What to Look for in a Vitamin C Serum

vitamin C serum

Finding the right vitamin C serum doesn’t just happen overnight. Everyone’s skin is different, and no two brands of serum are alike. What does that mean for you and your newfound interest in vitamin C serum?

Well, it means that knowing how to choose the best vitamin C serum for your skin type will involve a little research. That said, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find the right vitamin C serum for you.

Once you’ve figured out your particular skin type, then you’ll need to decide what exactly you’re looking for in a serum. The best vitamin C serum will ultimately offer your desired benefits, while still having the right combination/formulation of skin-improving ingredients—all at a relatively affordable price.

Skin Type

Starting with the basics, figuring out what skin type you have is crucial to figuring out not only what vitamin C serum works best for you, but also what beauty products, in general, are best for you. There are several skin types, including oily, normal, combination, dry, and sensitive skin.

In general, there are two common at-home methods used for quickly determining your skin type—the bare face and the blotting sheet methods. The first technique is fairly straightforward and involves washing your face with a mild cleanser.

Once cleaned, pat your skin dry and pay attention to it for roughly 30 minutes. Look for oiliness, dryness, and more. With the other technique, you use a blotting sheet to determine if your skin is noticeably oily or dry.

If your skin breaks out regularly or you have reactions to strong cleansers and creams, then you more than likely know if you have sensitive or combination skin.

Desired Benefits

Once you have an idea of your skin type, it’s time to get serious about the desired benefits you’re looking for. Most people choose a vitamin C serum for its brightening capabilities, but that’s not all this particular serum can do.
In fact, vitamin C serums help reduce wrinkles, aid wound healing, protect collagen, and increase collagen production. Moreover, this serum can protect against sun damage, reduce hyperpigmentation, even skin tone, and help your skin fight against pollution and other free radicals.

The Best Serum

Overall, the best serums on the market have 10 to 20 percent L-ascorbic acid and include vitamin E plus ferulic acid. The serum should come in an airtight container. The best container is typically a tinted or dark glass bottle.
Since these are often the key components for high-quality and effective vitamin C serums, it’s not too shocking that these are the things to look out for when making your final selection.

Vital Ingredients

The right percentage of vitamin C (15 to 20 percent is considered ideal by dermatologists), vitamin E, or L-ascorbic acid are vital ingredients your serum should have.

Your chosen serum should also list tocopherol, glutathione, and ferulic acid. In essence, tocopherol is a fat-soluble element that you typically find in various forms of vitamin E.

Note that tocopherol is an oily substance. Thus, if you have oily or combination skin, you may want to look for a serum with a lower dosage.

Glutathione, on the other hand, is a tripeptide made of three specific amino acids—cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. This protein-rich ingredient helps to restore and brighten skin.

Finally, ferulic acid is generally a plant-based antioxidant that helps to reduce the pH levels of vitamin C and is used for its anti-aging properties. Clearly, there are several formulations of these ingredients that offer a variety of desired benefits.

Nevertheless, when all of these ingredients work together in unison, the effects are healthier, brighter, and more youthful-looking skin.


As briefly mentioned, the packaging is also important when looking for the best vitamin C serum. Like many other skin products, exposure to air, heat, or light can degrade or adversely affect your serum.

Therefore, you should look for a dark glass bottle with a medicine dropper deliver system—this is the best packaging for continual use. With that said, you should still make it a point to store your serum in a cool, dry place.

If your serum appears to be brown or dark orange instead of a yellow hue, your serum has probably gone bad or expired. Likewise, if your serum was originally clear, and then started to turn yellow over time, this is an indication that it isn’t as effective as it once was.


Of course, no one wants to pay a ridiculous amount of money or high prices for their vitamin C serum. The good news here is you don’t have to. Though you often get what you pay for with most things, this is simply not the case with vitamin C serums.

The quality of serum depends more on the ingredients, formulations, and overall concentration rather than the price. It’s these three main factors that will determine if you have a quality product on your hands.


Lastly, there are countless vitamin C serums out there. Thus, this is where your skin type and desired results come into play. There are vitamin C products that are specifically made for combination skin or to reduce wrinkles.

Therefore, the easiest way to narrow down your vitamin C serum options is to look for high-quality options that target your specific skin ailments and benefit your particular skin type.

Final Note

Ultimately, choosing the best vitamin C serum can be quick and painless, especially if you know what to look for. With the information and suggestions mentioned above, there should be no reason you can’t find the right vitamin C serum.

That said, if you’d like additional information on skin serums or more details about the possible ingredients, formulations, or concentrations available, go to myawesomebeauty.com for further details. You can also speak with a local dermatologist or your trusted aesthetician.

vitamin C serum