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EDUCATION

How to Use Vitamin C in Your Skincare Routine

No matter what skin type you may have, Vitamin C is one of the most impactful ingredients you can incorporate into your daily skincare routine. Whether you’re looking for an all-over boost of radiance, a strong defense against sun damage, or a powerful brightener for dark spots, vitamin C can help you effectively achieve all these skin goals, and more. The wide-ranging benefits of vitamin C in skincare are a major reason why this ingredient is so beloved throughout the beauty community. However, it’s multitasking abilities can make vitamin C a bit confusing to understand: What’s the best way to start using it in your skincare routine? Which form of vitamin C is best for the specific skin concern you want to target? When should I use vitamin C in my skincare routine? In this guide, we share everything you need to know to become an expert in this superstar ingredient. We’ve even included a breakdown of our three vitamin C-centered formulas, explaining how they differ and how you can incorporate both into your daily routine. Keep reading to learn how Vitamin C can benefit your skin.Citrus image of orange

What Is Vitamin C in Skincare?

When used in skincare, Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can fight free radicals, visibly brighten, reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation, and boost the skin’s firmness by jumpstarting collagen production. You can spot vitamin C on an ingredient label in a few different forms. It may be listed as any of these: magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, L-ascorbic acid, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbyl glucosamine, and ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate. (More on the forms we use in our formulas below.)

The Benefits Of Vitamin C For Skin

As an antioxidant, VItamin C can help offset skin-damaging UV rays, pollution, dust, and debris  by neutralizing free radicals. Vitamin C provides powerful anti-aging benefits to skin including:

Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum

How do Biossance’s Vitamin C Skincare Products Differ?

Three of our top-performing formulas – the Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum, Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer, and Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil – feature this prized antioxidant as a hero ingredient. Each works in dramatically different ways to achieve dramatically different results for your skin. Are they interchangeable? Definitely not. Can you use all three in your routine? Absolutely. Here are four key ways these formulas differ–and one important thing they have in common.

  1. Treatment vs. Moisturizer vs. Oil

The primary way these three formulas differ is that they’re each designed to be used during different steps of your skincare routine. Our Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum is a treatment. With a powerful dose of actives and a touch of squalane for balance, this product is hyper-focused on targeting one main skin concern: dark spots.

Our innovative Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer also targets dark spots. But unlike a serum whose key purpose is to treat, this moisturizer’s principal task is to nourish and moisturize your skin. Think of it as a moisturizer with treatment benefits meant to amplify your anti-aging skincare routine.

Learn more about the differences between serums and moisturizers

On the other hand, our best-selling Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil is formulated to deliver glowing hydration to the skin, delivering our uniquely oil soluble, shelf-stable Vitamin C to boost radiance while locking in moisture and driving active ingredients deeper in to the skin.

Learn more about the differences between moisturizers and facial oilsSqualane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum

2. The complementary ingredients create different results

Vitamin C’s benefits can be amplified and diversified depending on how concentrated it is and what other ingredients it’s paired with. For example, our Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum blends a powerful dose of 10% vitamin C with white shiitake mushroom extract. When this high concentration of vitamin C is paired with this discoloration-correcting plant extract, it boosts vitamin C’s ability to powerfully and visibly reduce the appearance of established dark spots while also preventing new ones from forming.

In this delicately balanced treatment, we use ethyl ascorbic acid, a unique shelf-stable form of vitamin C that’s known to be less irritating than other forms on the skin while still being highly effective. Our scientists found that a 10% dose of L-ascorbic acid is the ideal amount needed to deliver fast, powerful, long-lasting results.

Our Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer packs a powerful one-two punch of Vitamin C and fermented lemon peel to dramatically reduce the appearance of dark spots while also targeting fine lines and wrinkles. It features our unique and trusted form of shelf-stable vitamin C called tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD) which is know for its  outstanding ability to penetrate the skin and absorb quickly.  In consumer surveys, 100% of participants saw increased radiance and visible improvement in fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots with regular use.

In our best-selling face oil, vitamin C teams up with an exclusive blend of sugarcane-derived squalane, Chios crystal oil, and Damascus rose extract to deliver a broad range of balanced benefits–namely hydration, increased radiance, and a boost of firmness. We also use THD as our form of vitamin C in this formula as it is uniquely oil-soluble. This way, you get the benefits of an oil alongside next-level glow.

Vitamin C Rose Oil and Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer

3. Squalane plays a different role in each formula

Our sugarcane-derived squalane also plays quite a different role in these top-performing vitamin C formulas. In our Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil, squalane takes center stage, delivering a fresh dose of fast-absorbing, weightless hydration.

In our Squalane + Vitamin C Moisturizer, squalane delivers deep hydration, strengthening the skin’s moisture barrier while driving active ingredients deeper into the skin.

In our Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum, the weightless oil plays more of a supporting role, allowing the 10% dose of L-ascorbic acid to take the lead while it works in the background to keep skin happy, healthy, and hydrated while helping actives penetrate.Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum versus Vitamin C Rose Oil

4. They’re all formulated to last

One key commonality between these three formulas is that they all feature shelf-stable forms of vitamin C. As popular as this ingredient is, it also has a tendency to break down quickly through a process know as oxidation. When vitamin C oxidizes, it loses its effectiveness and can also cause irritating side effects. Our scientists have specially formulated both of our vitamin C products to be extremely stable so that they can continue to provide clean, healthy, skin-loving no matter how fast or slow you may use them.  

When To Use Vitamin C In Your Skincare Routine

Here’s some good news: Because our three vitamin C products work so differently, you don’t have to choose between one or the other. In fact, we actually recommend using them together during your AM and PM skincare routine.Here’s an easy layering guide for using all three of our Vitamin C products in your skincare routine:

Morning Vitamin C Skincare Routine

Step 1: Cleanse with our Squalane + Antioxidant Cleansing Oil to nourish and hydrate while removing every trace of dirt and makeup.

Step 2: Spritz your skin with our Squalane + Hyaluronic Acid Facial Mist to boost hydration and help active ingredients penetrate more deeply.

Step 3: Massage your skin with a dropper full of our Squalane + Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum to powerfully target dark spots while visibly boosting brightness

Step 4: Apply our new Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer to hydrate while powerfully brightening and reducing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots.

Step 5: Protect and hydrate with our Squalane + Zinc Mineral Sunscreen for all-day SPF 30 PA +++ protection.

Evening Vitamin C Skincare Routine

Step 1:Double cleanse with our Squalane + Antioxidant Cleansing Oil and our Squalane + Amino Aloe Gentle Cleanser to deeply clean pores and remove remnants of environmental pollution without overstripping.

Step 2: Spritz with Squalane + Hyaluronic Acid Facial Mist to hydrate and prep skin.

Step 3: Gently - but powerfully - reduce the look of fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots with our Squalane + Retinol Overnight Serum.

Step 4: Deeply hydrate and nourish with ourSqualane + Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer

Step 5: Seal in moisture and take radiance to the next level with our award-winning Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil.
Christine Tusher
Christine Tusher Writer and expert

As a lifestyle writer and journalist, I love sharing my passion for ocean conservation and obsession with clean beauty. I’ve tried almost every trend and ingredient, and Biossance’s science-backed formulas are the only ones that consistently calm my reactive skin and make it smoother, clearer, and healthier. I’m so excited to be on this journey of skincare innovation with Biossance, and to share it with you!

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