20,000 People Ordered This Damage-Erasing Serum in a Single Day, so We Tried It

Skin type: combination, sensitive, acne-prone

Skin concerns: acne/acne scars, dryness, redness, dullness

I'm always the

first to admit that when a product sounds too good to be true, I immediately crinkle my forehead in doubt. Made in Italy; safe for every skin type and tone; patent-pending; clean; vegan; cruelty-free; and equipped with wizard-like brightening, resurfacing, renewing, tightening, and equalizing powers? There had to be a catch. Not to mention Craig's Resurfacing Compound can supposedly replace my collection of serums and toners and work said magic in as little as three to six days? Fat chance, I couldn't help muttering to myself. Alas, I stand a bit corrected.

I will say that I have been using the Resurfacing Compound for about four days now, morning and night, and haven't seen any type of miraculous changes in my skin. But I'm pretty sure it has lightened some acne scarring, smoothed my overall skin texture (I had received a very extraction-heavy facial just a couple of days before this photo was taken), and brightened up my skin tone. The formula hasn't clogged my pores or irritated my skin, which is more than I can say for other serums containing vitamin C and retinol I've tried in the past. So that's honestly a huge win right there.

The first time I tried this serum, I'll admit I was a bit taken aback at how lightweight it is. I was expecting it to be lightweight, but it almost felt like air on my skin. Can this actually work? I wondered. The brand recommends applying one to two pumps to the entire face after you cleanse, but I found three to four pumps were required to cover the ground I needed to. That said, it did spread like a dream, and it absorbed almost instantaneously. I have an extremely minimal skincare regimen right now—just cleanser, maybe toner, moisturizer, and eye cream, so this was actually adding a step for me. However, thanks to how lightweight and easy it is to layer, I barely noticed, and my skin didn't feel like it was being suffocated with products.

I need to be honest and say I was hoping the compound would do a little more work in the realm of hydration (I've been drier than normal when I wake up in the morning), but I also know that's par for the course when using any kind of retinol-containing formula. Only time will tell if U Beauty's Resurfacing Compound continues to work all the magic it's alleged to, but so far, so good, and other than that slight bit of dryness, I have zero complaints.