PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA’S CHOICE C15 SUPER BOOSTER - BEST VITAMIN C SERUM, BEST BRIGHTENING SERUM, BEST ANTIOXIDANT SERUM
This review was originally part of my blog article titled, The Year’s Best Vitamin C Serums With Paula's Choice, Sunday Riley, The Inkey List And More! You can catch the full piece here.
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There are two ingredients that I wish everyone on Earth who’s serious about their skin health would incorporate into their own skincare routines — Vitamin C and Niacinamide. Both are indispensable antioxidants — and more. In the case of a good Vitamin C treatment, it can be one of the best anti-aging serums in your arsenal.
Last spring, I published an article about my favorite Vitamin C serums in a piece titled, New Vitamin C Facial Serums I Love But You’ve Probably Never Heard Of! – which you can catch here. It was a collection of some of the best Vitamin C serums, all of which were relatively new to the market, and new to me.
Among my top picks were some of my favorite brightening serums to this day, including the clean, oil-based Ghost Democracy Lightbulb Vitamin C Serum with an 18% concentration of Vitamin C. It’s literally the crème de la crème for me.
My selection also included the all-natural Purito Pure Vitamin C Serum. If you’re sensitive to higher levels of Vitamin C, Purito’s serum contains a modest 5% concentration of it. And it just might be what you’re looking for.
(In spite of the brand’s recent controversy over the erroneous, inflated claim on its Centella Green Level Safe Sun SPF 50+, the brand’s natural formulations are quite good. I’m a #puritofanboy and will remain so.)
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that Vitamin C serums are like precious gems to me. Until recently, Vitamin C was perhaps the most under-appreciated of all skincare ingredients. Mainly because it seemed to be old news. And, because it’s been nearly impossible to keep the vitamin stable in a skincare formula, the truly effective levels weren’t possible. Until you get to ten percent or more, you don’t really get the power brightening, collagen building benefits of the active.
As the science has progressed, there are now Vitamin C serums with super high concentrations of the antioxidant powerhouse — like the Allies of Skin 35% Vitamin C Collagen Rebuilding Serum. Thirty-five percent still seems crazy to me. I’m not convinced to this day that it’s even necessary. At least for me, levels that high turn my complexion hot pink for an hour or so.
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.
So, for me (and for skin everywhere) Vitamin C is everything! With that, let’s take a look at one of my favorite Vitamin C serums of the past year…
Paula’s Choice | C15 Super Booster
I have made no secret of the fact that the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster is my favorite skincare product. Quite simply, it’s the best Niacinamide serum on the market and the best anti-aging serum, too. To understand what makes it so exceptional for me, check out my blog article titled, Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster – The Best Niacinamide Serum To Brighten Skin And Clear Clogged Pores!
But as much as I love that and so many other Paula’s Choice products, I hadn’t gotten around to trying the brand’s C15 Super Booster until very recently. I know that seems so odd, right? I feel like I’ve tried every Paula’s Choice product that the brand offers. I even wrote a blog article titled, Three Of The Best Paula's Choice Products That Make Me Purr Like Orpheus!
Make it four!
Yes, the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster is that good. Of course it’s clean. But one of the things I love about the 10% Niacinamide Booster is its unique versatility. Both the 10% Niacinamide Booster and C15 Super Booster have super watery textures that make them easy to layer into any skincare routine. They’re best applied immediately following cleansing and toning so that they can be full absorbed into the skin’s layers unimpeded.
As the name indicates, it as a relatively high concentration of 15% Vitamin C. In the case of the C15 Super Booster, it’s in the form of Ascorbic Acid — the purest (and most unstable) form of the antioxidant powerhouse. In fact, the Ascorbic Acid is the second ingredient after water.
Which would normally give me pause — and did. Water is a Vitamin C destabilizer. A quick scan of the INCI and I find Vitamin C’s BFF, the antioxidant Ferulic Acid. The two are quite the pair and the Ferulic helps to keep the Vitamin C from breaking down. The air tight dropper component and opaque class bottle help as well.
Do Vitamin C and Niacinamide go together?
You know what else Vitamin C loves? Niacinamide. There is a huge skincare myth out there that the two powerful antioxidant vitamins don’t work well together. In fact, just the other day I was having a conversation with a friend and she mentioned that she’s afraid to use them in the same routine. Let’s put that myth to rest, shall we?
There’s an excellent article from the Paula’s Choice Research Team titled, Can Niacinamide and Vitamin C Be Used Together? — available on the brand’s site to read in full here. This is what I found most salient:
The studies showing incompatibility between niacinamide and vitamin C date back to the early 1960s (yes, that far). These studies were off from the start because they used non-stabilized forms of both ingredients, whereas both ingredients are typically stabilized when used in modern-day cosmetics formulas.
Niacinamide is a pretty “tough” ingredient; light and air don’t have the same effect on it as they do on antioxidants like vitamin C. What’s important for niacinamide is that the product be formulated at a pH that’s close to neutral. Vitamin C (pure ascorbic acid), on the other hand, does best in a low-pH (acidic) environment. However, nicotinic acid—the undesirable by-product of niacinamide and vitamin C—becomes an issue only when the niacinamide and vitamin C are combined in a high-temperature environment for a long time. That temperature is higher than you’d find in most at-home scenarios, including leaving a box of skin care products sitting outside in the sun for a couple of days.
Also, it’s important to point out that this concern applies only to pure vitamin C, not to its many other forms (such as magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and ascorbyl glucoside). So, to reiterate, combining ascorbic or l-ascorbic acid with niacinamide is fine.
In short, any studies that show a definite issue from combining niacinamide and vitamin C were conducted in an environment that does not reflect what average skin care products experience during development, manufacturing, or in real-world storage and usage.
So yes, use your Vitamin C and Niacinamide serums any time you want. I use them in both my AM and PM routines!
WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF
2021’s BEST VITAMIN C SERUMS WITH PAULA'S CHOICE, SUNDAY RILEY, THE INKEY LIST AND MORE!
ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE.**
There’s a whole lot more going on with the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster than just the power pair of Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid. There’s humectant Sodium Hyaluronate as well as the skin-replenishing actives Vitamin E, Glycerin, Lecithin and Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate — a synthetic peptide that helps speed up desquamation (skin’s natural shedding process) for a consistently fresher looking complexion.
Notably, there are a pair of tried-and-true skin soothers to help ameliorate the irritation associated with a 15% concentration of Vitamin C, including Panthenol (Vitamin B5) and Bisabolol — the active component of chamomile.
Seriously, I don’t know what took me so long. The Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster is such a phenomenal option and one of the best Vitamin C serums for face.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster for $49 here.
WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF
2020’s BEST VITAMIN C SERUMS WITH THE ORDINARY, CLINIQUE, BEAUTY STAT & MORE!
NOW PLAYING ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE
The Ingredient List of the Sunday Riley C. E.O. 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum:
aox|sb|buff, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Dimethicone emo 0 1, Squalane 
sii|emo 0 1, Butylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 1, Dipropylene Glycol solv|perf|vc, Acetyl Glucosamine sii|sb, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract so|emo, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract\Extrait D'Orge emo, Molasses Extract\Saccharum Officinarum\Extrait De Mélasse, Laminaria Digitata Extract, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 cci|h, Algae Extract emo|h, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12 cci, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 cci, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 cci, Alcaligenes Polysaccharides emo|h|vc, Caffeine aox|perf, Sucrose h|so, Betaine h, Whey Protein\Lactis Protein\Protéine Du Petit-Lait cci, Salicylic Acid exf|aacne|so|pres, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Protein emu, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Sigesbeckia Orientalis (St. Paul'S Wort) Extract, Bis-PEG-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane emo|h|surf, Propylene Glycol Dicaprate emo, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seedcake abrasive/scrub, Allyl Methacrylates Crosspolymer vc, Carbomer vc 0 1, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate vc, Tromethamine buff, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Potassium Sorbate pres, PEG-8 h|solv, Calcium Chloride vc, Polysorbate 20 emu|surf 0 0, Sodium Citrate chel|buff, Disodium EDTA chel|vc, Phenoxyethanol presThe Ingredient List of the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster:
aox|sb|buff, Butylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 1, Ethoxydiglycol solv|h|perf 0 0, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, PPG-26-Buteth-26, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil emu|surf, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Tocopherol aox 0-3 0-3, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate cci, Lecithin emo|emu, Ferulic Acid aox|amic, Panthenol so|h 0 0, Bisabolol so, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract, Propyl Gallate aox|perf, Sodium Gluconate chel|h, Sodium Hydroxide buff, Phenoxyethanol pres, Ethylhexylglycerin presThe Ingredient List of the Beauty Stat Universal C Skin Refiner:
Cyclopentasiloxane, L-Ascorbic Acid (Pure Vitamin C), Isocetyl Stearate, Squalane, Polysilicone-11, Petrolatum, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract Pure Egcg Green Tea), Tartaric Acid.
The Ingredient List of the Paula’s Choice C25 Super Booster:
aox|sb|buff, Ethylhexyl Hydroxystearate (Emollient) emo, Polysilicone-11 (Texture-Enhancing), Dimethicone (Hydration) emo 0 1, Polymethylsilsesquioxane (Texture-Enhancing), Disteardimonium Hectorite (Texture-Enhancing) vc, Propylene Carbonate (Preservative) solv|vcThe Ingredient List of The Inkey List 15% Vitamin C and EGF Brightening Serum:
aox|sb, Sodium Hydroxide buff, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil emu|surf, Phenoxyethanol pres, Benzyl Alcohol pres|perf|solv|vc, Butylene Glycol h|solv|vc 0 1, Xanthan Gum vc|emu|surf, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Sodium Metabisulfite aox|pres, Dehydroacetic Acid pres, Phytic Acid chel, Oligopeptide-1The Ingredient List of the Josie Maran Argan Bright Skin Vitamin C Serum:
aox|emo, Coconut Alkanes emo|solv, Oleyl Lactate emo, Octyldodecyl PCA emo, Dimethyl Isosorbide solv|vc, Glyceryl Oleate emo|emu|perf, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate aox|sb, Isostearyl Lactate emo, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate emo, Brassica Campestris (Rapeseed) Seed Oil, Bisabolol so, Squalane sii|emo 0 1, Pterocarpus Marsupium Bark Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract so|sb, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate emu 0 4, Althaea Officinalis Root Extract, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Extract, Dunaliella Salina Extract, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil aox|emo|perf 0 0-2, Aqua (Water) solv, Phloretin aox
Orpheus always takes his morning vitamins!
