From collagen-boosting vitamin C to skin-firming retinoids, there are potent ingredients out there that will help you soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. But these ingredients take time to work, so you need to commit for the long haul to see real, lasting results. However, according to Deirdre Hooper, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New Orleans, Louisiana, you can supplement your routine with fine line and wrinkle-blurring serums that instantly smooth your skin.
“Blurring serums are awesome. The science behind them is really smart. They use silicones and powders and physically—temporarily—can fill in lines,” says Dr. Hooper. Some stop right there, offering nothing more than the immediate blur, while others are hopped up with peptides to provide both instant plumping and induce collagen production. “Peptides are cosmeceuticals that can plump collagen. We’re always wanting to plump collagen and thicken up the skin.”
Some fine line and wrinkle-blurring serums also include light-reflecting particles. “Optically, they reflect light in a way that makes it more difficult to see lines in the skin,” says Dr. Hooper.
Dr. Hooper particularly loves pairing these serums with tinted sunscreens that provide amazing UV and visible light protection but can settle into and exacerbate the look of wrinkles. “If you don’t want to look a [older] because makeup has caked into your lines, some of these little wrinkle-filling serums are an awesome cosmetic tool,” she says. “If they make you more likely to use your tinted sunscreen, they make your dermatologist happy.”
Shop seven of the best blurring serums out there below.
7 best fine line and wrinkle-blurring serums
This serum uses a blend of peptides and ceramides to repair and smooth skin, diamond powder to reflect light and give the skin a diffused, ‘soft-focus’ effect, and a proprietary compound that improves skin tone and firmness. One 62-year-old reviewer says that it “visibly reduced my forehead wrinkles [and] vanished crow’s feet around eyes. They were diminished in front of me when I was applying it. Just love it!”
This filler serum is popular among shoppers and dermatologists alike. The silicone-free formula immediately smoothes skin while softening the look of deep-set wrinkles over time. “I can see the lines between my eyebrows fill in when I use this product. It’s a bit like magic,” writes one reviewer. Another says, “I’ve tried several products to address wrinkles, and this has been the most effective.” Even Dr. Hopper gives this serum her stamp of approval. “I personally have tried the StriVectin product as a primer before makeup, and I think it does a little something,” she says.
Well+Good contributor Cathy Nelson says this serum made her 40+ skin look visibly firmer within two minutes. “I was eager to see if the serum could really deliver a ‘flash filler effect’ and decided the best way to try it was by applying the product only to one side of my face. About a minute after doing so, I asked my teenage daughter if she could tell which side I’d put the serum on. Without hesitation, she pointed to the left side of my face and said, ‘It looks more lifted,’” says Nelson. “I looked in the mirror, and she was right (or left, in this case). One half of my face was plumper, fuller, and definitely more lifted than the other. The deeper lines also didn’t seem as prominent on that side. I was skeptical I’d see such striking results, but this serum is going to be a go-to for me before any big night out.”
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Although Dr. Hopper hasn’t personally tried this serum, she knows it’s pretty well received. And at just $6, you really can’t go wrong. “You don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money on this kind of serum,” she says. “You might like the cosmetic elegance of one of these products more than the other. But they’re available at a variety of price points.” This one uses silicones to fill in lines while vitamins A, E, argan oil, and coconut oil moisturize and nourish.
Hyaluronic acid is known for delivering an instant plumping effect, and this serum duo takes it to the next level. “Shiseido’s technology shrinks larger molecular weight HA so it gets down deep into the skin without losing benefits, then re-expands back to their original size,” says Well+Good contributor Marie Lodi. “The molecular magic happens through a two-step system. At night you use the Infill Serum, which delivers the shrunken HA molecules into the skin. Then, in the AM, you use the Full Expansion Serum, which pumps the HA molecules back to the original size…I used it for three weeks and saw a difference FAST. My skin looked and felt juicier and looked plumper. Friends said I was glowing. Strangers demanded to know my skin-care routine. I was even asked for my ID (something that doesn’t happen THAT often anymore).”
Well+Good contributor Dominique Michelle Astorino calls this serum a “literal time machine for your face.” It uses peptides, yarrow flower, and HA to instantly plump and firm skin. “Not to be dramatic, but hands down, this is *the* single most significant difference I’ve seen from a product in my career,” says Astorino. “This stuff is so good that my mom recently asked, unironically, if I’d gotten work done after I sent her a photo of my face, and my friends kept asking me what makeup I was wearing when I wasn’t wearing anything at all. At that point, I had just applied the serum for the second time.”
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This serum was designed to be used with a neuromodulator like Botox, but it shines even when used by itself. “It took longer than my typical serum to dry—it stayed tacky for about two minutes—but I didn’t care, because I could actually feel the Revox tightening and firming my skin,” says Well+Good contributor Rebecca Deurlein. “It had a slight cooling sensation, which felt like pure luxury, and after I applied my daily moisturizer I noticed that my skin looked immediately plumper than usual. It instantly appeared to sag less, and I felt confident and filled with hope about what the formula could do over time. For the next few weeks, I faithfully applied Revox every morning and continued to notice smoother skin with fewer fine lines”