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How to choose Vitamin C serum for your skincare routine?

Vitamin C.




Siapa yang boleh try Vitamin C?

1. Dah ada basic skincare routine yang kukuh. 
Maksudnya yang memang cuci muka everyday, ada hydrating products, pakai sunscreen setiap hari tak pernah lupa. Kalau basic skincare routine belum strong, focus on your basic routine dulu.

2. Skin barrier dah strong
Skin barrier kat sini bermaksud kulit yang dah sihat, tak rasa ketat, tegang, pedih, dan asyik breakout. Boleh baca kat sini about skin barrier: https://www.imanabdulrahim.com/2018/08/skincare-101-skin-barrier.html

3. Kulit kusam, tona tak sekata and nak bagi kulit nampak lagi glowing.
Glowing tau, maksudnya natural glow, bukan jadi putih melepak tu.

4. Ada dark spots, parut jerawat, pigmentation, jeragat.
Boleh baca kat sini juga kalau nak tips kurangkan parut jerawat yang warna gelap atau merah merah. Nama dia PIE (Post Inflammatory Erythme) kalau yang merah merah dan PIH (Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation) yang warna gelap gelap. https://www.imanabdulrahim.com/2018/07/how-to-reduce-acne-scars.html

5. Nak kurangkan wrinkles and firm kan kulit
Vitamin C can boost yang collagen production and improve your skin strength and elasticity. 

6. As an anti-oxidant
If you use vitamin C serum in your morning routine lepastu apply sunscreen secukupnya (Read here about sunscreen: https://www.imanabdulrahim.com/2017/08/sunblock-suncreen-101.html ) , it will be a great anti-aging combination and prevent sunburn! Make sure you reapply your sunscreen tau, kalau terdedah dengan matahari.




Macam mana nak pilih Vitamin C serum yang sesuai?


1. Forms
There are many types of Vitamin C. Yang paling elok, power and well researched is Ascorbic Acid (L-AA). However, it is also unstable, cepat oxidised (tukar warna jadi kuning) and may cause purging. 

Other forms are:
1. Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate
2. Ascorbyl Glucoside
3. Ethyl Ascorbic Acid

2. Percentage %
We need to know the percentage of the vitamin C used. Kalau rendah sangat %, it might now work. Kalau % tinggi sangat, it may irritate your skin.

For beginners: Lower % is better sebab takut kulit tak biasa and pedih
For brightening or glowing: 5%
For pigmentation / dark spots: 15-20%


Bila nak guna Vitamin C serum ni?

1. Cleanser
2. Vitamin C
3. Hydrating toner
4. Moisturizer
5. Sunscreen (kalau siang)

If you wanna use hydrating toner first pun boleh, as a buffer supaya kulit tak pedih sangat bila apply vitamin C. Mana mana yang selesa. I suka apply on muka yang bersih supaya dapat optimum benefit.





Vitamin C that I've tried



1. Wardah C Defense Serum
It contains Ethyl Ascorbic Acid which is much stable. Dekat website dia kata "Concentrate serum with Hi-Grade 10% Vitamin C formula" so I'm going to assume that they are using 10% Ethyl Ascorbic Acid. The ingredient list is quite good, no alcohol, no fragrance. Bau dia macam apply gam UHU dekat muka and it is a bit thick. Kena tunggu kejap to make sure it fully absorb. The size is small, 17ml je for around RM30. I might recommend this product sebab for me, ingredients ok, harga ok, tak perlu simpan dalam peti sejuk and senang nak dapat from Watsons.

2. Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop
Contains 5% Ascorbic Acid. Great for beginners. A little bit oily when applied on skin. Cepat oxidised, kena simpan dalam peti sejuk and quite expensive (around RM90 for 30ml)

3. TIAM My Signature C Source
Contains 20% Ascorbic Acid. Not for beginners. I pakai pedih gila tapi it really works to fade dark spots. I use this for my husband. Cepat oxidised, kena simpan dalam peti sejuk tapi half guna, dia dah jadi kuning. So yeah tak boleh guna dah. Around RM70+ for 30ml at Watsons.

4. The Ordinary Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate 10%
As the name, it contains Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate 10%. A stable vitamin C, tak perlu letak dalam peti. Best, I can see the brightening effect. It's cream type (bukan serum). I use this before applying my sunscreen. 30ml tapi cepat habis. 

5. The Ordinary Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%
Two powerful brightening ingredients. It contains 8% Ascorbic Acid but stable form. A little bit oily. Quite expensive. Kalau nak lighten dark spots, this is good kalau takut nak try high % of Ascorbic Acid.


Other Vitamin C serum you can try from drugstore: 

1. DR WU Intensive Whitening Serum with Vitamin C 30ml (RM200+)

2. BYWISHTREND Pure Vitamin C 21.5% Advanced Serum 30ml (RM84+)


3. MELANO CC Pure Vitamin C Essence 30g (RM45.80)







That's all. Thanks for reading!