The research behind our Retinol Alternative Serum

Every active ingredient, the published study behind it, what that study really measured, and what it means for the bottle on your shelf. Written so you can decide for yourself, not so we can tell you what to think.

Every ingredient discussed here is in the serum. Not every study used the same concentration, and we say so where it matters.

Most skincare pages say "clinically proven" and stop there. No study name, no sample size, no mention of whether the test was on people or on cells in a dish. We think that's backwards. If you're going to put something on your face twice a day for three months, you should know exactly what it's based on.

So this guide does something unusual for a brand: it walks through every active ingredient in our Retinol Alternative Serum, names the research behind each one, explains what that research actually measured, and tells you where the evidence is strong and where it's still early. Some of it is excellent. Some of it is promising but unproven. You'll know which is which by the end, and you'll be able to judge any other "retinol alternative" on the shelf the same way.

If you only want the product details, the serum page has them. If you want to understand why it's made the way it is, read on.

01How to read skincare evidence

Before we get to ingredients, it helps to know that "studied" can mean very different things. There are three kinds of evidence in this guide. From least to most relevant to you:

None of these is "fake". They answer different questions. A lab study tells you whether an ingredient has a plausible mechanism. A human trial tells you whether that ingredient changes skin. Product testing tells you whether this particular bottle, with everything else in it, feels and looks good to the people using it. The best products have a bit of all three. Ours does, and we'll show you each one.

02Why look beyond retinol?

Retinol is a form of vitamin A and one of the best-researched ingredients in skincare. Your skin converts it into retinoic acid, which speeds up cell turnover and encourages collagen production. That's why dermatologists have recommended it for decades.

The trouble is how it feels, especially at the start. Many people get redness, flaking, tightness and stinging for the first few weeks, a phase often called "retinisation". It usually has to go on at night only, it can make skin feel more sensitive to the sun, and it's generally avoided in pregnancy. Plenty of people give up before it has time to work, which means they get the irritation without the results.

In Europe there's a second change. Since November 2025, new face products sold in the EU can contain at most 0.3% retinol, with a "Contains vitamin A" warning on the pack. The rule is about how much vitamin A people take in overall, from food, supplements and cosmetics together. It doesn't mean retinol harms skin, but it has pushed a lot of people to look at alternatives. We cover the full comparison in Retinol vs. retinol alternatives, explained.

03Bidens Pilosa, in depth

Bidens Pilosa goes by many names: Black Jack, Spanish Needle, beggar's ticks. It's a small daisy-family herb with white petals and a yellow centre that grows across South America, Africa and Asia, and it has a long history in traditional medicine. What interested cosmetic chemists is more specific.

That's the important part. Bidens Pilosa contains no vitamin A and looks nothing like retinol chemically. It reaches some of the same switches by a different route. Because it isn't a retinoid, it isn't covered by the EU vitamin A limits, and it doesn't come with the same reputation for irritation.

The key study: Dieamant et al., 2015

The main research on Bidens Pilosa in skincare was published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The team took a standardised extract of the plant, made using supercritical CO₂ (a clean extraction method that uses pressurised carbon dioxide instead of chemical solvents), and tested it in two ways: on human dermal fibroblasts, the cells that make collagen, and on small fragments of human skin left over from eyelid surgery. Crucially, they ran retinol and retinoic acid alongside it so the results could be compared directly.

Best collagen result at 0.05 mg/mL; best elastin result at 0.2 mg/mL. Retinol and retinoic acid at 10 μM.

The authors described the extract's effects as "similar to or better than" retinol's. Look at the table and it's more nuanced, and more interesting: retinol raised collagen more, while the Bidens extract raised elastin more. Collagen gives skin its firmness; elastin lets it spring back. Prescription-strength retinoic acid beat both, which is what you'd expect from a drug.

In the skin fragments, the extract also increased activity of the retinoid receptors and markers linked to skin renewal. Taken together, it's a coherent picture: a plant extract that nudges skin cells in a retinol-like direction, without being retinol.

So why use it? Because the mechanism is plausible, the lab data is encouraging, and the trade-off is favourable: a gentle ingredient with no known retinoid-style irritation, paired with ingredients that do have strong human evidence. If you want to see how it stacks up against the other big plant alternative, read Bakuchiol vs Bidens Pilosa.

04The hydration trio: hyaluronic acid, aloe and glycerin

These three don't have a retinol-like story. What they have is something Bidens Pilosa doesn't yet: measured results on real people's skin. And their effect matters more than it sounds. Well-hydrated skin reflects light more evenly, feels softer, and the fine lines caused by dehydration soften noticeably. A lot of the "smoother within two weeks" feeling people describe with any good serum comes from here.

They also do a second job: they keep skin comfortable while the slower active does its work. That's the thinking behind the whole formula.

05Fruit extracts and vitamin E

Daily exposure to sunlight and pollution creates free radicals, unstable molecules that break down collagen over time. Antioxidants help neutralise them. Our serum includes three sources:

A note on honesty: our supplier lists "vitamin C" as a key ingredient. There's no pure ascorbic acid on the ingredient list; the vitamin C comes from fruit extracts. That's gentler, but it isn't a high-strength vitamin C serum. If brightening is your main goal, you can layer a dedicated vitamin C product in the morning (see how to use it).

06Jojoba and the plant butters

Alongside it are small amounts of murumuru and organic mango seed butters, cotton seed oil and linseed oil. Their job is to support the skin barrier, the outer layer that keeps water in and irritants out. A healthy barrier is the reason gentle actives feel gentle.

Pair a gentle active with hydrators and barrier support, and skin stays comfortable. Skin that stays comfortable is skin you keep using the serum on. And consistency is what shows results.

07Testing on this exact formula

Everything above is about individual ingredients. The finished serum was also put through consumer-perception testing by the manufacturer: participants used it and then rated their own skin. Here's what they reported, from strongest agreement to weakest:

Two things stand out. First, comfort and hydration score highest, wrinkles lowest. That's exactly what the ingredient evidence predicts: hydrators work fast and have strong human data, while the collagen story is slower and less proven. Second, we're showing you the weaker numbers too. A brand that only quotes its best figure is hoping you won't ask about the rest.

Self-assessment has limits: people know they're using a product and may expect it to work. But it answers a real question, did the people using it like what they saw and felt?, and here the answer was mostly yes.

08What to expect, week by week

Your skin renews its outer layer roughly every four to six weeks, and that slows with age. Any ingredient that works on renewal needs at least two or three cycles to show. Here's a realistic timeline based on the evidence above. It's typical, not a promise.

This is the practical reason we recommend starting with two bottles. One 30 ml bottle lasts about two months of twice-daily use, which covers comfort and texture but ends just before the point where fine lines are fairly judged. Two bottles take you comfortably past week twelve, and an order of two qualifies for free delivery.

09How to use it for best results

Good ingredients only work if they're used well. This is the routine we'd suggest, plus the small habits that make the biggest difference.

What it layers with

10Who it's for, and who should skip it

11Our honest verdict

Put it all together and here's where we land. If retinol gave you redness, flaking or stinging, or you simply want one gentle serum you can use morning and night without a schedule, this is a well-formulated option with honest evidence behind it. The hydration benefits are well supported. The retinol-like benefits are plausible and promising, and we'd rather tell you they're early than oversell them.

If you want the strongest possible anti-wrinkle evidence and your skin handles retinol, retinol still has decades more research. Or consider bakuchiol, which has a head-to-head trial. We'd rather you choose the right product than the one we happen to sell.

12Your questions, answered

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