Bronzer Bunny told me about Skin Inc a long time ago, and it's been on my wish list ever since. Skin Inc's premise is that everybody's skin is different, and as such you should have your own personalized serum...who wouldn't want that!

How is this accomplished? They have a range of 9 targeted serum ingredients (for example French Bark serum for antioxidant protection, Hyaluronic Acid serum for hydration, Licorice Serum for irritated skin) that can be combined up to 3 at a time to make your own serum targeted to your skin's specific needs. When you buy three serums, 1 is free and you get the larger bottle in which to combine the serum ingredients. There's a Skin Inc video at the end of this post that gives a lot more detail :-)

I imagine you could combine more than 3 serums if you really wanted to, but the big bottle they give you to house all the serums only holds 3. But, larger dropper bottles are available on Amazon and other places if you want to experiment!

Now the kicker is that the individual serum ingredients are pricey at $45 each. And while you do get the 3rd serum ingredient free, as well as the bottle ($10 if purchased separately), that's still $90 for the whole lot. Considering how finicky my skin can be, I wanted to make sure my skin would be ok with the general formulation (seems like they generally have the same base formula) so I've only tried one of the serum ingredients so far.

***Purchased by me. Links are non-affiliate.***

Skin Inc Ceramide Serum - gummyvision.com

Skin Inc Ceramide Serum (Reinforce), $45/10ML

This is available at Sephora or through the Skin Inc site (they do ship to Canada). Not sure how the company site works, but if you want to make your own master serum and purchase through Sephora, you have to add 3 serums to your basket and it will automatically add the free big dropper bottle and take off the charge for the 3rd serum.

Ok, did you see that this is only 10ML??? That's just over 1/4oz, a point I didn't realize when ordering and was kinda shocked when I opened the package and saw how small it was!!! Thank goodness I ordered the first bottle during the Sephora sale. But then I ordered it again (non-sale price) because I went through the first bottle way too quickly - just over 2 weeks - (trying to figure out how much to use and how best to apply so I wouldn't waste product) and didn't feel like I had enough time to play with it?? Thank goodness for ebates ha ha! Buuuuuut...I guess if the point is to combine 3 of these serum ingredients then the small size kinda makes sense. Good thing I finally figured things out and this 2nd bottle is lasting longer, though 10ML is still not much!

So the video explains that the most potent parts of the serum are encapsulated in a seaweed ball (see all the little blue dots) that keeps things fresh until it makes contact with your skin. At that point, the seaweed ball bursts and fresh ingredients are released.

The texture of this is a watery gel that absorbs into my skin very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I have to be careful not to rub my fingers/hands together too much before applying or it will all absorb into my hands before I've had a chance to touch my skin. I found the best way to apply this without wasting too much product is to put a few drops into my palm, and with the fingers of my opposite hand lightly touch them into the serum and then quickly apply to my face one area at a time.

For this particular Ceramide Serum, in general I notice it helps keep my skin soft and adds a little bit of hydration. I really notice a difference on nights that I use the Glycolix Elite Treatment Pads 20% - I feel it helps soothe my skin, and I barely notice any stinging sensation. On those nights I apply the pads, wait a minute or 2, then apply the Ceramide Serum and my marula oil and other skincare on top. Those are the things I visibly notice and feel, but from using CeraVe Moisturizing Cream for so long I also know that ceramides are naturally occurring in the skin and they help protect it.

What's the verdict?! I like this. A lot!!! I'm about 1/2 way through my second bottle and have already decided to go all the way and get the big daddy 3-serum-free-bottle route next time! I find it kind of fascinating that I could have several master serums and rotate them, or keep the individual serum ingredients on hand for more targeted/specialized treatments depending on how my skin is feeling/acting. I'll keep you posted :-)

Skin Inc Ceramide Serum ingredients: