Retinol has a reputation. Half of it is deserved. It's one of the few skincare ingredients with decades of evidence behind it, and the results on texture, tone and fine lines are real.
The other half is the reason so many people never get those results. The dryness. The flaking. The redness that arrives in week two and makes you wonder whether it's working or whether you've broken your face. The advice to start with a pea-sized amount, twice a week, and build up slowly. The warning to keep it away from your eyes, out of the sun, off your skin if you're pregnant.
That's a lot to ask of a night cream.
Retinol, retinal, retinoid: one family, many forms
They're all members of one family, vitamin A. Retinoid is the family name. Retinol and retinal are two of its members, and there are stronger forms available only on prescription. The forms differ in how quickly they work and how much they irritate, and the two tend to go together: the more a retinoid does, the more it stings, and the more carefully you have to introduce it.
That trade-off is built into the whole category. It's why the phasing-in advice exists.
What a bioretinol is
A bioretinol is a plant-derived ingredient that has been studied for retinol-like activity without being a retinoid. Ours comes from Bidens pilosa, a flowering plant, extracted using carbon dioxide rather than solvents. It contains no retinol, no retinal and no retinoid of any kind.
Your skin is built from proteins. Collagen for structure, elastin for spring, keratin for resilience, and thousands of enzymes and messengers keeping the system running. Together they're your skin's proteome, and it's where our research begins. Retinoids have always mattered because of the difference they make to how skin looks and behaves over time. A bioretinol interests us for the same reason, with none of the baggage that comes with the vitamin A family.
Why we built the night cream around it
We had a simple brief. Something rich enough to do the night's work, active enough to earn its place, and easy enough that nobody has to plan their week around it.
The Bioretinol Overnight Rich Cream is formulated for use every night, from the first night. No phasing in. No pea-sized measures. No calendar. It asks nothing of you but a good night's sleep.
The bioretinol sits inside DermaGenix7, our overnight complex, selected to improve the look of texture, radiance and fine lines, in a formula built for comfort. Around it, six plant oils and butters, fermented bamboo bio-water and hyaluronic acid replenish moisture through the night, so skin feels softer and looks smoother by morning.
One thing to know: it contains chamomile essential oil, so it isn't fragrance-free. If your skin reacts to essential oils, patch test first.
Who it's for
Anyone who wants what retinol promises without the ritual of getting there. Dry, mature, dull and combination skin in particular. People who tried retinol and gave up. People who never tried it because the warnings put them off.
Retinol made you work for it. We'd rather you slept.