This was the first time that I heard about this UK brand and I’m very happy that I got this serum in my advent calendar. The brand was founded by Elliot Isaacs, who studied physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry and started a small lab in his dad’s pharmacy to create a cosmeceutical skin care brand. They promote the CSA philosophy (that stands for vitamin C, sunscreen and vitamin A). which is basically using simple products, formulated with few ingredients to prevent anti-aging. They focus mainly on using vitamin C and sunscreen in the morning and vitamin A in the evening, but they extended their line with other products as well. I like their approach to skincare because I also think that a good formula is not necessarily one that contains tons of ingredients but rather products that are formulated so that they can give the skin what it needs without all the extra fluff.

Their philosophy and brand ethic is also appealing because their products are cruelty free, most of them are vegan, and they are paraben free (although I don’t think that all parabens are bad, but that’s just my opinion). They also claim that the supplies they use are ethically produced and they want to make their packaging 100% recyclable by 2023. It all sounds great, doesn’t it? So now, let’s talk about the serum I used.

Packaging:

The serum comes in a glass bottle with a dropper, both the full size (30 ml) and the travel size (10 ml) that I had. The dropper is actually really well made because it allows you to get out every drop of the product unlike other droppers that I used before and that just can’t reach to the bottom and get those few drops in the bottle. the design is very clean and simple, like in the case of many brands like this.

Texture:

I loved the texture of this serum. It feels like an essence, if you’re familiar with Korean skin care. It’s a little bit oily, but it absorbs nicely into the skin and it doesn’t leave any sticky residue. The serum is clear and it has no scent.

Ingredients:

Aqua (Water), Panthenol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Calcium Pantothenate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Citric Acid.

The main ingredients are water, panthenol (vitamin B), hyaluronic acid (the third ingredient which is great), calcium pantothenate (a salt of the water-soluble vitamin B5), phenoxyethanol (synthetic preservative), ethylhexylglycerin (a glyceril, humectant, emollient and anti-microbial) and citric acid. I’m not an expert by all means because I’m still learning about skin care products and their ingredients but this list looks very good to me. There is no artificial fragrance, no synthetic colors, no phthalates, no alcohol and no parabens.

Price and accessibility:

Unfortunatelt, Medik8 products are not available here in Romania so I would have to shop for them online. The prices are also not that affordable. This serum for example retails on the official brand’s website for 40 UK pounds.

My overall opinion:

I won’t go out of my way to order this product online from abroad and the price is also higher than what I would like to pay for my skin care products, but I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a nice hyaluronic acid serum for daily use. The skin feels smooth and plump, it applies nicely and the ingredients list is very good. It’s a “no bullshit” formula and you get exactly what you expect. So, although I won’t be purchasing any of the Medik8 products right now, this brand is definitely something that is on my radar in the future.