Murad retinal resculpt overnight treatment
- Size : 30ml
- Key ingredients : Encapsulated retinal, olive leaf extract, kangaroo paw flower extract, oat lipids and alpha glucan
Presented in a green glass bottle, the overnight treatment has a silver pump applicator on the top. As with all retinoids, you would only ever use them at night, and we applied the treatment after cleansing our face before bed. Our tester is prone to skin sensitivity and tends to sandwich retinoid products in between layers of moisturiser – so, this is something you could do to gauge your skin’s response to begin with. It’s also important to note that using retinal or retinol will make your skin more sensitive to the sun, so applying an SPF regularly is essential.
The serum has a silky-smooth texture which feels luxurious and glides onto skin effortlessly and is softening. Plus, we detected a pleasing light, fresh citrus fragrance as we added it onto both our face and neck. This treatment absorbs quickly, and we found that made it an easy addition to our evening skincare routine.
Key ingredients alongside retinal include blemish-balancing oat lipids, moisture promoting alpha glucan and calming olive leaf extract. It does depend on how your own skin reacts as to how often you’d use the retinal serum per week, but we’ve been applying it every 2-3 days to start with.
Read more: The best retinol serums 2023, tried and tested
It’s worth knowing you may also see an increase in dryness, blemishes or acne at first, as your skin gets used to the treatment. This is because the turnover promoted by the retinal to help boost plumpness and smoothness and improve wrinkles can worsen breakouts to begin with. We did see a few spots appear in the first week’s use, but once they settled, our skin looked and felt smoother and it is definitely worth perservering should that occur. Plus, we were happy to note that we saw far less dryness and irritation than with using many other retinal or retinol products in the past, and it shows that this serum has been formulated with components to counteract these annoying side effects in mind.
The biggest difference we saw after a fortnight’s continued use was an overall improvement to the texture of our skin. We noted a healthy glow, particularly where we would usually be bothered by dullness, and found skin felt and looked slightly smoother too. This meant our skin had a more radiant look, both on bare face days and underneath our make-up. It is undoubtedly an investment purchase, but we were pleased to see tangble benefits in such a short time.
While we’ve only been using the retinal serum for a fortnight, we’re impressed with the initial results and are excited to see how our skin responds to ongoing application.