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The Best Ingredients to Look for in Your Next Serum
Want to give your complexion a boost? Serums are often the best way to do this, which is why they’re considered to be some of the most popular skincare products around. Their lightweight texture enhances absorption, enabling the skin to make the most of the highly concentrated and targeted formulas on offer.
Of course, any skincare product is only as good as the ingredients within it. So, which ingredients should you be looking out for if you want a skin serum that’s capable of transforming your complexion? Stick with Vine Vera as we talk through some of the best:
Resveratrol
Let’s begin with one of our favorite ingredients here at Vine Vera: resveratrol. In fact, we love it so much that we made it our signature ingredient – you’ll find it in every single Vine Vera skincare product.
What’s so great about resveratrol? It’s an extraordinarily powerful antioxidant. Numerous studies back the ingredient up, especially when it comes to how resveratrol is capable of preventing and reducing the appearance of skin aging. Resveratrol also lightens the look of discoloration and soothes the feeling of itching and irritation that can come from dermatitis and other inflammatory skin conditions.
Although resveratrol may offer some impressive results, it’s still a gentle ingredient in terms of how it interacts with the skin. It can safely be used all over the face, including on the skin around the eyes. It’s particularly beneficial for the skin here since the eye area is prone to premature aging. Add the Vine Vera Resveratrol Cabernet High-Potency Eye Serum to your skincare routine, and you’ll soon notice that your eye area looks smoother, firmer, and brighter.
Vitamin C
You probably expected to see vitamin C on this list. After all, vitamin C serums are some of the most popular skincare products out there! While this antioxidant can be beneficial in just about every type of topical product, it works particularly well in a serum, as this allows the deeper layers of your complexion to access the ingredient too.
What makes things tricky is that there are several forms of vitamin C out there. Some will be better suited to your skin than others, making it important to know which to look for:
- Ascorbic acid – this is the most biologically active form of vitamin C. However, it oxidizes quickly and, depending on the formulation that has been used, it could potentially irritate dry and sensitive skin types.
- Sodium ascorbyl phosphate – a very gentle, water-soluble form of vitamin C. It’s not very potent, but this can be great for people with sensitive skin.
- Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate – this derivative’s oil-soluble nature enhances absorption. It’s powerful but stable, and doesn’t usually cause skin irritation. This is why we’ve chosen tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate for the Vine Vera Resveratrol Vitamin C Serum.
- Ascorbyl palmitate – a fat-soluble form of vitamin C, which makes it easily absorbed by the skin. It’s very gentle but not overly potent.
Vitamin A
Another vitamin worth paying attention to is vitamin A. Like vitamin C, it’s available in several different forms. They all work toward the same goal – reducing the appearance of wrinkles, lightening the visibility of dark spots, and giving the skin’s texture a smoother and softer finish. However, they vary quite significantly in terms of intensity…
Retinol is one of the most popular forms of vitamin A. Regular use can work wonders on the complexion, but this ingredient comes with its downsides. Due to its potency, it’s known for irritating the skin, even for those who don’t normally suffer from sensitivities.
Retinyl palmitate is another popular option. Unlike retinol, it doesn’t cause any skin irritation. Yes, it may take a little longer for you to see the same visible results from retinyl palmitate on its own, but it can be combined with other ingredients to make its effects on the complexion comparable to retinol.
This is exactly what we’ve done with the Vine Vera Resveratrol Pinot Noir Longevity Serum. Retinyl palmitate is joined by lactic acid, vitamin C, resveratrol, and sodium hyaluronate, giving you a skin serum that quickly restores and revives the look of youthful skin.
Sodium Hyaluronate
Hyaluronic acid is one of the most talked-about ingredients around. It’s loved for its intense hydrating effects. As a humectant, it draws and binds moisture to the skin, meaning instant hydration!
Sodium hyaluronate is a low molecular weight form of hyaluronic acid – ie, hyaluronic acid that has been broken down into smaller molecules. This allows the skin to absorb it better, meaning that the skin then feels hydrated on a much deeper level.
The more humectants in a skin serum, the more hydrating that serum will be. This is why our String Lift Sculpting System, which contains six different forms/molecular weights of hyaluronic acid combined with other humectants, is loved for its super-hydrating capabilities. This two-part skincare system also contains resveratrol, ensuring that your skin enjoys plenty of antioxidant power too.
Peptides
All of the ingredients that are featured on this list are multitaskers, although some more so than others. This is important when shopping for a skin serum as it means that you can target all of your visible skin concerns with fewer products, to save overloading your skin.
Peptides are prime multitaskers. They offer such a wide range of benefits, starting with how they give the skin a firmer and smoother finish, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. They’re loved for how they leave the skin barrier feeling supported too. This, along with how peptides boast humectant properties, means that skin hydration improves as well.
Peptides also have a soothing effect on the complexion. They calm the feeling of inflammation, meaning that they’re suitable for all skin types.
If you want to make the most of peptides, look for a skin serum that combines a few different types, such as the Vine Vera Chianti Revival Serum. There are three different peptides in this formula, ensuring that your skin really benefits from all that these ingredients have to offer.
Plant Extracts
Natural ingredients play a key role in many skincare products. When it comes to skin serums, they’re most commonly used in the form of extracts, rather than oils. Extracts are lighter and more highly concentrated, lending themselves well to the nature of a serum. With plant extracts, your skin gets access to an array of powerful antioxidants and phytochemicals, many capable of repairing the appearance of environmental damage and aging skin.
When it comes to the different plant extracts out there, you can’t really go wrong! With that said, each has its own effects on the complexion, so pick serums containing those that target your visible skin concerns.
If your skin is feeling inflamed and irritated, give aloe vera leaf extract or chamomile extract a try. On the other hand, if you’re hoping to diminish the look of skin aging, green tea extract or the Szechuan pepper extract used in Vine Vera’s Flawless Finish Silk Capsules would be a great choice.
Plant Stem Cells
Now that we’ve talked about how powerful plant extracts can be, it’s time to move on to plant stem cells. These are often used in extract form too, but unlike regular plant extracts, they’re even more potent and concentrated! They go even further when it comes to repairing the look of skin damage, making them worth seeking out.
Why aren’t plant stem cells more widely used? The tech is still relatively new. However, it’s only going to become more widespread because not only are plant stem cells often more effective than their extract alternatives, but they’re also a much more sustainable ingredient. The biotechnology involved in producing them uses fewer resources, such as soil and water.
You’ll find plant stem cells in a few Vine Vera products, including the Pinot Noir Wrinkle Repair Solution. Rose stem cells feature in this densely concentrated solution, along with other high-performance ingredients that enable it to quickly soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Salicylic Acid
Salicylic acid is an ingredient that people with oily skin will likely be familiar with. This beta-hydroxy acid is known for how it cuts through excess grease to release blockages from the pores.
Salicylic acid also lowers the feeling of inflammation in the skin, counters the appearance of dark spots, and helps to regulate how oily the skin feels. It can work wonders on an acne-prone complexion!
Salicylic acid is a popular ingredient in exfoliating serums. However, unless you have oily skin, be careful when using it. Overdoing it can quickly lead to symptoms of over-exfoliation, which can take months for your skin to recover from.
Other Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Next Skin Serum
While the ingredients in a serum should always be your first point of call, there are a few other factors to consider too.
Firstly, compatibility with the other products in your skincare routine. If you plan on layering your serum in between other products, which is the best way to get the most out of it, make sure that the ingredients in that serum aren’t going to interact negatively with the rest of your skincare routine. It’s usually only potent active ingredients that are problematic, like mixing retinol with an alpha-hydroxy acid.
The packaging of a skin serum matters as well. As we mentioned earlier, certain skincare ingredients oxidize faster than others. This happens when they’re exposed to air, light, or temperature fluctuations. Opaque packaging, along with a pump dispenser, helps to minimize this.
Of course, always check out product reviews. These will tell you so much about how a skin serum works in real-life situations. Sometimes, no matter how good a product may seem, it just doesn’t cut it in reality. This is exactly what you’ll be able to find out by reading reviews.
Summary
While serums can have a transformational effect on the complexion, this only happens if you choose the right one. Pick the ingredients that your skin needs the most, apply them in the form of a serum, and your skin should start to look and feel healthier in no time.
Click here to browse more of Vine Vera’s bestselling skincare products.
