Widely regarded as the superhero of radiant skin, vitamin C has its share of kryptonite. Why? Traditional vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) dissolves easily in water, is highly acidic, and your skin’s own oils repel it.

So how do we capture the benefits of vitamin C in skincare? By uncovering the latest vitamin C technologies and helping youfind the best vitamin C skincare for your needs.

Why your skin needs vitamin C
Despite its challenges, your skin needs vitamin C because our bodies don’t naturally produce it. To get all of vitamin C’s incredible benefits, we need to eat it and apply it to our skin.

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can help manage the two ways skin ages: genetically (a.k.a. the natural aging process) and environmentally (including UVA/UVB rays, blue light from devices, pollution, smoking and a poor diet that stress your skin and accelerate damage).

Both genetic and environmental aging show as hyperpigmentation (think dark spots, age spots, or brown spots), dullness, lines, wrinkles and loss of firmness. And, vitamin C in skincare can help correct them—if you use one that’s clinically proven to work.

What are the benefits of vitamin C in skincare?
The benefits of vitamin C in skincare include preventing visible skin damage like hyperpigmentation, dullness and uneven tone, and diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. But as we mentioned, vitamin C is comes with its share of challenges:

Traditional vitamin C:

• Degrades over time
• Antioxidant defense
• Problematic absorption
• Works once in skin

What’s the best vitamin C for my skin?
The best kind of vitamin C is one that works! The key to this is keeping it stable during formulation, meaning it can be formulated without losing efficacy so it’s at maximum potency when applied to skin.

Dr. Murad recently identified a new technology called gold-stabilized vitamin C: it works by attaching vitamin C to gold which makes it more stable. In addition, this stability gives Murad’s gold-stabilized vitamin C 55% higher antioxidant defense than traditional vitamin C. He combined it with tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD for short), an ingredient known for its excellent skin absorption. Glutathione, a potent antioxidant, helps recycle vitamin C in skin to extend its benefits. Together, this creates a proprietary technology called Vita-C Complex for our most powerful skin brightening results yet.

Murad’s gold-stabilized vitamin C:

• Won’t degrade or lose potency
• 55% higher antioxidant defense
• Excellent absorption
• Recycles vitamin C to extend benefits

This first-to-market vitamin C technology can only be found in Murad’s vitamin C duo, Vita-C Glycolic Brightening Serum and Vita-C Eyes Dark Circle Corrector.