Lumina Sérum and Lumina Qrema on wet moss beside a waterfall at night.

If retinol didn't work for you, it wasn't you.

Two plant actives that reach the same place from a different direction. Two steps at night.

The Lumina Duo, $96 $106 separately · $10 saved automatically

Retinol works. Just not for everyone.

Maybe you tried it. Started slow, buffered it, gave it the twelve weeks everyone said it needed. And by week three your skin was peeling anyway. Some skin doesn't tolerate retinol no matter how carefully you introduce it.

So you stopped. And somewhere in there, you stopped believing the next recommendation too.

That's the part nobody accounts for. It costs you a bottle. It also costs you the willingness to try the next thing, which is a harder thing to get back.

So we went looking for another way in.

I didn't start Qrema to build a brand. I started it because I couldn't find something that worked on my skin without punishing it first.

Vero, founder

We found two plants. They work differently from each other and differently from retinol, and neither one is a retinoid.

A babchi sprig with purple flower clusters, green leaves and dark seeds.

Bakuchiol

From the seed of the babchi plant. Not a retinoid, so there's no conversion step, which is where retinol's stinging and peeling come from. Photostable, which retinol isn't.

Lumina Sérum, a small amber glass dropper bottle.

Lumina Sérum Retinol alternative serum · 30 ml $54

Romerillo

Bidens pilosa, growing wild across Puerto Rico. Nobody plants it. It comes up on roadsides and gets pulled as a weed. It reaches the same receptors retinol does, from a different direction.

Lumina Qrema Retinol alternative moisturizer · 50 ml $52

Two steps, at night.

Short enough to do on the night you almost didn't.

01

Lumina Sérum

Three or four drops on clean skin. Press it in rather than rubbing it.
02

Lumina Qrema

Over the top. Warm it between your hands first, then face, neck, up the jaw.

Then give it six weeks. Week one is hydration. Week six is when tone starts to shift.

Before you decide.

Do I actually need both?

Each product's own page says the same thing. The sérum works on its own and so does the moisturizer. They were made to be layered, the sérum first and the moisturizer over it, and together they cost ten dollars less than buying them apart. That's the whole case for the pair.

$96 is a lot.

It is. Here's the arithmetic, so you can decide rather than take our word for it. Three or four drops a night gets roughly two months out of the 30 ml sérum, and the 50 ml moisturizer lasts longer than that. Call it two months for both, which is about a dollar sixty a night.

What if my skin reacts to this too?

We can't promise it won't, and anyone who does is guessing. What we can tell you is what's on record. Lumina Sérum is dermatologically tested, both are formulated for all skin types, and every allergen in them is listed on this site before you buy. Patch test on your inner arm for a few days first.

And you have thirty days. If your skin doesn't get on with it, send it back with most of the bottle left and we'll refund you.

The Lumina Duo

Lumina Sérum Bakuchiol · 30 ml · $54
Lumina Qrema Romerillo · 50 ml · $52

$96$106 separately · $10 saved automatically

Thirty days to change your mind. If your skin doesn't get on with it, send it back with most of the bottle left and we'll refund you. Free shipping over $100.

Add the Duo to Cart

Two steps. The rest of the night is yours.

What's Inside