The Serum All My Friends - And Facialist - Want To Try

Mostly cos I won’t shut up about it. Also, my skin is looking pretty great. My hyperpigmentation is basically non-existent, to the point where my facialist, who I had not seen for 6 months, asked if I’d tried some fandangle new laser. Given it was directly after summer, when melanin really kicks off, this was extremely validating.

It’s called Very Amazing Retinal, and it’s our second retinal product after De-Crease, our retinal eye serum. We are pretty sweet on retinal, as you can tell. No, not a typo. Retinal. Retinal is the natural precursor to retinoic acid. And given that it’s one conversion step closer to retinoic acid than retinol, retinal is far more tolerable and less irritating. It’s stunning, in short. 

Retinal is serious about results, but it’s not brutal about it. We take being gentle very seriously at Go-To. We want everyone to be able to use actives, to see the kind of results possible when you bring in heavy hitters, but we don’t think they should suffer for it. So: retinal. More tolerable, but more potent. A no brainer. 

I’ve had incredible personal results from using this serum over the past 10 months. Brighter, more luminous, more plump skin, and even when I’m low on sleep or stressed, my skin looks strong, vibrant, healthy. That counts. That makes a big difference. I’m thrilled not only as a proud founder, but as a Go-To fan and user that we are finally offering the ‘something serious’ that has been missing from our range. The youth elixir. A modern, multi-tasking serum that stands tall against all the other (often wildly expensive) vitamin A products out there. 

Some proof?

Very Amazing Retinal is clinically proven* to:

• reduce the appearance of fine lines by up to 40%
• reduce the appearance of wrinkles by up to 30% 
• reduce pigmentation by up to 70%

*Based on a 12 week clinical trial of 33 participants. 

As well as retinal, this triple-threat includes peptides and niacinamide for brightening and plumping, plus centella and mushroom extract to help calm and soothe. The result is visibly bouncy, bright, youthful skin, the kind of skin we want, and quite frankly, we deserve. 

My belief is that until you have fine lines and pigmentation to work on, you don’t need a product addressing those things. So this is probably best suited for those in their late twenties and beyond. 

While retinal is not irritating to most, it’s always delicate introducing a new active. So, start by using it - only at night! - 1-2x a week, building up to every second day. If your skin is AOK, you can build up to nightly use. The caveat being: SPF the next day, no matter what. Vitamin A products work hard to renew cells, and that makes your skin vulnerable. So, SPF. Use vitamin C in the morning as well for a comprehensive approach to VERY GLOWING SKIN.

My skin can take retinal every night, but my preferred usage is every second night, and then use our Glow Exfoliator on the nights between. (Never use vitamin A and AHAs on the same night.)

I cleanse, apply a couple pumps of Very Amazing Retinal all over my face and down to my chest, let skin dry completely, mist, apply hyaluronic acid, then Face Hero, then Very Luxe Face Cream. A quick, well-rounded and visibly effective routine to keep my skin bright, hydrated, radiant and nourished. If you use De-Crease, use this or that. Not both. 

There’s a fair amount of hubris in calling a product Very Amazing, but I stand by it. If you’re in the market for a one-and-done PM serum that will give you the youthful glow you desire (or absolutely insist on in my case), Very Amazing Retinal is it. Please, let me know how you go via info@gotoskincare.com or in the IG comments. We especially love photos. (No nudes plz.)

Yours in glow,

Zo x