Best Serums for Sensitive Skin: 2018 Reviews (Derm Recommended)

Updated 6 years ago

Why bother with a serum when you already use moisturizer? Because serums don’t sit on the surface of your skin like lotion does. Instead, they penetrate deeper to nourish and hydrate your face. If you’re serious about fighting signs of aging, they are essential.

Try one of these top serums for sensitive skin after you've completed your cleanse, then apply moisturizer a few minutes later for pleasing results.

Eau Thermale Avène Hydrance Optimale Hydrating Serum

Avène’s Optimale Hydrating Serum uses thermal spring water to help you have soft and radiant skin, especially when you apply it both morning and night. It adds moisture where it’s most needed to fight fine lines and dryness.

Like other Avène products, this serum is free from ingredients that could irritate a sensitive face. There are no oils, no gluten, no parabens, no soy, and no soaps.

Murad Sensitive Skin Soothing Serum, Redness Therapy

If you suffer from irritated, reddened skin, the Soothing Serum from Murad is just what you need. It contains natural extracts of algae, arnica, and chamomile that take away the redness. Then it has glycolipids, hyaluronic acid, and lecithin that hydrate and seal in moisture.

Even users with very sensitive skin find that Murad’s formula does the trick. They report smoother, suppler skin after using this serum. And they like that it’s cruelty-free because it was never tested on animals.

Perricone MD H2 Elemental Energy Advanced Renewal Infusion Serum for Women

If you suffer from dry, dull skin, the H2 Elemental Energy Serum from Perricone MD will make an immediate difference in how your face looks and feels. First, it contains a tailor-made type of hyaluronic acid that penetrates the skin more easily to hydrate it fast. Then it also has a secret ingredient— fermented yeast-- that improves elasticity.

Finally, Perricone MD makes their serum safer for sensitive skin by avoiding irritants like parabens, sulfates, and phthalates.

La Roche-Posay Rosaliac AR Intense Hydrating Facial Serum for Sensitive Skin to Visibly Reduce Redness

La Roche-Posay’s Rosaliac Serum is a top choice if you suffer from rosacea and reddened skin. Its combination of thermal spring water and ambophenol even out skin tone and eliminate dryness. If you’ve not heard of it, ambophenol is a plant extract that shrinks blood vessels.

The other highlights of the La Roche-Posay serum are three-fold. First, it’s a soothing gel, not a liquid. Second, it’s been tested and proven to improve the appearance of rosacea. And third, there are no parabens, preservatives, dyes, or fragrances in the formula.

Lancôme Advanced Genifique Sensitive Youth Activating + Sensitivity Soothing Dual Concentrate - All Skin Types, Even Sensitive

Lancome’s Genifique Serum is a two-part formula. One part contains Vitamin E and ferulic acid that help skin resist environmental damage. The other has probiotic extracts that nourish and hydrate your face. Altogether, the serum relieves dryness right away, and also goes to work erasing signs of aging.

Skin Medica TNS Essential Serum

Skin Medica wants you to apply their TNS Essential Serum both morning and night after you’ve washed your face. Its two-part formula helps your skin recover its elasticity to get rid of fine lines and dryness. It also evens out your tone.

On the label, you can see that it contains botanical extracts like green tea and blackberry leaf. But it also has the latest formulations of skin building blocks like Coenzyme Q10 and matrix proteins.

Clinique Smart Custom Repair Concentrate Serum

Would you like to reduce the appearance of your wrinkles by half? Or fade away dark spots and uneven skin tone? Clinique’s Smart Serum has been clinically proven to do exactly that in three months’ time.

It’s also free of fragrances and oils, non-allergenic, and non-acnegenic. Anyone with any pigmentation or skin type can enjoy the collagen-boosters, botanicals, and peptides in this product.

KLAIRS Rich Moist Soothing Serum

The Soothing Serum from KLAIRS has a lot of fans because it’s packed with organic components that soften skin right after you apply it. And you can save a step in your makeup routine because you might not even need a primer afterward.

The label reads like a cookbook, with extracts of licorice, anise, grapefruit, celery, broccoli, and even rice. Although it seems like lots of users with sensitive skin are experiencing success with this serum, it does contain perfume.

MIZON Collagen

MIZON focuses on one main essential in their serum: marine collagen. As you may know, if you lack collagen, your skin is more prone to wrinkling and dryness. So the act of adding a 90% solution of collagen will result in improved tone and suppleness.

The MIZON serum also avoids many of the worst irritants, like artificial fragrances and dyes, and parabens. You only need to tap on two to three drops after cleansing and toning at night.

Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum

Are you prone to breakouts and blackheads? Try the Blemish Clearing Serum from Juice Beauty. It’s packed with salicylic acid, Vitamin C, aloe, and CoQ10. The salicylic acid kills acne bacteria and cleans pores while the Vitamin C evens out your skin tone. Then the aloe and CoQ10 soothe redness and help restore elasticity.

Apply the Juice Beauty serum after you wash your face at night. Or you can also use it as a spot treatment to destroy offending pimples before they get out of hand.

Drunk Elephant TLC Framboos Glycolic Night Serum

The entertaining brand name of Drunk Elephant disguises the fact that this is a seriously powerful serum made in the USA. It’s only for night-time use as it contains 12% glycolic acid. This ingredient exfoliates dead skin without overly drying out your face.

The Framboos Glycolic Night Serum depends on alpha-hydroxy acids with a pH around 4.0. That could irritate very sensitive skin, in which case it’s best to use it two or three times a week instead of every day. Plus, there are no dyes, perfumes, or oils in this product.

Jack Black Protein Booster Skin Serum

Serums aren’t just for women. The Jack Black Protein Booster is a fragrance-free shot in the face that will age you backward in time. It contains exotic ingredients like a peptide from the venomous Temple Viper of Malaysia, as well as certified organic extracts and amino acids.

Guys have sensitive skin, too. That’s why they turn to Jack Black’s skin care products. There are no alcohols, dyes, glutens, or parabens in this serum. It’s cruelty-free and vegan, too. Just apply once a day after shaving to get results.

Conclusion

Applying a high-quality serum to your face is a powerful way to fight signs of aging. There are serums for just about any condition you want to fix, from dryness to redness to uneven skin tone. Some are very good at hydrating your skin and making it supple. Others will help you shed dead cells to fade uneven pigmentation and fine lines. You may find that you prefer to apply one kind in the morning and another at night.

Serum wearers with sensitive skin have many choices on today’s market. Many formulas nowadays avoid typical irritants and offer hypoallergenic solutions. We hope you discovered the perfect serum here today.