Dr. Vanita Rattan has reviewed more than 60 products for mature skin. She approved about a third, gave some a mixed take, and skipped nearly half, landing an approval rate of 34%. That is a strict record. And her reasons for each skip are consistent throughout.
What does Dr. Vanita Rattan recommend for mature skin?
She keeps coming back to vitamin A, and she has strong opinions about packaging. Retinol breaks down when it hits the air, she notes, so she expects an airless pump rather than a jar. She praised Geek & Gorgeous A-Game 10 as the best affordable vitamin A for skin of color. She also praised Kiehl's Retinol Skin-Renewing Daily Micro-Dose Serum for pairing retinol with niacinamide, which strengthens the skin barrier, and adenosine, which calms irritation. On vitamin C, she favors stable forms that do not irritate. She called The Ordinary Ethylated Ascorbic Acid 15% Solution the winner in that space. She also praised Paula's Choice 25% Vitamin C Plus Glutathione Clinical Serum as non-irritating and well suited to sensitive skin.
Dr. Vanita Rattan's anti-aging picks, in her words
"The Ordinary is 0.2% retinaldehyde which is excellent. Very good price point at $20. It's got babassu oil in it so that's your anti-inflammatory but really not much else. It is a beautiful formula and I would recommend it. It's actually very similar to the Geek & Gorgeous in terms of very basic formula and non-irritating. Both are great for sensitive skin."
"I like the multipeptide plus hyaluronic acid"
"This is $73, which is pretty expensive. On the plus side, it's NAIF safe, with no DH alcohol, no fragrance, and no essential oils, and that's good for skin of color. In terms of ingredients, it's literally water as the first ingredient, then emulsion. There are no other actives in it besides the 0.1% retinal plus peptide, so it's a very simple formula. I do like the formula, it's just very expensive for what it is."
"Out of all of the products from Medicube, the one that I would recommend is actually this one."
"The fifth ingredient here is tetrahexyl decanoate. Well done. The sixth ingredient in here is tranexamic acid which is a lovely tyrosinase inhibitor. And they've added in 3-O ethyl ascorbic acid. So even though it's not in an airless pump, I actually really like the formula. It's £40. So it's not cheap, but what I would say is for this formula to be more effective, it should be in an airless pump. But actually, I quite like the formula."
"Don't forget, vitamin A is very drying to the skin. Allantoin, which is your anti-inflammatory, which is excellent, plus panthenol, so this is really made for sensitive skin. There are no other actives in this, but I really love this, actually, for people who are looking to treat their fine lines but maybe have a damaged skin barrier or have just recovered from a damaged skin barrier. This one I love. Well done, Geek & Gorgeous. Not much smell either."
How many products has Dr. Vanita Rattan reviewed for mature skin?
Dr. Vanita Rattan has reviewed 62 products for mature skin, for an approval rate of 34%. 21 approved, 11 mixed, and 30 skipped.
What has Dr. Vanita Rattan skipped for mature skin?
Fragrance, denatured alcohol, and certain preservatives drove most of her skips. She called Olay Retinol 24 Eye Cream a disaster product. It contains a preservative that releases formaldehyde, which she described as an irritant. She also skipped CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum and SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic. Both use straight ascorbic acid, the most common form of vitamin C. She says those strengths are too strong for skin of color. With SkinCeuticals, she added that the price markup is simply not warranted by what is in the formula.
"This is something I actually really wouldn't recommend for any of you. It's a shame because actually the retinol is very good, and so far we really haven't seen vitamin A in the eye creams that are meant to help with fine lines and dark circles when surely this is meant to be the first ingredient we should be looking for. I think you just need to reformulate this. And while you're at it, if you're going to put retinol in a product, don't put it in a jar."
"Retinol palmitate is one step removed, it has to be converted to retinol, and it's one of the weakest forms of vitamin A. [...] They add in an apple stem cell extract, but the clinical evidence on actual cosmetic formulas in human skin is thin. They did add in bakuchiol oil, which is a genuine ingredient, but it's after the preservative system in the ingredient list, so it's almost certainly less than 1%. I really don't like this formula. This is a 3.5 out of 10."
"You really need to avoid fragrance in all your skin care. [...] For skin of color please avoid this product."
"That creates exactly the dark circles that you're trying to get rid of. And then for some wild reason they thought let's add in fragrance into the Inkey. So you basically just stacked the irritation risk further. The chemistry of the retinol is right, but the vehicle around it is wrong. This formula unfortunately gets a two out of 10. It's got fragrance in it, retinol which is irritating, no anti-inflammatories, wrong packaging, should be in an airless pump, and £25 at Target."
What should you take from Dr. Vanita Rattan's picks?
Dr. Rattan's approval rate of 34% on mature skin products reflects a high bar. Her approved picks are specific, not broad. She has been most confident about vitamin A in sealed packaging and stable vitamin C that does not irritate. The consistent message across her reviews is that the right active ingredient can still fall short if the packaging, preservatives, or supporting ingredients are a problem.
Watch Dr. Vanita Rattan say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Differin Adapalene Gel 0.1%Named a winnerWatch at 9:19
- Olay Retinol 24 Eye CreamSkipped itWatch at 19:35
- Plum 1% Retinol Face Serum with BakuchiolSkipped itWatch at 5:02
- Medicube Collagen Jelly CreamSkipped itWatch at 14:20
- RoC Retinol CorrectionSkipped itWatch at 8:05
- SkinCeuticals C E FerulicSkipped itWatch at 14:03
- Murad RetinalSkipped itWatch at 11:10
- Augustinus Bader Rich CreamSkipped itWatch at 13:21
- Medik8 Crystal Retinal 6Skipped itWatch at 8:38
- SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight CreamSkipped itWatch at 14:24
- Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Night MoisturizerSkipped itWatch at 9:27
- Medicube AGE-R Capsule CreamSkipped itWatch at 27:07
- Drunk Elephant A-Passioni Retinol CreamSkipped itWatch at 5:49
- Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Bakuchiol Eye CreamSkipped itWatch at 16:55
- Roche Retinol Deep Wrinkle SerumSkipped itWatch at 6:54
- Medik8 Crystal Retinal 10Skipped itWatch at 10:07
- Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme+ Youth Power Creme Soft CremeSkipped itWatch at 20:31
- Obagi Professional C SerumSkipped itWatch at 23:44
- Allies of Skin RetinaldehydeSkipped itWatch at 10:51
- Innisfree Black Tea Youth Enhancing SerumSkipped itWatch at 18:17
- Numbuzin No.3 Deep Hydration Bio-Lifting EssenceSkipped itWatch at 17:32
- Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Hyaluronic Anti-Wrinkle SerumSkipped itWatch at 0:21
- Fresh Black Tea Youth Enhancing SerumSkipped itWatch at 17:03
- Chanel Revitalizing Eye CreamSkipped itWatch at 5:12
About this expert
See everything Dr. Vanita Rattan has reviewed
Expert rankings
Related guides
This guide reflects what Dr. Vanita Rattan said across her videos about 62 products for mature skin, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products she approved. It is general information, not medical advice.