I started tretinoin about a year ago and it's been fantastic for my skin. I look about 10 years younger. I use Dermatica which is an online prescription service. You get sent a little tube in the post every month.
Before Dermatica, I wanted to cover my skin up with foundation and that really just make me look older and cakey. With Dermatica, my skin is so better I feel confident enough not to wear any foundation at all. Sometimes I use just a skin tint. It kinda gives you the glassy skin look...
But there is a lot of acne and break outs to get through and dryness to deal with, before you reach that point. It speeds up the turnover of skin cells which in turn can lead to dryness. It took me a while to get moisturising sorted so this didn't affect me.
With tretinoin, vitamin C (also from Dermatica) and SPF I'm sorted now. For moisturiser I love Geek and Gorgeous Barrier stuff and Hydration Station. Oh and I also put some Oestrogel on my face every other day, just the bits leftover in the bottle rather than throw it out. The alcohol in it can again be drying, so lots of moisturising before and after.