While they have a ton of different skin-brightening options, we think their alpha-arbutin serum stands out as both unique and quite effective. Now that you know our selection criteria, you must be curious about the brightening serums we picked! Any company can take a liquid, slap the word “brightening serum” on its label, and charge big bucks for it. We don’t want you to spend a ton of money and end up disappointed, so we kept some important factors in mind when selecting the best brightening serums for our list. The lactic acid in Biossance’s vegan overnight resurfacing serum breaks down dead skin cells as you sleep, leaving skin more smooth and soft by morning. Ciara recently launched a skincare brand, and this vitamin C serum from the new collection does not disappoint go here.
For those suffering from uneven texture and tone, incorporating one of the best brightening serums into your skin care routine will help reveal a more radiant complexion and even help correct some other skin care woes as well. Vitamin C's antioxidant properties mean that it can neutralize free radicals, which are molecules created by external factors like air pollution and sunlight, says Dr. Zeichner. And since free radicals speed up signs of aging, vitamin C helps address fine lines they cause, too. Think of it as the ideal daytime counterpart to the retinol or acids you might use at night to smooth over your skin, speed up cellular turnover, and treat acne scars left over from breakouts. Pigment Expert by ISDINCEUTICS acts as a targeted serum that brightens and evens skin tone.
As avid vitamin C serum enthusiasts, we know a good formula when we try one. Sometimes the most buzz-worthy products don’t live up to expectations, but this one absolutely does. It has a lightweight, fast-absorbing formula that doesn’t feel sticky or drying on the skin, it’s easy to apply and layer in a skincare routine and yielded some really impressive results. As for the texture of the product, it’s not liquidy nor oily; rather, it almost feels like a lightweight paste.
Another pick that’s suitable for all skin types, this gel contains vitamin C and asafetida extract, an ancient Asian powerhouse that’s highly effective at improving dull skin and hyperpigmentation. “Plus, it can be used anywhere else on the body, making it a great ‘bang for your buck’ multipurpose product,” says Omaha-based board-certified dermatologist Joel Schlessinger, M.D., founder of the brand. You can use an illuminating serum as a primer, as some may help makeup apply more evenly and look smoother. And it goes without saying, but always apply your makeup after you have completed your entire skincare routine.
Serums with alpha hydroxy acids, like lactic acid or glycolic acid, provide a much-needed exfoliating effect. Dark spots can result from many things—like post-acne scarring and sun damage—and they can often be tricky to fade. But if you have fairly surface-level dark spots, we highly recommend incorporating a vitamin C serum into your routine because the powerful antioxidant has been known to help lighten hyperpigmentation.
And tt's fruiter ingredients - mango, lychee and Japanese mandarin- are far from a vanity addition as they work to even out skin tone and boost the skin’s radiance. This retinal serum is a great all-rounder if you’re new to retinoid products. This is the lowest strength in the range, so it is a great starting point to help brighten the skin, as well as smooth wrinkles and skin texture in one hit. Once your skin is used to it, you can level up to the next highest strength.
LANEIGE Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Serum: Hydrate and Visibly Soothe, 1.6 fl. oz.
Whether you have oily, dry or sensitive skin (or all the above – skin can be picky!) there’s a brightening serum for your skin type and budget below. Ideal for dry skin, this serum from La Roche-Posay has a creamier formula that contains 10% vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, which is great for hydrating and plumping skin. La Roche-Posay thermal spring water is said to "repel free radicals and soothe skin." After using it daily for a little over a month, one reviewer shares that her skin looks brighter and feels smoother.
Along with regular brightening serum exofaliation and moisturizing, adding a brightening serum to your skincare routine can give your complexion an added boost in the vibrance department. The main ingredient in here is alpha-arbutin, a derivative of the much more intense and slightly controversial hydroquinone. It’s a promising pigmentation treatment, and many users find that it helps reduce post-acne marks, melasma, and sunspots. The formula also includes hyaluronic acid, so it gives a boost to your moisturizing routine and adds luminosity to the skin. Our 5% Retexturizing Complex—a Green Coffee Seed and AHA/BHA blend—helps support skin’s natural enzymatic action to boost cell turnover for smoother skin texture and less visible pores over time.
- And, expectedly for a beloved Vitamin C product, it combats dullness and pigmentation while supporting natural cell turnover for glowy-AF skin.
- Radiance-boosting serums that don’t contain any exfoliants should be safe for most, if not all, skin types.
- GH Beauty Lab Senior Chemist Sabina Wizemann loves this splurge-worthy SkinCeuticals serum, a dermatologist gold standard, for its gentle yet effective performance.
- It’s safe and gentle, but even more importantly, it’s not a feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason paraben.
- Other ingredients that can help promote glowing, bright skin are niacinamide, alpha hydroxy acids, and retinol, says Levin.
This multi-action brightening serum visibly brightens dull skin in one shot. Infused with Vitamin C plus a 5% Retexturizing Complex, the formula noticeably smooths skin and reduces the look of pores over time. Many brightening serums contain ingredients with SPF to prevent future pigmentation. However, it is also advisable to layer on a cream with SPF on top of the serum for maximum effect. More specifically, it evens out skin tone, lightens it, reduces visible flaws and leaves skin nourished.
Best Anti-Aging
Also, it can help to increase the solubility of some other ingredients in the formula. A helper ingredient that usually comes to the formula coupled withPEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil. It's a non-sticky duo that works at low concentration and is often used to solubilize fragrance components into water-based formulas. Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend.
We found it to be a game-changer, especially when used as part of a cohesive skincare routine. The best pigmentation fighting ingredients, like vitamin C, arbutin, azelaic acid, and hydroquinone, disrupt the melanin-production process which evens out the skin tone over time. It’s a slow process, and results usually take a couple of months at a minimum. The main skin brightening ingredient in this serum is ascorbic acid, which is used at 5%. While it’s a fairly low amount, there is still research showing that it’s effective at improving the appearance of sun-damaged skin, and it still gives the skin an important antioxidant boost. We love that this serum also includes niacinamide which boosts its brightening action and offers antioxidant protection from external aggressors.
It's a clinically-proven formula with three forms of vitamin C to brighten dull skin, vitamin E to help moisturize, and vitamin A to promote a smoother-looking complexion overall. Ahead learn all about brightening serums, including what they are and how to apply them. Then, keep scrolling to shop some of the best brightening serums available on the market at every price point. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product. We recommend our GinZing™ Energizing Gel Cream— one of our best-selling daily moisturizers for oily skin.
“Using a brightening serum at night aids in the natural repair process while sleeping,” explains Levin. When in doubt, make sure to consult with a dermatologist about the best treatment and maintenance plans. One product that deserves a spot in everyone's daily skincare routine, regardless of skin type or concerns, is a brightening serum. It has a patented antioxidant that helps brighten dark spots from sun damage, right through to fading stubborn post-acne dark spots. It has a lightweight formula that doesn’t feel sticky on the skin, making it great to wear under makeup and it won’t irritate sensitive skin.
SkinCeuticals' C E Ferulic acid is formulated with vitamin C and E in their purest form, protecting the face from environmental damage while rendering the skin more bright and tight. If you’re a skincare junkie, you’ve probably heard about Dr. Barbara Strum—an aesthetics doctor who became a household name after performing a vampire facial on Kim Kardashian. She also has a line of effective (and blood-free!) skincare products that includes this serum.
With concentrates designed to promote collagen production, vitamin A and peptides, the serum is designed to simultaneously strengthen your skin and reduce fine lines. Below, we’ve compiled the best brightening serums on the market, from the gentlest ceramide-rich serum to multi-purpose products we turn to time after time. Sometimes achieving a brighter complexion can feel like a full-time job. But if don’t have time for a multi-step routine, there’s one easy solution to get luminous fast—and no, it’s not highlighter.
Sometimes it seems like a product is cheap when it actually comes in a smaller quantity, so we also mention how much serum you get in each bottle. Combine the most stable form of vitamin C with plant-sourced collagen amino acid, and you’ll get this gel-serum that’s designed to give you a tighter and brighter complexion. Biopeptide El - A six amino acid peptide that is claimed to improve firmness (by 33% in one month) and skin tone (by 20%). Just like its sibling, alpha-arbutin is also a skin-brightening, depigmenting agent. It's a common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together.
Best of all, the formula absorbs super-fast while leaving the skin smooth, hydrated, and effortlessly dewy. The secret to this beloved serum is its active ingredient, viniferine, which comes from grapevine sap and, according to the brand, is 62 times more effective than vitamin C when boosting radiance. This recipe also hydrates without feeling greasy, thanks to the ingredient olive squalane. Lightweight and great for evening skin tone, you can rest assured that it's not lacking at all in efficacy. Estheticians that focus on deeper skin tones like Tiara Willis have noted that vitamin C serums aren’t as effective for hyperpigmentation, although they’re still very beneficial as antioxidants. If you’re not dealing with hyperpigmentation, you might be looking for a brightening serum that can just get rid of dullness and make your skin glow.
It doesn’t contain a laundry list of other actives so you can ease into your new regimen seamlessly. One of the main benefits of vitamin C is that it protects against environmental stressors, like UV light and pollution, which can cause free radical damage to the skin. It’s a powerful antioxidant that promotes a smooth, clear, and even complexion with consistent use.
Below, find the 12 best brightening serums that’ll give you the glowy skin of your dreams—no expensive facial required. INSTANT RADIANCE - FIRM SKIN - ANTI-SPOT A one-of-a-kind brightening serum with REAL visible diamond clusters - hard-science backed, yet indulgent and generous. A dual-chamber system of synergistic power-ingredients – glutathione, alpha-arbutin, vitamins C and E, clinically-tested multi peptides, soy isoflavones and… diamonds, so abundant even your eyes...
"Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant," explains board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, the director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai’s Department of Dermatology in New York City. “It interferes with pigment production and keeps inflammation at bay.” Not only that, but it can also support collagen production. OLEHENRIKSEN Banana Bright 15% Vitamin C Serum is our fave for brightening because it leaves the skin with a glow right after application and it helps to improve the skin’s radiance over time with consistent use. Not only that, but we noticed a real improvement in our skin texture; after the six-week testing period, our faces looked and felt smoother and softer overall. While we didn’t see a major difference in the radiance of our skin, the texture and tone improvements were so great that it wasn’t a deal breaker for us.
"It firms and brightens skin, and leaves it supple and glowy," thanks to the conditioning and anti-inflammatory properties of added vitamin E. "It contains vitamin E and ferulic acid, and this combination has been shown to complement sunscreens and reduce the effects of environmental stressors on the skin," she says. This brightening serum by SkinCeuticals reduces the appearance of dark spots and discoloration through its blend of kojic acid, tranexamic acid, and niacinamide. It also contains 5% HEPES, a synthetically-derived acid that acts as goo-gone for the skin, unsticking dead skin cells for even exfoliation.
This serum combines both azelaic acid and salicylic acid to help even skin tone, and reduce bumpy texture and redness. This lightweight serum is perfect for applying underneath makeup while offering an extra boost of radiance. It's made with vitamin C, niacinamide, and lactic acid to give a brighter, hydrated, and healthy-looking complexion. Discover the science behind brightening serums, their benefits, and how to choose the perfect one for your skin. Learn how these powerful formulas work to unveil a radiant complexion and why selecting the right serum is crucial for achieving optimal results.
While we struggled a bit to set up the dispensing part of the packaging for the initial use, once it was complete, the product was easy to use moving forward. We also loved that our skin looked slightly brighter after consistent use, and the fine lines near our mouths appeared to have smoothed out a bit. If you’re a vitamin C newbie and worry about the adjustment period when skin might be slightly more irritated this product is ideal.
So now that you know everything there is to know about brightening serums, go ahead and get your glow on! Whether you’re dealing with pigmentation and dullness, we also recommend skin renewers. These are serums that help the skin shed dead cells and trigger cell turnover. They include chemical exfoliants like glycolic, lactic, and salicylic acids, as well as retinol. Because of the lactic acid, it’s extremely important to use sunscreen diligently while using this serum. Be aware that hydroquinone is usually not recommended for those with darker skin tones because overuse can lead to ochronosis.
The L’Oreal Revitalift 10% Glycolic Acid Serum is a slightly more gentle choice. If you heave hearty, non-sensitive skin, you can combine this serum with renewing treatments like the Eva Naturals Skin Clearing Serum for faster results. This formula is patented so other brands using this combination of ingredients have to reduce the pH to avoid patent infringement.
This serum is uniquely formulated to stimulate collagen production while you sleep. “It delivers a pure concentration of vitamins A, C, E, and other nutrients to exfoliate, renew, and replenish skin overnight,” says Dr. Green, who created the brand. “Retinol, or retinoids, can brighten the skin by reducing the synthesis of melanin, the pigments that make up dark spots,” says Dr. Belkin. Putting in the effort to figure out what will work for you is totally worth it.
