Review: Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment

I already wrote two fairly detailed articles on retinol a few years ago. If you haven’t read them, and you’re interested in the subject of anti-aging, I highly recommend you start there before reading this review:

Focus on: retinol

How do I use retinol effectively?

In these articles, I explain the difference between all the retinoid-based ingredients, and I also provide a guide on how to avoid messing up your skin barrier 😉

Since these two posts, it’s true that I haven’t given you too much news about the products I’ve been trying. I’ve done quite a bit of testing, it has to be said, and I’ve had a hard time settling on one particular product over the past couple of years.

But right now, I’ve been using the Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment for almost 6 months. And 6 months means it’s serious business, right? 😉

So I’m going to take advantage of this review to give you a little update regarding all my trials, and I’ll explain why, in my humble opinion, Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment is worth a try!

Ingredients Focus on: retinol Over the past year or two, retinol made a huge comeback in our skin care products. And this is only the beginning, you can expect to be inundated in the coming months! This ingredient is supposed to be the most effective for a true, proven and recognized anti-aging action. But sometimes sensitizing, it can also frighten beginners. Let’s take a closer look at retinol, or rather the family of retinoids! Read more

My different retinoid trials and why I finally went back to retinol:

When I wrote this article: How do I use retinol effectively? I was using retinal at quite a high dosage.

It was early 2020; it was the beginning of the pandemic. I was confined at home, like many people. And when you’re bored and locked up at home, why not mess up your skin barrier by trying tretinoin just because you have too much time on your hands? 😀

I used an online consultation service, but in Dubai, tretinoin is available over the counter in pharmacies, so it wouldn’t have been a problem to get it. I started a treatment with a monthly delivery of a customized formula designed for my specific needs (if I remember correctly, it was a mix of tretinoin and niacinamide).

I introduced tretinoin super slowly into my routine, increasing the dosage little by little, and after 2 years, I was using a dosage of 0.05% 3 times a week. Then, one day (end of 2021), my monthly delivery of tretinoin didn’t arrive, and I had no product left. Unluckily, in my pharmacy, tretinoin was also out of stock.

Luckily, I had a bottle of retinol that a brand had sent me, and I thought I could use that instead (it was a bottle of Paula’s Choice retinol and CBD oil, which unfortunately no longer exists). And boy, did I like the result I got with it! Same smoothed skin, same glow, my breakouts didn’t come back, no more blackheads whatsoever (🙌) and as a bonus, I also had a ‘not so dry’ and sensitized skin.

I couldn’t really explain why, but I’m thinking that maybe since my skin tolerates almost daily application of retinol (I use it 5 times a week), I’m able to get similar results to what I had with tretinoin. This is just a guess…

So I decided to stop using tretinoin for the time being, and go back to over the counter formulas. My curiosity got the best of me. I guess I just wanted to test other retinoid-based products! (Once a serial tester, always a serial tester, as you can expect! 😉).

After a lot of trial and error at first, by the way. I wanted to test retinal-based products, then others with retinol in varying doses. And I finally came back to an ingredient and a brand that worked well for me a few years ago: 1% retinol, from Paula’s Choice.

A few years ago, I was using the 1% Retinol Booster. This time, I decided to try the Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment because I found the formula super appealing (and the size of the bottle a little more economical than the Booster, it has to be said!)

Well, I’m finishing up my second bottle of Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment and I have a third one ready to go! That’s how successful the trial was. 🙂

Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment, product presentation:

Paula’s Choice loves retinol. It’s an ingredient that the brand features in several of its products, in varying dosages.

And there are many good reasons for that! Retinol is a great multi-tasking ingredient. It works both on anti-aging prevention (it’s a powerful antioxidant ingredient) and on skin repair. It is tremendously effective in regenerating sun-damaged skin (enemy number one of your skin’s youth, need I remind you? 😉). Wrinkles, fine lines and brown spots are no match for it. It’s able to smooth out skin that has a lot of texture (visible, clogged pores…) and it also purifies skin with breakouts. In short, this retinol is a true overachiever!

The downside is that it tends to be quite irritating. But if it’s well combined, like in the Paula’s Choice retinol products, the rest of the formula really helps a lot to reduce the feeling of irritation.

I’ve tried several from the brand and my favorites are the two most concentrated, the Booster 1% Retinol, which I’ve really enjoyed in the past for its very fluid, non-greasy texture, and our hero of the day, the Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment, which is a bit richer texture.

My skin is less oily than it was a few years ago, and the texture of the latter suits me very well now! This treatment is quite creamy, but not greasy, and absorbs into the skin very quickly.

The Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment formula is really strong on anti-aging! As always, Paula’s Choice has a multi-faceted list of ingredients, which provides a super comprehensive response to the needs of aging skin.

These needs are often multiple, and the brand has thought of every one of them with:
– some retinol concentrated here at 1%, and formulated to deliver the ingredient gradually (it’s a slow-release system) to reduce its irritating effect.
– soothing ingredients such as oat, allantoin, willow bark, burdock, licorice root (which is also brightening)…
– ingredients that protect the skin barrier such as ceramides,
– hydrating ingredients: hyaluronic acid and glycerin,
– a vitamin C derivative (Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate) that is antioxidant and brightening,
– and finally a complex of three peptides (Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Acetyl Dipeptide-1 Cetyl Ester) which complete the anti-aging action of retinol.

In short, this product works as well on the brightness with the derivative of vitamin C as on the treatment of the wrinkles, and the loss of firmness with the retinol and the peptides.
Add to that good hydrating and super soothing ingredients, and you really have a formula that leaves nothing to chance regarding anti-aging treatment!

All this in a 30ml bottle for $62. Not cheap, of course, but the brand often runs good promotions and the bottle usually lasts me quite a long time (3/4 months in general).

Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment, my experience:

First, a confession: you can have years of experience with retinoids and still make the same rookie mistake. Because yes, of course, I thought I could use this product every night since I had used tretinoin.

And on my face, it was kind of true… but my neck was not on board with that at all and made me suffer for it! 😂

So I followed the brand’s recommendations. I started over with an application 3 nights a week, and gradually increased.

I use this product after my hydrating serums and before my night moisturizer (it’s called the “hydration sandwich” method), so that I get the benefits of the product while reducing the irritation it can cause. After several experiments, this is my preferred method with all my retinoid products.

And these days, I apply it 5 times a week; I don’t usually use it on the weekends, and if I feel the need, I exfoliate with acids at that time. This is the only time in my routine that I use acids.

As far as the results go, there’s no doubt that retinol really works for me: my skin is smoother, my breakouts are now quite rare, and I have this “retinol glow” that is so characteristic and enjoyable! As for wrinkles and fine lines, I don’t have a lot of them, I’m not the best person to judge this aspect (thanks to my thick skin!). For the toning effect, I admit that I rely more on the use of my anti-aging devices to help me, as I always say! But retinol helps prevent sagging, so it can’t hurt 🙂.

The brand also talks about an effect on dark spots, but I’m lucky (and I hate being in the sun/ I use tons of sunscreen all the time), I really don’t have much of these. So I can’t really judge its action on that as well.

I’m really happy with this product, and at the moment, I don’t feel like trying anything else. (but my curiosity always wins in the end, so I can’t make any promises!)

In conclusion:

For me, the Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment deserves its cult favorite status!

The formula is very complete and you can definitely feel it: it is effective and I also find that, compared to others, it’s not super irritating. Of course, you have to use it with caution at first, but that’s the case with every retinoid-based product 😉.

Sure, it’s a bit pricey, but the brand often runs promotions, so it’s worth keeping an eye out!

The Paula’s Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment retails for $63 for 30ml.