Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum: a Guru Score of 79%

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

"Another choice of mine I really love that I sometimes use myself is from Paula's Choice, their Calm Repairing Serum. I really love this one. It's for me when my skin just gets a little irritated, especially during the winter time. This is a great calming and hydrating serum that provides that nourishment that is not super heavy that I can layer on before my moisturizer. This is an antioxidant rich serum that helps to soothe and hydrate sensitive skin, reduce redness at the same time, and strengthen your skin barrier. It contains hyaluronic acid, ceramides, feverfew extract that calms and soothes along with licorice root and beta glucan."

All 2 takes from Dr. Jenny Liu

Skincare routine for sensitive and rosacea-prone skin by Dermatology | Dr. Jenny Liu

"Another choice of mine I really love that I sometimes use myself is from Paula's Choice, their Calm Repairing Serum. I really love this one. It's for me when my skin just gets a little irritated, especially during the winter time. This is a great calming and hydrating serum that provides that nourishment that is not super heavy that I can layer on before my moisturizer. This is an antioxidant rich serum that helps to soothe and hydrate sensitive skin, reduce redness at the same time, and strengthen your skin barrier. It contains hyaluronic acid, ceramides, feverfew extract that calms and soothes along with licorice root and beta glucan."

SENSITIVE SKIN & Products & Tips from a Dermatologist

"It's hydrating but not watery like runny watery serum. Ingredient wise it contains wonderful ingredients including plant extracts like Licorice and Feverfew that have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and soothing properties, also contains ceramides and hyaluronic acid as well as beta glucan which is a great ingredient to help plump the skin. [...] This is just a great lovely serum. I love it. It's kind of that in-between where it's not like I said extra watery but still nourishing and hydrating."

No BS Beauty

89k subs

✓Yay

"Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum, it's $44, it's a really wonderful product. [...] What's nice about this one is it's nice for all skin types so if you have oilier skin it's really nice and hydrating without feeling greasy or sticky or anything like that. In here we've got ceramides, we've got beta glucan, Feverfew, licorice root, and then sea whip extract which is also a soothing ingredient which I don't see very often."

Dr Dray

2.68M subs

✓Mixed

"I reviewed products from the Paula's Choice Calm line, the newer products, [...] and I did finish up their Repairing Serum. This was so-so. It was a hydrating serum with beta glucan, which I really love, it's humectant rich. This also has sodium hyaluronate and other humectants. It has ceramides, which are good for the moisture barrier. Honestly, this whole line was a bit of a letdown in my opinion coming from Paula's Choice. I just felt like the products were kind of underwhelming. [...] It was nice, but I would not purchase it."

All 3 takes from Dr Dray

SKINCARE PRODUCTS I USED UP 🗑 EMPTIES 2023 @DrDrayzday

"I reviewed products from the Paula's Choice Calm line, the newer products, [...] and I did finish up their Repairing Serum. This was so-so. It was a hydrating serum with beta glucan, which I really love, it's humectant rich. This also has sodium hyaluronate and other humectants. It has ceramides, which are good for the moisture barrier. Honestly, this whole line was a bit of a letdown in my opinion coming from Paula's Choice. I just felt like the products were kind of underwhelming. [...] It was nice, but I would not purchase it."

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"I'm doing the same three pumps to my face and neck that I was doing with the Timeless one. It doesn't have that vibrant yellow color like the Timeless one did, it's more white, which has me wondering how much of the Q10 is actually in this. It is nice and hydrating, but man, some of the products in this line were such a disappointment."

DID PAULA'S CHOICE RUIN THE CALM LINE? *2022 NEW FORMULAS* 😬 @DrDrayzday

"I have to say I rather enjoy this product, in terms of consistency, feel, weight and texture it's very similar to the Aveeno Calm and Restore Oat Serum, and I find it very moisturizing. It has ubiquinone, or coenzyme Q10, ceramides, licorice root, beta glucan and sodium hyaluronate. I didn't get any product pilling when layering other products over it, which is always a good thing. I currently use the Timeless Q10 serum and I think that product is a better value for many of the same benefits, but overall I really like this."

What the evidence says.

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

Ceramides

Ceramides are part of the skin's own barrier, and moisturisers built around them have evidence for holding water in and settling the tightness and flaking that come with a damaged barrier.

Source: DermNet

Humectants and emollients

Ingredients like these draw water into the surface layers and slow how fast it leaves. The evidence is for comfort, softness and hydration rather than for changing the structure of the skin.

Source: DermNet

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum?

A hydrating serum designed to calm and repair the skin, formulated with ceramides, beta glucan, plant extracts, and hyaluronic acid.

Is Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum worth it?

Mostly yes. 2 of the 3 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 79%.

What is Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum's Guru Score?

Paula's Choice Calm Repairing Serum holds a Guru Score of 79%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 3 expert reviewers we have collected.