The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%, GHK-Cu Anti-Aging Serum for Fine Lines and Skin Elasticity, 1 Fl Oz

Why it's worth it

The brand's priciest serum, built around five peptide technologies plus GHK-Cu copper peptides, amino acids and hyaluronic acid. If retinoids wreck your skin but you still want to work on fine lines and slack texture, this is the gentler road.

Peptides are the low-drama option for aging skin. You don't peel, you don't flake, and you don't have to build up tolerance over a month of miserable evenings. Owners who've given up on retinol repeatedly land here instead and stay. The brand says it's for firmness, elasticity and fine lines, and the copper peptides double as antioxidant support against everyday environmental stress.

It's the most expensive thing in the lineup by a wide margin, and the brand attributes that to the raw-material cost of peptide and copper-peptide complexes. That's a real constraint rather than a marketing decision — copper peptides are genuinely costly to formulate with. It's still far below what a prestige peptide serum runs, which is the whole reason this bottle gets attention.

From our review of 8 skincare products from the ordinary

What we like

• +Peptides are the low-drama option for aging skin
• +It's the most expensive thing in the lineup by a wide margin, and the brand attributes that to the raw-material cost of peptide…
• +Read the layering instructions before you buy
• +Set your expectations low and slow

What to know

• –It's tinted blue, from the copper
• –A small share of people react to it, usually with stinging or small bumps within the first few uses
• –Because you can't stack it with acids, retinoids or strong antioxidants, adding it means dropping or rescheduling something else