It takes two and three metabolic steps, correspondingly, to convert retinol and retinyl palmitate to retinoic acid. The overall rate of conversion of retinol to retinoic acid is low and that of retinyl palmitate is lower still.
Retinyl palmitate <=> Retinol <=> Retinaldehyde => Retinoic acid ( aka all-trans-retinoic acid / Tretinoin)
In theory, one should be able to apply retinol to the skin, wait till it gets converted to retinoic acid, and eventually get the known skin benefits of the latter. In reality, the conversion rate is low and varies greatly among individuals. Besides, when exposed to air either during storage or use, much retinol may get oxidized or degraded even before it can become availalbe for conversion to retinoic acid in the skin. As a result, significantly less people respond to retinol creams than to retinoic acid (tretinoin, Retin A).
Retinoic acid a.k.a. tretinoin (sold as Retin A, Renova and other brands) appears to provide a better shot at eliminating fine lines and reducing wrinkles than even the best retinol formulations. (Not to mention many virtually ineffective retinol products.)
Retinol is mostly Snakeoil.
Retin-A/Tretinoin Cream is what you are looking for..