9 best bakuchiol skincare products for a natural alternative to retinol

Best: Overall

Combine the exceptional skin hydrating squalane with revitalising bakuchiol and you’ve got yourself a real youth-boosting skincare power-couple. And that’s not all in this who’s who of youth-boosting ingredients, as it also boasts niacinamide for its pore-shrinking, skin-barrier restoring and skin-tone improving abilities and the need-no-introduction moisture-boosting, hyaluronic acid.

After first use our skin instantly felt well hydrated, silky soft and supple. You’ll fall in love with the very light,  green-floral scent and cream-like luxe texture. After two-weeks of continued use, pores looked refined, pigmentation brighter and lines less noticeable. A winning-formula.

Best: For quick results

Already big fans of the other impressive serums in the Medik8 skincare collection, we predicted this to be another excellent formula and it didn’t disappoint. It combines bakuchiol with skin-brightening peptides, and skin healing and calming Cica, which is also having a real beauty moment. The oily texture glides onto skin, soaking-in quickly leaving skin glowing.

We were most impressed with how silky-smooth this made our skin feel – even after just one use. Continued, twice-daily use saw redness and irritation reduced after just days. For brightening and diminished lines, you have to give this longer. A complete steal for the price tag.

Best: Serum

Named after the 16 natural actives in the formula, one is naturally bakuchiol. The others include powerhouse brightening vitamin C, loved for its antioxidant skin protecting abilities, as well as damage-reversing. It also boasts the healing mineral, MSM, for soothing inflammation and vitamin A, retinyl palmitate (a sister-like ingredient to retinol with very little irritation unless you have extremely sensitive skin).

Your skin will drink this serum up and love its nourishing benefits so much it’ll ooze a healthy complexion. Just days into using our pre-pandemic radiance was restored. A great investment for your skin.

Best: CBD and bakuchiol hybrid

This multi-use booster is a great way to incorporate bakuchiol into an existing skincare routine, as you can mix it with your favourite moisturiser, as well as use it on its own. Blending skin-therapeutic CBD and bakuchiol into this hybrid makes it a double buzz-worthy formula that feels instantly cooling and soothing when used neat – great for waking up a tired complexion.

But, it’s equally a real sleep-aid too, as it contains calmness-promoting lavender oil – a welcome addition to our night-time routine after a hectic day. Skin will instantly feel smoother and you won’t stop wanting to touch your face. After just a few days this perked-up a dull complexion, and reduced redness from irritation from another product brilliantly.

Best: For pigmentation and discolouration

This will be your go-to serum if you’re concerned about pigmentation. Blending bakuchiol with a powerhouse of mandelic, lactic and salicylic acid, this blitzes discolouration and blemishes. While hyaluronic acid and niacinamide keep skin plump, and well hydrated.

After one use, our lacklustre skin looked brightened and felt baby soft. The real magic starts to happen after a week when sun-damage on both the forehead and cheeks looked less visible. It’s like a magic eraser in a bottle. We’re addicted.

Best: For vegans

Just launched onto the virtual beauty shelves, this new lightweight, vegan serum combines the retinol-alternative with olive leaf extract. The latter is a skin-repairing antioxidant that’s great for calming irritation and facilitating healing. This makes it a great pick for stressed-out skin types, whether it’s “maskne” or from using too many actives on your skin.

We shook, stirred and applied the serum as instructed both morning and night. After just a few days we saw impressive results, with skin feeling super smooth and well nourished. For a firming effect and to see lines looking more plumped, give the product longer to see results.

Best: For a luxe feel

This offering from the new luxe British skincare brand may be pricey, but it packs a skin-boosting punch when it comes to a natural formula. Bakuchiol joins the likes of superstar moisturiser hyaluronic acid, antioxidant rosehip and soothing evening primrose oil to make-up a beautifully light and creamy serum. This has such an impressive instant effect on the skin, you can almost feel it lifting and firming – leaving it super smooth with a real glow to it.

With continued use, we found it reduced the look of pigmentation too, making this a great option for sensitive skin types looking to brighten their dark spots. We can also recommend the lovely bakuchiol eye cream (£58, Olivanna.com) to go alongside it.

Best: Budget buy

Following in the footsteps of popular ingredient-led budget skincare ranges like The Ordinary and The Inkey List, Boots has its very own back-to-basics skincare range with a bakuchiol serum in its product line up. If you’re looking to try the effects of the retinol-alternative without the commitment of a higher price tag, this no thrills formula is more than just a great place to start.

Our only negative is it has quite a watery consistency compared to the others we tested, but for the price, we’re not complaining. Expect a softer feel to skin, a smoother texture and a brighter look to your skin tone with continued use.

Best: Oil

Hailing from Hungary, the well-known spa destination, Omorovicza’s legacy was built on the healing benefits of thermal waters. Using modern cosmetic advances, the brand can harness the minerals found in these waters and use them in their product range, so they penetrate the skin, including this beautiful face oil – one of the brand’s best-sellers.

We liked to mix ours in our morning moisturiser to get the bakuchiol benefits, and also on its own with a bed-time facial massage. Glowing results were found after just one use, as it made skin feel incredibly soft and plumped, but we found our complexion had a real luminosity to it a few weeks in. If your skin loves retinol, you should try the effects of retinol and bakuchiol together in the new midnight renewal serum (£140, Lookfantastic.com).