How much is actually in it

From the founder

They'll tell you what's
in it. They won't tell
you how much.

A face serum with PDRN, six peptides and niacinamide. Every ingredient, with its amount printed below.

What it is

A face serum. Apply a few drops as needed, after cleansing and before your moisturizer.

35 mL · $69 at launch. Joining the list is free.

If the last serum you bought did nothing, I don't think that was your fault, and I don't think it was your skin.

When I stopped reading the fronts of bottles and started reading the backs, I kept finding ingredient names without amounts. A name tells you what is in a serum. It does not tell you how much.

That isn't an oversight. An ingredient list has to be ordered by concentration, but it does not have to carry a single number. That rule only holds above one percent. Below it — at one percent or less — the ingredients can be listed in any order, so the name on the front of the carton can sit anywhere below that line, and the list alone won't tell you where. So a company can put a spectacular ingredient in at a trace amount and still print its name in the biggest font on the package, and every word stays technically true. You pay seventy or eighty dollars for a quantity nobody will show you, and the whole arrangement is perfectly legal.

You deserve to know what you are buying before deciding whether it belongs in your routine.

You can compare the amounts
when you can see them.

So here are our numbers

Judge them yourself. That's the whole offer.

01 — The number

1% PDRN. Six peptides at 3%. Niacinamide at 2%.

Three figures from the formula documentation. Listed formulation amounts do not, by themselves, establish concentrations of pure active material.

The whole list

Three numbers isn't the formula. Here are all 29 ingredients, each with a number next to it.

The declared formula is below, including the base, preservatives and both colorants. These are documented formulation amounts, not independently verified pure-active concentrations.

Water77.79944%
Glycerin5% · humectant
Propylene Glycol5% · solvent
Six peptides3% total · 0.5% each
Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 · Palmitoyl Tripeptide-8
Acetyl Heptapeptide-4 · Oligopeptide-1
Heptapeptide-6 · Acetyl Hexapeptide-8
Niacinamide2%
Tocopherol1% · vitamin E
PDRN (Sodium DNA)1%
Squalane0.5% · plant-derived
Sodium Hyaluronate0.2% · hyaluronic acid
ColorantsCI 16035 0.00036% · CI 15985 0.0002% · this is why it's pink
Pink as a visual reference to the salmon our PDRN comes from. That was a choice about appearance — the color is the colorants, not the PDRN, and it does nothing for your skin.
Butylene Glycol1% · solvent
Polysorbate 200.6% · helps it blend
Dimethicone0.3% · smooth finish
Sodium Phytate0.2% · stabilizer
Triethanolamine0.1% · pH adjuster
Hydroxyethylcellulose0.1% · thickener
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer0.1% · texture · stability
Pentylene Glycol0.1% · humectant
Stephania Tetrandra Extract0.5% · botanical
Taraxacum Officinale (Dandelion) Leaf Extract0.5% · botanical antioxidant
Saururus Chinensis Leaf/Root Extract0.5% · botanical
Phenoxyethanol0.45% · preservative
Ethylhexylglycerin0.05% · boosts the phenoxyethanol
Total100.00000%

The colorants are printed in red because that is the line most likely to matter to you, not because it helps us. Patch test on your inner arm, twenty-four hours, before it goes near your face.

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01b — Ingredient research, in context

Niacinamide: what the published study actually tested.

The formula documentation lists niacinamide at 2%. Hakozaki et al. (2002) studied a 5% niacinamide moisturizer and a separate 2% niacinamide-plus-sunscreen treatment. These were not a like-for-like dose comparison, and neither tested ZUVIE.

Here is what PDRN actually is, including the limits of what we can say about it.

02 — The part people find strange

We explain the ingredients. We do not promise serum results.

We explain each ingredient and its amount. We do not claim results for the finished serum without evidence. The ingredient roles and their sources are here; they are not tests of this finished formula.

03 — The unflattering paragraph

Fragrance-free. No SPF. And yes, there are colorants in it.

The fragrance came out deliberately. There's no SPF in it, so it doesn't replace your sunscreen and it isn't pretending to. And it's pink because there are two colorants in it, CI 16035 and CI 15985. They do nothing for your skin. They make it pink.

04 — The empty page

Our reviews page has nothing on it. It's the most honest page we have.

There are no customer reviews yet. When customers have used it, we will publish what they wrote, including the ones who did not get on with it.

The honest part

And here's the list of things it won't do.

We do not promise lifting, overnight results or a replacement for a professional treatment.

One more thing you'd rather hear from me

Than find on the back of the box.

05 — Where it's made

It's manufactured in Foshan, Guangdong, in China.

The facility is certified by SGS:

US FDA CFSAN Cosmetic GMP
Certificate CNCPCH20240734E

ISO 22716
Certificate CNCPCH20240735E

Both valid through July 17, 2027

A GMP certificate concerns how a factory is run. It is not an FDA endorsement of this serum.

It isn't free. It just isn't for sale yet.

The serum will cost $69. It will be sold, not given away — there are no free samples and no test bottles. What costs nothing is joining the list: no payment, no card details. An independent safety assessor still has to sign the formula off, and until that's finished there is nothing to sell you. Put your name down and I'll write when it changes — including if it changes for the worse.

Would you like to reserve yours?

Reserve yours — no payment

No card. No order today.
You can still join the email list below.

$69 when it launches · Nothing to pay to join the list · Leave the list any time

You're on the list.

I'll write when there's something real to say, and not before.

— Julian, ZUVIE