Get glowing skin with vitamin C

Hands up for brighter skin? We thought so… Vitamin C is basking in the limelight of the beauty world right now. And it’s a good thing, as the environment is giving us a bit of a battering. Radiation, sunlight and pollution all stress our skin, damaging collagen and speeding up the aging process, but this skincare wonder product helps us fight back. As well as being a powerful natural antioxidant, vit C is one of the best vitamins for skin – it protects against free radicals to keep you looking youthful, brightens skin, fades dark spots and can even boost your sunscreen's protection. Here are the vitamin’s ABCs to get the most bang for your buck.

What’s in a name?

Vitamin C has lots of clunky-sounding names; L-ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbyl palmitate and retinyl ascorbate are the most common in beauty products, so make sure you decipher the label. Look out for natural ingredients that are packed with vitamin C like orange, rosehip, pink grapefruit and guava.

Time to concentrate

Concentrate, concentrate – it’s important! The more potent in vitamin C the product is, the quicker and more dramatic the results will be. Essentially, the higher up the ingredients list, the better.

It’s all in the delivery

Serums are the most effective way of getting vitamin C, as they are more concentrated, and can be used as a base under other products to supercharge your routine. Face masks, toners and oils are also fantastic ways of boosting your skin’s vitamin C.

Keep it in the dark

Sunlight is not vitamin C’s best friend – it can break it down and make the skincare products less effective, so pick opaque containers, and keep them in a dark environment in sealed packaging.

Check out that package

When antioxidants are exposed to air too often they can break down, so look for vitamin C skincare products in air-tight packaging, pumps, pipettes or individually wrapped products such as single-use facemasks. Handpicked article: How to get the most from vitamin C Shop Skin Care