Yüli Skincare – Cell Perfecto PM

As promised in the Liquid Courage review, I am back with an update on another extremely popular Face Serum, made by Yüli Skincare – Cell Perfecto PM. Now that I’m having trouble reaching the last few drops through the dropper, I thought maybe it’s time to do a review where I’ll try to justify my stance on this extremely advanced serum, aimed mostly at those who deal with hyper pigmentation and acne scars.

Cost: 

$98 for 1 oz (30 ml)

Packaging:

Same luxurious Miron glass packaging used by most high end, luxury green beauty brands. The dropper applicator is very efficient in dispensing the exact number of drops required for moisturizing – 3 to 4 drops in my case (full face and neck). Not particular to Yuli, but I wish all face serums from different brands were packaged with droppers or that we are given the choice to choose between a pump or a dropper, because I’ve slowly come to realize that almost always, one pump is too much for my combination, acne prone skin. Droppers are just so much more precise and easy to control.

Product literature/claims:

The ultimate serum with all natural, advanced ingredients to treat hyper pigmentation, dark spots and treat acne scars. Highly potent plant derivatives and extracts, such as, Gotu Kala Extract, Indian Fig, Tamanu oil, MSM and Sea Mineral Complex work together, slowly over time to condition skin from deep within to improve texture and brighten skin tone.

Full ingredients list from the website:

Bioregenerating Botanical Infusion (Botanical Glycosides, Sea Minerals Complex), S. chinensis (Jojoba) oil*, M. integrifolia (Macadamia) oil*, O. ficus-indica (Indian Fig) seed oil*, C. inophyllum (Tamanu) oil*, H. rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) oil*, A. uva-ursi (Bearberry) extract*, H. italicum (Helichrysum)* extract, G. glabra (Liquorice) extract*, C. asiatica (Gotu Kola) extract*, Renew Minerals Complex (Methysulfonylmethane (MSM)* Derived from Pine Lignin, Phytosterols derived from Flax), A. linearis (Rooibos) extract*, B. carterii (Frankincense) extract*, D. carota (Carrot) seed extract^^, G. lucidum (Reishi) extract*, L-arginine, L-ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), L-Gluconic Acid (Derived from Kombucha Tea Ferment)

* Organic
^^ Wildcrafted

Texture and Fragrance: 

Thicker compared to Liquid Courage and Modern Alchemist with very small deep brown sediment particles that are activated upon shaking and massaging the serum onto skin. The serum is a medium yellow/brown. I saw a lot of sediment when the bottle was new, but over time, it seems to have reduced — it’s possible that due to the amount of time I took to finish up the bottle, the sediment particles melted into the oil. To be fair, I’ve been using the same bottle for an year. Yuli does ask that you finish it within 6 months of opening — something that I couldn’t do just because I like to rotate between my face oils depending upon the needs of my skin.

The fragrance is very herbal to a point where I would say that for a product that should be used at night time, this serum’s fragrance is not the strongest point and if you’re really used to intoxicating fragrances of facial oils from Mun Beauty or May Lindstrom, then your best bet is to layer this product under another moisturizer or face oil. Most nights, this doesn’t bother me. Sometimes, I do like to lulled into deep sleep by some heady fragrance (rose is a current favorite) and whenever that happens, I either skip this serum, or satisfy my needs by using a perfume oil on my pulse points or apply a face moisturizer on top.

Length of testing before review:

On and off since a year due to two main reasons — While this serum doesn’t cause any breakouts, it seems to do very little to treat active acne and/or calm inflammations, and I usually have a couple of whiteheads or acne going for around 10 days every month. My breakouts are mostly hormonal, but I do tend to breakout if I change my routine too much, or add new skincare items. Anyway, so coming back to my earlier point, whenever I’m suffering from active acne, I prefer to use Liquid Courage (repurchased already) or Modern Alchemist. Reason number two is, sometimes, the lack of fragrance as mentioned above.

Results/Observation:

Per Yüli, the serum is to be applied at night time to the affected areas, by gentling massaging about 2-3 drops. It’s also really important to shake the bottle to allow the sediments to get activated – due to the heaviness, the dark particles get deposited at the bottom of the bottle, and every time before application, shaking is necessary to capture some in the dispenser.

Almost always, I ended up applying the serum to my entire face, because all areas could use some brightening, even though most of my scars are limited to my chin and cheeks (near the hairline). Most nights (especially during Summer or Fall), the serum only provides sufficient moisture. If your skin is dryer or older, you might feel the need to layer it under another oil or moisturizer. The sediments didn’t really bother me – They vanish quickly once you massage the oil into your face. I like to mist my face really well (about 6-8 sprays across my face and neck) before application of any facial serum/oil, and this helps the oil absorb faster.

So, did it work? 

Some background on my acne: I mostly have small breakouts across my cheeks (more concentrated on the right side) that need a lot of help to go through their entire cycle, else they linger on forever. The type of acne I get is not really big in size, but stays on forever, and then leaves behind dark scars. Every month, I’ll probably get a couple of new ones. Since I don’t usually get cystic acne (very rarely), I can’t speak to the serum’s effective on those. Most of my scars are a year or two old, that started just when I was about to hit 30 – that and the fact that I changed my skincare routine towards greener products, contributed to a lot of breakouts initially.

This was my first bottle and I had really high expectations, both because of the product description on the website, as well as the numerous success stories that I’ve read across the web. The serum has helped lighten the scars a huge deal and brightened my face overall. I used to have dark acne scars on my chin and my cheeks (right side especially) and some of those have vanished. I’ve also seen the scars reduce in both size and intensity. I wouldn’t say the application of this serum miraculously takes care of all my issues overnight, but I’ve definitely seen improvements that kept me going. I also see new tissue being gradually formed over raised scars – so yes, the serum does nurture the skin layers from inside. Some days, the raised scars look better, and some days, they look really inflamed (don’t ask me why!). I still have some raised scars lingering around from 6 months ago – my skin is far from perfect, but I can say that my face looks a little better every morning after the application of this serum.

Having said that, I would like to mention that between Liquid Courage, Modern Alchemist and this, my skin has benefited equally from all. Because I use some or the other Yüli serum every day, it’s a little difficult for me to directly correlate my skin improvements to just one particular Yüli serum. Also, I can easily rotate between any of Yüli’s serums, and not worry about my skin breaking out. This is great news for skincare junkies like me because Yüli has four different serums, and those who love variety will can apply a different serum everyday without any adverse reactions.

So, is it worth purchasing? 

Yes, definitely worth purchasing a bottle because this is as natural as it can get for conditioning the skin with good nutrients and helping it heal without any harsh chemicals or peels. Since this is recommended for PM use only, bear in mind you’ll need something else for day time. Confession – I have used this serum during day time too. I don’t know the exact reason why it can’t be used during AM, but my guess is because during the sleep cycle, the actives have a greater chance of healing your skin.

If money is an issue and you can buy only one serum, I would suggest purchasing Liquid Courage instead because the Antioxidant properties in that serum is bound to still brighten and even out your skin tone, and can be used both AM and PM. It’s a little costlier, but I felt the oil is much lighter and you could get away with using less. By the same theory, if you have dryer skin and/or older, go for Modern Alchemist.