Kelly Driscoll

One of the most beautiful and elusive colors in skincare is blue. It’s so serene and calming yet often it means lots of yucky dyes have been used in the product.

One way that products can get a natural blue color is from an ingredient called azulene. Azulene is often found in the chamomile plant and is named after the Spanish word for blue.

One extract from chamomile that contains the blue-producing compound azulene is guaiazulene. Guaiazulene is able to impart a gorgeous blue hue to skincare and cosmetics, but it’s also able to help calm inflammation on the skin.

Guaiazulene is the star ingredient, and puts the blue in the Klairs Midnight Blue line. The most famous product from that line is definitely the Midnight Blue Calming Cream, but this line also has a fantastic anti-aging product that is also a calming blue color.

Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drops has a very exciting name and claims to help fight wrinkles with peptides. But is this product just a pretty serum or does it actually do what it claims?

What is it?

Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drop is a super concentrated watery serum/drop (I’ll get to this in a moment) that contains two types of peptides to help fight wrinkles and keep skin firm and elastic.

This contains oligopeptide-1 (EGF) and polypeptide-1 (bFGF) peptides. Peptides are important in anti-aging because this is what keeps our skin plump, firm and elastic. Peptides are naturally produced by our bodies, but like so many other good things, their production slows down as we get older. Around your mid-twenties is when your body starts to slow down its production of peptides and that’s why you may start to see the signs of aging in your mid-to-late twenties. As you get older, your body will start to produce less and less of the good stuff, and that’s why you want to start using products with peptides or collagen-stimulating ingredients to help keep your skin looking fresh and smooth.

Now, only two peptides might seem like not enough to be very effective. But this product is highly concentrated. The two peptides here, EGF and bFGF, actually account for about 93% of this product’s weight. That’s a really big percentage of the formula!

Along with the peptides, we have guaiazulene which we knows imparts the beautiful hue to this product. Guaiazulene is also an amazing soothing and calming ingredient for skin, helping to relieve redness, irritation and inflammation. Guaiazulene is also known for being an incredibly gentle ingredient best for those with sensitive or damaged skin.

This product also contains blueberry extract that adds a good dose of antioxidants and adenosine which is a great wrinkle fighter.

And that’s about it when it comes to ingredients! The list is actually only 10 ingredients long!

sh-Oligopeptide- 1, sh-Polypeptide- 1, Butylene Glycol, Vaccinium Angustifolium (Blueberry) Fruit Extract, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Chlorphenesin, Guaiazulene, Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine

Note there is no alcohol, silicones, dyes, fragrances or essential oils here!

Texture and How to Use

I want so badly to call this a serum…I don’t know why, maybe because it’s in a dropper bottle?

This is most definitely not a serum consistency. In fact, this is even lighter and more watery than most toners! I was actually very surprised to find out how runny this product was when I first used it. The best method for application here is definitely dropper to face and quickly pat in with your free hand.

This product is super watery, runny and sinks into the skin instantly. It feels like nothing on your skin; it’s weightless and invisible. Because of this and the fact that the ingredients contain no irritants, I would recommend this product for all skin types.

This should definitely be used first in your routine immediately after cleansing. Any other products applied to the skin first can interfere with the effectiveness of the peptides.

My Experience

The very first thing that struck me about this drop (it’s not a serum) is that it was so gentle! I guess I just imagine anti-aging to be extreme ingredients, like vitamin C and retinol with their abilities to sting, burn and peel your skin. This product has no irritation at all; in fact, it’s one of the gentle products I’ve relied on when my skin has been over-exfoliated.

The addition of guaiazulene has been great for my sensitive and often irritated skin. The guaiazulene helps my skin look healthy and free from redness. It has helped soothe irritation on my face.

I have noticed an overall healthier tone to my face when using this product. Not necessarily brighter, but just healthier from within. I have also noticed that my under eye area looks fresher when using this product. I don’t have terrible dark circles, more like redness under the skin, but I’ve noticed this product has helped to even out the discoloration in that area.

But has this helped with wrinkles? Well, I don’t have terrible wrinkles but I have noticed some creases on my face deepening more this year. Specifically under my eyes and my nasolabial folds. Since using this product for the last 3 months I have noticed an improvement in that area.

Now, I wouldn’t be an honest blogger if I didn’t tell you that I think some other things I’ve been doing have helped this product produce results.

The first thing I started to do since starting this peptide drop was start to use oils in my routines. Because my skin was severely dehydrated with a weak moisture barrier, the creases on my face were more pronounced. When your skin can’t hold in moisture it’s easy for the skin to appear hallow and thin. Working to improve my dehydration and strengthen my moisture barrier means my skin looks more plump and firm because it can hold in its moisture.

The second thing I’ve been doing consistently is facial massage. I have been specifically targeting these creased areas in my massages, hoping to improve the look of those areas. And I think it has contributed to my skin looking more plump.

I believe those two things plus this serum have helped me to see an overall improvement in the elasticity and firmness of my skin.

When should you start using anti-aging products?

You may be reading this review because you are curious to know if this product will help you fight wrinkles. You may also be wondering when is the right time for you to start using anti-aging products.

If you are about 22-30 I would say this product is perfect for you to start thinking about using a peptide product like this. Remember, your body starts to slow down natural production of peptides in your mid-twenties.

If you are 30-40 and beyond, it might be time to explore heavier hitters like vitamin A (retinol) and vitamin C. These products produce much more dramatic results in terms of preventing deep wrinkles, correcting sun damage and helping stimulate production of collagen.

I think Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drops can be used as a booster product in addition to a powerful anti-aging routine in your 30s and beyond, but I think it’s not strong enough to produce results on its own after a certain age.

Klairs Midnight Blue Youth Activating Drop retails for $30 and can be found on Amazon and Wishtrend.*

*Indicates use of affiliate links that provide small commission to help run this blog