Active, night
Coming of Age
0.1% Retinal Serum
For the visible consequences of birthdays.
A focused night serum built around 0.1% retinal, with a mushroom beta-glucan from our lab to keep the peace. Retinoids have been studied for decades. We saw no reason to pretend we discovered them last Tuesday.
- Best for
- Wrinkles · Fine lines · Texture · Uneven tone
- Actives
- Retinal 0.1%, Schizophyllan, Squalane
- From our lab
- Schizophyllan, a mushroom beta-glucan we ferment ourselves, tested on people against retinol so the retinal keeps its manners.Inside the lab
- When
- Night. Two or three nights a week to start. Your skin will negotiate the rest.
- Texture
- Retinal's own warm yellow, left alone.
- Pairs with
- Baby's Bottom (after it, every night), Mixed Signals (optional, before it)
- Not at the same time
- Bright Side (keep vitamin C for the morning)
- Scent
- Unfragranced. On purpose.
- Status
- Formulated. Bottles pending.
- Retinal converts more directly than retinol.
- Retinoid evidence for wrinkles and texture is not vibes.
- Fragrance-free, because retinoids do not need scented confetti.
Coming soon. Get notified.
The money is in the bottle. No private equity, no venture capital, formulated in our own lab at the studied strengths. Why the price
Why it exists
A focused night serum built around stabilized retinal, the faster-converting cousin of retinol, with a mushroom beta-glucan from our lab to keep the peace. One job, done properly, in an elegant emulsion. No kitchen sink. No fragrance. No apologies to your birthdays.
Before and after
Wrinkles ease. Texture refines.
Drag the line.
The numbers
What the studies found.
56 women, 24 weeks
Stabilized retinal at 0.1% and 0.05%, split-face: denser dermis on ultrasound, better elasticity, significant wrinkle reduction, strongest at 0.1%.
Deda 2026, Skin Res Technol. Split-face, instrumental. PMID 41729119
Same strength as ours
125 patients, 44 weeks
0.05% retinaldehyde against 0.05% prescription retinoic acid: both significantly reduced wrinkle and roughness features by week 18, and retinoic acid irritated more.
Creidi 1998, J Am Acad Dermatol. Randomized, vehicle-controlled, profilometry. PMID 9843009
Up to 3 years
Of use on facial skin at 0.1% and 0.05% in tolerance studies; the 1% version was tolerated by up to 70% of subjects, which is why ours is 0.1%.
Saurat 1994, J Invest Dermatol. 229 patients in tolerance studies. PMID 7798613
Same strength as ours
Every study, one list Figures checked against PubMed abstracts 2026-09-03.
From our lab
The retinal comes with its own peacekeeper.
Retinoids work by pushing skin to renew faster, and the redness that comes with it is why people quit. Schizophyllan is a beta-glucan our lab ferments from the split-gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune, and tested on people in a four-way, double-placebo design against 0.2% retinol. It is in Coming of Age so the 0.1% retinal can do its job without the drama, and it moisturizes on the way.
24 hours
Retinol-related redness and irritation reduced within a day of application.*
5 days
And still falling at day five, with continued use.*
Ahead of HA
More immediate moisturizing than hyaluronic acid in the same lab.*
Schizophyllan · 2 to 5% of the serum
INCI: Schizophyllan
*Our lab's tests of the ingredient. Redness: on people, four-way double-placebo, against 0.2% retinol.
Important actives
What’s in it, and why.
The useful ingredients get names. The rest of the formula does the less glamorous work of making them feel good on a face.
The active. The point. The night-shift employee.
What the research says
Over 44 weeks, 0.05% retinaldehyde reduced wrinkles and roughness comparably to prescription 0.05% retinoic acid, with meaningfully better tolerability.
Read the paper PMID 9843009A beta-glucan fermented from the split-gill mushroom in our lab. In our four-way, double-placebo test on people it cut retinol-related redness within 24 hours. The retinal's peacekeeper.
What the research says
Schizophyllan produced by fermenting Schizophyllum commune showed antioxidant, anti-photoaging and melanin-inhibiting activity in laboratory assays, and in a porcine skin explant model exposed to cigarette smoke it was among the polysaccharides that significantly prevented oxidative stress and inflammatory gene expression.
Read the paper PMID 37080406Keeps the emulsion, and your face, civilized while the retinal works.
Formulation restraint
Everything else already has somewhere to be.
Retinal had enough going on.
Fragrance
None. On purpose.
The actives had enough going on.
- Top
- None.
- Heart
- None.
- Base
- None. That is the structure.
Why there is none. The three serums carry the actives, and the actives have enough going on. Vitamin C at pH 3, copper peptides and retinal are not improved by a scent sitting on top of them, and skin on a retinoid is exactly the skin most likely to object to one.
What was left out. No masking fragrance to hide the smell of vitamin C either. The faint note of the ingredient, for a moment, is the receipt.
How to use
One pump. Then go to bed. Start two or three nights a week and increase as tolerated.
Questions
Asked, answered.
Retinal vs retinol: what is the difference?
Both must convert to retinoic acid in the skin to work. Retinol takes two steps, retinal takes one, so retinal acts at lower concentrations. In a 44-week comparison, 0.05% retinaldehyde produced results comparable to 0.05% retinoic acid on wrinkles, with less irritation.
What is schizophyllan?
A beta-glucan, a long chain of sugars, made by fermenting the split-gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune, in our lab. It is in Coming of Age to keep the retinal civil: in our four-way, double-placebo test on people it reduced retinol-related redness and irritation within 24 hours, and the effect kept building over five days. Published work on the molecule shows antioxidant and anti-photoaging activity in the lab.
Is retinal safe to use?
Retinal is an over-the-counter retinoid that has been used in cosmetics for decades. It can cause dryness and flaking while your skin adjusts, which is normal and fades. Retinoids are not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding; ask your doctor. Use it at night and wear sunscreen by day.
What is purging?
A temporary increase in breakouts when a retinoid speeds up skin turnover. It usually settles within a few weeks. If the problem is irritation rather than breakouts, drop to fewer nights a week and apply Baby's Bottom before Coming of Age as a buffer.
Still here
Convinced, or at least curious.
Leave an email. You hear when there is a date and a price, and nothing else.
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