A vitamin C serum is one of the most potent skincare products you can have in your collection for tackling a slew of common skincare concerns, from dullness and discolouration to fine lines and uneven skin texture.
These effects translate to smoother, luminous skin and more even skin tone, but that’s only if you have the right vitamin C serum and use it correctly.
To help you get the most out of your skincare routine, we’ll be sharing some of the most common mistakes people make with their vitamin C serum. And if you’ve yet to add one to your skincare regimen, allow us to introduce you to a stellar vitamin C serum that checks all of our boxes.
Before we reveal the mistakes, let’s get to know the powerhouse ingredient a little better first.
What is vitamin C and what can it do for our skin?
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This powerful antioxidant is an essential nutrient, but we can’t produce it on our own. This is why you’ll typically find it synthetically in skincare products, such as our serums.
As an antioxidant, one of vitamin C’s main functions is to protect our skin from an onslaught of environmental aggressors such as ultraviolet rays and pollution, which create harmful free radicals on the skin.
Free radicals are essentially unstable molecules that damage our skin cells and lead to dullness, wrinkles, and even cancers. By scavenging free radicals, vitamin C shields the skin, keeping it healthy while improving visible signs of ageing.
Besides that, vitamin C also aids in collagen synthesis, which gives our skin support and structure. The ingredient is also able to lighten stubborn dark spots and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation for a more even-toned, youthful-looking complexion.
These skincare benefits may sound incredible, but one wrong move, and you’ll miss out on them.
Common vitamin C serum mistakes
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1. Applying it at the wrong time
Did you know that applying your vitamin C serum in the morning can make a huge difference to your skin? That’s because vitamin C works with your sunscreen and bolsters its protection.
When you layer a vitamin C serum under your SPF, you’re amping up your daily UV protection, which helps you prevent signs of ageing like fine lines and pigmentation much more effectively. Talk about a one-two punch!
2. Buying poorly packaged serums
As great as it is, vitamin C isn’t without its obstacles. The ingredient is inherently unstable and reactive, which is why it loses its antioxidant properties easily when exposed to light, heat, and air.
This is why the right packaging is so important. Vitamin C serums should ideally be housed in darker bottles that block light. Storing it in a cool, dry place can certainly extend its effectiveness too.
3. Layering it with the wrong ingredients
Generally, vitamin C is well tolerated and pretty adaptable. Plus, it plays nice with most other skincare ingredients.
However, you’ll want to steer clear of layering it with benzoyl peroxide, hydroxy acids, or retinoids as these combinations can trigger skin irritation.
Even if you don’t have particularly sensitive skin, you shouldn’t mix vitamin C with retinol as they cancel out one another’s skin benefits.
4. Using it past the expiration date
Now that you know how unstable vitamin C is, make sure you use it as soon as you crack a bottle open. As we mentioned, each time it’s exposed to air, heat, and light just speeds up its degeneration.
If you notice your champagne-coloured serum turn amber or yellow, it’s a tell-tale sign that the vitamin has oxidised and won’t be very effective.
5. Choosing a serum with ineffective vitamin C
The purest form of vitamin C is actually ascorbic acid, but many serums may dupe you with variations of it, like ascorbyl palmitate or ascorbates.
Your vitamin C serum should ideally contain other antioxidants too, which not only bolster the overall efficacy of the formula, but also make it even more stable.
If you seek an effective vitamin C serum that has all of these and more, look no further than the Evans Dermalogical 15% Vitamin C Serum.
A vitamin C serum that checks all of our boxes and more
If you’ve ever shopped around for a vitamin C serum, there’s a chance you’d be familiar with the bestselling Evans Dermalogical Vitamin C 10% Topical Serum. Now, the brand is introducing a newer, better version of their popular formula.
Formulated with a purer form of vitamin C, the Evans Dermalogical 15% Vitamin C Serum boasts – you guessed it – a whopping 15% ascorbic acid.
This potent form of vitamin C helps to neutralise free radicals that damage the skin as well as protects your complexion against oxidative stress – the cause of fine lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation.
Even better, the serum also contains 2% ferulic acid and 0.05% resveratrol, powerful antioxidants that also fend off pesky free radicals from pollution particles, which accelerate skin ageing. By adding these two ingredients, it enhances the stability of the vitamin C too.
This trio of active ingredients offer superior antioxidant benefits for brighter, more radiant skin that has fewer blemishes and dark spots. And compared to more expensive vitamin C serums we’ve tried, the Evans Dermalogical 15% Vitamin C Serum goes easier on our wallets.
For those with particularly sensitive skin, we suggest performing a patch test first before you apply the serum to your entire face.
If you don’t observe any issues, start by applying one to two drops of serum to your face and neck or use it two to three times a week. Then, you can gradually up the dosage to three or four drops and/or increase the frequency when your skin gets used to the serum.
After a month of consistent use, you should see a reduction in pigmentation and a more radiant complexion overall. Get ready to meet firmer, more elastic skin.
Talk about the Fountain of Youth housed in a tiny but mighty bottle. You’ll have to try it yourself to see the difference.
Evans Dermalogical 15% Vitamin C Serum with Ferulic Acid retails for S$99.90 (30ml) online at Evans Dermalogical’s website, the Official Shopee Store, and Official Lazada store, as well as offline in selected Guardian, Watsons, and Unity stores.
This article is brought to you by Evans Dermalogical.
