Hey, loves! I hope you’re all having a great start to your week! We have had the most beautiful weather here in Dallas lately and can’t believe some of y’all are still getting snow! Crazy! I’m praying our “spring weather” lasts longer than a week or two, haha. 80s are wonderful, but 90s during Spring isn’t my favorite. As our weather changes, how many of you guys are worried about your skin? I know as temps rise I spend more time outdoors and therefore feel the need to protect my skin more.
A couple of years ago my skin was diagnosed with melasma. Melasma is just a fancy way of saying I have brown spots/patches on my skin. Melasma is more common in women than men (greaaat), and is often triggered by hormones. My onset started during my second pregnancy. It’s one of those skin conditions that doesn’t really go away. However, it can be tamed with sun protection and good skin care.
You have probably seen via social media that I go to Unit Skin Studio often for Micropen treatments for my Melasma. But, apart from treatments, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I can do on a daily basis to help my skin. One of the things I use daily is a high SPF sunscreen – Elta MD. It’s my favorite sunscreen by far – it’s light weight, unscented and doesn’t make your skin oily.
The other thing I’ve been using on a regular basis is a vitamin C serum. Vitamin C does wonders for your skin. Vitamin C stimulate collagen, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, and helps reduce discolorations on your skin. Obviously the latter is what I’m going for. Now, Vitamin C serum is not going to “fix” your skin, but it can definitely help. I’ve been using it consistently for 2 years now and it’s one of the only products that helps prolong my melasma from getting darker.
The one thing that’s hard about Vitamin C serum though is that it can be expensive. We’re talking about hundreds of dollars expensive. That for me, is pretty hard to justify when I’m already spending hundreds on Micropen treatments. So, over the past 6 months I’ve been trying out different vitamin C serums in hopes to find some that are good and beneficial for my skin as well as affordable. Thankfully, I’ve narrowed down my favorites to two choices and am sharing with you the good and the bad of each one.
Top 2 Affordable Vitamin C Serums
- KORRES WILD ROSE VITAMIN C ACTIVE BRIGHTENING OIL ($54) – Oh man, y’all. This is my all time favorite Vitamin C oil hence why I put it first. Oh, and did I mention that it smells like roses because it does and it’s divine. This oil works well with all skin types and is free of parabens, sulfates, and phthalates. It contains omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, as well as Vitamin A. This product was also the 2016 Allure Best of Beauty Award for 2016. Cool, right? This oil has proven to work the best for my skin. This oil does the best job of any product I’ve used at keeping my skin tone as even as possible. It also helps to repair fine lines and that’s a huge bonus. I will say that it feels a bit oily when you first start using it. So, give it a week and your skin will adjust.
- TruSkin Naturals Vitamin C serum ($20) – After reading some of the 8k+ reviews on Amazon, I decided to give this one a go a couple months back. I liked the price point at $20, but was a bit nervous considering it was significantly cheaper than other serums I had used. This product has a plant based formula and is cruelty free. It also contains vitamin E and Hyaluronic Acid, which was a huge for me. Additionally, it boasts of 20% vitamin C, which is more than typical serums which are around 10-15% vitamin C. I was actually pleasantly surprised with this one. It worked just as well as the Korres one above. The only qualm I have with this one is that it dries your face out. I found I could combat the dryness by putting a lightweight serum on top of it. This Illuminating Serum from Tula is the one I use and it’s fabulous. But, if you have really oily skin, you may not need an additional serum. Either way, at $20 it’s worth a shot!
I hope you guys enjoyed this post today. As I add more beauty to Fleurdille, please feel free to reach out to me with any topic you may want to know about!
