Vitamin C isn’t just an ingredient found in food and drinks that boost your immune system, the best Vitamin C serums and creams can also bring a host of benefits to your skin too.
As you can read in our What is Vitamin C good for? guide, the vitamin – which is also known as ascorbic acid – protects from UV damage, brightens your complexion, reduces fine lines, and helps get rid or reduce acne scars.
These benefits don’t tend to come cheap, because Vitamin C is unstable. This doesn’t mean it’s harmful to the skin, but it means that the potency, and how well a Vitamin C serum works, can be reduced when exposed to sunlight or oxygen. As a result, the development and packaging usually has to be of a certain quality, and these costs are often put onto customers.
Vitamin C is also a wonder ingredient, so it’s worth paying a little more for its benefits! That said, you don’t have to spend a fortune. Below we’ve handpicked the best Vitamin C serums and creams that we’ve used and can vouch for. As we review more, we’ll update this list.
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£25 | Buy now
The Body Shop Why we love it: The Body Shop’s entire Vitamin C range is superb but it’s the Revealing Serum that is really worth the investment.
Not only is it made with 92% of ingredients of natural origin, but it also combines 10% Vitamin C with bakuchiol. As you can read in our Retinol for beginners guide, bakuchiol is a great alternative to retinol. Particularly if you have sensitive skin.
This means that this Body Shop Vitamin C serum doubles the impact on wrinkles and fine lines while minimising irritation. It should also be noted that 10% Vitamin C is high (in a good way) and it’s the highest amount in The Body Shop’s wider Vit C range.
As with all of the serums in this list – and skincare generally – it can take around four to eight weeks to see a noticeable difference but it’s worth the wait.
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Buy now from The Body Shop
£8.90 | Buy now
Why we love it: We’re huge fans of The Ordinary. It delivers amazing products for a fair price and this serum not only brightens the skin but it also reduces the signs of ageing.
Instead of using L-Ascorbic acid, The Ordinary has found that Ascorbyl Glucoside is a water solution that is a derivative of Vitamin C which makes the serum highly potent while being less irritating.
It also means it absorbs quickly on the skin. This can be applied morning and evening as part of your skincare routine.
Despite these assurances, it’s still worth testing this serum because everyone’s skin is different.
Many reviews have said after two weeks of use their dull skin has become smoother and brighter.
READ NEXT: The best The Ordinary products for all your skincare concerns
Buy now from Feelunique
£52 | Buy now
Why we love it: This serum has 12.5% of Vitamin C power and we love it because we’ve seen our dark spots reduced, and our skin feels plump and smooth after use.
This isn’t the typical serum that has a watery/gel consistency, this serum feels more like a light paste.
Given the relatively high concentration of Vitamin C, it does look slightly orange and has a gritty feel to it.
Once applied to your face, you may also feel a slight tingling sensation but that subsides quickly and didn’t cause us any irritation.
This serum additionally contains hyaluronic acid to restore moisture.
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Buy now from Feelunique
£35 | Buy now
Image Skincare is a highly regarded skincare brand used by some of the best dermatologists in the game. As a result, it’s not cheap but from our personal experience with this brand, it’s more than worth it.
We can honestly say our skin has never looked as good as it does when using this Vitamin C serum. So much so that we notice when we haven’t used it for a day or two – our skin starts to look dull and flaky.
It’s no wonder this serum has won various awards and is the brand’s bestselling product.
Besides being a high-potency serum that contains multiple forms of Vitamin C – a formulation that softens the appearance of wrinkles – this serum supports skin elasticity and fights environmental damage. It contains hyaluronic acid, which helps to lock in hydration and this also leaves the skin looking plump and bouncy.
What’s more, it’s formulated without parabens, phthalates, mineral oils, artificial fragrances, and synthetic dyes. This means it’s suitable for all skin types including sensitive.
If you buy this serum directly from Image Skincare you’ll pay around the £85-£90 mark but we get it from Amazon for half that price. Shh! Don’t tell Image…
Buy now from Amazon
£11.50 | Buy now
Fadeout Why we love it: This is the only Vitamin C cream in our list of best Vitamin C products but it’s worth including for a number of reasons.
Firstly it brings all the benefits of Vitamin C with the addition of Vitamin E, niacinamide, and Pink Pomelo Extract. This active blend increases natural exfoliation and helps to brighten and smooth skin quickly and effectively.
The Vitamin C in this cream is gentle and stable, so is less likely to cause irritation.
Plus, it offers SPF protection. A great all-rounder for just £11.50.
If you haven’t heard of Fadeout before, it’s a hidden gem of a skincare brand that makes effective products at affordable prices. We highly recommend!
Buy now from Fadeout
£38 | Buy now
Why we love it: If you need a quick fix, this 10ml Vitamin C serum is used for 10 days only, and within those 10 days we guarantee you will see brighter and smoother skin. This serum contains 15% of pure Vitamin C, it also contains Vitamin E and hyaluronic acid to nourish and hydrate your skin.
Due to its strength, we recommend you only use this corrector once a day and only in the morning.
Always follow this with SPF and avoid combining it with any other abrasive or peel products while using it.
It may seem restrictive but it’s worth it, we promise!
You can use it later on if your skin starts to look dull again but just try not to use it too much in a short space of time.
READ NEXT: How to get rid of age spots – or prevent dark spots from ever appearing
Buy now from Boots
£29.90 | Buy now
Why we love it: If you haven’t heard of Lumene, the brand takes inspiration from the Nordic approach to wellbeing and beauty.
Due to the harsh climates of the northern longitudes, Nordic women are fresh-faced, radiant, and healthy-looking.
With this in mind, Lumene sources all its natural ingredients in Finland because “it’s one of the unspoilt sanctuaries on Earth”, with pure water from the local lakes and natural springs.
It’s no surprise then, with this ethos, that its Glow Boost Essence leaves your skin feeling fresh and radiant. Enhanced in this serum is Wild Arctic Cloudberry, Vitamin C, and pure arctic spring water and this leaves skin feeling more radiant and younger-looking with the added plumpness that comes from its hyaluronic acid.
If you keep this bottle in the fridge, it feels really fresh and invigorating and we noticed that dark spots look reduced after just two weeks.
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Buy now from Lookfantastic
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
