You’ll surely “C” the difference...
This post comes to you from regular contributor, Allie White.
In the alphabet of vitamins for your skin, C reigns supreme. It’s long been touted — and for good reason — as an antidote to everything from dullness to scaring, fine lines to uneven tone, rough texture to premature aging. Basically, it’s the thing you should pick as your desert island product. (I’m aware that if you ever do find yourself stranded on a desert island, uneven skin tone would likely be very low on your list of priorities.)
Because it’s such an all-star ingredient, vitamin C is also pretty ubiquitous in the skincare world at this point: nearly every brand worth its salt has a vitamin C offering, whether as a standalone serum or as a complement ingredient in another formulation. So when a new iteration of vitamin C enters the arena, it better come to play. It’s gotta be better than great to stand out amongst the competition. It’s gotta have an edge. It’s gotta have….caffeine.
Hear me out.
Imagine that vitamin C is like a big cup of coffee for your skin. Now order that coffee with a shot of espresso. Sure, a regular coffee is fine, it’ll do the job and wake you up. But add espresso? You’re wide awake. You’re alert. You’re ready for anything. You can go all day without losing steam. That coffee-espresso hybrid is 1) actually called a “red eye” should you ever want to order one to drink and 2) an analogy for the amazing things that happen when vitamin C and caffeine join forces, just like in the 15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum from fan-fave Youth to the People.
In the alphabet of vitamins for your skin, C reigns supreme. It’s long been touted — and for good reason — as an antidote to everything from dullness to scaring, fine lines to uneven tone, rough texture to premature aging. Basically, it’s the thing you should pick as your desert island product. (I’m aware that if you ever do find yourself stranded on a desert island, uneven skin tone would likely be very low on your list of priorities.)
Because it’s such an all-star ingredient, vitamin C is also pretty ubiquitous in the skincare world at this point: nearly every brand worth its salt has a vitamin C offering, whether as a standalone serum or as a complement ingredient in another formulation. So when a new iteration of vitamin C enters the arena, it better come to play. It’s gotta be better than great to stand out amongst the competition. It’s gotta have an edge. It’s gotta have….caffeine.
Hear me out.
Imagine that vitamin C is like a big cup of coffee for your skin. Now order that coffee with a shot of espresso. Sure, a regular coffee is fine, it’ll do the job and wake you up. But add espresso? You’re wide awake. You’re alert. You’re ready for anything. You can go all day without losing steam. That coffee-espresso hybrid is 1) actually called a “red eye” should you ever want to order one to drink and 2) an analogy for the amazing things that happen when vitamin C and caffeine join forces, just like in the 15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum from fan-fave Youth to the People.
To help smooth out my mediocre metaphor the way YTTP’s vitamin C serum will smooth out your skin (ba-dum ching!), I turned to Laura Cline, Youth to the People’s Director of Education. Below, she walks through why vitamin C should be part of everyone’s routine and how their Energy Serum takes an amazing ingredient and turns it into a downright miracle.
What are the benefits of adding vitamin C to a skincare routine?
Vitamin C can visibly minimize the appearance of hyperpigmentation, firm skin, and it’s a powerhouse antioxidant that protects your skin from free radical damage. It also helps feed your skin what it needs to function at its maximum potential.
Is there a right (or wrong!) way to use vitamin C?
Ideally, you want to use the Energy Serum in the morning before you moisturize and put on sunscreen. It doesn’t hurt to add it to your PM routing as well, to boost your skin’s natural repair process while you sleep. As a general rule, I wouldn’t layer vitamin C under a retinol, but there are exceptions to that rule depending on the derivatives of both active.* When in doubt, use vitamin C serum in the morning.
Vitamin C serum can be beneficial for almost everyone. Since there are different forms of vitamin C, every product is unique. For example, if someone has sensitive or reactive skin, they’d want to try some of the stable forms of vitamin C, like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP) or tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD).
YTTP’s serum is more than just Vitamin C — talk me through the other ingredients and why Vitamin C plays so well with them.
Ingredients are our meals and this serum was inspired by yerba mate, the super tea our co-founders love and use in their own diets. We knew that vitamin C was an essential ingredient for healthy skin and so decided to take pro-grade vitamin C and amplify it with plant-derived caffeine from yerba maté and guayusa.
In terms of the formulation, the serum has three different derivatives of ultra-stable vitamin C — magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, THD ascorbate, ethyl ascorbic acid — totaling 15 percent. That’s the proper amount of the complex to result in visible benefits and amplify the performance and stability of the formula.
The serum also feels luxurious thanks to the hydrating complex of hyaluronic acid and squalane. And the plant-derived caffeine is amazing at de-puffing and contouring skin.
Vitamin C is such a ubiquitous skincare ingredient right now, but it’s not new. Why do you think it’s gotten so popular over the last few years?
Knowledge is power, and we have so much at our fingertips. The skincare community has a real presence on social media and the word has spread that we need antioxidants — including vitamin C — in our topical skincare treatments. [Vitamin C] is such a multitasker that it can fit any routine and skin type, and benefits every age. Cosmetic science has evolved so much in the last few years and there are [now] many stable forms of vitamin C. We use three of them in our Energy Serum!
Vitamin C can be an unstable ingredient/one that goes bad quickly due to oxygenation; how does YTTP ensure the serum is stable?
Vitamin C can be an unstable ingredient and is typically most volatile in the l-ascorbic acid form. Luckily, there have been great advancements in cosmetic science and we can now formulate stable forms of vitamin C that have both water and oil soluble delivery systems, and that aren’t prone to breaking down in light or oxygen. We formulated with three stable forms of vitamin C and ensure that they are at a proper pH and our UV-coated packaging really takes stability to the next level.
*Editor’s note: Vitamin C and retinol can be used together, but there are several factors that need to be taken into account before doing so. Most professionals suggest using vitamin C and retinol on alternate nights so you don’t have to worry about their interaction. But if you want to use them concurrently, it’s best to apply vitamin C, wait 30 minutes, then apply retinol to allow your skin’s pH to return to normal so each ingredient can work at its intended pH.
What are the benefits of adding vitamin C to a skincare routine?
Vitamin C can visibly minimize the appearance of hyperpigmentation, firm skin, and it’s a powerhouse antioxidant that protects your skin from free radical damage. It also helps feed your skin what it needs to function at its maximum potential.
Is there a right (or wrong!) way to use vitamin C?
Ideally, you want to use the Energy Serum in the morning before you moisturize and put on sunscreen. It doesn’t hurt to add it to your PM routing as well, to boost your skin’s natural repair process while you sleep. As a general rule, I wouldn’t layer vitamin C under a retinol, but there are exceptions to that rule depending on the derivatives of both active.* When in doubt, use vitamin C serum in the morning.
Vitamin C serum can be beneficial for almost everyone. Since there are different forms of vitamin C, every product is unique. For example, if someone has sensitive or reactive skin, they’d want to try some of the stable forms of vitamin C, like magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP) or tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD).
YTTP’s serum is more than just Vitamin C — talk me through the other ingredients and why Vitamin C plays so well with them.
Ingredients are our meals and this serum was inspired by yerba mate, the super tea our co-founders love and use in their own diets. We knew that vitamin C was an essential ingredient for healthy skin and so decided to take pro-grade vitamin C and amplify it with plant-derived caffeine from yerba maté and guayusa.
In terms of the formulation, the serum has three different derivatives of ultra-stable vitamin C — magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, THD ascorbate, ethyl ascorbic acid — totaling 15 percent. That’s the proper amount of the complex to result in visible benefits and amplify the performance and stability of the formula.
The serum also feels luxurious thanks to the hydrating complex of hyaluronic acid and squalane. And the plant-derived caffeine is amazing at de-puffing and contouring skin.
Vitamin C is such a ubiquitous skincare ingredient right now, but it’s not new. Why do you think it’s gotten so popular over the last few years?
Knowledge is power, and we have so much at our fingertips. The skincare community has a real presence on social media and the word has spread that we need antioxidants — including vitamin C — in our topical skincare treatments. [Vitamin C] is such a multitasker that it can fit any routine and skin type, and benefits every age. Cosmetic science has evolved so much in the last few years and there are [now] many stable forms of vitamin C. We use three of them in our Energy Serum!
Vitamin C can be an unstable ingredient/one that goes bad quickly due to oxygenation; how does YTTP ensure the serum is stable?
Vitamin C can be an unstable ingredient and is typically most volatile in the l-ascorbic acid form. Luckily, there have been great advancements in cosmetic science and we can now formulate stable forms of vitamin C that have both water and oil soluble delivery systems, and that aren’t prone to breaking down in light or oxygen. We formulated with three stable forms of vitamin C and ensure that they are at a proper pH and our UV-coated packaging really takes stability to the next level.
*Editor’s note: Vitamin C and retinol can be used together, but there are several factors that need to be taken into account before doing so. Most professionals suggest using vitamin C and retinol on alternate nights so you don’t have to worry about their interaction. But if you want to use them concurrently, it’s best to apply vitamin C, wait 30 minutes, then apply retinol to allow your skin’s pH to return to normal so each ingredient can work at its intended pH.
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