PRODUCT REVIEW: CERAVE SKIN RENEWING VITAMIN C SERUM - What Does Vitamin C Do for Your Skin? Can I Use Vitamin C on My Face Everyday?
CERAVE | SKIN RENEWING VITAMIN C SERUM
I consider a well-formulated Vitamin C serum for face indispensable in any serious, pro-skin health routine. And TBH nothing makes me happier than trying out a new Vitamin C brightening serum. Nothing.
But that doesn’t mean I’m excited to actually use a particular serum. For starters, it’s all about the INCI for me. If you know how to read an INCI, how to distinguish good actives from bad ones, the insights can go a long way. It’s particularly helpful if you want to spend your skincare dollars wisely by not wasting money on ineffective products for your skin.
Not all Vitamin C serums are the same. In fact, they run the gamut. There are some really great ones and some not so great ones. Some are oil-based, some water-based. In the immediate, that affects the texture; long-term, it can affect the potency and efficacy. Water and Vitamin C don’t play well together, but water-based Vitamin C serums are easier to layer and are my go-to’s during the warmer months.
In the cold, I prefer a heavier, oil-based Vitamin C serum. My longtime favorite is the Replenix Vitamin C Pro Collagen Serum. If you’re familiar with facial oil textures, it’s what’s termed a “dry oil”.
PRODUCT REVIEW: REPLENIX VITAMIN C PRO COLLAGEN SERUM
The Replenix Vitamin C facial oil is formulated with a 20% concentration of three forms of Vitamin C and is an exquisite formula. Applying it brings me great pleasure on a cold February night. You can catch my the Replenix Vitamin C Pro Collagen Serum review on the blog here.
Another factor in your selection of the best Vitamin C face serum for you is the form of Vitamin C a particular product is designed with. And there are multiple forms of Vitamin C! From the purest form, Ascorbic Acid, to weaker derivatives like Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate and Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate – both of which happen to have benefits particular to oily skin.
One of my favorite water-based antioxidant Vitamin C serums is the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster, which I’ve reviewed on the blog and in my social channels numerous times. You can catch my Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster product review here.
PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA’S CHOICE C15 SUPER BOOSTER
What makes the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster one of the best, the crème de la crème of Vitamin C serums? As I alluded to at the start, just look at the INCI! In addition to its 15% concentration of Ascorbic Acid at ingredient number two, there’s a slew of peptides, humectants and even potent antioxidants that supplement Vitamin C’s defense against skin-aging environmental aggressors.
But the Paula’s Choice C15 Super Booster isn’t among the most affordable Vitamin C serums. It’s currently $55 (and a year ago was less that $50). If you use a Vitamin C serum daily, one bottle will last you from 4-6 weeks. That’s a hefty investment for most people.
So I thought I’d explore some more affordable Vitamin C serums. Of course, The Ordinary offers several solid options. Among these is The Ordinary’s Ethylated Ascorbic Acid 15% Solution. The last I checked it was $18. You can catch my review of it here. Also, Naturium’s Vitamin C Complex Serum is a superb option for just $20.
At $27, the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum recently caught my interest. As is often the case these days, I discovered it on my TikTok channel and believe it or not, #tiktokmademebuyit.
SKINCARMA ON TIKTOK
Before I get deep into my full CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum review, I wanted to take a moment to explore the overall benefits of Vitamin C for skin. As I said, I consider a Vitamin C serum a must in any serious skincare routine. The benefits of Vitamin C for your skin are exceptional, rivaled only by two other vitamins – Niacinamide and Retinol.
The benefits of Vitamin C include:
Antioxidant defense against skin-aging environmental aggressors;
Evening out skin tone and brightening the complexion;
Stimulating production of collagen and elastin, skin’s vital support structures;
Diminishing the appearance of spots on your complexion, including dark spots, sun spots, age spots and acne marks;
Minimizing the appearance of hyperpigmentation.
PRODUCT REVIEW: NATURIUM VITAMIN C COMPLEX SERUM
If you’re like me, you’ve probably asked yourself questions like:
What does vitamin C do for your face?
Can I use vitamin C on my face everyday?
What not to mix vitamin C with?
There are many myths out there about Vitamin C and particularly about the ingredients that the sensitive antioxidant doesn’t mix with. One of those myths goes back decades! It has to do with whether or not you can use Vitamin C and Niacinamide together. (Psst…yes, you can!)
There’s a superb article that I’ve often cited from the experts on the Paula’s Choice research team titled, Can You Use Niacinamide With Vitamin C? You can catch the pieces here.
As I’ve been doing since the start of the year, I sought out answers to a few questions from the AI at my favorite search engine you.com. The artificial intelligence at you.com is powered by OpenAI’s Chat GPT and I love the way it answers my questions about ingredients and their benefits for the skin with deep insights and citations to credible sources.
Here’s how the technology responded to a few specific questions I asked it about Vitamin C:
What does vitamin C do for your face?
Vitamin C is known to be beneficial for the skin in many ways. It helps to protect the skin against damage caused by free radicals, helps to promote collagen production, can lighten dark spots, and can help to smooth out wrinkles. Vitamin C can also help to give the skin an out-of-this-world glow. To get the most out of Vitamin C, it is important to use it consistently and in the right concentration.
Sources: [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673383/ [2] https://www.healthline.com/health/vitamin-c-for-skin [3] https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/skin-care-secrets/skin-care/why-you-need-vitamin-c-in-your-skin-care-routine
Can I use vitamin C on my face everyday?
Yes, you can use vitamin C on your face every day, and it can be beneficial for a variety of skin concerns. A vitamin C serum can help protect against sun damage, reduce wrinkles, and improve skin tone. However, it is important to use the appropriate concentration of vitamin C for your skin type and to follow the directions on the product label.
Sources: [1] https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/skin-care-secrets/skin-care/vitamin-c-serum [2] https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/vitamin-c-serum#benefits [3] https://www.webmd.com/beauty/features/vitamin-c-skin-care#1
What not to mix vitamin C with?
You should not mix vitamin C with hydroquinone, benzoyl peroxide, or retinoids, as these can decrease the effectiveness of the vitamin C. Additionally, you should avoid mixing vitamin C with acidic ingredients such as alpha hydroxy acids and lactic acid, as these can also reduce the efficacy of vitamin C. Sources:
Sources: [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6799848/ [2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-not-to-mix-with-vitamin-c_l_5c7d5f1fe4b00f5db6e84e1f [3] https://www.healthline.com/health/vitamin-c-serum#should-you-use-it
The Best Vitamin C Serums & Face Creams
So there’s no doubt about the benefits of Vitamin C for your skin and your overall skin health. Feel free to pair it with Niacinamide, but proceed with caution when using Retinol and/or exfoliating acids like Glycolic Acid and Lactic Acid. But only you know your skin. Personally, I use Niacinamide, Vitamin C and Retinol all in the same evening routine just fine. But I’ve gotten my skin acclimated to an intense regimen.
Finding the right Vitamin C serum for your skin, in a sea of Vitamin C serums, is a challenge. Formula matters, skin type matters, sensitivity matters, price matters, and texture preferences matter. Is the TikTok sensation CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum the one for you?
I had never tried anything from CeraVe and their Vitamin C serum was an intriguing place to start. I had my concerns from the start; again, the INCI says a lot.
Let’s take a closer look at CeraVe’s Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum and at my experience with it over the last two weeks…
CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum
In my work as a skincare copywriter (my day job!) and, of course, as a skincare blogger, I’ve come across hundreds of Vitamin C serums over the past two decades. A lot goes into my evaluation of a Vitamin C serum – and most products for that matter. But Vitamin C serums are different. Vitamin C is an exceptionally sensitive and unstable active; it degrades easily.
The Vitamin C molecule is sensitive to light exposure, air exposure and even water exposure. If you’ve used one, you know what it means to say that your Vitamin C serum “oxidized.” Suddenly, you realize it changed color. It may even have changed texture, or become unpleasant on your skin. When it oxidizes, it’s done.
The formula and the packaging have to sync up perfectly to persevere the product’s potency and the efficacy of the Vitamin C inside as long as possible. And I have to say that the marketers at CeraVe got the packaging of their Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum right. In fact, it’s one of the best I’ve seen.
CeraVe’s Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum is packaged in an air-tight, opaque metal tube that prevents light and oxygen from degrading the sensitive Ascorbic Acid in the formula. Score!
So CeraVe nailed the packaging. They also nailed the texture! It’s a wonderfully silky serum that feels amazing when applied to your skin. I’ve found that it absorbs well, making it easily layered with other products like my favorite Niacinamide serum – the Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster.
You can also easily mix the Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum into your face cream if you prefer not to apply it directly to your skin. I don’t believe that’s the best way to make use of potent actives like Vitamin C and Niacinamide, though. You should apply them directly to your skin and allow them to absorb before following with other products. That’s the whole point of layering.
So what about the formula itself? What’s going on with the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum? Well, here’s the INCI for you:
Aqua/Water/Eau, Ascorbic Acid, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Alcohol Denat., Sodium Hydroxide, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Panthenol, Ceramide Np, Ceramide Ap, Ceramide Eop, Carbomer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Cholesterol, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Disodium Edta, Isopropyl Myristate, Caprylyl Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Phytosphingosine, Ethylhexylglycerin.
SKINCARMA ON TIKTOK
All I needed to do was look at the INCI to know what my long-term experience with it would be like. Sure, the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum is a pleasure to use out of the tube. Again, the texture is amazing. And I appreciate its high 10% concentration of pure Vitamin C in the form of Ascorbic Acid. That’s solid. Ten percent is an ideal amount for promoting your daily skin health and delivering the antioxidant defense your skin needs.
I also love the high levels of humectant Glycerin and even the Dimethicone in the formula. They work in tandem to keep skin moisturized and prevent dehydrating water loss – a concern for me here in the Brooklyn winter.
But the ridiculously high level of denatured alcohol (Alcohol Denat.) at ingredient number six is problematic. It’s a problem for my skin specifically and a problem for everyone’s skin barrier health in general.
L’Oreal, the company that acquired CeraVe in 2017 uses denatured alcohol in the formulation of most of their serums across multiple brands – including Kiehl’s, Lancôme, La Roche Posay and, yes, CeraVe. Why? Because it’s a cheap, functional ingredient that facilitates the absorption of actives like Vitamin C. It accelerates the dry-down of a product, too. But denatured alcohol also dries out your skin, causes sensitization and, more seriously, weakens the skin barrier.
According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice research team, denatured alcohol is among the worst ingredients used in skincare. “Denatured alcohol is a drying type of synthetic alcohol that irritates skin and, when used in concentrations of 10% or greater, weakens its barrier via depletion or improper reorganization of vital skin lipids.”
The last thing you want to do is to weaken your skin barrier. I don’t know about you, but my objective with my daily skincare routine is to optimize my skin health and strengthen my skin barrier.
Admittedly, I did love using CeraVe’s Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum the first couple of days. But as my skin was exposed to the high level of denatured alcohol day after day, it became more sensitized and red. After two weeks of using it off and on, I finally had to stop. And guess what? The skin irritation went away.
That may not be your experience with it. If your skin can tolerate denatured alcohol at high levels, and consistently over time, then the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum will work for you quite well. Especially if you’re in your teens and 20s when your skin is most resilient – like the majority of TikTokers!
You may even love it as much as I wanted to. It’s got a lot going for it…
What I like about it: The CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum is a wonderfully silky formula whose texture feels amazing on application. It’s quite pleasurable to use. The opaque, airtight metal tube packaging is commendable. I also love its high 10% concentration of pure Ascorbic Acid.
What I don’t like about it: The high level of denatured alcohol is highly problematic. It really bums me out.
Who it’s for: All skin types except dry, very dry and sensitive. It’s ideal for an oily skin type.
SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum for $26.99 here.
The Ingredient List of the CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum:
aox|sb|buff, Glycerin sii|h 0 0, Dimethicone emo 0 1, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate emo, Alcohol Denat 
amic|solv|vc, Sodium Hydroxide buff, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate vc, Panthenol 
so|h 0 0, Ceramide NP sii, Ceramide AP sii, Ceramide EOP sii, Carbomer vc 0 1, Cetearyl Alcohol emo|vc|emu|surf 1 2, Behentrimonium Methosulfate surf, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate emu, Cholesterol sii|emo 0 0, Phenoxyethanol pres, Tocopheryl Acetate aox 0 0, Disodium EDTA chel, Isopropyl Myristate emo|perf 3 3-5, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Xanthan Gum vc, Phytosphingosine sii|cci|aacne|amic, Ethylhexylglycerin pres
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