning to switch to a stronger retinol product?
Also yes! But do I plan to stop being as natural and expressive as I am in
order to prevent further wrinkling? Never, I’ll continue being expressive with
my emotions – wrinkles be damned! I will, however, do everything in my power to
help my skin stay youthful, such as continue using this brilliant serum! I
believe that my skin is now ready to move on to a higher potency retinol serum.
This was the plan all along. I will highly recommend this serum as the first
product to get your skin conditioned to retinol! It not only preps your skin
for stronger retinol, but it also managed to smooth the skin and make wrinkles
less prominent! Absolutely brilliant!
Rating: 8/10
Would buy again? Probably YES
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