Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream is one of the most-searched moisturizers in the peptide category. Its maker has also published a controlled trial of one of the peptides on its label. This page reads Olay's ingredient list, in label order, for the fragrance-free version, the variant whose product page served its full list to a plain fetch on 23 September 2026. It then sets the list against Procter & Gamble's own papers. Olay's page for the original fragranced cream did not return an ingredient list to the same fetch. This page reads only the list it could see.
The list, in order
| Position | Ingredient | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purified Water | base |
| 2 | Glycerin | humectant |
| 3 | Isohexadecane | lightweight emollient |
| 4 | Distarch Phosphate | modified starch, texture |
| 5 | Niacinamide | vitamin B3 |
| 6–7 | Isopropyl Isostearate, Dimethicone | emollient, silicone |
| 8 | Panthenol | provitamin B5 |
| 9 | Palmitoyl Dipeptide-7* | peptide |
| 10 | Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 | peptide (pal-KTTKS) |
| 11 | Tripeptide-3* | peptide |
| 12–15 | Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydroxyacetophenone, Butylene Glycol | emollient, preservative boosters, solvent |
| 16–26 | Dimethiconol, cetearyl alcohol and cetearyl glucoside, palmitic and stearic acids, stearyl, cetyl and behenyl alcohols, disodium EDTA, sodium acrylates copolymer, PEG-100 stearate | emulsion structure, chelator |
| 27 | Phenoxyethanol | preservative |
| 28–29 | Titanium Dioxide, Mica | colour, shimmer |
Positions were counted by hand and checked against a second reading. No name on the list contains a comma. The two asterisks are Olay's own, and the page as served carries no footnote for them.
Why position 9 does not mean what it seems
The three peptides sit above the fatty alcohols and emulsifiers that give a cream its body, and 16 places above the preservative. Read literally, that would put peptides among the larger ingredients in the jar. It cannot be read literally. The one controlled trial of pal-KTTKS, the peptide at position 10, tested it at 3 parts per million: 0.0003% of the formula. That figure is in Procter & Gamble's own paper, and it is set out below.
Three explanations fit a peptide listed at position 10 at a few parts per million. US rules let ingredients present at 1% or less be listed in any order (21 CFR 701.3(f)(2)), so from the 1% line down the order carries no information; our peptide serum guide sets out the rule. The peptide may also be declared as the trade ingredient, the peptide in its supplied solution. Or the ingredients from 9 onwards may all be present at low levels. The label does not settle which, and it does not state the peptide concentration. The point for a reader is narrower: in this list, position is not a measure of how much peptide is in the jar. Our guide to reading a peptide ingredient list covers the general rule. This cream is a case where the rule has to be applied with care.
What each peptide's file holds
Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 (position 10) is pal-KTTKS, a five-amino-acid collagen fragment with a fatty acid attached, sold to formulators as the original Matrixyl. It has one placebo-controlled trial. Robinson and colleagues at Procter & Gamble enrolled 93 Caucasian women aged 35 to 55 for 12 weeks, split-face. One side got a moisturizer and the other the same moisturizer with 3 ppm pal-KTTKS. The peptide side showed "significant improvement vs. placebo control for reduction in wrinkles/fine lines" by image analysis and expert grading (Robinson 2005). It is a real trial with a proper within-person control, and it was run by the company that sells this cream. Our Matrixyl file places it among the other Matrixyl products.
Palmitoyl dipeptide-7 (position 9) returned no PubMed record under that name on 23 September 2026: PubMed reported the phrase as not found. Procter & Gamble's own papers describe a two-residue palmitoyl peptide, "Pal-KT", in its anti-ageing products, and the INCI name fits that description. No source read tonight equates the two, so this page does not assert it.
Tripeptide-3 (position 11) returns 15 PubMed hits for the string. Read one by one, most are about unrelated molecules: a muscle-wasting review, a bacterial signalling pheromone. One is a 2024 topical study, of oil (sebum) reduction on facial skin. No trial tests it for wrinkles.
The maker's own comparison, and what it can and cannot credit
In 2009 Procter & Gamble published two double-blind, randomized, split-face studies of 42 and 35 women over four weeks (Kaczvinsky 2009). They tested four whole products containing "niacinamide, the peptides Pal-KT and Pal-KTTKS, and carnosine" against no treatment, measuring wrinkle roughness around the eye by 3-D imaging. Pooled, all three products tested in both studies beat no treatment on both roughness measures after four weeks.
That design answers whether the products did better than nothing. It cannot answer whether the peptides did anything, because no arm had the same product without them. Niacinamide, at position 5 here, has far the larger evidence base: PubMed's randomized-trial filter returned 831 records for it on 23 September 2026, across all its uses. It shares the credit in every whole-product result.
The claims on the page
Olay's page says the cream "hydrates to tighten and visibly lift skin", "helps restore and improve elasticity", "visibly improves texture" and "instantly diminishes the look of fine lines and wrinkles". It adds, at brand level, that "Dermatologists recommend Olay for anti-aging care". The product page cites no study for any of these. "Instantly" is the kind of claim a moisturizer can meet by hydration alone, with no peptide involved. For the same pattern in other peptide moisturizers, see our peptide moisturizer guide and the Naturium moisturizer analysis.
What the label settles, and what it leaves open
It settles that the fragrance-free cream lists three peptides at positions 9 to 11 of 29, below niacinamide at 5. One of them, pal-KTTKS, has a single controlled trial by the maker at 3 parts per million. A second has no PubMed record under its label name.
It leaves open the peptide concentration in this jar, what the asterisks mean, and whether the finished cream does more than its non-peptide ingredients would do alone. The maker's own designs do not test that last question, and this page does not answer it.
Sources
- Olay, Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream Fragrance Free, olay.com product page: ingredient list, "What it does" claims, price and size. Fetched with plain
curland read 2026-09-23; the page title confirmed the product. - Robinson LR, Fitzgerald NC, Doughty DG, Dawes NC, Berge CA, Bissett DL. Topical palmitoyl pentapeptide provides improvement in photoaged human facial skin. Int J Cosmet Sci 2005;27(3):155-60. PMID 18492182. Procter & Gamble.
- Kaczvinsky JR, Griffiths CE, Schnicker MS, Li J. Efficacy of anti-aging products for periorbital wrinkles as measured by 3-D imaging. J Cosmet Dermatol 2009;8(3):228-33. PMID 19735523. Procter & Gamble.
- Magrode N, et al. Microemulsions and nanoemulsions for topical delivery of tripeptide-3: anti-sebum efficacy on facial skin. Pharmaceutics 2024. PMID 38675215.
- PubMed E-utilities searches, 2026-09-23, with the
quotedphrasesnotfoundfield read: "palmitoyl dipeptide-7" (not found), "palmitoyl pentapeptide-4" (5), "tripeptide-3" (15, each read), niacinamide with the randomized-trial filter (831).