The Good Trade editors endorse products we’ve personally researched, tested, and genuinely love. Learn more about our methodology and business model here. The Good Trade was gifted products for this review.

Key Takeaways:

• You start losing ceramides at age 30. Using cocokind’s Ceramide Barrier Support Serum ($22) will protect your current ceramides and help you generate new ones.
• cocokind’s products are cruelty-free, sensitive-skin-friendly, and backed by extensive research to ensure the brand meets strict standards for efficacy, safety, and sustainability.
• All of the products are formulated without gluten or peanuts. Most of cocokind’s ingredients are certified organic, soy-free, and vegan. Anything that isn’t is disclosed in full on the brand’s website. For example, their beeswax products are the only ones listed as non-vegan, and, along with this disclosure, they state that they use ethical treatment of their bees in an organic environment.
• cocokind offsets its carbon footprint with dollars, and it also conducts proactive annual research to further reduce it.
• Every product page offers fun recycling suggestions, such as repurposing containers as food storage options or spray bottles for plants. Ongoing sustainability work is published on the brand’s blog.
• cocokind is available at Target and online.

Let me begin with a confession: until I heard about cocokind’s trifecta of serums, I had never tried a serum in my life. Most skin products describe what they do: Moisturizer, exfoliant, toner, primer, cleanser. These nouns are also verbs. Serum does not turn into a verb. To serumize? Not a thing.

For years, nothing changed until I came away from lunch with a friend one day, thinking, “Damn, her skin looked good,” and texted her to find out her secret. The secret was serum, which prompted me to do some research, leading me to suggest that serum be renamed sealum because it keeps in all the good things and keeps out all the bad things.

“Serum should be renamed sealum because what it does is keep in all the good things, and keep out all the bad things.”

Serum is a base layer and protects against free radicals, discoloration, and dehydration. You put serum on after cleanser (and after toner if you use toner), but before moisturizer. Because serum is made of tiny molecules at a high concentration, it sinks deeply into the skin, targeting specific areas with precision. 

I decided I needed to try serum for myself, specifically cocokind’s serums trio.

cocokind was founded in 2014 by Priscilla Tsai after years of her own skin struggles with cystic acne, redness, and pain. She wanted to create a skincare line for all of us regular people who don’t have the kind of skin that shows up in magazine ads. Case in point: she often features makeup-free people with skin conditions in her marketing because she is a skin positivity advocate. She knew firsthand the emotional toll of feeling like you have to hide your face to be seen in public.

Skin is physical, but it’s also psychological. A bad face day can ruin an entire day, sabotaging a sense of well-being and confidence. Tsai names this, reassuring us that her products are here to remind us that we are enough, just as we are.

In the spirit of no longer hiding our faces, Tsai created a company that invests in “highly effective but gentle formulas and sets fair prices based on what’s inside the bottle.” You can find all of cocokind’s formulas on their website, along with a robust FAQ section that offers real talk about the company’s ethos, humanitarian efforts, and learning curves. 

One company standout: cocokind has an impact foundation that provides a financial grant to one female-identifying entrepreneur in the health, wellness, and sustainability industries who is focused on creating social impact through business.

Now for the actual product.

Cocokind’s two universal truths are hydration and barrier support. The Ceramide Barrier Support Serum is consistently voted “Best Serums Under $30,” according to dermatologists. It contains five types of ceramides (np, ns, ap, eos, eop); beta-glucan, a powerful humectant that basically humidifies skin; lipids (fatty acids, cholesterol, and squalane) to reduce moisture loss and signs of irritation and aging; and ceramide precursors, which encourage the production of new ceramides.

“Cocokind’s two universal truths are hydration and barrier support.”

You might be thinking, “Ok, just when I learn what a serum does, she throws in ceramides.” 

In short, ceramides are a type of lipid naturally found in the outermost layer of your skin. They make up around 50% of your skin barrier and are critical in protecting you against dehydration, among other things. Maybe most importantly (at least for me at age 43), your skin produces a lower percentage of ceramides starting at age 30. 

Basically, cocokind’s Ceramide Barrier Support Serum keeps you from losing ceramides while encouraging the production of new ceramides.

Two other serums come in the cocokind serum trifecta: Vitamin C Glow Serum and Postbiotic Acne Serum. I offered the Postbiotic Acne Serum to my two teenage sons (sure enough, their acne is disappearing), and kept the Vitamin C Glow for myself.

cocokind’s Vitamin C Serum uses a stable form of Vitamin C (2% ascorbyl glucoside) to boost collagen, paired with 2% azelaic acid to reduce dark spots and even out skin tone, and hyaluronic acid and sea grape caviar to plump and moisturize. Sea grape caviar is a nutrient-rich algae sustainably harvested from the Bohol Sea in the Philippines. It improves water retention by using moisture absorbed from the air. (Doesn’t that sound like magic?)

These clinically effective ingredient levels align with the company’s philosophy of “a little bit often.” (I love this phrase. It reminds me of “everything in moderation,” but it sounds more fun.)

Postbiotic Acne Serum treats blackheads, clogged pores, and acne with 1.5% salicylic acid to decongest pores and slough off dead skin. “It’s paired with microbiome-friendly postbiotics (beneficial bacteria produced by fermentation) and beta-glucan (derived from oats) to help reduce excess oil and hydrate and soothe sensitive skin without drying it out.

These products are easy to incorporate into your daily skincare routine. Clean and tone your face, then apply 2-3 drops of the Ceramide Barrier Serum, followed by the Vitamin C Glow Serum at night (or the Postbiotic Acne Serum) and repeat in the morning.

Since beginning to use cocokind’s serums, I feel younger. My skin feels well-hydrated and happy, and so does my spirit. I don’t know how much better my skin might look if I had been using serum (I choose not to dwell on the past), but I can say the first night I used cocokind, my skin honestly tightened and plumped, and I woke up the next morning looking TAUT…which is different than HOT…but still awesome.  

Now that I’m three weeks into using cocokind, my skin is retaining moisture, holding makeup longer, and staying soft and plump, which makes me wonder how I survived so long without serums. I truly have no idea.

Trinity Wilbourn is a Denver-based freelance writer, mind/body coach and intuitive guide. As an educational consultant, she works at the intersection of Social Emotional Learning, Mindfulness, and the science of nervous system regulation. In her free time, she can be found hanging with her four kids, spooning her Bernedoodle, singing opera, and dancing in the kitchen. Learn more and explore her offerings at www.trinitywilbourn.com or follow her on Instagram.