Avène RetrinAL Line: a Guru Score of 84% from 9 experts

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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✓Yay

"I just been introduced to it last year. I love that stuff. It's great. And retinaldehyde is theoretically more potent than retinol. Not as potent as tretinoin though."

All 6 takes from Dr. Daniel Sugai

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"I just been introduced to it last year. I love that stuff. It's great. And retinaldehyde is theoretically more potent than retinol. Not as potent as tretinoin though."

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"The one most recently that I've discovered that's really nice [...] is retinaldehyde, and Avène has done a great job with their RetrinAL Line at 0.05 or 0.1%. Those are gentle retinaldehydes if you want to boost your retinoid game from retinol to retinaldehyde. It only requires one conversion step to become active versus retinol needs two conversion steps. So if you want to up your game without compromising tolerability, consider that one."

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"You just have to be very careful if you have rosacea. You have to understand that it's going to take things slow because you have ultra sensitive skin when you have rosacea. If you have peroral dermatitis, I've had patients throwing on retinoids over that because they saw it must work on acne, but peroral dermatitis is a variant [...] of rosacea. Putting a retinoid over it, I've seen people just flare and get deeper acne or bumps around their mouth."

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"I've recently been using the Aveeno RetinAL Line, the retinaldehyde one. It's a very nice product. They also have one specifically for around the eyes."

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"Retinaldehyde is more potent than retinol because it only requires one conversion step to become retinoic acid, which then binds to the nuclear receptors. You can find it over the counter. I've been using Aveeno RetrinAL Line recently, which is a retinaldehyde."

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"Aven retronol is another great retinaldehyde option."

Doctorly

3.59M subs

✓Yay

"Avène has a really good retinol product."

Dr Dray

2.69M subs

✓Yay

"It was the first retinaldehyde that I tried out, that I encountered five or six years ago. Back then retinaldehyde was not as commonly encountered in skincare products. Now there's a lot more competition, you have a lot more options. The Ordinary has a retinaldehyde which I reviewed a few weeks ago, but the Avène one is excellent. It's this nice rich cream, great for dry skin, mature skin, but it's not greasy or oily. So if you have oily skin, it's not off-putting."

All 3 takes from Dr Dray

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"It was the first retinaldehyde that I tried out, that I encountered five or six years ago. Back then retinaldehyde was not as commonly encountered in skincare products. Now there's a lot more competition, you have a lot more options. The Ordinary has a retinaldehyde which I reviewed a few weeks ago, but the Avène one is excellent. It's this nice rich cream, great for dry skin, mature skin, but it's not greasy or oily. So if you have oily skin, it's not off-putting."

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"Aveeno rocks for retinol, and it's also excellent."

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"The Aveeno RetrinAL Line is one of my favorites from Aveeno."

Dr. Aleksandra Brown

151k subs

✓Yay

"This is a retinaldehyde-based formula that provides similar benefits to retinol but it's a little bit easier to tolerate on rosacea-prone skin. The key ingredient here is retinaldehyde, it's more effective but less irritating alternative to retinol. It will help smooth the fine lines, firm the skin, support that collagen production. This also contains hyaluronic acid, which provides deep hydration, will help plump the skin, give you that smooth texture to counteract some of the dryness."

Dr. Jenny Liu

323k subs

✓Yay

"I really enjoy the one from Avène, their RetrinAL Line. It comes in a 0.05 and a 0.3 formulation. This is very creamy and very nourishing. Avène as a brand formulates products with sensitive, eczema-prone, dry skin in mind, so this is one that I think they have wonderful products. But certainly if you're looking for an effective, potent retinoid that works without the irritation, I highly recommend checking out their RetrinAL Line."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

✓Yay

"There's no fragrance in it. It's a little bit pricey, but it's really nice. Aveeno also has a [...] retinol serum that's really nice too. Both of these products are great, and you can't go wrong with them. They're both more expensive, but they're really great for sensitive skin. A few people are fans of the Aveeno thermal water they use in their products, which seems to work really well for people. [...] These are worth checking out. They're both lovely and really wonderful."

All 3 takes from No BS Beauty

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"For the ones I love, I'm giving them the Aveeno RetinAL Line. It's also really wonderful. It's a really nice retinol serum, it's very hydrating, and it contains some nice soothing ingredients. So if you're looking for some anti-aging, this is really nice."

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"There's no fragrance in it. It's a little bit pricey, but it's really nice. Aveeno also has a [...] retinol serum that's really nice too. Both of these products are great, and you can't go wrong with them. They're both more expensive, but they're really great for sensitive skin. A few people are fans of the Aveeno thermal water they use in their products, which seems to work really well for people. [...] These are worth checking out. They're both lovely and really wonderful."

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"The Avène RetrinAL is a great serum and really nicely hydrating and also contains some nice soothing ingredients as well. It's regularly quite an expensive product so 30 off adds up pretty fast."

HotandFlashy

1.23M subs

✓Yay

"I love the event retinol 0.1 percent serum those are great."

Dr. Shereene Idriss

1.73M subs

✓Yay

"It's not necessarily for the sensitive souls, but it comes in an opaque pump as well. It is also travel friendly and easy to use. It does not have a scent at all. It's also very thick, which makes it easier to titrate if you want to try using it around your eyes. It [...] also has, by the way, Pro-elastin peptides that help to visibly fill in those very, very fine lines."

The Budget Dermatologist

724k subs

✓Yay

"The Avène Retinol Serum is my 2021-2022 product of the year. [...] This is a retinol serum, so again for anti-aging it gives very much of the same benefits as retinoids but without the side effects. Retinol is an awesome anti-aging ingredient. [...] This is the perfect thing to use in the morning in your skincare routine as your serum step if you want to double down on your anti-aging results. Maybe you use this at night and then you use this in the morning, which is what I do."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Frequently asked.

What is Avène RetrinAL Line?

A retinaldehyde-based skincare line from Avène, offered in several strengths and textures, designed to help smooth fine lines and firm the skin.

Is Avène RetrinAL Line worth it?

Yes. All 9 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 84%.

What is Avène RetrinAL Line's Guru Score?

Avène RetrinAL Line holds a Guru Score of 84%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 9 expert reviewers we have collected.