What I love about buying cosmetics from pharmacies is that they tend to have some exclusive brands. For example, Dr. Max pharmacies carry products from Biovene Barcelona and when there was a sale on eye serums, I decided to pick this little guy up because it has a metal roller ball and I figured it would be cooling for the eye area (especially for the bags I have under the eyes in the mornings).

Biovene Barcelona is a brand that is focused on using natural ingredients in their products and have affordable prices as opposed to some brands that are all about natural ingredients but are very expensive. It’s a cruelty free and vegan brand, which is always a plus. However, European beauty brands are all cruelty free because luckily we don’t test cosmetics on animals here and most of the brands don’t sell their products to China where animal testing is still allowed.

Packaging:

The eye serum comes in this cute pink plastic tube with a metal roller ball and it contains 15 ml. The application is very easy and I like the colorful packaging that Biovene Barcelona has for all their products.

Texture:

This is actually an eye serum, so it looks like a white liquid. It doesn’t have a scent, or at least I don’t smell one and it isn’t sticky.

Ingredients:

AQUA (WATER), GLYCERIN, ETHYLHEXYL STEARATE, RETINOL, RETINYL PALMITATE, PRUNUS AVIUM (CHERRY) FRUIT EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, TOCOPHEROL, HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER, POLYSORBATE 20, POLYSORBATE 60, PHENOXYETHANOL, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, ISOHEXADECANE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE.

The key ingredients are retinol (1%) and cherry extract (which is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants).

It contains 95% ingredients of natural origin and it’s formulated without parabens, plastic microbeads, sulfates SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) and SLES, formaldehydes, phthalates, mineral oil, oxybenzone, hydroquinone, triclosan, triclocarban.

Price and accessibility:

Biovene Barcelona products are available in Dr. Max pharmacies and in a couple of online shops. Of course, the products can be purchased from the brand’s own online shop. This eye serum is sold for around 9 euros, but I got it on sale for around 5 euros. Even for the full price, I don’t think it’s too expensive for an eye serum.

My overall opinion:

Normally, I would have only good things to say about an eye serum, but this one is too harsh for me and I had to stop using it. I use retinol products on my face on and off, even with 1% retinol and I had no issues, but for the sensitive eye area I find that this eye serum stings. It doesn’t have any bad side effects fortunately, but I just didn’t like the irritating feeling that I had when I used it. I tried it for about a week and I couldn’t get used to it, so unfortunately I have to stop using it.

I would say that this is a product that should be used with caution, because retinol in general is an ingredient that can potentially irritate the skin, so make sure you try it first. And, if you tolerate retinol on the face, like I do, it doesn’t mean that you can tolerate it on the eye area, since I did have issues with it. Other than that, I would try other products from this brand, but for now I will be cautious and maybe purchase other things if they are on sale.