Olay Vitamin C + Peptide 24 MAX Brightening Serum

Most Helpful Critical Review

Disappointingly poor product instructions

First of all, I was SO EXCITED to try Olay's née Vitamin C + Peptide 24 MAX Brightening Serum. Let's just say I'm incredibly disappointed with Olay for their lack of appropriate instructions. All this product says is to use it morning and night and that you need to wear SPF plus be really careful if... you do go in the sun. That's fine for the back of the box as there's limited space. However, it boggles the mind that there is not an insert to better explain the use and possible dangers of this product. First of all, products with Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) are pretty strong and can react with certain other active ingredients so you should Google before mixing products! I use a hyaluronic acid lotion at night, this is totally fine and they in fact work extremely well together; others do not always. Also, as long as your lotion is compatible active ingredient-wise there's no need to wait for the serum to fully dry/penetrate the skin before applying, the lotion will not disturb the serum's ability to do its thing. Lastly, and the most important thing that Olay should absolutely be telling people is that at first this serum SHOULD NOT be used twice daily! AHA's should be gradually added to your routine as they can cause a lot of irritation. This doesn't happen to everyone but it happens enough that every article I read said it needed to be added slowly. Most articles said to start out with the product ONCE every other day some even said just use it a few times a week. They all said to work up to daily use. Sadly, I did not know this and trusted Olay's instructions. Used it once at night and again in the morning. After the morning use my forehead broke out into an itchy mess of red bumps with a few other angry itchy red splotches throughout my face. I washed it off, but the damage was already done. Still covered in itchy red bumps hours later. All that being said, I still have high hopes for the product. However, will be dropping down to a few times a week and working up to once a day in the future. Also, please don't be fooled by the reviews saying it doesn't is and immediate miracle worker. That's just not a reasonable expectation. Not because it isn't a great product (TBD on my end) but because AHAs take months to really show a difference. That was another constant in the articles I read. On average it apparently takes close to three months for AHAs to begin making a noticeable difference. All the before/after photos I saw on Olay's website claimed miracles after a month or less. Honestly, y'all have eyes, you can see as well as I did there wasn't much difference or they were clearly wearing makeup in the second photo, I don't know what would possess a regular person to deceive like that… In conclusion, it could be a great product but I am incredibly disappointed with Olay's irresponsible lack of proper instructions. I cannot stress enough that using this product 2x a day if you aren't used to AHAs and is not a good idea for most. Please do a little research before using this.