Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1%: a Guru Score of 80%

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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✓Yay

"Maelove was so early with retinol. Their retinol product is actually one of my favorite smelling products of all time, even though that's kind of illegal for a dermatologist to say."

All 2 takes from Doctorly

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"Maelove was so early with retinol. Their retinol product is actually one of my favorite smelling products of all time, even though that's kind of illegal for a dermatologist to say."

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"The Maelove Moonlight Retinal Serum has retinaldehyde, which is one-step closer to retinoid conversion than retinol, and may be slightly more effective than your regular retinol."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

722k subs

✓Yay

"May Love Moonlight Super Serum is another retinaldehyde that I like, and that's probably the first retinaldehyde product I've been exposed to, and I love that one. It has a nice cool color, as well, and so gentle and hydrating. May Love has done a great job with their products."

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"May Love Moonlight Super Serum is another retinaldehyde that I like, and that's probably the first retinaldehyde product I've been exposed to, and I love that one. It has a nice cool color, as well, and so gentle and hydrating. May Love has done a great job with their products."

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"If you've done retinol and you want to upgrade, go for retinaldehyde. Maelove Moonlight or Avène retinol products are great. Those are gentle retinaldehyde and that's only one conversion step away from becoming active retinoic acid versus retinol needs two conversion steps."

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"The OG has always been Maelove Moonlight Serum, which has been out for a long time well before all of this big explosion of retinaldehyde. This came out I believe in 2020, 2021. Retinaldehyde is more potent than retinol. [...] I love retinaldehyde because it's more potent theoretically than retinol and you don't have a lot of irritation like the prescription stuff I would prescribe like tretinoin, tazarotene. Tazarotene is very notorious for causing irritation."

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"I've loved their retinaldehyde serum, their night serum, the moonlight night serum. Maelove was the first product I used from the brand and since then I've been thoroughly impressed by their products."

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"There's retinaldehyde over the counter, which you can find some brands going into, but it's very hard to formulate retinaldehyde. Maelove has made a Moonlight night serum."

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"Some brands have done a good job with retinaldehyde, which is much more unstable and harder to create. [...] I've talked about Maelove's Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum."

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"The moonlight retinaldehyde serum is a nice retinaldehyde product that is in a dropper bottle, fairly affordable. They've done a great job with this and just a few drops to the face at bedtime and then apply your moisturizer over it. Great stuff. [...] Studies have shown that it can help with fine lines and wrinkles even more so than retinol but it could be a little bit more irritating because it's more potent. [...] There are trade-offs to it."

Beyond50Skin

32k subs

✓Yay

"It doesn't create that tightened skin feeling that's so uncomfortable when you have that kind of dry winter skin."

All 4 takes from Beyond50Skin

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"It doesn't create that tightened skin feeling that's so uncomfortable when you have that kind of dry winter skin."

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"I tried their retinal dhide serum"

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"The Maelove is sort of a lighter serum. [...] This would be better for normal skin, whereas the event is definitely going to be better for dry skin. Both the Geek and Gorgeous and the Maelove are super budget friendly options for a retinaldehyde."

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"The Maelove is sort of a lighter serum. [...] This would be better for normal skin, whereas the event is definitely going to be better for dry skin. Both the Geek and Gorgeous and the Maelove are super budget friendly options for a retinaldehyde."

Sincerely Miss Ash

195k subs

✓Yay

"I really love this formulation because it is super brightening. There are other ingredients in here that benefit our skin even further. For example, there's niacinamide in here and this ingredient really helps to fade dark spots and post acne marks, but it can also brighten the skin at the same time. Retinaldehyde does that also. So I feel like this combination really gives that extra kick to your skin to brighten everything up. There's also hyaluronic acid, ceramides, squalane, aloe."

All 3 takes from Sincerely Miss Ash

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"This is actually quite nice. I didn't experience any irritation, no tingling, no nothing. I did use this a handful of times on my face just to test this, but I was also using this on my neck as well because I use Tretinoin on my face but I can't bring it down my neck, so I usually use retinols or products like this that my neck can tolerate well too on those Tretinoin nights so that I can treat the neck and the chest area, and this actually worked really nice on my neck."

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"I love this a lot and I think it's a really nice one, especially if you want to enter the retinaldehyde world. I would say if you're using this, don't pair it with vitamin C because it's best to keep this as that main product just so that you don't develop more irritation and dryness because that is possible when you're using a retinaldehyde."

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"I really love this formulation because it is super brightening. There are other ingredients in here that benefit our skin even further. For example, there's niacinamide in here and this ingredient really helps to fade dark spots and post acne marks, but it can also brighten the skin at the same time. Retinaldehyde does that also. So I feel like this combination really gives that extra kick to your skin to brighten everything up. There's also hyaluronic acid, ceramides, squalane, aloe."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

✓Yay

"The Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum does have fragrance in it, contains bergamot oil, orange oil, and grapefruit oils. They're not strong but there is a citrus scent to it, so if you're going to use this be aware of it, certainly don't use it during the daytime. This one contains 0.1% retinaldehyde. It also contains cloudberry seed oil and green tea."

All 2 takes from No BS Beauty

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"The Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum does have fragrance in it, contains bergamot oil, orange oil, and grapefruit oils. They're not strong but there is a citrus scent to it, so if you're going to use this be aware of it, certainly don't use it during the daytime. This one contains 0.1% retinaldehyde. It also contains cloudberry seed oil and green tea."

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"This does have fragrance in it contains bergamot oil orange oil and grapefruit oils they're not strong but there is a citrus scent to it so if you're going to use this be aware of it certainly don't use it during the daytime. This one contains 0.1% retinaldehyde it also contains baobab cloudberry seed oil and green tea."

HotandFlashy

1.23M subs

✓Yay

"Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum, it is 0.1% retinaldehyde. So these for me, I know they have the same amount of retinaldehyde in them. I like them both. If money's tight and you're trying to decide between these two, I would definitely go with the Naturium because this one is 1.7 oz, the Maelove is 1 oz, and they're about the same price, they're both about $30, so you get almost 3/4 an ounce more in the Naturium. But as I said, I do love both and will continue to use both."

All 3 takes from HotandFlashy

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"Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum, it is 0.1% retinaldehyde. So these for me, I know they have the same amount of retinaldehyde in them. I like them both. If money's tight and you're trying to decide between these two, I would definitely go with the Naturium because this one is 1.7 oz, the Maelove is 1 oz, and they're about the same price, they're both about $30, so you get almost 3/4 an ounce more in the Naturium. But as I said, I do love both and will continue to use both."

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"I have been able to use retinaldehyde on my neck and for the last few years I've used Maelove Moonlight super serum which is a retinaldehyde serum and I love this serum. I had been using a different retinaldehyde before this one but I finished up my last bottle of that over the course of 2023 and went whole hog just into Maelove Moonlight serum."

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"I've been using a retinaldehyde serum for a long time now that I love. I use it on my neck because my neck is too sensitive to use my prescription strength retinoid there. I've been using the M Love Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum, which is a 0.1% formulation. Until recently, this was definitely the least expensive way to get a retinaldehyde into your skincare routine."

Mad About Skin

732k subs

✓Yay

"It has that very rich coloration you would expect from a high strength retinal and this is really rich and creamy, has much more of an emulsion-like texture. [...] I love this Maelove one. I think it's absolutely fabulous. It has a very unique texture and is beautifully well formulated. [...] These are the sort of strengths you want to begin with if you don't have too sensitive skin. They're going to be hydrating which is nice and you can still use them alongside your moisturizer."

Dr. Sam Ellis

898k subs

✓Yay

"This serum uses something called retinaldehyde rather than retinol which is one of the more common molecules found in over-the-counter retinoids, and retinaldehyde is a little bit more potent than retinol because when retinol is incorporated into the skin it has to undergo two conversion steps to become its most active form whereas retinaldehyde only has to undergo one conversion step to become its most active form."

The Budget Dermatologist

724k subs

✓Yay

"It has ceramides, it has hyaluronic acid, so it's really going to be gentle on your skin considering you're putting a retinoid on there. [...] You can use this actually morning and night. [...] Do I want you to use a retinaldehyde product every single night? No, I do not. Because I think it's important to take a few nights off as rest nights to rest and reset your skin and to take one or two nights off a week to do an exfoliation night."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Retinoids

Retinoids are among the best studied ingredients in dermatology, with solid evidence for acne and for the fine lines and rough texture that come from sun exposure. Dryness and flaking in the first few weeks are common and usually settle.

Source: DermNet

Niacinamide

Niacinamide has evidence behind it for redness, uneven tone and supporting the skin barrier, and it is usually well tolerated even by skin that reacts to most things.

Source: DermNet

Ceramides

Ceramides are part of the skin's own barrier, and moisturisers built around them have evidence for holding water in and settling the tightness and flaking that come with a damaged barrier.

Source: DermNet

Frequently asked.

What is Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1%?

A lightweight serum with 0.1% retinaldehyde, a potent retinoid that converts to active retinoic acid in one step, designed to reduce fine lines and improve skin texture.

Is Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1% worth it?

Yes. All 9 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 80%.

What is Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1%'s Guru Score?

Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1% holds a Guru Score of 80%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 9 expert reviewers we have collected.