That's where fun alternatives come in, which can be hard to do, since there hasn't been an ingredient on the market that exceeds retinol's overall awesomeness since, like, it came out.. in the 50's. Yumi Beautiful sent me a bottle of their own anti-aging serum, called asteria serum.
Asteria, what is that?
I know, right? Asterina means starfish (according to my expert google skills), so I'm assuming "asteria" is a cute name they decided to name the product.. considering it does have starfish extract in it and it's their key ingredient, for all of you ocean mammal loving folk out there. Starfish themselves are known for their ability to regenerate, so it makes sense that one of the claims that the ingredient does is help with cell regeneration (as well as firming up the skin).
Here's the full ingredients list of the serum:
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Malachite Extract, Polysorbate 20, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Polyacrylate, Starfish Coelomic Fluid Extract, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans, Beta-Glucan, Cellulose, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance. Paraben Free.
I find this ingredients list.. intriguing. Aloe, being the first ingredient, excites me. As I have drilled into your poor little minds over and over, aloe is soothing and healing. It's great for scars and healing acne. Glycerin pulls moisture into the skin, the classic little ingredient that it is. And, malachite extract? What is that!? Well, apparently it comes from a friggin stone and is known to have awesome detoxifying properties and is also a strong antioxidant. Super cool. Then, you see our starfish fluid extract, so there's our magical little ingredient.
However... do you see that product in the last line? Actually, it's the second from the last ingredient in the entire list.. FRAGRANCE. Added goddamn fragrance. Oh, and it all looked so good. Adding synthetic fragrance to skincare products does nothing good for your skin. In fact, it's likely that it will irritate the skin... so, while the aloe and starfish and malachite may be good for the skin, the fragrance is no good.
Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty here...
The serum, and it is indeed a serum consistency, comes in a clear, airless pump. The bottle is pretty, with a colorful label and the product inside looks appealing. They say to apply the serum under moisturizer, after cleansing and toning the skin. They don't specify whether the skin should be dry or not, so, since most products (aside from hyaluronic acids) want the skin dry upon application, that's what I did. The serum does have a light fragrance, as I discussed in our "ingredients" section above. After the product dries on my skin, my skin does feel a bit tight. This could either be because of the serum itself, on my skin, or it could be because my skin is literally tighter. Unfortunately, I'd go for the prior- because, after looking in the mirror, my skin didn't look all that much tighter.
After using this product for a few weeks, I have to say that my skin did look brighter, but I can't say that it looked much younger. Though this product never irritated my skin or bothered it in the least, like retinol can.
The final conclusion:
Overall... I think this is a nice substitute for those who can't tolerate retinol. It's very gentle, however, it does have some added fragrance, which does add potential for irritation. Also, my personal beliefs are that its just plain mean to use these poor ocean animals for our own vanity. There are hundreds upon thousands of anti-aging ingredients out there. Why do we have to sacrifice poor animals for another one?
You can purchase Yumi Beautiful's Asteria Anti-Aging Serum here on amazon for $32.99.
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