Hey girlies😉

Just thought I’d share some thoughts after almost a year of using The Ordinary’s 1% Retinol in Squalane. I’ve had some experience with retinol before, mainly Dermaceutic Activ-Retinol 1.0 and had good results with that one. Pores looked tighter, skin felt smoother, the usual good stuff once you get past the initial reaction phase.

So I figured I’d try The Ordinary’s version, especially because it’s affordable and easy to get. I got my first bottle back in March, and I’m now on my fourth bottle. And honestly… I’m on the fence.

Texture & Application

It’s super oily (as expected it’s in squalane), and I have mixed feelings about that. In summer, I could get away with using it on its own, but in winter I had to layer it with a moisturizer. I’ve tried putting the moisturizer on top, but the slipperiness from the squalane makes that feel kind of gross to me. I really prefer something more like a serum or lotion in texture.

Results?

Here’s where things fall a little flat. I didn’t have any purging or irritation at all, which was nice but also made me question if the retinol was even doing much. I could use it around my eyes and neck with no issue, and even the one time I got it in my eye (don’t ask), nothing happened. No redness, no sting.

That said, I haven’t seen big changes. My pores are basically the same, acne has actually gotten worse (though that might just be winter skin acting up), and while I’m not expecting wrinkle improvements at 24, I kind of hoped for something. I do feel like I exfoliate less overall, maybe that’s the only bonus I’ve noticed. I use the AHA 30% + BHA 2% mask once every few weeks, but other than that I don’t need as much exfoliation.

Concerns
My biggest issue is that every single bottle seems to oxidize halfway through. At first, it smells like nothing… then coconut cake… and eventually kind of rancid. The color also goes from clear to yellow to a greenish tint. That has me wondering if I’m just applying oxidized, less effective retinol by the end of each bottle. And that could explain the meh results.

I store my last bottle in the fridge now, but I still think the dropper bottle is the wrong packaging for a product like this. An airless pump or a tube would make way more sense, especially for something as sensitive as retinol.

What’s Next
Once I finish this bottle, I’m going to stop retinol for a bit and see if I even miss it. I might just go back to nightly glycolic acid instead. I’m also really curious to try Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol to see if I get better results with a more stable, maybe better-formulated product.

Thanks for reading my rambly review, hope this helps someone out there trying to decide!

xx