Retin-A Cream for oily skin
Tretinoin
Stearic Acid
Isopropyl Myristate
Xanthan Gum
Sorbic Acid
High
- HighOily Skin Fit
- HighEffectiveness
- HighSafety
A great choice for oily skin; a few serums fit it even better.
This fit is calculated for the concerns frequently associated with oily skin: shine, enlarged pores, blackheads, and blemishes. For scores and recommendations based on your full skin profile, including your 12D face scan results and any goals or preferences you have, please use the Lovi app.
Page built Nov 8, 2026How the Fit score works
Lovi Assistant explains
- Offers excellent treatment for acne and fine lines on your oily skin, as tretinoin effectively reduces acne lesions and minimizes fine lines by promoting skin cell turnover.
- The presence of isopropyl myristate provides mild emollient action, further supporting the regulation of desquamation for your oily skin type.
- This formulation is safe for your oily skin, with no risks of irritation due to the absence of prohibited or harsh ingredients.
How to apply
- Use this serum in your PM routine. Start by applying it 3 times a week and build up to daily use if your skin tolerates it well.
- Apply the serum after cleansing and toning, but right before your moisturizer for the best results.
- Gently press 2-3 drops of the serum into your skin. Let it absorb ⏱ for a minute before applying the next product.
- Apply the serum on clean and dry skin since your skin is not sensitive and you want to target oily shine. This helps control excess oil throughout the night.
- Avoid the delicate eye area and do a patch test before using the serum for the very first time.
People Say
★4.0Overall rating based on 200+ reviewsUsers find this treatment highly effective for acne and anti-aging, leading to smoother skin over time. However, many users experience an initial worsening of acne, significant dryness, peeling, and irritation during the adjustment period, requiring considerable patience for results.
Highlights
Clears acne Mostly Mentioned
- “Completely cleared up my acne and controlled my oily skin”
- “My face is as smooth as a baby's”
- “Acne will be 100% better than before”
- “Best my face has been in more than a decade”
Initial breakouts Mostly Mentioned
- “I had full blown acne, everywhere”
- “Week 3... it was horrible! I couldn't leave my house”
- “Face got way worse... cystic acne spots”
- “Rollercoaster... thought I was done purging, then it would come back”
Smooths skin Often Mentioned
- “Skin became more youthful... brighter”
- “Porcelain-like texture”
- “Tightening pores... gives your skin an overall healthy look”
- “First couple weeks skin became smooth”
Dryness and peeling Often Mentioned
- “Skin flaked a lot... looked terrible and flaky”
- “Made my skin extremely dry... peeling”
- “Strong drying cream”
- “Red, flaky and BURN”
Fades scars Sometimes Noted
- “Helps with fading the scars, and fast”
- “Improved my blackheads a great deal”
- “Fades dark spots for even skin tone”
Reduces aging Sometimes Noted
- “Wrinkles and fine lines became less visible”
- “I now look at least 15 years younger”
- “No wrinkles, except a few tiny lines when I smile”
- “Restores radiance to dull, tired skin”
Burning and irritation Sometimes Noted
- “Made my face burn and it turned the skin red”
- “Burn that would hurt when I would step outside”
- “Face burn... turned the skin red”
Requires patience Sometimes Noted
- “Stopped after 2 1/2 months... still not having improvement”
- “It takes time... stick to it”
- “Wait for my full review... after at least a year”
Sources: lovi.care, drugs.com, webmd.com, and more
Questions and answers
What makes Retin-A Cream a great fit for oily skin?
Retin-A Cream is a great fit because it helps clear acne and smooth fine lines on oily skin by speeding up skin cell turnover. It is unlikely to cause irritation and gently supports your skin type without harsh ingredients.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2020
Which ingredients make this cream a good fit for oily skin?
Tretinoin makes this cream a great fit for oily skin because it effectively reduces acne and fine lines by speeding up cell turnover. Additionally, isopropyl myristate helps soften the skin and supports healthy shedding without causing irritation.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022The New England Journal of Medicine, 1993
What does Tretinoin do for oily skin?
Tretinoin helps keep oily skin clear by reducing blemishes and clearing clogged pores. It speeds up skin renewal, which may reduce breakouts and leave your skin looking smoother over time.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022Clinical Therapeutics, 1992
What does Stearic Acid do for oily skin?
Stearic acid helps restore and protect the natural protective barrier of oily skin when it has been stripped or disrupted by harsh treatments. This ingredient works best alongside ceramides and cholesterol to rebuild the normal structure of your skin so it feels smooth and stays balanced.
Where does this cream go in a skincare routine for oily skin?
This cream goes in the evening routine after cleansing and before moisturizing, and it is also used once a week in weekly routines. Applying tretinoin in the evening helps reduce acne and fine lines while keeping your skin safe around sun exposure.
Can I use this cream with retinol, and in what order?
Using this cream with retinol is not recommended because combining multiple strong treatments like tretinoin and retinol is likely to cause severe skin irritation and redness. It is safer to use them on alternate nights or consult a dermatologist before layering such potent ingredients.
How often should I use this cream?
Use this treatment in your evening routine, starting once a week and carefully using it more often if your skin tolerates it well and shows good results. Tretinoin helps reduce acne lesions and fine lines by speeding up skin cell turnover.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022The New England Journal of Medicine, 1993
Can this cream clog pores, cause breakouts or purging for oily skin?
Retin-A Retin-A Cream is a great fit for oily skin because tretinoin speeds up skin cell turnover to clear blemishes and smooth fine lines. Reviewers frequently report initial breakouts, along with dryness and peeling, which is common as your skin adjusts to the faster cell renewal.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022The New England Journal of Medicine, 1993
Is this cream fragrance-free and alcohol-free?
Yes, it has no fragrance and no drying alcohol. Stearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol, which soften the skin.
What the research says
Tretinoin-loaded nano lipid carriers resulted in a significantly higher rate of decrease in acne lesions and greater reduction in porphyrin production compared to conventional tretinoin cream in patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris.
Archives of Dermatological Research, 2022Topical tretinoin daily application for 10 to 12 months produced an 80 percent increase in collagen I formation in photodamaged human skin compared with a 14 percent decrease with vehicle alone.
The New England Journal of Medicine, 1993A galenic compound containing essential oils and tretinoin demonstrated anti-acne efficacy and anti-inflammatory activity, significantly reducing papular erythema and retinoid-induced rashes compared to clindamycin-tretinoin gel in sixty volunteers over 30 days.
Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2020Propylene glycol increased trans epidermal water loss significantly compared to other skin penetration enhancers, while isopropyl myristate significantly increased kallikrein 5 activity when applied to human subjects.
International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2014Repeated application of concentrated water-in-oil emulsions over four weeks caused no skin irritation, positively affected skin properties, and delivered almost 50% of the applied fluorescein sodium, with isopropyl myristate showing superior penetration performance compared to liquid paraffin in healthy volunteers.
International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2019Topical tretinoin improves clinical appearance of photoaging in terms of wrinkling, mottled hyperpigmentation, sallowness, and lentigines and is safe and well tolerated.
International Journal of Women's Dermatology, 2022Topical tretinoin precursors and tretinoin showed no significant difference in efficacy for moderate to severe facial photodamage in 20 patients, while tretinoin precursors caused erythema six times less frequently.
JAMA Dermatology, 2022Topical tretinoin significantly improved photoaging and caused histologic changes in the forearms and faces of treated patients compared to vehicle cream, with side effects limited to skin irritation.
JAMA, 1988Sodium dodecyl sulfate treatment disrupts the ordered intercellular lipid lamellar structure in hairless mouse stratum corneum, and immersion in a ceramide 3, cholesterol, and stearic acid mixture successfully reorganizes this ordered lamellar structure.
Biophysical Chemistry, 2001Increasing the softness of pressure-sensitive adhesives using isopropyl myristate decreased pain and stripped corneocytes during removal without significantly changing human skin dermal peeling force.
Skin Research and Technology, 2007A modern cold cream formulation using a self-emulsionable excipient with isopropyl myristate shows improved preparation ease, stability, rheological qualities, and moisture and emollient power compared to traditional cerates.
Bollettino Chimico Farmaceutico, 1996Biodegradable wound dressings functionalized with silver nanoparticles showed >99% pathogen growth inhibition, bactericidal effects, free radical scavenging, reduced inflammatory response in macrophages, and accelerated wound healing in animals.
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2022A topical xanthan gum nanogel containing gamma-oryzanol-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers and nanosized TiO2 and MBBT filters demonstrated high photoprotection with an SPF of 34 and no skin irritation or sensitization in a rat model.
Pharmaceuticals, 2023Dense chitosan-xanthan membranes associated with multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells accelerated wound healing in Wistar rats compared to untreated conditions, demonstrating safety and feasibility for dermo-epidermal wound treatment.
Journal of Biomaterials Applications, 2015An optimized levamlodipine-sorbic acid ion-pair transdermal patch reduced skin irritation in rabbits and humans by decreasing drug retention in the epidermis compared to the drug without sorbic acid.
International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2024Preservatives including methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate, propyl-4-hydroxybenzoate, potassium sorbate, and propylene glycol exerted antiseptic effects on prominent reference bacteria in both in vitro and clinical settings.
Dermatologie, 2023
Ingredients
Butylated Hydroxytoluene Bht, Isopropyl Myristate, Polyoxyl 40 Stearate Peg 40 Stearate, Sorbic Acid, Stearic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Tretinoin, Water, Xanthan Gum
Behind this fit score
Lovi calculates every fit score from the full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.
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Co-founder, Medical Director
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer
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PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex
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Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc
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Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine
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Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD
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Dermatology MD
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Elina Nazarenko, MD
Medical Board
Dermatology and diagnostic consultant
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Victoria Derkova, MS
Medical Board
Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist
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