WHAT I USE… VITAMIN C SERUMS
WHEN YOU GET PAID TO TEST BEAUTY PRODUCTS FOR A LIVING, WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY PAY TO USE? ELLE’S BEAUTY DIRECTOR Katy Young COMES CLEAN
Beauty Director Katy Young on the skin-boosting benefits of vitamin C, and the products to invest in now
When I first read the marketing spiel about vitamin C serum I was wary. This was back in the early Noughties, when most of us thought microdermabrasion was the thing to give us glossy, radiant skin. (Hands up who thought sloughing your face off with a bowl of crushed apricot kernels was good for us. Yes… We’ve all been there.) Then along comes this little serum that says it can do all that with just a few drops applied to the skin every day.
Here we go… I’d hit my thirties. Pigmentation spots were starting to scatter themselves along my hairline, while my youthful skin, once so glowy it looked like I had two 4O-watt bulbs inside my cheeks, had long departed. I’d tried peels. I’d tried more-than-punchy scrubs. Then I tried vitamin C. A month later and the chocolatey spray of ‘freckles’ around my hairline started to fade, while my skin tone immediately began getting its light and bounce back. I was converted. Today, I bung it on in the morning before my moisturiser.
Essentially it’s an antioxidant, which means it fends off celldamaging free radicals whenever stress, pollution or the sun shows up. But new research has shown it may be even more than that. A study at Semmelweis University in Budapest suggested it could defend against pre-cancerous cells caused by UV damage. While it’s too soon to take that as gospel, it’s certainly worth buying sunscreen that contains it. Its acidity triggers the production of skin-plumping collagen, but it also ‘regulates the production’ of the pigment in our skin, melanin – which means it is excellent at fading pesky dark spots. Vitamin C must be treated with respect, otherwise it downs tools and goes on strike. The first thing to remember is that it’s incredibly light sensitive, so any brand that sticks it in a clear glass bottle should be avoided. Not only will your serum stop working, it will probably start to smell and go brown. Seek out opaque packaging or dark brown glass jars.
The other thing to consider is your product’s percentage. Vitamin C in skincare is usually within the range of 8-2O%. Of course, baby steps are best when using active ingredients, so find a product at the lower end of the scale and work up as you build your tolerance. After 3O%, there is an efficacy plateau so there’s not much point in further upping the ante.
There’s another thing. It’s an acid (ascorbic acid) and your skin’s ability to benefit from it is hugely dependent on the pH of the formula. Sensitive skin take note, as anything below pH 5 or 6 will aggravate your face, whereas normal skin should be quite happy with a low pH of 3.5. I told you it was temperamental – sorry. I could go on, but you’ll probably lose the will to ever give this wonderstuff a go. The most important rule of thumb is to watch your packaging and percentage and, if you crave a glow so good that JLo wants in, it’s all about remembering your daily vits.
“MY SKIN TONE IMMEDIATELY BEGAN GETTING ITS LIGHT AND
bounce back. I WAS CONVERTED”