Why Every Woman Should Use Retinol

Face cream can only do so much, says beauty expert Fiona McKim, but this is the most hard-working ingredient in skincare...

- Martinique Stevens

One of the great things about being a beauty writer is you’re never stuck for conversation at parties – everybody has questions. The flip side of that is I do seem to spend a lot of time telling people things they don’t want to hear. How do I lift my sagging eyelids? Er, surgery. What can really help with cellulite? Learning not to worry about it too much. Thank goodness then for retinol, because in a beauty market that often overpromises and under-delivers, this stuff really does work. In fact, it works on just about every aspect of the way skin looks and feels, and has been consistently proven to do so for decades.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a miracle product, and if you’ve ever tried retinol, you’ll know it comes with caveats. But that doesn’t stop just about every skincare expert, beauty insider and dermatologist I’ve ever interviewed from including it in their routine in one way or another. Read my guide here, play by a few simple rules, and it will absolutely be in yours, too.

The facts