Review : Vichy Liftactiv Retinol HA SPF 18 Day

I have a combination skin, I tend to get oily on my nose and on my forehead whereas my cheeks tend to be dry.

I have a bit of experience with salicylic acid and glycolic acid products but I've never used retinol products up to a few weeks ago.

I purchased Vichy Retinol HA a month ago mainly to see how my skin will react to retinol and to see whether it will help with my congestion on my cheeks and my acne pigmentation (they're everywhere). And I decided to chose a French pharmacy brand (like Avene, La Roche Possay, Bioderma, Vichy etc.), mainly because they're suitable for sensitive skin. Not that I have sensitive skin, but to reduce having any classic side effects of using retinol like dryness, redness and itchiness.

This is retinol for day time and has SPF 18 UVA and I absolutely adore the technology of the bottle. No air enters the bottle, therefore the cream won't loose its potency.

i guess you you'd never seen this nasa like bottle before

My skin didn't react to this at all. No tingling sensation, no redness whatsoever. I can even say that it's rather moisturising due to hyaluronic acid. It does take longer to get absorbed to continue with my foundation.

I've been using it for the last month or so, daily, under my makeup and I notice that I go oily on my forehead and my nose faster than usual. And I notice it gave me purging on my cheeks. I can't decide if the purging is good or bad though. Mostly it's suggested to use retinol products at least a month in order to see some benefits. So I'll keep continuing until this 30ml bottle finishes and will do a final update.