REVIEW: Medik8 Crystal Retinal 3

Are you looking for a retinal serum? Do you want to step up your retinoid game to prevent wrinkles and fine lines? This review of the Medik8 Crystal Retinal 3 will help you know about its effectiveness and texture and my experience using this retinoid serum to see if it’s what your night routine needs.

You already know that retinoids are magnificent ingredients if we want to reduce wrinkles and fine lines, but they must be used correctly, since they are potentially irritating and it is essential that our skin develops tolerance. Keep reading if you want to know about my experience with this Medik8 product and the results it provides!

BRAND: MEDIK8
PRODUCT: CRYSTAL RETINAL 3
SKIN TYPE: ALL
RECOMMENDED FOR: UNISEX

You can get the Medik8 Crystal Retinal serum on SkinStore.

As I was saying, retinoids are very effective in improving wrinkles and fine lines. In fact, the two ingredients whose efficacy is supported by most scientific studies to achieve these results are sunscreen and retinol. You already know that sunscreen is an essential part of your skincare routines, you must use it every day without exceptions, but if wrinkles start to worry you can consider using some type of retinoid as well. Of course, remember that it is important to introduce them to your skincare routines progressively, going from milder formulas to stronger ones and always looking for the balance that your skin needs.

And why do retinoids help improve wrinkles and fine lines? On the one hand, they help to repair the elastin and collagen fibers (responsible for keeping our skin firm). In addition to this, they accelerate cell turnover, so that our skin generates new cells more quickly. Apart from all this, retinoids can also provide other benefits to our skin, as they help rebalance oil levels and can be beneficial in reducing skin spots.

In this case, the product I am talking about is not recommended for those who want to start retinoids, it’s more suitable for those who have already used some other milder formula and are looking for an intermediate solution. This is due to the concentration of 0.03% retinal that it incorporates among its ingredients. Medik8’s Crystal Retinal line is made up of four products with different concentrations of retinaldehyde (0.01, 0.03, 0.06 and 0.10%), so in my case I have tried its second mildest form. In addition to retinal, among the ingredients of this serum we can find various antioxidants (such as derivatives from vitamins C and E), sodium hyaluronate (which helps improve skin hydration) and squalane (which helps maintain the balance of our skin). This serum does not contain perfumes among its ingredients.

Now that you know more about the composition of the product and you know the advantages that using it may bring you, you are probably wondering what it is like to use it. As you can see in the header, the product comes in an opaque container with a pump-type applicator (something that I especially appreciate, since with retinoids it is especially important not to use too much and, in this way, you can use it uniformly). Its texture is smooth, light and very creamy. It spreads and applies very easily, absorbing quickly. Its color is light orange, although this is due to the presence of a dye (something that is not really necessary). Its smell is very pleasant.

And finally we enter the most important part of the review: the results. After several weeks using it (and taking into account that I had already observed an improvement in my fine lines due to previous retinoid serums, as you can see in this review and in this one), I have been able to appreciate that this serum is probably the most effective form of retinoid I have ever used. My wrinkles and expression lines have continued to improve, I would say even at a faster rate, and I have not noticed any irritation (something that’s especially important since retinoids can be very irritating).

I really liked being able to try this serum, you know that I am currently quite interested in the use of retinoids and I aspire to use more powerful formulas in the future (although, as always, with patience and perseverance). Precisely for this reason, I do not think I will try this product again, since now I would like to have the opportunity to try its most advanced formulas (with 0.06 and 0.10% retinal) and thus be able to see how my skin evolves when using them.

If you want to reduce wrinkles and fine lines and your skin has already acquired tolerance to milder products, this product is a great addition to your beauty routines, I totally recommend it.

HOW TO USE:

As I have indicated before, retinoids are complex products, so I advise you to follow the instructions of my guide on retinoids. Before using this product, it is important that you do a patch test and, later, that you progressively incorporate it into your skincare routines. Use it in your night routines and remember that it is essential to use sunscreen in all your morning routines. If you want to complement this serum with another one that can make retinoids more effective, I advise you to try using this other one along with it.

This graphic aims to help you understand in which part of your skincare routine you should use each product.
You don’t need to do all the steps from this routine (but you should always cleanse, moisturize and use sunscreen).
Remember it’s key to do a patch test every time you consider adding new products to your skincare routine.

You can get the Medik8 Crystal Retinal serum on SkinStore.

If you liked this article and want to continue learning to take better care of your skin, you will surely be interested in reading these others:

• Retinol: benefits for your skin. 
• Irritation: what it is and how to prevent it. 

Do you want to learn to take better care of your skin? You can see an index of all my informative posts here. 

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