Are you sleeping on a skin-care hit? From what the Vogue beauty team has heard, a certain growth factor serum we love has attracted plenty of celebrity admirers, including the likes of Martha Stewart, Naomi Campbell, and Rose Byrne. Elizabeth Olsen requested a restock from her most recent film set, and the product will soon cameo in the new season of Emily in Paris thanks to Aurelie Payne, the show’s lead makeup artist. Meet the Bioeffect EGF Serum, part of an insider-approved Icelandic skin-care line that turns 15 this year. Since discovering barley-derived EGF (epidermal growth factor) technology in 2005, the brand has bottled the skin-replenishing ingredient into a best-selling, beauty editor-beloved sensation.

“It’s truly magic,” says Dr. Sigrun Dogg Gudjonsdottir, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and Bioeffect’s Chief R&D Officer, of the serum. “Growth factors are proteins naturally found in your skin and as we age, the growth factor production and concentration decline,” she shares. That’s where Bioeffect’s serum comes into play. “It gives your skin a boost to produce growth factors itself, but also harness the growth factor from the product,” she adds. Calling it “a jumpstart to skin,” Gudjonsdottir explains that it signals skin cells to produce collagen and elastin to diminish fine lines and wrinkles, while increasing skin plumpness and elasticity.

Bioeffect EGF Serum

• Why We Love It: Comprised of just seven ingredients, Bioeffect’s EGF serum is a clean, minimalist skin-care lover’s dream. Apt for skin hydration and renewal, it is powered by epidermal growth factors (EGF) derived from barley designed to boost skin’s collagen production—alongside hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and Icelandic water—for smoother, plumper, firmer skin.
• Key Ingredients: Epidermal growth factor, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, Icelandic water
• Size: 15 mL, 30 mL

About the Bioeffect EGF Serum

Growth factors, as board-certified physician assistant Paula Brezavscek, PA-C explains, are exciting because they can target multiple aging concerns at once, from fine lines to loss of elasticity, while being gentle enough for sensitive or post-procedure skin—summarizing well what makes Bioeffect EGF so special. While many growth factors are human-derived (which, naturally, spurs some ethical concerns), Bioeffect’s come from barley, which Brezavscek says are still effective. Clean, sustainable, and ethically-sourced, “they perform just like human growth factors because they are biologically identical, and clinical studies show visible improvements in skin texture, elasticity, and hydration, putting them on par with traditional sources.”

Physician Dr. Rebecca Small, M.D., adds that, “In addition to EGF, Bioeffect also includes KGF (keratinocyte growth factor), which helps strengthen the skin barrier, and IL-1α (Interleukin-1 alpha), which supports overall barrier health.” Growth factors aside, another selling point of this serum is that it contains just seven ingredients—a pretty uncommon characteristic in a cosmetics market cluttered with fillers and preservatives.

Per Dr. Gudjonsdottir, this streamlined formula is intentional, in order to allow the growth factors to be as effective as possible. “When we formulate our products, we only use ingredients that are compatible to the growth factors and also compatible to our own skin,” she says. “We take a really minimalistic approach to it and only use what is necessary and nothing else.” To wit, Bioeffect selected Icelandic water, hyaluronic acid, and glycerin as ingredients to draw moisture into the skin, soften texture, and bolster the rejuvenating benefits of EGF.

Our Experience With the Bioeffect EGF Serum

It was a decade ago when Arden Fanning Andrews, Vogue’s beauty editor-at-large, first learned of the brand. “I was impressed that they found a vegan way to create it. At that time, people could get a little creeped when they found out what their non-vegan growth factor creams were made from,” Fanning muses, adding that the purity standards of the brand remain next-level. “Also, I love that you could use one product for everything.”