Open Formula Retinoid Serum

Name: Retinoid Serum
Brand: Open Formula

A serum with 3 ingredients, including retinoid.

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Overview

What it is

Serum with 3 ingredients that contains retinoid

Cool Features

It is vegan, cruelty-free, and reef safe

Suited For

It has ingredients that are good for fighting acne, anti aging, dry skin, brightening skin, oily skin, reducing pores, scar healing and better texture

Free From

It doesn't contain any harsh alcohols, common allergens, fragrances, parabens, silicones or sulfates

Fun facts

Open Formula is from United States. This product is used in 2 routines created by our community.

We independently verify ingredients and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Does this product need an update? Let us know.

What's inside

Ingredients List

2

1

Active Ingredients

Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate 0.5%

Skin Conditioning

Inactive Ingredients

Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil

Masking

0-2 / 0 Oil Icon

Dimethyl Isosorbide

Solvent

Active Ingredients: Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate 0.5%
Inactive Ingredients: Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil, Dimethyl Isosorbide

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Key Ingredients

Benefits

Ingredients Explained

Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate

Skin Conditioning

This ingredient is a retinoid. It usually goes by a more common name: "Granactive".

Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate (HPR) belongs to the class of retinoids that also includes retinol and tretinoin.

Retinoids have been proven to:

So what is the difference between all the retinoids?
Most retinoids need to go through a conversion line to become effective on skin. The ending product is retinoic acid. Retinoic acid is AKA tretinoin.

HPR is an ester of tretinoin. Emerging studies suggest HPR to have an added benefit that other retinoids don't have: Low irritation.

A study from 2021 found HPR to have the greatest stability when exposed to light and temperature out of all the commercial retinoids.

A note about naming:
The name "Granactive" is the trade name and the name most commonly used on packages.

Granactive is the name of the mixture - about 90% solvent and 10% HPR. A product with 5% granactive has 0.5% HPR.

Learn more about Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate

Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil

Masking, Skin Conditioning

Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil comes from the seeds of the safflower plant. It is a skin conditioning agent that helps soften skin and keep it hydrated.

This seed oil has an unusual fatty acid profile: it is one of the highest linoleic acid plant oils out there (~55-77%). It also has low amounts of oleic acid, and this high-linoleic/low-oleic ratio gets people excited.

Linoleic acid helps maintain skin barrier integrity and is a building block for the ceramides in your stratum corneum. Notably, people with acne tend to have lower linoleic acid in their skin lipids as well (and this gets worse as acne gets more severe).

Overall, it's a lightweight, fast-absorbing oil that has a long safety track record. Lab testing has found it to be non-irritating for skin or eyes.

The Malassezia yeast can metabolize the fatty acids in this oil to grow; therefore this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.

Learn more about Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil

Dimethyl Isosorbide

Solvent

Dimethyl Isosorbide is a low-irritation solvent that helps deliver actives into your skin. It is created from glucose.

Research shows how well this ingredient works depends on the active and formulation rather than the concentration alone. This means adding more Dimethyl Isosorbide does not guarantee better penetration of ingredients into the skin.