We Tested 19 Vitamin C Serums. Here Are Our Favorites for Gorgeous, Glowing Skin

If you’ve ever made a fruit salad, you know that squeezing a lemon on your apple and banana slices keeps them from turning brown. It’s largely the vitamin C in the lemon that keeps the fruit from oxidizing. Vitamin C offers the same protective benefits to your own skin.

“Vitamin C is wonderful,” says Angela Lamb, MD, a dermatologist and associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “It’s good for targeting brown spots because it has antioxidant properties. It helps with pigmentation and brightening of tone.”

Like the lemon on the apple, vitamin C provides a protective shield that “neutralizes free radical damage from environmental factors that accelerate signs of skin aging, such as UV exposure and pollution,” says Helen He, MD, a dermatologist and the director of lasers and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai in New York City. This is why vitamin C is best applied in the morning — a large part of its benefit comes from shielding your skin from the onslaught of stressors you’re exposed to throughout the day.

We tested 19 leading vitamin C serums (and one cream) to put together a list of our 10 favorites. I had never used vitamin C consistently before this trial, and by the end of it, I was sold. My skin is luminous and glowing, and its tone is so even that I’ve stopped regularly using concealer. The dark circles I’ve always had under my eyes have almost disappeared. The power of vitamin C has been a revelation for me, and it’s one you can easily experience yourself.

We’ve included picks at different price points, suitable for various skin types, and catering to specific issues to help you select a vitamin C serum that brings out the best in your skin.

• Best High-Concentration: TruSkin Vitamin C Serum
• Best Hydrating: Bubble Day Dream Tone & Texture Serum
• Best Drugstore Brand: e.l.f. SKIN Bright Icon Vitamin C + E + Ferulic Serum
• Best for Sensitive Skin: Typology L32 Radiance Serum 11% Vitamin C + Silk Tree Extract
• Best for Dark Spots: Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Clearing Serum
• Best for Acne-Prone Skin: Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum 
• Best for Mature Skin: Revision Skincare C+ Correcting Complex 30%® Vitamin C Serum
• Best for Dry Skin: Innisfree Green Tea Enzyme Vitamin C Brightening Serum
• Best for Redness: The Inkey List 15% Vitamin C + EGF Serum
• Best for Building a Strong Skin Barrier: SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF with Ferulic Acid 
• Best Cream: Laneige Radian-C Cream

We tested 19 vitamin C serums for this roundup. Although these didn’t quite make the cut, we still found them outstanding enough to recommend:

Maelove: The Glow Maker Antioxidant Serum

Maelove’s Glow Maker serum is one of Dr. He’s top choices in vitamin C serums. It’s got both ferulic acid and vitamin E as well as a powerful dose of 15 percent pure L-ascorbic acid. The catch is the odor. “It smells smoky. The scent reminded me of what hot dogs smell like right out of the package, and made continued use very difficult,” says Rowe, who tested this product.

Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum

I was excited to try this serum, as it has a great reputation, and I generally love Drunk Elephant products. It didn’t disappoint in terms of results, either — it improved my skin tone, firmed my fine lines, and faded my freckles. For me, the issue was the metallic smell and the application feel. This serum is quite a bit thicker than any other I’ve tried, which makes it harder to evenly coat your whole face and causes the smell to linger. Covering the serum with lotion neutralized the stickiness, but it still felt heavy and greasy on my skin.

La Roche-Posay Vitamin C12 Serum

We love that La Roche-Posay’s 12 percent vitamin C serum comes in two formulations, one for normal and one for oily/combination skin. It’s also boosted with hyaluronic acid to moisturize and salicylic acid to exfoliate. “This was my favorite of the vitamin C serums I tested because I felt like I noticed the best results with it,” says Scully. However, she did notice the serum felt sticky on her face and fingers. We also took issue with the bottle: It contains pure vitamin C, which is unstable and degrades easily when exposed to sunlight, yet it comes packaged in a transparent, light orange bottle. It may look more appealing than muted dark brown or completely opaque bottles, which are the industry standard, but it will degrade more rapidly if stored on a counter exposed to sunlight.

After conducting extensive research, including interviews with two top dermatologists, Angela Lamb, MD, a dermatologist and associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and Helen He, MD, a dermatologist and the director of lasers and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai in New York City, we chose 19 vitamin C serums to test over two months between six testers. I brought my own experience, including years of evaluating and writing about healthcare products and being picky about skin care, to the table.

We assessed effectiveness, considering how well the product worked and what it excelled at in particular. We also took into account the application process, including whether the container was easy to use, whether the scent was appealing or off-putting, and how the serum felt on our skin. We also noted any irritation that occurred.

Based on our findings, we pared down our selection to our 11 favorite serums and one cream, which we feel are truly outstanding and accommodate a variety of skin concerns and price points.

When picking out a vitamin C serum, there are a few factors you’re going to want to take into account. Considering what kind of skin you have, what results you’re hoping to get, what additional ingredients a formula has, and how much you’re willing to spend will help you hone in on the perfect vitamin C serum for you.

Type of Skin

Derivatives are generally considered less irritating than pure vitamin C and better suited to sensitive skin. If your skin is particularly oily or dry, picking a serum that specifically suits your skin type may help. If you have normal skin that tolerates products well, you may want to pick something more powerful. You want to get the most effective serum for your skin type, without risking irritation.

Desired Results

All vitamin C serums primarily target evening out skin tone, but different formulations do cater to specific needs. If you’re looking to clear acne, fade scars, tighten your skin, or address dark spots, vitamin C can address all of these concerns. However, different serums may be better suited to target specific issues, depending on their individual formulations.

Additional Ingredients and Considerations

Vitamin B3, or niacinamide, is sometimes rumored to weaken the effects of vitamin C, but most dermatologists agree this is actually a myth. Mixing stabilized vitamin C with niacinamide is great for repairing the moisture barrier and developing strong, healthy skin.

Specialty ingredients may be added to a product. Pay attention to the signature ingredients used in a formula and their impact on your skin. Ingredients like phloretin, green tea extract, caffeine, epidermal growth factor (EGF), and madecassoside, all of which appear on this list, are powerful ingredients in their own right and may have a significant impact on how your serum feels and affects your skin. If you’d rather keep it simple, there are also more basic serums that really focus on vitamin C as the sole hero ingredient.

Price can vary a lot. The serums on this list range from under $20 to close to $200, so getting a vitamin C serum can be an impulse Target buy or a serious investment. It’s nice to be able to try a clinically proven product like vitamin C at a low price point, but maybe you want to splurge and treat yourself to a high-end product that’s going to be a great way to pamper yourself every day. (You deserve it.)

Apply vitamin C in the morning. Much of its benefit lies in protecting your skin from daytime stressors, including UV rays and other environmental factors, like pollution.

If you’re wondering how to best round out your skin care, a popular method for anti-aging has been coined the “CSA routine”: It involves applying a vitamin C serum in the morning, covering it with sunscreen, and then applying a retinoid (vitamin A) at night. “I like that, that’s perfect,” says Lamb of the CSA routine. She follows it herself, and “100 percent” recommends it to her patients.

Being a powerful antioxidant may be vitamin C’s main superpower, but it’s much more than a one-trick pony.

“It’s one of my favorite skin care ingredients because it has many benefits on the skin that are backed by scientific evidence. It is also a key ingredient for producing and maintaining collagen, supports immune and barrier function of the skin, and targets hyperpigmentation,” says He. With its long list of scientifically proven benefits, vitamin C is an easy, affordable way to step up your skin care routine.

Vitamin C’s primary effect is in evening skin tone, fading dark spots, and generally creating bright, luminous skin. It does have some impact on wrinkles and lines, but generally speaking, managing wrinkles is more of a retinol thing.

“I recommend vitamin C to many of my patients who want to brighten their complexion or address specific skin concerns like uneven skin tone, hyperpigmentation, age spots, sunspots, or dullness. I practice in New York City, where many of my patients are constantly exposed to pollution, tobacco smoke, and other sources of oxidative stress. Antioxidants like vitamin C play a key role in skin health and anti-aging,” says He.

Not very much, according to Lamb. “So, unlike retinols, where there’s a lot of data around which one binds to a particular receptor, a lot of (C-derivatives) are all about stability,” Lamb explains, rather than differing in function. “We don't have as much talk about like, ‘Oh, what type of vitamin C it is?’ Unlike, for example, a retinol, [where] we have more categories. It’s not as nuanced with the vitamin C.”

That said, L-ascorbic acid is pure vitamin C. It’s the strongest, most effective form of vitamin C available. About a dozen popular derivatives are used in skin care, and while none are as strong as L-ascorbic acid, they usually don’t vary too greatly in concentration, either.

According to an independent study from the skin care company Exponent, SAP and MAP are 58 percent as potent as L-ascorbic acid, and 3-0-ethyl ascorbic acid is 86 percent as effective. So, derivatives are weaker but still in the same ballpark.