Omorovicza Midnight Renewal

Omorovicza launched another product in their retinoid family. Midnight Renewal is a retinal product. If you know me at all by now you know I adore retinal versus retinol. I feel it's more effective and I get no irritation. This is a night retinal based serum to help you tackle all the signs of aging. Details per Omorovicza:

Renew skin's youthful vitality with Midnight Renewal, a night-time serum designed to stimulate optimal repair during sleep. Retinal, an innovative form of Vitamin A reduces the appearance of lines and wrinkles, smoothing the complexion, whilst microalgae restore the natural circadian rhythm and shield skin from the damaging effects of modern-day stress.

Oat lipid combines with the Healing Concentrate™ to restore barrier integrity and plump skin. At dawn, complexion appears renewed and radiant.

Key Benefits

Midnight Renewal Serum contains innovative ingredients to help restore the youthfulness of skin:

• • Retinal, an innovative, non-irritating form of vitamin A smooths complexions, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and prevents premature ageing.
  • Microalgae shield skin from the damaging effects of excess cortisol (stress), restoring the natural circadian rhythm and allowing for optimal night-time repair.
  • Omorovicza's patented Healing Concentrate™ leaves skin firmer, suppler and more youthful in appearance.
  • Bifida and Lactococcus Ferment Lysate stimulate skin's self-renewal process, enhancing cell DNA repair and counteracting the effects of UV induced ageing.
  • Polyglutamic Acid deeply hydrates, plumps and firms

So let's talk about retinoids in general. Retinoids help accelerate skin cell turnover leading to a rejuvenated complexion. Retinol is the gold standard in skin care because it helps with everything-lines, wrinkles, uneven texture and skin tone, dullness, increasing collagen production. You name it, retinoids help. It’s your anti-aging powerhouse ingredient. It ranges from prescription strength to over the counter and is a very well studied ingredient as far as safety and proven results. Vitamin A cannot be synthesized by the body, so it needs to be supplied. Esters and beta-carotene are converted to retinol which is then converted to retinal by enzymes and oxidation and retinal can then be oxidized into retinoic acid. In the body conversions go back and forth for absorption and storage in various parts of the body. Retinoids are used for many biological processes. Retinoids have to be converted by enzymes in the skin to become retinoic acid which is then the active form to be used by the body. Only as retinoic acid can retinoids work on the skin (binds to receptors).

Here’s the basic conversion:

Retinyl Esters > Retinol > Retinaldehyde or Retinal > Retinoic acid 

Retinoic acid is your prescription only retinoid. The closer you get to retinoic acid the more effective it is. The non retinoic acids usually have far less irritation or side effects than retinoic acid. As always formulation and how you use it is key. I love retinoids for anti-aging and I would much rather pick a retinoid as an active over acids at this point in my life. I get better overall results and less irritation. I happen to really prefer retinal myself versus retinol. I find it’s more effective and has fewer side effects for me. I’m not against trying tretinoin again but for now I seem to be doing fine with retinal so I’ll stick with it. My biggest advice for anyone looking into retinoids is do consistency over strength. It’s easy to think stronger is better but it’s not. Consistency wins in this case.

On to the product now. It comes in a frosted glass bottle, luxe yes. It has a pump--second bonus. It sealed in an airless bag in the bottle--yes. Retinoids are prone to degradation so keeping air out helps. The texture is a light creamy gel. It goes on really well and I love the texture. So what are the key ingredients in the formulation? Retinaldehyde aka retinal. Omorovicza uses IconicA. IconicA uses a special delivery system which helps optimize the stability of the retinal which in turn benefits you. Retinal is hard to stabilize for use. It has microalgae, their patented Healing Concentrate (which I find magical for my skin, it also uses a special delivery system to get the minerals into the skin), prebiotics and polyglutamic acid. It has a scent. The scent is like mimosa flower and it has a bit of honeysuckle extract. It's not super light but it's not overpowering. The scent is similar to their Rejuvenating Night Cream so if you like that one you'll love this scent as well. They make a good pair.

So now that we've discussed, packaging, scent, texture and benefits--Did it work? Yes. Did I like it better than a lot of other retinoids and retinals I've tried? Yes. I would put it up there with Allies of Skin, Medik8 and SACHI. I found it very effective and pleasant to use with no real irritation (everyone always gets a little here or there depending on factors like rosacea, mask sensitivity and so on). The only downside for me was the scent. As my rosacea gets more reactive due to mask irritation, I have a harder time with scents (floral in particular). I still did fine with this but that's the only thing that prevented me from calling it a top favorite for me. Will this be fine for 95% of the population? Yes. I found this one more potent that Gold Night Drops so if you want the Omorovicza anti-aging powerhouse then this is pretty much it.

 

*PR product from brand

 

Ingredients