Vitamin C is one of the vital skincare ingredients to keep your skin healthy, glowing, bright, and smooth. This antioxidant prevents the skin from hyperpigmentation, UV rays, dark spots, sagging skin, and skin dullness. It also stimulates collagen production in the skin to give it the healthy look that it needs.
Vitamin C serums are regarded as one of the must-haves in your skincare routines. Irrespective of whether you use the serum in the morning, at night, or both, a few drops of it work wonders and protect the skin all day long.
Here are a few vitamin C serums that are suitable for all skin types.
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- The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%
- Revolution Skincare 12.5% Vitamin C Serum
- Perfectionist Pro Rapid Brightening Treatment by Estée Lauder
- Dr. Barbara Sturm The Good C Vitamin C Serum
- Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop
- True Botanicals Vitamin C Booster
- Sunday Riley C.E.O. 15% Vitamin C Serum
- Lumene Nordic C (Valo) Glow Boost Essence
- Bioderma Pigmentbio Brightening Vitamin C Face Serum
- Pixi Overnight Glow Serum
- Omorovicza Daily Vitamin C Serum
- Tata Harper Resurfacing Serum
- INKEY List- 15% Vitamin C and EGF Serum
- Murad Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum
- Allies of Skin 35% Vitamin C + Perfecting Serum
This is a water- and silicone-free formula composed of 23% pure L-ascorbic acid and hyaluronic acid that helps the skin to remain smooth, bright and reduces the signs of aging.
This serum is best applied before bedtime and comes in a tube for easier dispensing. It stays on the skin firmly due to the lack of water. If you are looking for an effective nighttime skincare product, The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2% is one of the best vitamin C serums that you must try.
This skin brightening serum by Revolution is formulated with antioxidant-rich pure vitamin C to give your skin the hydration it needs. It has an airy texture, high-performance formula that is smoothly applicable on your base and provides instant radiation, luminosity, and brightening effect from within, after using only twice a day.
The Perfectionist Pro is a rapid brightening serum suitable for all skin types and helps in getting rid of dark spots, uneven skin tone, pores, and acne marks.
It consists of 98 percent naturally derived ferments, along with pure vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, which helps boost clarity. It also ignites radiance and gives your skin 48-hour hydration.
This serum by Dr. Barbara is enriched with 5 per cent vitamin C to give your skin an instant glow and spotless skin in as little as three days. It is a non-oily and lightweight formula that penetrates the skin, clears uneven pigmentation and gives you healthy-looking skin. For fast and visible results, use this hyaluronic acid and vitamin C based formula every day. A pea-sized amount is all you need for the entire skin reformation and anti aging results.
This serum by Klaires gives your skin a burst of energy with the help of the freshly juiced form of vitamin C drops. The naturally effective ingredients used to make this product are non-irritating and ideal for skin rejuvenation.
The multi-solution vitamin drops contain 5 per cent ascorbic acid that is suitable for all skin types and people of all ages. It helps fade brown spots and pigmentation, minimise the pores and evens out the skin tone with its anti aging properties. Moreover, this is vegan, cruelty free and an eco-friendly product certified by KARA.
The True Botanicals serum has an innovative and unique powder form to retain the potency of vitamin C. It is one of the best tonics for a healthy-looking skin formulated with the combination of vitamin C and ferulic acid. It helps in managing hyperpigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles.
This natural and all-day use serum is suitable for all skin types and targets discolouration, dullness, and uneven skin tone.
It is exceptionally potent and gives your skin a youthful bounce. Enriched with purified water and ascorbic acid, it filters the skin and shows visible effects on freckles, scars, blemishes and redness in just two weeks. The Sunday Riley C.E.O. 15% is one of the best vitamin C serums if your purpose is to get a clear skin.
The consistency of this serum is relatively light and it is one of the best serums to hydrate, revitalise and balance the skin. It has two types of hyaluronic acid among many other active ingredients, to help revitalise your skin.
The Nordic C technology helps to give your skin the radiation it needs. It leaves the skin feeling soft and supple and improves the efficacy of your skin in just a few days. The watery texture of this serum naturally sinks into your skin right away making it one of the best vitamin C serums in the market.
An extremely potent formula, this Bioderma serum is the perfect product to correct dullness and dark spots. It is a non-sticky formula that easily absorbs into the skin and makes an unmistakable difference in just a few days.
It has fantastic moisturising properties and the natural ingredients help prevent the stinging sensation after application on damaged skin.
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The Pixi Serum has a water-like texture that goes 10 layers deep into your skin to make it look as bright as a crystal. This serum is formulated with aloe vera and cucumber extracts that help in calming the skin, along with vitamins C, A, and E for nourishment.
It also helps to exfoliate and boost youthful radiance on your skin.
This gluten-free serum helps prevent the production of melanin and reduces pigmentation. Vitamin C helps in stimulating collagen production and acts as an excellent anti ageing product. The presence of kiwiberry protects the skin from degrading environmental factors and amplifies the complexion.
This vitamin C brightening serum by Tate Harper is your daily dose of nourishment and glow. Designed to fight multiple anti ageing skin problems, it helps to restore the youthful glow and combat all ageing signs such as wrinkles, fine lines, and loose skin.
The Inkey List serum is an oil-free, gentle formula that is proven to give healthier-looking skin in just one week. A must-have in your skincare kit for plump and glowing skin.
This serum is gentle on all skin types and helps to clean the skin from the bottom-most layer. Enriched with an abundance of vitamin C, the Murad Serum is an oil- and stickiness-free formula that revitalises the skin, makes it firm and reveals more transparent skin with the help of glycolic acid, an exfoliating agent.
This product is specially curated to tackle the signs of ageing. It is an anti-wrinkle serum that is infused with 35 per cent vitamin C and ascorbic acid to boost radiance and give your skin a healthy look.
It is a water-free concentrate that helps to refine the texture of your skin. This perfecting serum is ideal for people suffering from pigmentation-prone and dull skin.
Characteristics of the best Vitamin C serum
With so many scientifically proven benefits of vitamin C, it’s no surprise that the market is swamped with a range of vitamin C serums. Here are a few essential facts to consider as you decide to incorporate the best vitamin C serum into your skincare routine.
- Vitamin C serum goes well with all skin types: Vitamin C possesses a very good safety record. Majority of people can apply topical vitamin C for a long time without suffering any side effects.
- Compatibility with other ingredients: Vitamin C is also compatible with other skincare ingredients such as alpha-hydroxy acids, ferulic acid, retinol and SPF.
- Vitamin C serum hydrates the skin: One of the most common vitamin C derivatives used in skincare, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, has been demonstrated to hydrate skin. It reduces transepidermal water loss, allowing your skin to retain moisture more effectively.
- Energising for glowing skin: Vitamin C can help minimise dullness by fading pigmentation and smoothing the skin’s surface. This will give a youthful glow to the skin.
- The use of vitamin C reduces melanin formation: This can reduce dark spots and create more even-toned skin. Although vitamin C is better at lowering general redness, some people believe it can assist with the discolouration that comes with under-eye circles.
- It helps reduce redness and even skin tone: Vitamin C is also effective in treating a wide range of inflammatory skin disorders. It helps you get a more even complexion by reducing redness.
- Fading of hyperpigmentation: Sunspots, melasma, age spots are all examples of hyperpigmentation, which occurs when there is overproduction of melanin in some areas of the skin. It can also appear in places that have healed from acne. Regular use of vitamin C will help you treat these issues.
- It decreases dark circles: By plumping and moisturising the under-eye area, vitamin C serums can help smooth out fine wrinkles.
- It encourages the formation of collagen: Vitamin C boosts the formation of collagen — a protein that is produced naturally but unfortunately depletes with time. Collagen deficiency can cause fine lines and wrinkles.
- It may help prevent skin sagging: The firmness and elasticity of skin are linked to collagen synthesis. Your skin may sag if your collagen levels begin to decline. A vitamin C serum may help increase collagen formation, resulting in a tightening effect.
- It shields you from sun rays: Free radicals are molecules that cause sun damage. These are atoms that have one electron lacking. Antioxidants protect healthy skin cells by donating an electron to the free radicals, thus rendering them harmless.
- It may aid in the relief of sunburns: Vitamin C not only reduces redness but also speeds up cell turnover. This causes the damaged cells to be replaced with healthy new ones.
FAQs
Q. What is the best way to use a vitamin C serum?
Despite the fact that topical vitamin C is generally well-tolerated, any skin product can cause negative effects. To figure out if your skin is allergic to a product or not, you should always perform a patch test.
Here’s how to do it:
- Choose a small, easy-to-conceal region of skin, such as your forearm.
- Wait 24 hours after applying a tiny amount of product.
- If there are no negative side effects, you can use it on your face.
- If you get a rash, redness, or hives, stop using it. And if it is severe, make sure to see a doctor.
Q. Can I use a vitamin C serum daily?
A vitamin C serum is usually used once or twice daily. Cleanse, tone, use the best vitamin C serum, and then moisturise. Vitamin C, in combination with other vitamins, has a higher antioxidant effect.
Vitamin E makes vitamin C less irritating to the skin, especially if you have sensitive skin. In addition, vitamin C’s bioavailability is increased by 20 times with ingredients like tyrosine and zinc.
Q. Is there anything you can’t mix with a vitamin C serum?
Do not use L-ascorbic acid-containing vitamin C serums with niacinamide (vitamin B3) or retinol (vitamin A). The pH values of these elements do not mix well with that of vitamin C products. As a result, they cancel one other out, and both products become ineffective.
Q. Is it necessary to keep the vitamin C serum refrigerated?
Vitamin C and retinoids are heat and light-sensitive, which means they will break down and oxidise more quickly if exposed to excessive light or heat.
This is why the majority of vitamin C and retinol serums come in dark vials. It is kept in the refrigerator to ensure longer shelf life.
Q. How soon can you expect to see results?
Within three weeks of including vitamin C into your beauty routine, you may see noticeable results. Sunspots, melasma, age spots are all examples of hyperpigmentation, which occurs when melanin is overproduced in certain areas of the skin. It can also appear in places that have healed from acne. A rough two months use of vitamin C serum can considerably reduce hyperpigmentation.
Q. Should I use retinol or Vitamin C serum first?
Because vitamin C has a lower pH than retinol, it’s preferable to apply it first. After 30 minutes or so, your skin will revert to its normal pH levels after absorbing the vitamin C serum.
You can use a retinol serum that works at your skin’s natural pH levels once your skin’s pH levels have stabilised.
Q. Is vitamin C serum better than a cream?
The texture of a vitamin C serum differs significantly from that of a cream or moisturiser. Serums have a thin, smooth feel and contain a higher concentration of substances to penetrate the skin and address specific issues.
Because serums aren’t diluted with moisturisers, their concentrations are supposed to permeate the skin faster and easier than creams.
Q. How do I choose a good vitamin C serum?
It varies on your skin type, but for the best results, dermatologists recommend serums with a potency of 10 to 15%.
When looking for a vitamin C serum, it’s important to keep your skin type in mind. If you have dry skin, you should seek compounds like hyaluronic acid, which works as a moisturiser.
Nikita Baruah
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