Jul 17

Jul 17 PRODUCT REVIEW: GARDEN OF WISDOM VITAMIN C 23% SERUM & FERULIC ACID – BEST VITAMIN C SERUM FOR FACE

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GARDEN OF WISDOM | VITAMIN C 23% SERUM & FERULIC ACID

This review was originally part of my blog article titled, “The Year’s Best Vitamin C Serums with The Ordinary, Clinique, Beauty Stat & More!” You can still catch the full piece here.

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The necessity of Vitamin C to a pro-skin health routine goes without saying. Honestly, if you’re not already using a separate, well-formulated Vitamin C serum in your skincare regimen, I hope you’ll select one of the year’s best Vitamin C Serums!

Earlier in the year, I wrote a blog article about the benefits of Vitamin C. Feel welcome to read it here.

In my original piece I said that, “Vitamin C is old news. I get it. But, fortunately for all of us, it’s made a real resurgence lately as marketers and consumers alike have begun to focus on tried-and-true ingredients rather than sexy product launches powered by massive marketing campaigns.”

As I said, Vitamin C loathes three common elements — sunlight, air and water. In its most potent forms, including a water-free Ascorbic Acid powder, it can even be sensitive to peptides.

What does Vitamin C do for skin?

There’s an excellent article on the remarkable benefits of Vitamin C for the skin from the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team titled, What is Vitamin C and How Does it Benefit Skin?

Vitamin C is one of the most exciting, research-proven ingredients you can apply to skin (1). This water-soluble antioxidant is a natural component of healthy skin. When we’re young, vitamin C levels in skin’s outermost two layers (epidermis and dermis) are abundant, but as we age, these levels naturally deplete. Unprotected sun exposure (UV damage) and pollution can accelerate this decline, leading to skin looking and feeling dull, uneven, and less firm than it once was (2).
Luckily, there are topical skin care solutions that can help mitigate this damage, so skin looks and feels healthier and younger longer.
Vitamin C Benefits for Skin
Vitamin C’s benefits for skin are vast, including its ability to even out skin tone and diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles (3). While this powerhouse ingredient is well-known for its skin-brightening benefits, research also shows it can shield skin from the visible impacts of environmental stressors, including free radical damage (4). This synergy of mitigating problems both before and after they occur makes vitamin C a force to be reckoned with.

If you’re using a Vitamin C serum that contains Ascorbic Acid, as all of the options in my top picks, you would be wise to either separate them by regimen (perhaps Vitamin C in the evening, peptides in the morning) — or at least wait 10-15 minutes after applying the Vitamin C serum before you apply peptides.

Often quite needlessly, Vitamin C serums are costly and the five I’ve recommended run the gamut — from a simple $5 powder to a super innovative $80 suspension. When assembling my recent complete $100 skincare routine, selecting the perfect Vitamin C serum was fun — with so many well-priced, well-formulated options.

It’s no stretch to say that my collaborator Michael and I scoured the world for the perfect Vitamin C — perfect in formulation, perfect in price. We settled on indie brand Garden of Wisdom. Sure it sounds so smart and cool, but beyond that the Garden of Wisdom Vitamin C 23% Serum & Ferulic Acid happens to be a really solid option that costs just $12.47.

The GOW serum has a relatively tight formulation with just nine ingredients. The texture is super light and easily absorbed, making layering a cinch. It comes in an air tight, opaque bottle with a pump (bravo!) and is stabilized by Vitamin C’s all-time BFF Ferulic Acid — a potent antioxidant that has the remarkable ability to prevent oxidation.

Garden of Wisdom isn’t readily available in the US yet, so I had to pay to have it shipped from the UK. (Hey, Garden of Wisdom, I waited nearly five weeks to receive it; that’s hardly wise!) Shipping woes aside, if their top-shelf Vitamin C serum is any indication, I’m looking forward to discovering more of what the brand has to offer.

You can get it on the Victoria Health website here. Yeah, it’s worth the wait.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Garden of Wisdom Vitamin C 23% Serum & Ferulic Acid for about $12.47 here.

BUY GARDEN OF WISDOM VITAMIN C 23% SERUM & FERULIC ACID