If you’ve got your skin care routine down pat and are cleansing, toning and moisturising religiously, then good on you. But if you’re looking to up your skin game and really address your concerns at their root, adding a face serum can go a long way.
WHAT IS A FACE SERUM?
Essentially, a face serum is a lightweight topical skin product that contains active ingredients and penetrates deeper into your skin layer. These ingredients address specific skin concerns including dark spots, dullness, fine lines and wrinkles, hyper sensitivity and acne. Serums contain a high concentration of these active ingredients and hence give you better results, quicker. A face serum is best used after cleansing and toning, and before moisturising.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SERUM?
Each face serum comes with a different cocktail of ingredients to help improve your skin health. It’s important to understand your skin type, to identify your skin concerns and accordingly choose ingredients that are suitable.
Face serum for excessively dry or dehydrated skin
If your skin is very dry or tends to get dehydrated (read our post on the difference here), look for hyaluronic acids in your face serum. This ingredient helps maintain and seal your skin’s natural moisture, leaving it soft and supple, without the thickness or stickiness of heavy creams.
Recommended product: Skin Hydrating Booster
Face serum for dullness or fine lines
Sorry to break it to you, but your skin starts showing signs of ageing as early as your mid-20s. A Vitamin C serum addresses multiple skin-ageing concerns, such as dullness, fine lines and wrinkles, by helping your skin build collagen. Plus using or consuming Vitamin C regularly gives your skin a natural glow that would put many a highlighter to shame.
Recommended product: Biolumin C Vitamin C Serum
Face serum for adult acne
Your skin is showing signs of ageing and yet you’re breaking out like a teenager? Don’t worry, this is more common than you think. What you should look for are natural ingredients like pine and thyme, which, when combined, helps reduce the bacteria and sebum that causes acne. Vitamin B3 is also useful, as it helps fade out post-acne marks and pigmentation. Salicylic acid is another ingredient to look out for as it deep cleanses your pores, exfoliates your skin and prevents further acne breakouts.
Recommended product: Age Bright Clearing Serum
Face serum for hyper-sensitive skin
If you’re petrified of putting anything on your face, lest it breaks out into zits, bright red spots or itchy patches, you’ve got super sensitive skin that needs special TLC. Look for products with anti-inflammatory ingredients derived from nature such as red hogweed root extracts, oat kernel extracts, Ginger and chamomile extracts, which help soothe your skin and prevent further irritation. Extracts of sunflower seed oil, avocado and evening primrose oil, which help restore the skin’s natural lipid balance.
Recommended product: Ultracalming Serum Concentrate
Face serum for instant brightness
Let’s face it, glowing skin is what we’re all after. And there are certain ingredients that not only give you a natural glow with consistent use, but also give you that instant pick-me-up when you need it most. Apart from Vitamin C, Oligopeptide-51 and Oligopeptide-34 are brightening peptides that heal and prevent hyperpigmentation, while red and brown algae and rice extracts help control the formation of melanin.
Recommended product: C-12 Pure Bright Serum