Garance Doré: A Retinol Reality Check
Garance
July 12, 2024
Author: Garance Doré
Garance
July 12, 2024
Garance Doré: A Retinol Reality Check
Author: Garance Doré
Retinol, I love you, but you stress me out!I have a good skin. It’s pretty clear, covered in freckles and it’s always erred on the side of combination / oily, which I used to fight with all my might with matifying powders and lotions until it became cool to be a bit shiny—good, because nothing ever succeeded in matifying it for more than five minutes anyway.Recently though, my skin has started developing what I call “texture.” Small things, not visible in good light, but that I can see and which I am awfully self-conscious about… And which, I am sure, will just multiply and grow if I let them—those small things that age you more than any wrinkles.Little veins, small developments of sebaceous hyperplasia (enlarged pores, one of the delights of oily skin) and, of course, enlarged freckles, otherwise known as sun spots.I’ve been very, very careful with any miracle products—I haven’t used retinols for example, they stress me out because of how extra careful you have to be with sun exposure. But last winter, I decided that I wanted perfect skin and went for it. I went for the Paula’s choice 0.3 Retinol and applied it dutifully every night alongside with my fateful Doré La Crème because you need to deeply hydrate your skin when using retinoids.The results were almost immediate. After three days my skin was smoother, my pores smaller and my tone more even. I didn’t feel any sensitivity. It was good, but it also came with enormous paranoia, applying a ton of sunscreen multiple times a day as is recommended, and freaking out anytime I found myself in a ray of sun—a side of the treatment I really had a hard time with.Until one day, after I forgot to apply my sunscreen before going out in the sun with friends. I spent my time thinking about it rather than enjoying my time with them… And this is why I decided that it was too much of a commitment for me. It had been about three months and that’s how long I had wanted to do it anyway. I put my retinol away, went back to my simple Doré routine, and here are my conclusions for you…
- Retinol works.
- Smoother skin is great, but let’s be honest—having it didn’t change my life. It’s not like suddenly people were stopping me on the street. I didn’t really get any remarks from anyone, actually.
- I do think we’ve become so obsessed with perfection that we sometimes lack a bit of perspective.
- I don’t have the level of vigilance needed to protect my skin from the sun.
- It made me obsessive and I’d sometimes miss the best moments because I was paranoid that I would burn.
- The second I stopped, my skin came back to its natural tone and texture—which I was very disappointed about, as I had hoped the results would carry over and that I’d be able to use retinols for three months, in the winter, as a yearly form of reset.
Retinol, I love you, but you stress me out!I have a good skin. It’s pretty clear, covered in freckles and it’s always erred on the side of combination / oily, which I used to fight with all my might with matifying powders and lotions until it became cool to be a bit shiny—good, because nothing ever succeeded in matifying it for more than five minutes anyway.Recently though, my skin has started developing what I call “texture.” Small things, not visible in good light, but that I can see and which I am awfully self-conscious about… And which, I am sure, will just multiply and grow if I let them—those small things that age you more than any wrinkles.Little veins, small developments of sebaceous hyperplasia (enlarged pores, one of the delights of oily skin) and, of course, enlarged freckles, otherwise known as sun spots.I’ve been very, very careful with any miracle products—I haven’t used retinols for example, they stress me out because of how extra careful you have to be with sun exposure. But last winter, I decided that I wanted perfect skin and went for it. I went for the Paula’s choice 0.3 Retinol and applied it dutifully every night alongside with my fateful Doré La Crème because you need to deeply hydrate your skin when using retinoids.The results were almost immediate. After three days my skin was smoother, my pores smaller and my tone more even. I didn’t feel any sensitivity. It was good, but it also came with enormous paranoia, applying a ton of sunscreen multiple times a day as is recommended, and freaking out anytime I found myself in a ray of sun—a side of the treatment I really had a hard time with.Until one day, after I forgot to apply my sunscreen before going out in the sun with friends. I spent my time thinking about it rather than enjoying my time with them… And this is why I decided that it was too much of a commitment for me. It had been about three months and that’s how long I had wanted to do it anyway. I put my retinol away, went back to my simple Doré routine, and here are my conclusions for you…
- Retinol works.
- Smoother skin is great, but let’s be honest—having it didn’t change my life. It’s not like suddenly people were stopping me on the street. I didn’t really get any remarks from anyone, actually.
- I do think we’ve become so obsessed with perfection that we sometimes lack a bit of perspective.
- I don’t have the level of vigilance needed to protect my skin from the sun.
- It made me obsessive and I’d sometimes miss the best moments because I was paranoid that I would burn.
- The second I stopped, my skin came back to its natural tone and texture—which I was very disappointed about, as I had hoped the results would carry over and that I’d be able to use retinols for three months, in the winter, as a yearly form of reset.