WHAT IS IT?
This is a vitamin C serum that uses 20% L-Ascorbic acid (which is the pure form of vi-ta-min C & has the most research lớn back up its effects). Most of the vitamin C serums I have used and love (like Paula’s Choice vi-ta-min C Booster) are 15%, so this was an increase in concentration from those.
I don’t love the packaging on the Obagi (which I will get lớn later) & I also wish that it had Ferulic acid along with vi-ta-min E (and some additional brightening, soothing, hydrating, or reparative ingredients would have been nice). Plus, I could vày without the added fragrance.
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PRICE
$127 for 1 oz. (wait for coupons because you can often find 25% of giao dịch at dermstore và other retailers).
Right now Obagi is 25% off at Dermstore with the code OBAGI25.
HOW I USED IT:
Every morning after cleansing I would apply ~10 drops directly on my skin, with 6 focused on my face (I bởi 2 drops on each cheek, 2 for my forehead và the remaining ~4 drops on my chest và hands).
I felt lượt thích it absorbed nicely & didn’t feel terribly tacky (although I always apply other products on top). It worked well under makeup & when I did a split face using Paula’s Choice vitamin C serum on one side of my face and this on the other for 1 week I didn’t notice any differences in terms of how shiny my face was.
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Color of serum on the day I opened it. It didn’t oxidize much from this in the 3-4 months I have had it mở cửaWHAT RESULTS DID I SEE?
I’ve included before and after photos for you to dissect & judge for yourself. In the full face photo I wasn’t blown away by an obvious improvement, but when I looked at specific areas lượt thích on my one side of my face và on my forehead I was happy khổng lồ see some noticeable fading of hyperpigmentation. (see photos below).
Also, keep in mind that Vit C protects your skin in addition to lớn correcting it. In other words, it can prevent your skin from showing signs of aging due lớn UV exposure or other environmental stressors. However, since I used this all over, there is no way for me to lớn assess whether it prevented my skin from looking worse than if I hadn’t used it (That’s why I tend to lớn focus on fading of hyperpigmentation because that is easier lớn gauge).
However, I did notice that over time this dehydrated my skin. It took me awhile to lớn identify what was going on, but after I stopped using the Obagi it became more clear that it was dehydrating my skin a bit. For example, while using it I found that I had lớn compensate with more hydrating layers than usual, otherwise some dehydration lines were more noticeable. I am wondering if the reason that I found this drying was the alcohol high up in the ingredient các mục paired with a lack of a lot of hydrating, soothing ingredients lớn offset that.
Another reason it may have been drying is that the pH of this is really low (pH=2.0).
Pros and Cons
For me, the biggest cons are price, faulty packaging and some signs of dehydrated skin. In terms of packaging… I was annoyed because I actually had lớn find a different pipette so that I could switch mine out otherwise it wouldn’t seal properly (see photo from my Instagram stories). L-Ascorbic Acid is highly unstable và needs khổng lồ be stored in a cool, dark, air-tight package. So having the cap not screw up properly is problematic! After posting those stories to IG, I received a mix of messages with half saying they experienced the same thing & half saying they didn’t. So there appears khổng lồ be some chất lượng control issues.
HOW DOES IT COMPARE?
The number one question I get is whether I lượt thích this more than Paula’s Choice. In terms of comparing its efficacy…I can’t vày that because I didn’t do a split face comparison to lớn really compare the two. I can anecdotally compare the results lớn the results I have experienced with PC in the past, but note that that is really imprecise. But I will cốt truyện my thoughts và you can see what you think.
Obagi Professional-C 20% did a good job at breaking up some stubborn pigmentation và lightening pigmentation overall. I think I saw similar results as I have seen with Paula’s Choice in the past (I have some photos in my Vit C highlights on my Instagram page và on my blog that you can check out), but I think it did do a really good job at a somewhat quickly fading a stubborn cluster of pigmentation on my one cheekbone. PC has been fading the same cluster of pigmentation và it seems lượt thích the reduction over 2-3 mths was similar for both (but I included a photo for y’all lớn examine).
All things being considered I think their results are comparable. But all things considered, I prefer Paula’s Choice (and Maelove Glow Maker).
First, I prefer the price ($73 per oz vs $127 per oz) and packaging of PC (although I will say that Obagi oxidized less than PC usually does in 3 months). Then that makes it $95 per oz and then the price difference isn’t SO bad. But still. I personally it makes me more likely khổng lồ consider spending the extra money but even then I’m not sure that the results were THAT MUCH better to make me want khổng lồ spend the extra money.
Second, I really like the additional ingredients that PC includes like Ferulic Acid, Vit E, Bisabolol and Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate (which is a tripeptide that can help tốc độ up cell renewal). I didn’t realize until writing up my đánh giá that the Obagi ingredient danh mục was so sparse… Now that I see the ingredient list & consider the low pH, I’m not as surprised that I noticed some dehydration after 3 mths of using it.
On that point, I have never experienced dehydration after using PC.
In my Instagram stories I asked you all what you thought in terms of how they compared, & I will include the series of stories of those results below. Keep in mind that when everyone voted, I didn’t disclose what the ya products were.
Finally, I thought I would nói qua how I use my vi-ta-min C (L-ascorbic acid) serums. So you can find that info below. For what it’s worth, there are many times over the years that I didn’t think a serum faded my pigmentation until I saw the photos. As your skin slowly improves over a number of months, it’s easy to lớn miss the results. So I really recommend trying to lớn take photos when you start a new product & give your skin time lớn improve! (Patience abs consistency is key).
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Thank you for this review, very helpful to lớn read honest hear pros và cons as well as see photos. I’m always on the look out for a good vitamin C serum. So far I’ve used Maelove, Drunk Elephant và some Korean brands. I was wondering if you could answer two questions re: vi-ta-min C serum. I’m still on my Drunk Elephant vitamin C serum but it has oxidized lớn a bright orange (not brown yet). Is it still Ok lớn use? I know it’s probably less effective now but I still have a lot left and still want lớn use it as long as it’s not harmful khổng lồ the skin. The second question is have you tried powdered vitamin C? I got some samples and want to give it a go but wondering what your thoughts are. Thank you for all your helpful posts – I have learned so much!
