What's the big deal with serum?

I've been lucky that I've generally had pretty good skin for most of my life. We'll plug our ears and say LA, LA, LA and pretend those pimply teen years never happened, m'kay? Other than that, I've never had to battle too much more than the occasional blemish, dry patch or irritation.

Also, luckily, when I was in my early 20s, an older friend gave me some great advice to pay particular attention to the skin on my neck. Because holy paper-skin, Batman, the texture changes so much as we age. Even moisturizing it regularly, it is now, two decades later, a completely different texture than it used to be. Running my hand over it gives me a weird feeling like my neck has been suddenly transplanted from someone I've never met before.

And now that there is a toddler in our midst, I have to say I haven't exactly put a skin-care regimen high on my priority list. It's been shoveled to the back of mind like so many half-used tubes and bottles of beauty products that I can no longer find in the back of the linen closet. So these days the skin on my face has started to take on that Stranger from a Strange Face skin, too, and I decided it was time to Do Something.

Namely, make a quick pit stop to the beauty section at Target because Mama wants a solution but also doesn't want to have to take out a mortgage on some skin cream. I have a couple of options for moisturizers already: a regular moisturizer plus sunscreen and also a BB cream that's become a dear friend when I have exactly two minutes to try to look like I've put some effort into my look. But I stopped using the retinol eye cream and night cream since I'm nursing and hadn't really gotten anything else to use instead. I kept seeing ads for serum and had even tried one out years ago, but didn't really get how it was different from moisturizer. I did a bit of reading and found that serum has smaller molecules than moisturizer. Moisturizer stays on the surface of your skin, hydrating and smoothing, but the serum carries nutrients into deeper layers of your skin.

So I stumbled onto Target's Up&Up Refining Serum. It was cheaper than the Olay product it was compared to and seemed a good size for the price. After using it just twice, my face had already started feeling more like itself again and I kept running my hand over my cheek, stunned with the difference! Just two pumps is plenty to cover my whole face and neck, making everything feel wonderful. I can tell you that adding even this bargain-priced serum into my routine (ha-HAAA, routine! OK, so I don't have a routine, but I've added it into my whenever-I-can-remember-it-and-don't-have-a-kid-attached-to-my-leg) has already made a huge difference to my skin's texture. Let it dry a bit, then make sure to put on moisturizer with a good sunscreen for protection and you're good to go!

Want to try it? Buy it in store at Target. It's not appearing on their website.

How about you? Finding changes in your skin as you age? What kinds of changes are you making to your skin routine? Find any products you really love? Let me know in the comments.

(No, I received no compensation from Target or anyone else for writing this review. I just fell in love with the product and wanted to share!)