There’s nothing wrong with keeping your skincare routine basic. This usually consists of three fundamental steps; cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection.
However, while a simple skincare routine such as that is great for maintaining a healthy complexion, you’ll struggle to see improvements if you’re trying to work on any specific visible skin concerns.
For this, you’ll need some extra assistance, which is where a vitamin C serum comes in. Read on as Introstem talks you through how a single humble serum is capable of transforming your entire complexion, making it deserving of a place in your daily routine.
Why Should You Include Vitamin C in Your Skincare Routine?
There are so many skincare ingredients out there, so what makes vitamin C so special?
Here are just a few of the reasons why this antioxidant is a must-have for just about everybody:
It Reduces the Appearance of Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Aging is inevitable for everyone, and this includes the fine lines and wrinkles that come with it. However, although you can’t avoid them forever, certain topical ingredients will help you to delay and reduce the visible signs of aging, with vitamin C being one of the best.
Research confirms that the regular use of vitamin C leaves the skin looking smoother and less wrinkled. Long-term use is needed to see the biggest improvements. This is why experts recommend using it daily if you’re hoping to keep the appearance of aging at bay for as long as possible.
It Firms Up the Complexion
Not only does vitamin C smooth away the visibility of wrinkles, but studies show that it also leaves the skin feeling firmer and more elastic. As a result, it saves the complexion from sagging in the way that it otherwise would have. It’s an excellent ingredient for tightening up the look of loose skin.
Again, daily use of the vitamin is needed in order to see these changes.
It Lightens the Look of Discoloration and Brightens the Overall Appearance
While it’s true that there are other ingredients available that are even more effective at lightening the look of discoloration, vitamin C does this pretty well too! It’s a great ingredient to turn to if you’ve noticed dark spots appearing on your skin from sun damage, acne breakouts, or anything else.
In fact, not only does vitamin C work to fade the look of existing dark spots, but research shows that it will also help to prevent the appearance of new ones. This is down to how it keeps the skin tone looking even, which also has the effect of brightening the overall complexion. If you want your skin to look more radiant, vitamin C can help with that!
It Boosts Skin Hydration
Hydration is something else that everyone’s skin needs. Without enough water, your skin cells won’t be able to function in the way that they should. Unfortunately, dehydrated skin is so common among all skin types. This is why all experts recommend incorporating plenty of hydrating ingredients into daily skincare routines.
While vitamin C may not be a hydrating ingredient per se, studies have found that it still indirectly boosts skin hydration levels. This is down to how it leaves the skin barrier feeling stronger and thicker. In turn, this improves water retention. The result is skin that looks fresher, dewier, and healthier.
It Works Well Under SPF
Hopefully, you already know how important it is to keep your skin covered with SPF to protect it from sun damage. However, did you know that applying vitamin C underneath your sunscreen can leave your skin feeling even more protected?
This is down to how vitamin C counters the appearance of UV damage. Combine the ingredient with your regular SPF and you’ll be powering up the protection that your complexion receives.
Why a Serum?
Now that you’re convinced about the benefits of adding vitamin C to your skincare routine, you’re probably wondering why it needs to be in the form of a serum.
The answer is…it doesn’t. If you’d prefer to use the ingredient in a toner, a cream, or anything else, then go ahead and do so. However, when it comes to producing the most noticeable changes in the skin, serums tend to shine. This is down to how lightweight they are. They don’t contain the heavy ingredients that other skincare products do, enabling them to dive even deeper into your complexion. They’re also designed to carry high concentrations of active ingredients in a way that other product formats struggle to do.
With that said, there’s no reason why you can’t use more than one vitamin C product in your skincare routine, so long as your skin can tolerate it.
Choosing a Vitamin C Serum
One of the biggest problems with vitamin C is that some forms of the ingredient are known for irritating the skin. Ascorbic acid, for example, is the purest form of vitamin C yet it can sometimes leave the skin feeling sensitive and raw.
This is why one of the most important things to look out for when choosing a vitamin C serum is the type of vitamin C that has been used. Ideally, you want a product that incorporates a powerful yet gentle form of the antioxidant. It should also be one that’s stable. Ascorbic acid is notorious for its instability. It oxidizes quickly, rendering the product that it’s in useless.
One other thing to keep in mind is that vitamin C is an antioxidant. Antioxidants always work best when they’re combined with other antioxidants, and this applies to vitamin C too. While single-ingredient serums may look appealing, a formula that blends vitamin C with other antioxidants will likely provide results that are much more impressive.
Where can you find a serum that does all of the above? Right here! Meet the Introstem Stem Cell Vitamin C Serum. It features two stable yet potent forms of vitamin C, along with a cocktail of other antioxidants. Vitamin A, grape stem cells, and vitamin E all make an appearance on the ingredient list, followed by a selection of antioxidant-rich plant oils. These oils hydrate the skin too while bestowing it with several other important nutrients.
Other Ways to Add Vitamin C to Your Skincare Routine
As we mentioned earlier, there’s nothing wrong with including vitamin C in several steps of your skincare routine. In fact, giving the ingredient to your skin in multiple layers can be very beneficial. Do this and you should start to see results even sooner.
If you’d like to go all out with the antioxidant, here are a few other vitamin C-infused products to add to your skincare routine:
The VitisCell Radiance Dark Circle Eye Cream
We’ve already explained how vitamin C can be extremely useful at lightening the look of discoloration. This makes it an extremely useful ingredient in an eye cream, which is why you’ll find it in the VitisCell Radiance Dark Circle Eye Cream from Introstem.
This eye cream combines vitamin C with some of the best antioxidants around, including resveratrol, grape stem cells, caffeine, and vitamin A. Together, they’ll fight the look of discoloration while also leaving the eye area looking brighter and smoother.
The Stem Cell Eye Serum
If you already have a vitamin C-infused eye cream but want to pamper your eye area with more of the ingredient, the Introstem Stem Cell Eye Serum would be a good choice.
In this formula, vitamin C has been mixed with licorice root extract, another ingredient that’s a superstar at fading the look of discoloration. The peptides in this formula work with vitamin C to leave the skin barrier feeling replenished and fortified while the numerous antioxidants from ginkgo biloba, calendula, green tea, and grape stem cells give the vitamin C the support that it needs to really shine. The latter is our signature ingredient at Introstem, chosen because of its superior antioxidant properties.
The Stem Cell Facial Peeling
Exfoliation on its own is a great way to instantly brighten up the complexion. Add vitamin C into the mix, which is what we’ve done with the Introstem Stem Cell Facial Peeling, and your face will look even more luminescent!
This exfoliator is unique in how it combines physical and chemical exfoliants. With mandelic acid and bamboo powder, it leaves the skin feeling deeply detoxified. The vitamin C is the icing on the cake, with extra antioxidant power provided by grape stem cells, green tea, bitter orange oil, and a duo of vitamins.
The ThermoStem Mask
Vitamin C is an ingredient that you should ideally be using daily. This is why a face mask that contains the antioxidant won’t be enough. After all, most face masks are designed to be used weekly, or even monthly.
With that said, a vitamin C-infused face mask can still be a great way to give your skin a boost of the ingredient once a week. This is why the Introstem ThermoStem Mask is such a hit. Being a clay-based mask, it clears away excess sebum from within the pores. This enables the vitamin C in the mask to dive into the skin without any barriers blocking the way. In this formula, it’s joined by aloe vera, lemon extract, coffee seed extract, grape stem cells, and several other botanical ingredients.
Summary
As you can see, vitamin C is an ingredient worth prioritizing when putting together a skincare routine. No matter your skin type or the visible skin concerns you’re battling, vitamin C is likely to be able to help in more than one way.
While a serum is the best way to give your skin this antioxidant, don’t shy away from other vitamin C-infused products either. Layering the ingredient can work wonders on the complexion – just make sure that your skin can tolerate it. Start by adding in one vitamin C product for the first couple of weeks before incorporating the next one.
Once you start getting serious about using this ingredient, you won’t look back. Give it a couple of months and the changes that you see in your complexion will soon turn you into a loyal fan of the antioxidant for life!
Click here to shop for more antioxidant-rich skincare products from Introstem.
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