I have seen Olay products in my life as early as I can remember. I loved watching my Grandma go through her nighttime skincare routine as I sat patiently observing on her bathroom counter top. It is easily one of the first beauty brands I recognized because of my Grandma’s ritual daily use. Flash forward 30 years and I’m so proud to continue to speak to Olay products in my life. This isn’t the first mention of their quality products on my blog, for years I have proudly partnered with this brand showcasing my favourites. But I’m not going to lie to you when they approached me and asked me to try the Retinol24 line I was very nervous. A few years ago, I did try retinol and didn’t have a great experience. I had red itching irritation and I was quite concerned that may just happen again. That’s why I wanted to try this product for a long period of time, photograph my skin weekly and then speak to it. I’ve used this daily for way over month with no irritation on my face. I’m so excited to see brighter, more even skin and even a decrease in fine lines! 

Now you may be asking yourself what is retinol? In short, retinol is a form of Vitamin A. They can brighten and smooth skin while fading signs of damage, like scars, sunspots and wrinkles. But many retinoid products can cause redness, flaking, or dryness like what I had experienced in the past. This might mean the retinoid level is too high, you’ve been given the wrong type of retinoid for your skin type, or the formula was not optimized for daily use. In the past, I’ve used a pricey high percentage retinoid product and had just that: a sensitive skin reaction. I was apprehensive about using it again, but I am so excited to report that Olay’s Retinol24 was gentle enough for me to use everyday with no irritation on my face for over 30 days.

When do people typically use it? I was asked this question a lot on social media. Why was Olay only making a “night” retinol line? Where’s the day cream? Only use retinoid in your night time skincare routine because retinoid is a photo-sensitive ingredient and can break down with the sun. This also means you’ll need to use an SPF in the day to help protect your skin when you use retinoid at night. I always used a moisturizer with SPF in the morning, and sometimes used one with a tint, for example, it. Cosmetic’s Your Skin But Better CC+ illumination tinted cream with SPF when I wanted more colour coverage.

Did my skin need to get used to using a retinoid product every night? Yes it did. In the first week or so, I did notice some skin flaking off. But it wasn’t much. To help with the exfoliation process I used Tatcha’s Polished classic rice enzyme powder to gently exfoliate my skin a few times a week. And Glow Recipe’s Blueberry Bounce gentle cleanser daily morning and night. After my first week of use, I also experienced some redness on my neck. I decided I would just keep using the retinoid on my face only, since I had zero irritation there. 

I am so excited with my results. See the unedited photos below. I’m loving my smoother and brighter skin, and the decrease in fine lines around my eyes, and smaller pores. I’ve truly seen a transformation in my skin these last few months, so much so that I’ve barely worn any makeup lately!

For more information on the collection, check out Olay.ca/retinol

Thank you for coming along with this retinol journey! I hope you found it helpful!

Disclaimer: this post is paid by Olay but my thoughts and opinions remain my own