Robb Recommends: The Ultra-Gentle Serum Designed to Fade Acne Scars and Age Spots
Welcome to Robb Recommends, a regular series in which our editors and contributors endorse things they’ve tried and loved—and think will change your life for the better. If we wouldn’t recommend it to friends or family, you won’t see it here. If you purchase a product or service through a link in this story, we may receive a small commission.
If there are scars on your face you want to remove, you generally have two paths to smoother, clearer skin. There’s the painful and expensive (but fast-acting) route of laser resurfacing treatments, chemical peels and other things best administered by a licensed professional. And then there’s the slow-and-steady approach offered by products that are safe enough to apply at home every day.
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Even though I suffer from hyperpigmentation—the long-lasting scars some people can get from shaving cuts and acne—I’m partial to the second option. (Lasers scare me.) So I was excited to learn that Omorovicza, one of our favorite skincare brands here at Robb Report, was launching a product designed specifically to address the issue. Even Tone, introduced this month, is a milky serum made with a variety of naturally derived elements and acids that, in combination, help combat the myriad causes of uneven skin.
Omorovicza’s co-founder Stephen de Heinrich had long wanted to create a hyperpigmentation solution to bolster offerings at the brand’s global network of spas. When a chemist he works with mentioned the properties of amber microalgae, Even Tone’s star performer, he started building a serum around it.
“This ingredient assesses in its own very clever way the average melanocyte concentration in your skin, and then flows naturally to areas of excess concentration to bring it back down,” de Heinrich told Robb Report in an interview. This means it only targets your dark spots, not your entire face and neck.
The serum also uses mandelic and gluconic acids, exfoliating ingredients that promote cell turnover without leaving your skin feeling raw. “They’re very soft, gentle acids, because we wanted to be a daytime lotion,” de Heinrich added.
In the six weeks I’ve been using it, I’ve put in on both day and night, and I’ve experienced some pretty solid results. Within the first 10 days or so, I noticed an overall brightening of my skin. At the month mark, I noticed some of the most stubborn scars along my cheeks, where my pimples tend to congregate, had started fading away. I’ve grown very attached to the pleasant cooling sensation I get when I first apply it, and I love the lid of the bottle—it’s a dropper designed so that when you twist it, the perfect dosage gets pulled into the glass chamber.
It’s gentle enough that some days I’ve layered it with a vitamin C serum, and on an occasional evening I’ve applied it before my retinol without any issues. But a word to the wise: This is something you have to use for the long haul to see major results. The benefits are undeniable, but the soft and gentle approach may leave you cold if you like instant gratifications. Still, at the end of my first bottle, I’m happy with what I’m seeing in the mirror—and I’m excited to see what happens when I get to the end of the second one.
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