Whether your skin redness is occasional or chronic, it can be hard to hide and even tougher to solve. And it’s not just redness — maybe you experience flaking, dryness, uneven skin tone, breakouts, or a rough texture, too. No matter how it looks and feels, you can take it as a cue that your skin barrier isn’t happy. And when your skin barrier is compromised in any way, it’s more vulnerable to external aggressors and can lead to skin inflammation.

On the other hand, when your skin barrier is strong and replenished, it can better recover from those external insults — ultimately leading to healthy, comfortable skin. And that’s why we’re so thrilled to debut our new Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum, which we’ve formulated to target irritation, dryness, and redness. Whether your skin is always flushed post-workout or feeling inflamed from your face covering, it’s here to the rescue.

Gentle yet incredibly effective, this face serum is brimming with active ingredients chosen specifically for their barrier support. Just because active ingredients are gentle doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to offer your skin or can’t transform it in any meaningful way. If anything, it’s just the opposite: Think of gentle active ingredients as the foundation for everything else in your Skincare Wardrobe. With them, you can branch out to vitamin C, retinol, AHAs, and whatever else your heart (and skin) desires, all without worrying about irritating your skin. Here, what goes into this soothing serum to pull that off.

What’s Inside

Ever heard the phrase: “the best offense is a good defense”? That’s the thinking behind the all-stars of our Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum, which are all about building up your defense. The five strengthening ceramides in our aptly named Ceramide-5 are the most effective for replenishing the skin barrier. In fact, they’re actually skin-identical, meaning they mimic the ceramides naturally found in the skin barrier, allowing them to blend in seamlessly and get to work sealing in moisture and keeping out irritants. They  also work together to maintain healthy moisture levels in skin and support skin barrier function — which in turn relieves discomfort and turns down the dial on redness. (Bonus: They also help promote skin’s own production of lipids, making your skin more resilient over time.)

A compromised skin barrier is also a free-for-all for moisture to escape, so offsetting that is also key. That’s where avocado extract and butter come in, working overtime to supply antioxidants and all-important moisture to skin — not to mention two essential fatty acids, linoleic and oleic acids, which helps with long-term hydration. While you might know and love avo from our Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask, where it works to buffer any potential irritation from the already gentle encapsulated retinol, it similarly shines here in its ability to comfort and deeply nourish skin.

Then, there are our super-soothers. Allantoin is a beloved calming ingredient you might recognize from K-beauty sheet masks; it’s been used for centuries to help treat burns and wounds, and this particular overachiever even helps reinforce the skin barrier. Meanwhile, rice milk works as an emollient to smoothe, soothe, and soften skin. Inspired by the K-beauty practice of splashing skin with the water used to rinse rice — which has innate hydrating properties — rice milk offers all the benefits without the mess.

What’s not in here? Fragrance. That said, the serum still smells refreshing and lightly grassy for a sensorial experience; the scent comes from the plant extracts that ultimately serve skin, moisturizing and providing antioxidants.

How to Use It

After cleansing, toning, and applying eye cream, dispense one to two pumps of Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum and gently pat onto slightly damp face and neck until fully absorbed. Follow with your favorite moisturizer to seal everything in place. It’s super-gentle, so you can use it twice a day, every day.

You can also use the serum as a booster by pairing it with other face serums. Want to max out on moisture? No problem — just layer a pump of our Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum with a pump of Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum. If you’re looking to soothe and brighten skin simultaneously, layer one pump of the Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum with our Pineapple-C Bright Serum.

Clearly, this is a serum that plays nice, so it’s a fit for any skincare routine. And maybe the best part? Everyone can benefit from using this serum. While, yes, it’s ideal for addressing skin redness (in fact, it’s clinically proven to reduce the look of redness), anyone who has a skin barrier — so, all of us — can use a little help defending it against daily environmental aggressors. Here’s a look at what its magic:

In a clinical consumer survey over four weeks, 86% of participants agreed that the serum lessened their visible redness, 96% agreed their skin felt calm, soothed, smooth, nourished, and overall healthier, and 90% agreed that they saw a lasting improvement in skin dryness and even skin tone. Clearly, even if you’re not dealing with a redness flare, you can still use it as a preventative measure to keep redness at bay and your skin barrier, stronger than ever. 

We’re so thrilled that we can finally share this exciting launch that everyone can use, and can’t wait for you to try the Avocado Ceramide Recovery Serum for yourself. Got questions? Just leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you!

Want to learn more about handling redness?

• Skin Inflammation: The Good, the Bad, & Everything In Between
• Sensitive Skin & Sensitized Skin: What’s the Difference?
• Everything You Need to Know About Sensitive Skin