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Face serums are a must for anyone interested in maximizing their skin’s potential and targeting those little annoyances like dryness, lines, dark spots or excess oil. But that’s the simple part: it’s choosing a serum to suit your skin that can be a bit of a minefield…

If you’re yet to introduce a serum into your skincare routine, let us be the ones to tell you – the right one could change your life. Yes it’ll add another step to your beauty routine, but honestly, what’s an extra minute or so between friends? And when you see what the right one can do for your skin, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Lightweight and super-powered, serums pack a real punch thanks to their small molecular makeup. What does this really mean? Simple: small molecules allow for a deeper penetration of active ingredients and therefore more effective results for your skin. A serum is able to get right under your skin where regular lotions and moisturizers dare not, and in all honesty cannot, go. This means they are way more effective at targeting specific issues like discoloration, fine lines, wrinkles and any other bugbear you care to mention.

But how do you know where to start? Erm, right here, with these six, cleverly formulated serums that cater for the most common skincare types and concerns.

1. Normal or Dry Skin Types: C-Plus Super Serum

One of our favorite all-rounders, think of C-Plus Super Serum as your go-to for maintaining healthy, more radiant skin. Packed with vitamin C, along with niacinamide, retinol, hyaluronic acid and MSM it reads like a veritable who’s who of clinically-proven skincare ingredients. And if you’re worried about this cocktail of active ingredients playing havoc with your skin, don’t be. C-Plus Super Serum is surprisingly gentle and free of common irritants like synthetic fragrance, silicones, parabens and sulfates. It’s a bit of show-off, we know, but deservedly so. Use it two or three times a week for the best results.

2. Oily Skin: Tea Tree Clear Skin Super Serum

A customer must-have for reducing breakouts and balancing excess oils while maintaining a certain kindness to aging skin, Tea Tree Clear Skin Super Serum has been touted as “pretty life-changing” by one particular fan. Yes, truly.

Research shows that tea tree oil boasts anti-bacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties, making it an effective treatment for mild to moderate acne… and a great, natural alternative to benzoyl peroxide. Tea tree oil can also help balance oiliness, minimize enlarged pores and may even help relieve dryness. We combine it with salicylic acid, retinol and plenty of other age-defying ingredients to produce this gentle but oh-so-effective serum that your skin will love. Use it to spot treat troublesome breakouts, or apply it all-over, two to three times a week before moisturizing.

3. Dry Or Dehydrated Skin: Hyaluronic Acid Serum

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has been having a moment in skincare for quite some time now. And its popularity is not going away. A key component in your skin's natural makeup, HA has the unique capacity of retaining up to 1,000 times its weight in water. We’ll just let that sink in for a minute. One. Thousand. Times.

This sponge-like quality makes HA extremely important for keeping your skin moisturized and healthy, and it's why it rightfully takes its place at the top of ingredients your skin can’t get enough of. Hyaluronic Acid Serum harnesses the powers of this water-loving ingredient and blends it with vitamins C and E, plus jojoba oil to help lock moisture into your skin. A real find for dry, dehydrated or ANY skin type, if you ask us.

4. Aging Skin: Retinol Serum

Speaking of ingredients that can literally do no wrong, let’s give a big shout out to retinol. Proven time and time again to be one of the most effective ingredients for reducing the visible signs of aging, retinol is a topical form of vitamin A that activates certain genes in your skin to boost collagen production and stimulate your skin cells to turn over more efficiently. This helps soften wrinkles and dark spots, and it's dynamite at making your skin look, well, damn good.

Our Retinol Serum combines retinol with HA, vitamin E, aloe and green tea – an awesome combination known to help hydrate, protect, nourish and reduce irritation. Priceless.

5. Sensitive Skin: Niacinamide Serum

Sensitive skin and active ingredients don’t often make for a match made in heaven. However, niacinamide is one of the exceptions to this rule. A proven antioxidant, niacinamide boasts all the usual benefits of your favorite free radical-fighters (ie: an improvement in dark spots, lines, wrinkles, blemishes and firmness), plus it helps regulate inflammation and improve your barrier function to strengthen and protect your delicate skin. And all this with few to no side-effects. Yes, there really is a beauty god.

Niacinamide Facial Serum might only be a year old but it’s already a favorite with customers looking for an antioxidant serum that brightens and balances skin gently, yet effectively.

6. Dull Or Sun Damaged Skin: Vitamin C Serum

We don’t like to blow our trumpets too much, but our awesome Vitamin C Serum continues to turn heads and now boasts over 65,000 reviews on Amazon. In fact, it’s the number one best seller in facial serums. Just saying.

One of the most effective and highly researched antioxidants in skincare, topical vitamin C works hard to boost collagen, fade dark spots and protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun. Depending on the type of vitamin C used, it can be a tad too good to be true for some skin types, but we use sodium ascorbyl phosphate (SAP) in our formulations which is more gentle than the pure stuff… but equally as effective. This classic serum combines SAP with vitamin E, hyaluronic acid, MSM and a whole host of botanicals for a glow-boosting treat you'll want to use time and time again.

PS: Before We Go…

Our serums have been carefully curated to suit all skin types, but still, they contain a lot of potent active ingredients so they should always be applied with care. The golden rules? 1. Do a patch test first. 2. Introduce one slowly into your routine (two or three times a week) before applying it every day. And 3. Always finish with your favorite moisturizer to lock all those ingredients into your skin.

Done and done.

Niacinamide is one of the most effective skincare ingredients for improving the overall health of your skin. Retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid and friends all love to steal the limelight, but niacinamide is right up there and also deserves its fair share of attention. So, we're here to do just that...

Otherwise known as nicotinamide, niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 that’s found in many foods including meat, fish, poultry, beans, whole grains and green veggies. It’s an essential nutrient for your health and well-being, and plays a vital role in your diet by converting fats and sugars into energy. 

As a topical treatment, niacinamide can also be used to treat a whole bunch of skin types and concerns, making it a total powerhouse in our minds. Here’s what we know about the water-soluble vitamin that’s having a big moment in skincare right now...

1. One of our favorite things about niacinamide is that, along with vitamins C and E, it’s an effective antioxidant that works hard to help your skin neutralize free radicals. Not sure what free radicals are? In short, they’re highly reactive molecules that have unpaired electrons in their outer shells. Free radicals are produced in the skin when you over-expose it to things like light, heat and pollution, and in order to stabilize themselves they snatch electrons from other molecules such as DNA, collagen and elastin. This results in major damage to the skin through a process called oxidative stress.

The good news, however, is that antioxidants are able to donate the odd electron to free radicals without losing stability. This means that skin damage is dramatically reduced and free radicals lose both the battle and the war.

This is why antioxidants such as niacinamide are such an important part of your skincare routine.

2. Niacinamide also has the power to increase the production of ceramides in the uppermost layers of the skin which helps maintain a strong, protective barrier and improves the overall resiliency of your skin.

Ceramides make up over 50 percent of the skin’s composition making them pretty darn important. They're waxy lipids that work like glue to hold your skin together to help retain moisture and protect it from external factors like pollution and dry air. The problem is that ceramides become depleted with age – no surprise there, right? They also feel the hit from things like harsh skincare products and a poor diet.

And this is where niacinamide comes to the rescue. Studies show that niacinamide can increase the biosynthesis of ceramides and various other lipids which makes it a super-effective ingredient for improving the moisture levels in your skin. By maintaining top notch hydration, it also helps reduce the visible signs of aging such as dryness, dehydration, fine lines and wrinkles. Win win.

3. Great news for anyone concerned with aging around the eyes: niacinamide is a perfectly safe (and effective) treatment for the delicate skin around the eye area. It may even help improve crow’s feet, dark circles, dryness and sagging. That’ll be due to its clever way of boosting ceramide production.

4. Acne-prone skin loves niacinamide and various research seen in the International Journal of Dermatology and The Dermatology Times proves it. How so? Because niacinamide has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, meaning it helps reduce unwanted redness, inflammation and swelling. Something acne-sufferers know a lot about.

Patients with mild rosacea may also find relief from skincare containing niacinamide, but it’s always wise to speak to a derm beforehand if you’re concerned.

5. Topical niacinamide is an effective ingredient for improving texture, regulating oil production and helping to reduce enlarged pores. This makes it perfect for oily or combination skin types because it works hard to balance the skin without stripping it of essential moisture and protection.

6. Anyone with sensitive skin knows how tough it can be to find effective skincare that doesn’t cause your skin to breakout. Well, niacinamide could be just the ingredient you’re looking for...

As antioxidants and anti-aging ingredients go, niacinamide is a bit of a dark horse. Unlike retinoids and vitamin C (which we love, btw, they’re just not for everyone), niacinamide is very well tolerated by almost all skin types. It can even help soothe and calm irritation caused by other ingredients or skin conditions such as rosacea or eczema. Just remember not to overuse it or it could have the reverse effect and exacerbate redness. So not what anyone wants.

7. Speaking of other skincare ingredients, niacinamide is a great way to help reduce the drying effects of active ingredients like retinol and salicylic acid due to its innate ability to strengthen the skin and help prevent moisture loss. Our advice, however? Either stick with a retinol/AHA/BHA at night and apply your niacinamide formulation in the morning, or let the professionals do the ingredient cocktailing for you. This will help prevent any amateur mishaps from causing your skin to flare-up. 

8. Niacinamide can be a good alternative for reducing hyperpigmentation if your skin is sensitive to stronger actives such as tretinoin. And similar to the cocktailing tricks mentioned above, it can also be combined with various brightening or lightening ingredients such as arbutin or kojic acid to help reduce sensitivities while targeting unwanted pigmentation. Neat, huh? 

9. The New England Journal of Medicine has produced some interesting research on the effects of niacinamide on skin cancer. Namely that niacinamide, when taken orally, can potentially help prevent new non-melanoma skin cancers from developing on previous skin cancer patients.

According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US and the annual cost of treating it is estimated to be in the tens of billions. Non-melanoma skin cancers such as basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas are primarily caused by over-exposure to UV radiation which is why wearing a daily, broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or above is so important. Because of the studies as mentioned above, many top derms also recommend a daily dose of oral niacinamide to patients with a high risk for non-melanoma skin cancers.

10. There’s a lot going for niacinamide and very little reason to doubt it as an effective anti-aging, anti-inflammatory ingredient… with benefits. Obviously, it’s no miracle-worker, but then again, no skincare ingredient can completely turn back time and give you the baby-soft skin you were born with.

And it’s always worth remembering that.

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

With their countless skincare benefits, antioxidants are to skin what Netflix is to your couch – sheer bliss. Here’s everything you need to know about these super-effective skincare powerhouses…

Sure, many beauty buzzwords are on a need-to-know basis (yes, we’re talking to you glycosaminoglycans), but there are a few key terms and ingredients you really have to understand. And antioxidants are right up there.

Here at TruSkin, we truly believe antioxidants are the key to a healthy, radiant complexion. How so? Fair question, so let’s buckle up for a few facts, shall we?

First, a small science lesson. As far as your skin is concerned, antioxidants are naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals that help prevent damage caused by free radicals. What are free radicals? They’re the result of exposure to light, heat, pollution or other external aggressors and for fear of bombarding you with too much chemistry spiel, they’re highly reactive, unstable atoms with unpaired electrons in their outer shells. This means that to stabilize themselves they tend to snatch electrons from other atoms or molecules (think DNA, collagen and elastin), resulting in what’s known as oxidative stress. And this is where antioxidants come to the rescue. Unlike other vital skin cell components that become damaged when they lose electrons, antioxidants can donate them to free radicals without losing their own stability.

Still with us? Good! :-)

The human body naturally has a very efficient antioxidant defense system. Unfortunately, the inevitable aging process, together with overexposure to the sun, pollutants or other lifestyle nasties such as smoking, alcohol and poor nutrition, disrupts this defense system and free radicals start to take over. This causes damage not only to your skin, but to the health of your entire body.

Staying out of the sun, wearing a high, broad-spectrum sunscreen and having a healthy, balanced diet are all important ways to protect your skin from the visible effects of free radical damage such as lines, wrinkles, sagging and discoloration. But include a hard-working, clinically-proven antioxidant (or two) in your daily skincare routine and you immediately ramp up your skin’s ability to win the war.

Here are some of the best antioxidants the skincare world has to offer…

The TruSkin Big 5

1. Retinol: The Ultimate Age-Fighting Hero

You’ll see retinol splashed all over the skincare shelves. And for good reason. As a vitamin-A derivative that gets converted into retinoic acid when applied to the skin, retinol works by increasing cell turnover to help exfoliate, repair and strengthen the complexion. Unlike full-strength prescription retinoids like tretinoin, however, retinol needs to go through two steps to become retinoic acid. This makes it much gentler and tolerable on the skin and why it’s seen as the darling of anti-aging, antioxidant ingredients.

Great For: Improving fine lines, wrinkles, discoloration and poor texture.

Find It In: Retinol Moisturizer

2. Niacinamide: The Gentle Skincare Giant

If there were a prize for the most unassuming hero of antioxidants, niacinamide would win, hands down. This water-soluble form of vitamin B3 is found in many foods like meat, grains and leafy greens, and its skin-loving powers are often harnessed by the beauty industry. Why? Because niacinamide has the innate ability to strengthen the skin’s protective barrier by increasing its ceramide and fatty acid levels. This not only helps prevent environmental damage, but visibly improves the appearance of the skin.

Great For: Reducing redness, blotchiness, brown spots and enlarged pores. Sidenote: it’s also well tolerated by sensitive skin types.

Find It In: Tea Tree Clear Skin Serum Serum

3. Vitamin C: The Super Antioxidant

Skincare skeptics may try to convince you that topical vitamin C is unstable and therefore pointless. Not so. Vitamin C is a super-effective antioxidant that boosts collagen production, lightens pigmentation, adds clarity, provides UV protection and, well, the list goes on. You just need to find the right form of vitamin C, which, in our opinion is Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate (SAP). SAP is known for being much more stable than l-ascorbic acid, and many find it to be much less likely to cause irritation. Win-win.

Great For: Boosting radiance, reducing inflammation and breakouts, and improving poor texture.

Find It In: Vitamin C-Plus Super Serum 

4. Vitamin E: The Sun Damage Savior

A seasoned skincare vet and loved by many, vitamin E is a big-hitter when it comes to helping prevent and correct sun damage. It’s also a darn good moisturizer. There are many types of vitamin E, but you’ll most commonly see this lipid-based antioxidant listed in your day cream as tocopherol or tocopheryl acetate. On its own, however, it’s easily oxidized so can quickly become ineffective on contact with the skin. This is why you’ll generally find it combined with another antioxidant powerhouse like vitamin C which instantly makes it more stable and beneficial. Antioxidant cocktailing, hey? You’ve got to love that.

Great For: Treating dry, rough or photodamaged skin.

Find It In: Vitamin C Serum

5. Hyaluronic Acid: The Moisturizing King

Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is arguably one of the best, most effective skincare ingredients available. Found naturally in your body and particularly abundant within the skin’s structure, HA is a humectant, which means it works like a sponge to trap moisture in your skin – up to 1000 times its own weight in water, in fact. The problem is, it gradually depletes as you age, which is why including a topical botanical HA in your skincare routine is such an awesome idea. Along with its moisturizing prowess, HA also reportedly promotes collagen production, reduces inflammation and fights free radicals. Yes, it’s that good.

Great For: All skin types (even sensitive) to help maintain soft, supple skin and fight premature aging.

Find It In: Hyaluronic Acid Serum For Skin & Face