AliceintheRabbitHole has reviewed at least 140 serums. Her approval rate for the category is 53%. She approved a little over half, gave about a quarter a mixed take, and skipped about one in five. She digs into the research and is honest when a formula did not work on her skin.
What does AliceintheRabbitHole recommend in serums?
AliceintheRabbitHole tends to approve serums that are fragrance-free and backed by real research. She praised the Numbuzin No.5 Vitamin Concentrated Serum for pairing 5% niacinamide, which she called a good level, with 4% tranexamic acid. She liked that the formula paired a well-known ingredient with a newer one. That way the headline active did not have to do the job alone. Texture matters to her too. A serum that absorbs well earns her approval, and one that pills (rolls up instead of absorbing) or runs too thin does not. She also responds well to genuine reformulations, praising both the Purito Wonder Relief Centella Serum Unscented and the Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum for being noticeably better than their earlier versions.
In her words
"I finished a mini of the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Hyaluronic Cream, a nice travel size that I traveled with. I love this moisturizer, I love the new Innisfree, I'm so glad they went in the direction of fragrance free since they used to use a lot of fragrance. I moved on to the full size of this one for my niacinamide-free trial and absolutely loved it."
"Out of all these products, [...] this one from VT Cosmetics is wholeheartedly my favorite. It's a creamy serum consistency that my dry skin type loves, it has niacinamide and ceramide ingredients which are incredible for the moisture barrier, and it's fragrance free and looks low irritant. Whether that's because of the ginseng based PDRN or just because of the formulation, who knows, but out of everything I liked this one the most."
"Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment is such a beautiful eye cream. [...] I kept looking at the ingredients list wondering what [...] makes it feel so special, and I think it's just the blend of ingredients, it's surprisingly heavy and yet somehow sinks in and feels so nourishing. It's beautiful as a night cream, my goodness, I love this as a night cream, and I'm very tempted to pick it up."
"I never fell in love with the original, I thought it was good but it didn't really blow my mind. I love this one. I feel like it might be a little thicker than the original, and I do feel like it is even more soothing, which makes sense since they say it now has more centella asiatica even if the packaging lists less. It's a really beautiful formula featuring panthenol, centella asiatica, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid, all in a fragrance free formula."
"Magic Molecule has a Hypochlorous Acid Solution, and they've actually disclosed the percentages, ionized water at 99.91 percent, which is the kind of stuff that makes people mad because it looks like such a tiny amount of the actual hypochlorous acid, the hypochlorite ion, but that tiny amount is what makes the difference. [...] I'm so excited, I am absolutely planning on picking that up."
"This has to be one of the most requested product reviews I get here on the channel. I like it a lot, it's a really nice kind of more moisturizing feeling vitamin C derivative serum that includes a lot of other nifty ingredients. I love that you can go to the Reme website and look at all of the ingredients and see the published literature listed for each one. Such a good formula, there are plenty of brands that would charge a lot more for that exact product."
How many serums has AliceintheRabbitHole reviewed?
AliceintheRabbitHole has reviewed 140 serums, for an approval rate of 53%. 74 approved, 40 mixed, and 26 skipped.
What has AliceintheRabbitHole skipped in serums?
Texture is a reason that keeps coming up in the serums she skipped. She found The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% pilled, meaning it rolled up on the skin rather than absorbing. She called the NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum 3 nearly unusable for being so runny. With the NIOD, the research on copper peptides also came up thin, which added to the skip. The Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum caused more redness on her skin, so she skipped it, though she noted it might suit a different skin type.
"This is NIOD's copper amino isolate serum, and I didn't feel like it did that much for me. [...] I really like peptide ingredients and copper peptide is supposed to be an incredible one, but when I looked into the data there isn't much research on copper peptides. My biggest issue though is how runny it is, it's incredibly unpleasant to use, [...] nearly unusable, and it's still not inexpensive. So that's a no for me."
"This is the Dermalogica Neuro Touch Symmetry Serum, and I do think it's the most overpriced product in this video. [...] The thing about it is that it's not really a serum, it's actually a facial massage oil. There is nothing in it that is designed to target asymmetry in your face."
"This just did not work for my skin type. I felt like I was getting an increase in redness when I used this product, though it's possible that came from the fragrance or the vitamin B12 ingredient rather than the PDRN itself, since this is a higher concentration than I'd knowingly tried up until this point. [...] So for me this is a no, I'm sure it will work for some amount of people, but it was sadly a no-go for me."
"But I just don't like it, it's runny, it will oxidize in time, and [...] it's got a real heavy sticky feeling that doesn't fully absorb. It also has to be at a pH of 3.2, which is a bit low, so if you're reactive it can sting. [...] I absolutely prefer the Remedy Skin vitamin C, even though its ingredients don't have the level of research that L-ascorbic acid does, because I just can't do L-ascorbic acid, it's stinky and [...] it stings my skin."
What should you take from AliceintheRabbitHole's picks?
AliceintheRabbitHole is worth following on serums if you want the reasoning, not just the verdict. She checks the research, pays attention to texture, and says plainly how her skin responded. That makes her skips as useful as her approvals. She named only a handful of category winners, among them the Medicube Age-R Booster Pro, the Peach & Lily Copper Peptide Pro Firming Serum, and the BYOMA Barrier Repair Treatment.
Watch AliceintheRabbitHole say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Medicube Age-R Booster ProNamed a winnerWatch at 10:58
- The INKEY List Exosome Hydroglow Complex SerumNamed a winnerWatch at 6:52
- Peach & Lily Copper Peptide Pro Firming SerumNamed a winnerWatch at 12:03
- BYOMA Barrier Repair TreatmentNamed a winnerWatch at 7:32
- VT PDRN Cica Redo Exosome SerumNamed a winnerWatch at 22:41
- NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum 3:1Skipped itWatch at 8:39
- Dermalogica NeuroTouch Symmetry SerumSkipped itWatch at 6:40
- Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide SerumSkipped itWatch at 16:32
- Prequel Lucent-C Brightening Vitamin C SerumSkipped itWatch at 20:38
- The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%Skipped itWatch at 5:28
- The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% SerumSkipped itWatch at 8:20
- Anua Niacinamide 10% + TXA 4% Dark Spot Correcting SerumSkipped itWatch at 4:19
- Paula's Choice Pro-Collagen Multi-Peptide BoosterSkipped itWatch at 14:12
- Glow Recipe Avocado Ceramide Recovery SerumSkipped itWatch at 19:43
- iNNBEAUTY PROJECT Green Machine Jelly Oil SerumSkipped itWatch at 7:34
- Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration SerumSkipped itWatch at 15:31
- Glow Recipe Pomegranate Peptide Firming SerumSkipped itWatch at 27:39
- Anua Peach 70% Niacinamide SerumSkipped itWatch at 23:01
- SkinCeuticals C E FerulicSkipped itWatch at 9:45
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%Skipped itWatch at 4:45
- VT Reedle Shot 100 CollagenSkipped itWatch at 17:08
- Drunk Elephant Virgin Marula Luxury Facial OilSkipped itWatch at 18:38
- Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C SerumSkipped itWatch at 13:57
- The Ordinary Soothing & Barrier Support SerumSkipped itWatch at 7:51
About this expert
See everything AliceintheRabbitHole has reviewed
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This guide reflects what AliceintheRabbitHole said across her videos about 140 products in serums, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products she approved. It is general information, not medical advice.